Product Development in Apparel Industry PDF

TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION CO4 Product Development To create the next product in a company’s product line, a design team goes through product development process steps. Starting with a product idea, the team moves through several stage...

TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION CO4 Product Development To create the next product in a company’s product line, a design team goes through product development process steps. Starting with a product idea, the team moves through several stages to generate all the details and documents needed to get the product built. A new product development process goes through the same steps, however, as this product has not been developed by the team before, new risks and uncertainties are introduced and often additional information is documented and shared with manufacturing. The flow of typical product development process in apparel industry is provided in figure, this remains common for all categories of product development. In apparel industry, once, the market potential, customer requirements like, colour, silhouette, fabric and design aspects are evaluated by the fashion forecasting process, the conceptual design is developed by the designer in paper as a 2D form. Once the designs are finalised, the designers and merchandiser will sit together to finalise the specifications and technical aspects of the garment. Here, they will use their knowledge from their previous experience with their market and product. The product development process in apparel industry generally happens in three different levels, i) New product by buyer – Once the forecasting process is completed in all sectors like, customer, product design, market requirement, etc., the first steps of silhouette development and fabric selection are approached in different ways by different designers and companies. Many companies base their lines around fabric and print designs. Their designers start by selecting fabrics and then create silhouettes for those fabrics. These designers are fabric driven. Other designers are silhouette-driven designs and product specifications are developed by the buyer and all the necessary information FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 34 TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION will be provided to the manufacturing merchandiser to develop the product prototype. ii) New product by manufacturer – The manufacturing organisation’s design team along with merchandiser use to develop new products for their buyer. The product development is the business policy of the organisation which includes the development of the new designs and styles within the organisation. This process provides more business to the organisation, by showing pro-activeness in design development process by knowing the needs and wants of the customers/buyers and it helps in impressing the clients. Production merchandiser must update the buyer time to time about the product development done by organisation. The buyer visiting the factory is one of the key activities, where merchandiser can develop some positive opinion on the company by showing their facility and designer teams. This motivates the buyer to give the design development to the organisation instead of doing themselves. Whenever buyer visits the organisation, new colour, prints, embroidery patterns and desk loom developments need to be presented to them by production merchandiser. Merchandiser should influence the buyer to select the designs from presentation presented. A very good presentation and convincing ability of production merchandiser bring more business to the organisation. iii) Product development by external agencies / Studios – In this case, the external agencies perform the product development process based on their expertise and research data they have. Buyers or manufacturers will source the designs concepts and specifications from these agencies with respect to the season and needs. FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 35  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Role of merchandiser in product development process Fabric selection The fabric selection process is the important process in the product development stage. Fabric selection is a crucial step in designing a project because fabrics are designed for specific applications, a fabric manufactured for one purpose, may not be adaptable for another use. Therefore selecting the appropriate fabric is only the first step in providing serviceable fabrics for apparel manufacturing. Designers specify the fabric as part of their design concept. Designers may develop new styles for fabrics that have been successful. Fabrics used in garment manufacturing can be based on their properties and characteristics. Property is a static physical dimension such as yards per pound; whereas, characteristic is the reaction of the fabrics when a force is imposed upon it. In general, the selection of fabric is performed by three different views: i. The consumer’s viewpoint ii. The fabric producer’s viewpoint iii. The garment producer’s viewpoint In consumer point of view, the fabric for apparel is selected solely based on the appearance and wearability characteristics of the fabric – the durability, utility and style values. The fabric producers are mainly focused on the fabric characteristics than the properties. A fabric property is of no interest to the apparel/fabric manufacturer unless it controls a fabric characteristic or cost factor vital to him, or unless the property itself such as thickness or weight, has definite utility or style value. The same concept applies for the garment producer also. The fabric selection process involves designers and merchandisers going to major fabric FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 36  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION markets to collect ideas, check trends, examine few products and get samples. The designer and merchandiser may visit fabric shows in and out of the country and fabric manufacturer’s showrooms. They attend fashion shows and also attend meetings with the representatives of textile fabric manufacturer to present their product line. The fabric selection is done based on aesthetics as well as technical demand of the garment. Following things need to be considered while selecting the fabric for product development. Fibre content Fabric construction—basic structure Texture and engineered effects created by weave configurations Yarn selections Prints Colour range Performance characteristics—wear factors, care requirements, sewing Compatibility and drape Versatility for use in multiple styles Price and terms Availability Minimum order quantities During the selection process, the designer and merchandiser mainly think about the intended use of that particular apparel product. This will help them to identify the needs of that garment and aid them to focus either on technical aspects like abrasion, UV protection, elasticity, colour fastness, tensile strength, etc. or aesthetic aspects like texture, structure, etc. Textile, Fabric and Yarn Trade Fairs Heimtextil – Germany FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 37  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Texworld – USA Premiere Vision – France Texworld Paris – France China Clothing & Textiles Expo – Australia Texprocess Americas – USA Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – China HKTDC Hong Kong Fashion Week for Fall/Winter – Hong Kong Printsource New York – USA Shanghaitex – China Silhouettes Silhouette development involves transforming garment ideas into final garment Sketches or technical drawings, which are hand or CAD renderings of the front and back of a garment, including stitching details. Technical drawings usually do not include body silhouettes and are used where construction and styling details are critical to the design. Other than this there is computer graphics software available to create sketches. Designers use this software because, these types of software allows them to store a database of body silhouettes, also called croquis, in many different poses. Since the software has great potential to reuse the old croquis, designers prefer theses kind of graphics related software regularly. In addition to that these software also have a provision to transform that croquis into garment styles by using fabric images. This additional feature has a database of fabric details and scanned images of fabric for most of the specifications. Once, the user selects a particular fabric type, this software bring the fabric images and allow the user to view the 3D appearance of the garment in all angles. These kinds of software are the future of designing industry. They serve the design and apparel industry people in two very essential requirements like reducing time consumption and less requirements of highly skilled persons. Instead of FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 38  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION spending hours together to see the final appearance of the garment, the designer can view his/her imagination in a matter of few seconds. In this process, either by manual or by software the croquis will be developed, then the designers and merchandiser will sit together to evaluate the designs. The developed designs will be assessed by merchandiser and other representatives from buyers (rarely) for their market suitability. The merchandiser will input the market requirements or the customer requirements with technical feasibility. Out of this process, few designs may get rejected and few will get selected for the next stage of the product development process. Proto type development The proto-typing process is the very next to silhouette development (Figure 2.5). After the silhouettes have been approved, the process of developing proto sample will be initiated. However, before making the proto sample there is an important step to be performed known as “Spec (specification) development” / Line sheet development / spec (specification) sheet. Development and approval of silhoutte Specification sheet development First/Proto sample to evaluate the appearance and fit of the garment FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 39  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Process step involved in proto sample development In this process of specification development, the line sheets or spec sheets are developed for each style of the chosen silhouette (for different line). Here, the designer develops neat line sketches of every style in that particular line along with the fabric swatches he or she selected for that style. The designer decides the technical parameters of the garment along with the merchandiser and develops the specification sheet with all relevant information required for the prototyping process. Sometimes designers also use style boards for reviewing the line development groups. Style board shows the sketches of styles within the group or line. After the specification development, the proto sample development process will be initiated in the sampling department. The prototype is the first opportunity for the product development team including the designers, to see an actual garment style visually and also to ensure the fit of the product in a fit model. There are two basic methods to develop a prototype. 1. Draping method It is a process of cutting, shaping and draping the fabric on a dress form or mannequin. This process is generally used by the ready to wear sector designers and high fashion designers (client specific or fashionable clothes). This process allows the designer and product development team to evaluate the way a fabric performs for the selected style, while it is shaped to conform the 3D shape. FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 40 TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION 2. Flat pattern method In this method, the company creates basic blocks of patterns for the required designs at first. After making basic patterns/slopers, the desired silhouette is achieved by altering the basic blocks. This method is most widely used in apparel industries to create prototypes. The basic blocks are refined by the company for every season to ensure the better fit to the target market group. The apparel manufacturing companies are majorly located in India, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other Asian pacific countries. In all these countries, most of the apparel industries receive orders from America- or Europe-based customers, who have a dedicated design team to develop the design requirements. During this prototyping process, the information from customers to manufacturers and from manufacturer to customers’ needs to be transferred effectively. The time and cost involved in making and delivering the prototype samples from global sourcing partners complicate this process. Hence, it requires that the merchandiser needs to monitor the initial phase of product development process keenly in order to exclude styles, which does not fulfil the requirements of the line plane. These issues can be eliminated only by the proper communication between the buyer and manufacturer. The following are the essential requirements of proto sample request process: Buyer name Season Style description / code Detailed description of the garment Garment technical drawing Sample pattern Size measurements with tolerance FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 41  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Fabric description Bill of material Cutting instruction Sewing instruction Label details Finishing instructions Packing instruction Target price Pre-costing The proto sample development process makes the manufacturer and merchandiser to understand the various raw materials, accessories and trims used for the product. This gives them a broad idea to estimate the manufacturing cost of the product. It is important for the merchandiser to understand the nature of the each raw material and their availability before making the pre-costing. The merchandiser should have a comprehensive database of product cost and effective cost accounting support for making this process success. This pre-costing must cover all the cost incurred in the manufacturing of that particular garment including the material, labour, overhead, design and distribution, general, administrative costs along with the profit percentage. For this process, merchandiser should be aware of the fabric consumption details and other cost factors like factory overhead, average labour cost. He should update his database or knowledge periodically to avoid major loss in the process. Too low cost for a style may put the company at risk or the too high costing of a garment will lead to loss of order in the competitive scenario. Finally, if it is found that the estimated cost of the product is too high for any particular company to get the order or the facilities to develop the products are seldom available FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 42  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION in industry, it is recommended to leave the order instead of wasting time in product development. Development of technical specification sheet (Tech Pack) After the pre-costing process, the styles which are estimated to meet the acceptable price points are approved by the review committee, which consists of all department heads, company’s chief officers. Initially, as a first process, the preliminary manufacturing specifications are developed. Based on the measurements and details provided, the final production patterns are developed. The developed patterns are then graded and sent to the production. The developed specification sheets are more detailed in order to educate the individual department people. The specification sheet may differ factory to factory based on their production method and technology used. This company-oriented specification details provides the merchandiser a detailed operation break-up with machine and man power requirement. This helps the merchandiser to calculate the cost of the product. After this initial costing, a meeting with industrial engineering and production planning department will help the merchandiser to bring down the cost of the product by changing the operation sequence or machine or type of process without compromising the product quality. This will finalise the cost of the product for companies who perform the product development process. During the specification sheet development, the details of other parameters like, fabric, sewing thread, print or artwork designs, placement details of design, care label instruction, etc. are mentioned in detail for better understanding. FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 43  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Final costing The very important and most crucial step in the product development process is finalising the cost of the developed product. This process verifies the detailed cost of the product at each manufacturing stage along with the initial costing developed by the merchandiser. In this process, there may be changes in the initial amount quoted. Since, the product prototyping process provided better information about the required raw materials and their cost factors in detail, based on that, the cost sheet will be revised. It is important that, the cost fixed at this stage must be as accurate as possible because style adoption and selling prices of the garment will be based on the results of the final costing process FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 44  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION CO5 Apparel Analysis Process In apparel industry, the merchandisers deal with two different situations based on the type, size of the firm they are working, country and policies of companies. They are as follows: (i) For the first case, the merchandiser will analyse the market and develop product based on the market needs and customer requirements with the help of design team within the company or with the help of the external design agencies. In both the cases, the company takes risk in launching the product to the market. The apparel manufacturing firms in developed countries mostly performs this process. During this process, the merchandiser input to the line development is highly important. (ii) In the second case, the merchandiser performs a coordination process with the customer and receives the order in its final stage after line adoption process. In this category, the merchandiser or company is provided with all data (developed in line planning process) called as “Technical specification sheet” of the garment. This is generally known as “tech-pack” or “specsheet” and it may be provided with a sample garment itself. With this, the merchandiser performs product re-engineering and carries outs only the manufacturing aspects of the product and ships the garment back to the customer. This category reduces the kind of forecasting risks to the company. Most of the time, the companies from developing nations like India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Bangladesh are following this kind of process. As they receive orders from European Nations and United States of America. FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 45  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION In merchandising point of view, the apparel analysis process is performed to satisfy the needs and wants of the buyers/consumers. In this point of view, the apparel analysis can be performed in three different methods as detailed below: (i) Visual inspection This method is simple and involves least complicated procedure in inspecting and analysing a garment. It is useful for evaluating the overall garment appearance, aesthetics, estimating fabric quality, identifying stitch and seam type and also to estimate number of stitches per inch. However, the accuracy of the process and results depend upon the skill of the individual who performs the analysis. Consumers and buyers, while sourcing products often use to perform this analysis. Merchandisers in industry perform this analysis in the initial stage of the product development. (ii) Augmented visual inspection This method is basically a visual inspection aided by simple test methods and measuring instruments. This method provides comparatively more detailed information than the simple visual inspection. Less experienced analyst or the consistency requirement in the result forces this method to usage for analysing the garment. Fibre identification by chemical and burning test GSM calculation using GSM Cutter EPI and PPI calculation using counting glass Microscopes to check weave, twist, etc. Colour measurement using instrument and so on. (iii) Laboratory analysis with standard test methods This method provides most scientific and strong repeatable results with respect to the analysis. The standard test method from AATCC (American association for Textile FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 46  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Chemist and Colourist), ASTM (American Society for Testing and Material), BS (British Standard), ISO (International Standard Organisation) are used. Examples of fabric properties where standard testing methods are used are given below: Fabric strength Fabric shrinkage Air permeability Abrasion resistant Colour fastness Water vapour permeability and etc. These results will help the analyst to take decision on, whether the garment or fabric can be used for the expected end use. Most of the time, the tests are destructive. The information discussed in this part of the chapter provides necessary details which can be used or interpreted by the apparel industry merchandiser to analyse his /her product FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 47  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Steps involved in apparel analysis Style Description The style description process is the first and foremost basic step in the apparel analysis process. In this process, detailed information regarding the style description of the garment will be developed by the merchandiser and provided to other departments for the better understanding of the garment. This description contains the details like Brand Style number Merchandise group FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 48  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Selling period Body types and size ranges Verbal description of garment and fabric used Detailed drawing of the front and back appearance of the garment Special instruction related to the production execution of the garment Positioning Strategy In this step, merchandiser categorises the garment based on their application, usage, structural look and silhouette. After inspection, the garment will be rated on a five-point scale based on its group. The criteria’s used are provided below: Here, the intrinsic cues represent the tangible intrinsic characteristics of a garment including materials, method of assembly, styling features, fit and finishing. Whereas, the extrinsic cues represents the image of the product like, price, brand, reputation of the manufacturer or retailer, visual merchandising techniques and advertising are most common extrinsic cues to quality and value. If the merchandiser rates 4 that is near to functional, then it implies that the garment is more functional in nature and if he selects 4 or 5 that is near to aesthetic, then it can be said that the garment is more aesthetic in nature. Sizing and fit This section of the apparel analysis process analyses the size and fit details of the garment. The various details analysed are given below: Size range Gender Body type FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 49  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Size indicator (Dimensional size of parts like collar, shoulder, etc.) Fit level Silhouette and circumference Material specifications In this section, the detailed information about various materials used in the garment/apparel is provided with samples or pictures to get a better understanding. The common specification details contain the following information: Number of materials used Material list Material name Material description Fibre and yarn details Fabrication methods Structural design Colours Finishes used Care information Garment component assembly The preliminary task of this portion is to break-up the individual operation in the garment and identify the different parts of the garment. After identifying the parts, the possible simplest way of assembling the components will be detailed. The activities are given below: Identify and list the garment components FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 50  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Materials of the components Number of parts per components Operation breakdown Types of stitches and seams used Number of parts to be assembled In-process pressing information Final assembly and finishing It is a process of detailing the garment final assembly process, where, the prepared components are sewn together to get a completed garment. In this stage, the merchandiser will inform the operation sequence that needs to be followed during the manufacturing process. It will be a strict guideline to be followed for achieving expected garment quality specification details. The information developed at this stage of analysis are as follows: Total number of components and material Final assembly operations Types of seams and stitches to be used Finishing operations Colour matching procedures Over all instructions and requirements Style presentation The final part of the analysis explains the packing and display information to be taken care with respect to the garment final presentation to the customer. This process FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 51  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION gives details regarding the following aspects: Labelling Accessories Packing method Hanger / self-appeal Accuracy of information Placement of the information (readability) Product appeal Customer profiling for apparel merchandisers Customer profiling is defined as “a description of a business’s typical customers” or “Detailed information about a particular customer” by Cambridge Dictionaries. Customer profiling is a way to generate a description of particular group of customers to help the company make decisions concerning particular service. Target customers are broken down into groups of customers sharing similar goals and characteristics and each group is given a representative with a photo, a name, and a description. A small group of customer profiles or “personas” are then used to make key decisions. In simple words, Customer profiling is, using data about customers to better understand their needs and wants. Applying this understanding to help and design the services offered by company. It is not just a process of collecting data and deriving the information regarding particular customer. FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 52  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION Customer profiling is a research basically undertaking demographic segmentation – it takes a broader range of data, tools and techniques to generate a rich understanding of the customer. It is a kind of an ongoing journey in the life of merchandiser. Effective use of customer profiling can help to: Deliver efficient and effective tailored services Target resources according to priorities Develop responsive services that encourage and reflect customer engagement Enhance customer service and improve satisfaction Specifically with respect to the apparel industries, the service offered is generally very customer focused and specific. The industry understands very well that a “one- size-fits-all” approach does not work for either the service provider or the consumer. Hence to provide tailored services for the customer and for ensuring that the workforce is representative of the communities that is served, the effective customer profiling process is required. Most of the time in an apparel industry, merchandiser is the person who deals with the customers. So, it is recommended that the merchandiser should know the basics of profiling process so that he or she can profile his/her customers to provide better and quality service. Because most of the time, companies from countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Srilanka receive orders from different parts of western countries. Hence, while developing the own design and product, it is essential for a designer team and merchandisers group to understand their requirements on several aspects related to demographic requirements, geographic needs, their economical level, fashion status, etc. This process will help the merchandiser to identify the suitable customer for the company to sell their own designed product or will help them to provide required or expected level of service if they are developing products for customers’ designs. In both ways, the customer profiling process helps the merchandiser to improve his / her business with their customer and helps to build a long FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 53  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION run relationship. Customer profiling methods i) Demographic / Geo-demographic profiling: It is the profiling process in which we target and profile individuals by aggregating data and location-based information from online and offline records. It is useful for broadly targeted categories. ii) Transaction data profiling: In this method, the customers are profiled and targeted based on their recent purchase behaviour. iii) Explicit profiling: In this profiling, new customers are identified based on their explicitly declared profile. iv) Contextual profiling: Contextual profiling involves targeting ads and messages to users based on the most relevant context. v) Behavioural profiling: Behaviour profiling is targeting users by interest, based on their previous tracked activity. vi) Look-alikes profiling: Identifying new customers by modelling the browsing behaviours of actual brand converters. Benefits of customer profiling By understanding the customer effectively about who uses the services and products, Service can be delivered more specifically to that particular customer with more effective FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY / NOT FOR SALE OR REPRODUCTION 54  TFTME 4105 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IV: TREND ANALYSIS AND PRODUCT CONCEPTUALIZATION process. Through this understanding, we can tailor the channels and communications to users’ needs for most efficient and effective targeting process. Better understanding of the customer helps to provide better service; it ultimately leads to the soul requirement of the business “satisfied customers”. By looking into the profiling, we can understand who isn’t a customer and why. This will help the company to expand their market. Understanding the geo-demographics of the customer can help and tailor marketing to change the behavioural pattern. Profiling can help measure service use for continuous learning and performance management. 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