Project Scope
There are many challenges that new brands face when entering the apparel market. The cost of sourcing and producing small quantities is expensive, and it's challenging to keep up with the pace of the industry and companies that have larger teams and budgets to put towards their collections. With the relaunch I used lean product development methodologies to test our products and create more brand awareness before taking the collection to New York for the Spring 2019 market.
Business Analysis
When I launched Silvae in 2013 I had looked for development and production resources in Seattle, but much of the industry had moved overseas. The local factories I located weren't accepting smaller quantities, so I began working with a pattern-maker and production company in New York. They didn't have production minimums, but you paid a higher price when placing smaller orders.
After developing several seasons, I found my wholesale growth to be slow and steady, but the high production cost was becoming unsustainable. I was picking up store accounts, but many of them were speciality boutiques that placed small orders. I had made more connections in the local industry, and to lower costs I began moving my production and development back in-house and with local sewers in Seattle.
I was looking for ways to increase our direct sales, and in 2016 I opened a retail location, Rizom, in Seattle with a group of local creatives. Moving Silvae's production and development back to Seattle had helped our bottom line, but I was still struggling with the development and production costs.
I decided to take a couple seasons off from wholesale to focus on growing the store, which provided a unique opportunity to get feedback directly from our customers. I was able to see in person what styles they were drawn to, fabrications they preferred, as well as fit issues across a wide variety of body types. After a year I was eager to apply this learning to Silvae's development and began working on a market plan for the Spring 19 season.
Market Plan
In addition to learning from our customers, I had spent the past year reflecting on Silvae's business practices and how I could make things more efficient. I had been researching lean production practices, and was curious if I could apply some of these principles to our development model. I began by identifying issues I saw at Silvae and across the fashion industry. I also took note of customer pain points, which I gathered from my experience managing customer relations at Rizom.
Across the industry there were issues with excess fabric and garment overstock, environmental impacts from fabric manufacturing, working conditions for garment production, outdated waterfall development practices, and a struggling retail sector.
At Silvae we had issues with leftover fabric and unsold goods, high costs of small scale shipping, materials and manufacturing, competing in a saturated market, and a high price point which limited our customer base.
We had learned that customers wanted more wearable garments with design interest, companies with values, quality construction & fabric, better fit and sizing, and a more accessible price point. They also had busy schedules with minimal time to shop, but missed the interaction and community of the store experience. When shopping online it was hard to see the quality of the fabric and fit, and they didn't like the hassle of returning items if they didn’t fit or the style wasn't right.
Next I looked at how I would make changes in Silvae's development and production practices to address these issues and solve our customers' needs.
Silvae x Industry Issues
- Add made-to-order and pre-order to reduce fabric waste and overproduction
- Use more overstock fabrics and mills with stock programs / LDP
- Share more information about our fabric suppliers
- Continue working with local factories and contract sewers
- Use or sell leftover fabrics from past collections
- Use agile development to include the customer earlier in the process and build brand awareness
- Share more of brand story and values on social media
- Build key retail and influencer partnerships to increase validation
- Spend more time analyzing data and implementing marketing strategies
Silvae x Customer Pain Points
- Use more wearable fabrics
- Change to number sizing 1 - 5, and offer made to measure
- More offerings in the $200 retail range
- Offer pre-order at discounted price to direct customers
- Provide more measurement and fit description online
- Offer promotions to bring in referrals and new followers
- Special offers for existing clients to encourage repeat customers
- In person shopping experiences in Seattle showroom and pop-ups
Sourcing and Design
One of our main costing challenges was with sourcing. Many mills don't work with smaller orders, so I had been sourcing a lot of my fabrics from mills in Japan and Italy that would allow you to order sample rolls for production. However, ordering sample yardage came with a surcharge and the shipping costs were expensive.
I took a sourcing trip to Los Angeles to attend the LA textile show to find more stock fabric suppliers and explore some deadstock sources. Deadstock is leftover yardage from larger companies, and while the quantities are limited the pricing is reasonable and can be a good resource for smaller brands.
When I returned home I began building trend boards to zero in on themes I was seeing in the industry and what I was currently drawn to. I had recently taken a trip to Spain and was really inspired by the countryside and the city of Granada and its history. I found books on Spanish dress from different regions and began working that into my inspiration boards.
I looked at past collections to see which styles had performed well and began sketching. After creating a number of designs, I held a critique with my assistants and trusted colleagues to narrow down the design direction. Key themes began to emerge, and I continued sketching to finalize details and create cohesion throughout the collection. We landed with 23 pieces, which included some carryover styles.
Once the silhouettes were finalized I began fabrication. I prioritized fabrics that would meet our price, stock and quality needs while building a strong color story. I held another critique to finalize the fabric qualities and color palette. Then I reached out to mills to learn about availability and lead time.
The fabrics I selected were mostly cotton with some interesting novelties mixed in to add texture and elevate the line. Three of the qualities we landed on were deadstock from our connection in LA, and the remaining qualities were from stock programs so I could order just what was needed for sampling and production.
Pattern and Sample Development
From here I began the pattern and sample making process, breaking the collection into smaller chunks that my team and I would work on in sprints. To gain customer feedback earlier in the process, I was planning to release the first part of the collection as a pre-order to our direct customers. The goal was to increase brand awareness before taking the collection to market in September, as well as receive customer feedback that we could pass along to our store buyers.
We started by cutting and sewing the carryover pieces, as well as styles that were similar to those we had developed before as these patterns would provide a good starting point. With the new development, we sewed quick muslin samples to test the fit and design proportion before cutting them in the final fabric.
Photoshoot and Social Media
While the development moved forward I began coordinating with my photographer and creative collaborator, Jessa Carter, for the photoshoot. I created a mood board to visually communicate the direction, which included lighting, poses, and styling for hair, makeup, and accessories. To keep costs down I scouted for unsigned models, and held some castings to test how the samples fit.
For the location I was able to utilize a connection to a farm on Whidbey Island to shoot in a part of their wheat field that had been partially harvested and mimicked the Spanish countryside. My assistants and I styled the shoot and executed the hair and makeup.
After the shoot I began reaching out to key influencers whose following would be a good match for our buyer and customer base. I negotiated several posts in exchange for pieces from the collection, and planned the timing so they would be promoted during the pre-order. I also reached out to Garmentory, an online source for emerging contemporary fashion, to promote our pre-order and planned some local shopping events in Seattle.
Pre-Order and Sales Outreach
Only one of the fabrications had been sampled for the photoshoot, so we took still life photos of the other fabrics offered so we could feature them on the website for the pre-order. I added more details about the fabric and fit so users would have a better sense of our sizing and fabric qualities.
Overall, we had a good response to the new collection and social media promotion. We made some sales online, and the local events were particularly helpful in gaining feedback from customers. At market, buyers often asked what styles I thought would perform well. The pre-order provided me with real data I could share to help them make better buying decisions.
I also tested our new number sizing during the pre-order. Previously, I had been offering sizes XS - XL, but I found that there were often negative feelings that came along with these labels. I wanted Silvae to be more inclusive, and changed our sizing to 1 - 5 along with offering made to measure. I've found that many women fall between sizes or have a different body proportion from the standard industry sizing. Making pieces to measure allowed my customers to have a piece that fit them well and avoid the frustration that presents when things don't fit.
Wholesale Market
While we were promoting the pre-order, I continued development on the second half of the collection. I coordinated a second shoot in the same location and began working on the sales materials for market. This included a line sheet with all of the product and pricing information, a look book of the collection, and printed materials. We began email outreach to our sales and press contacts to invite them to view the collection in New York. From my experience at Rizom, I knew that buyers received a lot of emails around this time so we sent post cards in the mail to add a physical touchpoint.
In past seasons I had shown at Capsule, a tradeshow that featured emerging contemporary designers. However, over the years they had grown in size and it was becoming harder to be discovered among all the brands. I learned that Garmentory was launching a smaller, more curated showroom, and I was able to sign up to show with them for the Spring 19 market in New York.
Learnings
During the trade show we picked up new accounts, and by the time the season wrapped we had grown our wholesale by 50% with new stores including Ron Herman Japan, Pas Mal in Brooklyn, and Les Amis in Seattle. The social media partnerships were also successful in increasing brand awareness. I received feedback from multiple buyers that they had seen our brand on social media which encouraged them to stop by.
I did receive feedback from one buyer that because they had already seen some of the styles online, they were less inclined to pick them up. They wanted to be the ones to introduce the products to their customers. However, the rest of the buyers appreciated having the data on what styles were popular during the pre-order. I received the best learning at our local events when I was able to see customers interacting with our new products in person. It allowed me to ask follow up questions to learn why they preferred certain styles or fabrications over others.
For future seasons I would like to continue the pre-order but on a smaller scale at local events, and reserve the social media promotion for the seasons that are currently retailing. This way I can receive feedback on the line while keeping the exclusivity that my retail partners value.
The social media partnerships performed well, and I would like to continue this engagement to help drive more direct sales on the website. In the coming seasons I'd like to continue developing our website experience so that users can easily explore the product offerings and learn more about the brand. I also plan to share more of our process on social media so that we have more transparency with our customers, which will also help to show our value.
With the changes we made in sourcing I was able to save on our fabric cost. Customers expressed that they liked the wearability, especially of the cotton qualities. I would like to continue working with deadstock qualities and have plans to partner with my studio mate, What Because Rugs, to turn our scraps from production into rag rugs to help reduce waste.
View the full Spring 19 collection
