The Importance of Fit

Retail buyers often tell me their biggest problem with new collections is fit. And poor or inconsistent fit is the biggest reason for online returns.  

It’s important for your brand to develop accurate and consistent fit across your entire product development and manufacturing process from the patterns and samples to the final production. 

Issues of fit often start during the design process but they can get progressively worse at each development stage resulting in too many sample rounds and unnecessary waste and expense.

Precise information and strong communication between the designer and the pattern makers, sample makers and the factory is key. Too often designers receive a sample and say the factory did not follow directions and the factory responds that the designer did not provide the right information.  

Tips to avoid some of these issues: 

* Factory’s may suggest you just use ‘standard sizing’ and grading for your brand but realize that ‘standard’ differs from factory to factory. Its best to provide the precise measurements you want used for your brand. 

* When starting out, its worth the time and expense to work with an experienced pattern maker to help set the fit and size guidelines you want for your brand and which make sense for your customer. 

* Spend time creating detailed spec sheets or a ‘tech pack' which contains the very technical information and design details the factory will need to create your product exactly to your specifications. It should include:

• A list of materials

• Product descriptions

• Spec sheets with measurements and sewing instructions

• Guidelines for size grading and marking for grain lines and cutting

• Technical drawings with details for seams, placement of hardware and embellishments. 

• Fabric swatches and color references. 

• Information regarding labeling, product testing and final packing details. 

* When you receive your samples, test each one on a fit model who accurately represents your customer.

Fit for Everybody is a web-based development platform for designers to create digital tech packs to streamline sampling and improve their sizing accuracy and consistency. They have an affordable monthly fee include: One-page tech packs, Category-based point of measurement diagrams, Defined grading specific to your customer, Quality control templates and even chat with translation for communicating with the factory.