Product Development in Fashion Industry: An Overview

Product Development in Fashion Industry: An Overview

Shubham Anil Jain
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited
Bangalore, India
Email: shubhamajain125@gmail.com

Introduction:
The design and engineering of items those are functional for the intended consumer, marketable, producible, and lucrative is referred to as product development. A design team follows the phases in the product development process to generate the next product in a company’s product range. The methods for developing a new product are the same, but because the team has never developed this product before, new risks and uncertainties are introduced. In addition, more information is frequently recorded and communicated with manufacturing. In a broad sense, product development can be defined as the process of establishing seasonal goals, conceptualizing, producing, doing market and trend research, and launching and delivering new goods and services to customers.

Steps of Product Development in Fashion Industry:

1. Visualizing a concept:
Once a designer or design team has an idea, it is time to visualize that idea. The two methods that people use to visualize ideas are:

• Make a mood board and drawing ideas from already existing designs.
• Make a few sketches for various iterations of the concept.

Both of these methods frequently cooperate. The design team develops a mood board, draws inspiration from certain features of the website design, adds new components, and then produces a whole new product. Typically, paper is used for the very first design sketches. The entire design team participates in a collective brainstorming session. They have their final product design, which includes colors, fabric swatches, various accessories, after several rounds of approval.

2. Tech pack creation:
Think of the tech pack as the manufacturer’s “blueprint” for creating your clothing. It is a design document that contains drawings and details about the suggested clothing item. Include the supplies, add-ons, and finishing touches that will be employed in its production. The tech pack’s main objective is to assist suppliers in determining whether the fashion item is feasible and prepared for production.

Every fashion company gains from creating a thorough and simple-to-read tech pack in a number of ways:

• It aids in getting a precise price estimate from your supplier.
• It aids in obtaining error-free samples.
• It enhances fit quality.
• It serves as a benchmark for quality

3. Creating samples:
The first iteration of the garment is produced in cooperation between design teams and the producer. Making prototypes allows designers to see how a garment will appear in use. In order to check how the garment fits on a model in the intended size, it is also used for fitting purposes. The process of making samples typically involves multiple iterations before the final sample is accepted. The design team may opt to change some design elements, such as selecting a different type of cloth, or ask for small adjustments to the specifications. Making samples could be viewed as the manufacturing process’ pre-production phase.

4. Manufacturing:
Numerous processes are involved in clothing manufacturing that are required to create a garment. Processes including cutting, stitching, and finishing are included. The entire manufacturing procedure is divided into a number of smaller procedures required for creating a specific garment. Depending on the equipment at hand, the working techniques employed, and the workers’ skill levels, some of these operations change. The moment has come to make the entire run once the final sample has been authorized and the materials have been sourced. Depending on the kind of manufacturer you work with, they might provide a whole manufacturing package as well as assistance with locating materials and packing.

5. Quality control:
In general, quality control is the process of evaluating a product’s quality after manufacture, after it has been divided into acceptable and undesirable categories, and after actual results have been checked to make sure they match expectations. To ensure that clothing goods are produced to the highest standards, in accordance with the intended design, and in accordance with the right specifications, apparel quality control is carried out with the use of tests, checks, and inspections.

Functions of a Fashion Product Developer:
Within a corporation, a fashion product developer plans, creates, and presents fashion products for a specific market. They create seasonal collections in close collaboration with the technical and creative departments. Focusing on quality and making sure both the fashion house and the consumer are satisfied with the product is the major objective of the fashion product developer.

A fashion product developer’s typical duties include:

• Seasonal investigation of textiles and fashion;
• Collaborating closely with the design team to create a design concept and providing sage advice, innovative ideas, and workable solutions to ensure that product development goes smoothly;
• Observe recent sales and pay particular attention to bestsellers;
• Using technical designers to assist in the development of tech packs;
• Material research and sourcing;
• Communicating with various factories locally or abroad;
• Managing the entire process of product development from beginning to end.

The process of design must be thoroughly understood by those who develop fashion products. They must collaborate closely with designers to translate their artistic vision into a technical document (tech pack) so that manufacturers and suppliers can understand it. Product developers must be able to confidently communicate specifics to suppliers, including those related to pattern cutting, construction, and raw materials.

The people who create fashion products are excellent time managers. They make sure all product development stages meet deadlines and that collections are delivered on time.

Conclusion:
The process of product development in and fashion oriented companies is expanding. Businesses focus on streamlining and reducing the PD cycle using the most recent technologies and increasing market responsiveness in order to increase the process’ cost-effectiveness. Companies have the chance to reduce the length of the product development cycle from months to days by utilizing digital product development methods and virtual technology. The opportunity for quality assurance and control in the clothing manufacturing process is provided by the use of tech-packs, which were produced during PD, to communicate the standards and requirements across supply-chain partners.

References:

1. https://fashion2apparel.com/product-development-process-in-apparel-industry/
2. https://techpacker.com/blog/design/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-development-in-fashion/
3. https://fashinza.com/textile/fashion-industry/fashion-product-development-process-explained/
4. https://glamobserver.com/the-role-of-the-product-developer-in-fashion-what-they-do-and-how-to-become-one/

You may also like:

1. Role of Apparel Merchandiser in Product Development Process
2. Concept of New Product Development in Textile Industry
3. Stages of the New Product Development (NPD) Process

Mazharul Islam Kiron

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.

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