Business Sense: Manufacturing

Now that I've got my bags designed and my samples and first run of bags completed, I'm working on securing manufacturing. I just don't have the time or capacity to do my own production for these bags, so I need to find a factory at which I can place orders. So when I have large numbers of bags being ordered by stores, I can get the orders filled in a small amount of time.

When vetting out a factory, there are a couple of important points to consider:

     1. Belief in your own Company: First and foremost, you have to find a factory willing to work with you. Since I don't have hundreds of thousands (or even 10s of thousands, for that matter) of dollars of investment that I can pledge for my orders, I have to find factories that are set up to do small production runs and who believe that my initial orders are worth taking in the anticipation that in a year or so, I'll be placing and paying for larger runs as I expand. So I have to make sure that I communicate my plans to make this a viable business as it's my personal life and savings investment.

     2. Communication: It's also important to find a factory rep who you can easily communicate with. As I have personally made all the samples thus far, I have to make sure I can give instructions clearly and easily so that I can get the product that I want from the factory, and that my rep can communicate my vision to the technicians on his/her end.

     3. Quality of Work: Once the sample process begins, and I get back the initial factory sample, I'll make comments on where the seams are placed, how the trims are applied, and how the full bag is coming together. This is relatively subjective, as I know what I want it to look like, so I simply have to make sure that my vision has been communicated properly.

I have put together what is called a Tech Pack which includes all fabric and trim for the bag, a paper pattern to cut the pieces of the bag, and an original sample that I have already produced that the factory is to duplicate. Now it's a matter of sitting back and waiting for the sample and costing structure to come back from the factories I want to vet.