But all this would be simply impossible without the reverse side – the sewing industry. The heroes of this rear – designers, seamstresses, cutters – work in the shops, removing even lines, so that the jacket could go on sale.
The business of creating clothes, like an Olympic medal, has two sides. The front, front part is advertising in glossy magazines or shop windows where stylish stylish jackets sit on mannequins.
Why do clothes manufacturers open their own sewing industries? How much does it cost? And how to organize everything correctly and wisely?
Where to begin?
When we talk about sewing, two scenarios are possible. In the first case, an entrepreneur buys equipment, hires personnel and recruits orders from various designers, companies and even other industries that do not have enough capacity to sew everything they need. In this case, there is no question of creating your own clothes and brand, you do not need to think about how to sell products.
The second case – and this is just my situation – implies that first the products will be manufactured, the demand for it will be studied and the distribution channels will be found, and only then will the own factory start.
Production of both types can work in symbiosis, and each path has both pluses and minuses. To start production, which works with orders, you will need a large amount of investment and fixed costs. Plus, the second way is that there are no fixed costs. But at the same time you can not control the production process and the terms of the order fulfillment from the performers.
If you decide not just to open a sewing business that takes orders, but plan to create your brand and sew products according to your own patterns, you’ll have to determine with what exactly to sew and for which audience to work.
When I first started Northwestfur, there was no production as such, and the main task was to develop a model, templates. With these patterns, we went to the production and ordered an industrial lot. Due to the fact that there was not a lot of production, we focused our attention on demand. First they sewed jackets for a mass audience and sold them through an online store. The problem was that it was difficult to advertise such products. At that time, I talked with people who travel. So somehow I thought that it would be nice to make jackets directly for such people here. Thus it was possible to get into a narrower target audience, to which it was easier to convey information about our clothes.
Unsuccessful choice of the target audience and misunderstanding of its priorities can put an end to all your business. Many of the manufacturers of jackets closed simply because they focused on fashion and sewed for young people. It was a road to nowhere, as young people would better go to the market and buy themselves a fake but well-known brand, rather than quality clothing under a little-known brand.
I immediately decided to go the other way and chose an older audience – 30-40 years. These are people who already do not care about the tag on clothes. It is important for them that the products are quality and comfortable. A little later, we reoriented a little and now we sew clothes primarily for travel, but we also have city models of jackets.
Keep in mind that it is not worthwhile to sew a large batch of products. For a start it is better to make a small number of products and see how they will be sold.
Having identified with the target audience and products, you need to think over sales channels. For example, you can sell your products to wholesalers who will already resell them in their stores, or to retail customers through their own chain stores or an online store with delivery. We in our practice use both methods. But the main emphasis is still on retail customers.
Start to launch your own production spontaneously not worth it. Ideal if you already have some experience in sewing or light industry, entrepreneurial experience. In this case, you will have an idea of the work and certain links in this environment. It is advisable to spy on how the work is built with other manufacturers. In addition, it is necessary to immediately attract to your team professionals who can be entrusted with the solution of highly specialized questions, in which you are not entirely competent. Good technologists, designers and production directors will save you from a headache.
Investment size
The amount of investment will depend mainly on what kind of production you want. If you plan to simply take orders from others, work on give-and-take raw materials, you need at least 20-30 machines to have a sufficient output. At small volumes such sewing manufacture will not be profitable.
In addition to the 20 conventional sewing machines you will need 10 different devices: overlock, button and riveting machines and so on. Prices for such tools can be very different, but you can expect to get an average of 15 thousand rubles for a used car. If you work on give-and-take raw materials, the fabric, threads, accessories and other necessary things will be provided to you by the customer, therefore this item of expenditure falls away.
But keep in mind that workers will have to pay their wages from the first day of the opening of production, and there will most likely be no large orders at first.
You can not just dismiss the staff when there are no orders. Good seamstresses and other professionals are very difficult to find. Therefore it is desirable that for the first time you have a certain financial cushion, which allows you to pay salaries to staff. In total, the launch of this scheme will require about 2 million rubles. This amount will be enough if orders go right away.
If you plan to work under the scheme, when the brand is first created, the amount of investment can be arbitrarily different. For example, you can invent a cool jacket or T-shirt, having spent about 15 thousand rubles on its development. After that, you can order a third-party production of a small trial lot – 20-30 items – and try to sell it. In this case, investments will not be needed much, but to increase output and start production later.
A separate item of expenditure is advertising and PR. And here the amount of promotion can also be very different. First, the costs of this article will depend on the chosen scheme of work and, accordingly, on what audience you will be targeting. If you are sewing to order, you need to look for exits to potential customers. And here everything is not so expensive: you can make commercial offers and send them to potential customers, be shown on profile sites, etc. A large-scale advertising campaign is not necessary.
But if it’s about promoting your own brand, you need to bring your information about yourself to a wider audience, and here you will need to use other channels. But even in this case, you can effectively advertise with a small budget.
Personal experience
I chose a fairly narrow audience – travelers – and began to act through it. I sewed a trial lot of jackets and gave out to people who actively travel and are known in certain circles. They began to mention our products in their blogs, upload photos. But the real breakthrough happened after one of the bloggers came to talk on the topic of jackets.
The conversation was not so much about jackets as about business, and the guest asked permission to record a conversation on the recorder. After that, he published a conversation record in his blog. I was surprised that the record received so many positive reviews. After this publication, I began to receive proposals for cooperation from federal newspapers and TV channels. So, the coolest part of PR of my brand did not cost me anything.
Either way, the entrepreneur raises the question of where to get the money to start his production. After all, 2 million rubles on the road are not lying around. The very first thought is to issue a loan, but in today’s conditions, loans are increasingly turning into a stone that drowns business.
The most reasonable way is to gradually finance. Collecting a couple of hundred thousand rubles is quite feasible, and with this amount you can start something. Such a scheme is best used if you are launching your own brand.
To sewing manufacture on давальческом raw materials such scheme to apply rather uneasy. Therefore, it is worth trying to attract an investor, for example, by promising him a share in the business. Although investors invest in production very reluctantly – there are a lot of risks, and profitability is small.
Step-by-step instruction
So, at first you need to determine the type of clothing production, the target audience, calculate the amount of financing and find its source. After this, you can proceed directly to the creation of production. And the first thing you need is to find suppliers of equipment and raw materials.
As you know, it’s always easier to buy than sell. Suppliers of equipment – from used to the newest and most modern – in Russia very much. At the same time, most of them are now very eager to make contact, because they are not lined up with queues from buyers. Find these providers is not difficult on the Internet. The main thing is to determine which equipment you need and what price you are willing to pay for it.
Choosing a supplier of fabric, you need to proceed from what you have products. For example, if you sew dresses in the premium segment, it makes sense to spend on expensive European fabrics. At the same time, there are a lot of suppliers on the market working with Russia and China. Fabrics produced by these countries can cost much less, so if you work for a consumer with an average income, it is better to prefer them. But it is important that the quality of the fabric remains at a decent level, and it was not produced in a handicraft factory.
If you have a sufficiently large volume of production, then you can contact the factories directly. Although mediators are now not too much «wind the» prices.
The main difficulty in the sewing industry is to find good personnel. To begin with, you will need a production manager who will strictly follow the discipline. He must have the motivation to do his job qualitatively. In addition, it is important that he understands the very process of production and could prompt how to adjust something.
Also you will need a cutter who knows how to not only cut along the finished patterns, but also can make changes to them. For large production, two cutters will be needed.
Further, for each sewing machine it will be necessary to plant the seamstress. Plus, there must be a person who will be managed with auxiliary equipment – overlocks, riveting machines and so on.
An important figure is a technologist who will choose the optimal operating modes, control the quality of products, improve the production process, etc.
If you plan to develop clothes yourself, you will need a designer who will do the templates. But in the event that you are just going to work with third-party orders, such a specialist in the state is also desirable to have. Often the customer does not provide any patterns, but simply brings a sample of the finished product. Therefore, in production there must be a person who, in appearance of the jacket, will recreate the template.
Negligent attitude of staff to work entails direct material losses: negligent employees can simply spoil good expensive material. As a rule, people of pre-retirement age approach their duties more responsibly. And it’s not just about experience or financial motivation. Most of these people are simply ashamed to do a bad job.
Plus, sewing production is that hours of work can be almost anything. The main thing is that the necessary number of products be sewn for the change. When I opened production in St. Petersburg, we started working from 10am. But having moved to Veliky Novgorod, I came across the fact that the employees want to «guess» the time of the shift so as to have time for their personal plots. Therefore, in winter and autumn we usually work from 8 to 5, and in the summer we start even earlier. The question of how many shifts to enter at your enterprise depends on its load and on the number of orders.
A place
Solving the question of where to open production, it is necessary to determine not only the area and infrastructure, but also with the city. It is best to open in small towns. As a rule, renting premises in them is much cheaper, and besides there are more chances to establish contacts with local authorities, which can be very useful.
Personal experience
I transferred production from St. Petersburg to Veliky Novgorod. Rent here is cheaper, and in addition the city is much more convenient in terms of logistics, because it is located between the two capitals.
As for the location of the room, you do not need good pedestrian traffic or a central area. Moreover, renting a room in the center of the city is quite expensive, so it’s better to choose a location on the outskirts. But remember that employees should be comfortable to get to work. The floor space will depend mainly on how many jobs you have. There are no special requirements for repair.
In detail, the requirements for sewing production are prescribed in SanPiN 5182-90, issued back in 1990. But many requirements in it are actually outdated. For example, the document specifies the requirement not to exceed the noise level of 80 dBA, but in fact there are no separate measures to reduce the noise level, since modern sewing machines operate quite quietly.
The sewing workshop should have natural light sources, as well as fluorescent lamps. In addition, each workplace must be equipped with local lighting.
To begin work, no permits are required from the SES and firefighters. All necessary documents and contracts must be provided to you by the landlord. It is also desirable to certify production in accordance with ISO 9001.
Remember that the laws in force in the first three years prohibit business checks in the event that you have not received complaints. That is, you will have enough time to calmly gather all documents, bring the premises in compliance with the standards, be certified and work.
Documentation
In the case of sewing, it is preferable to register an LLC, rather than an IP. Just because in the eyes of the customer LLC looks much safer.
It is best to choose a simplified taxation regime. In the event that you work on give-and-take raw materials, choose the formula «income minus expense». Accounting will be more stringent, but you can save, because the main expense item you will have a salary to the staff.
As for OKVED codes, for sewing production 18.2 is used. If you specialize, for example, on tailoring jackets or fur coats, then – 18.22.
Check-list of opening
- Market analysis,
- The choice of the enterprise concept,
- Selecting an assortment (if you create your own brand),
- Sewing a trial lot (if you create your own brand),
- Selling a trial lot and analyzing the demand (if you create your own brand),
- Search for a room,
- Conclusion of the lease agreement,
- Registration LLC, registration with the tax inspection,
- Making a loan / investor search,
- Search for equipment suppliers,
- Ordering equipment,
- Carrying out of repair works,
- Order raw materials (if you create your own brand),
- Development of an advertising campaign,
- Installation of equipment,
- Staff search,
- Interviewing, selection of candidates,
- Scheduling shifts,
- Opening.
Is it profitable to open
The price of the finished product, produced in the garment industry, consists of three components: the cost of the material, the cost of work and the mark-up. The latter will mainly depend on which channel you have chosen. On average, the margin for wholesale buyers, who then resell products, is 20-30%. If you are engaged in retail sales, for example, through an online store, the mark-up will be much higher – 100-150%.
But keep in mind that working with retailers also has its own pitfalls. In particular, if you sew seasonal clothes (coats, jackets, etc.), making a profit can be greatly delayed. By releasing a jacket in the summer, you will spend money on material and work, but the final buyer will only acquire the thing with the onset of cold weather. Such is his psychology.
Definately determine the payback period of sewing production is difficult, because it affects a lot of factors, starting with the amount of investment and ending with the type of clothing that you sew.
In our case, the payback period was 2-3 years, since we work under our own brand and sell a lot ourselves at retail. When working on give-and-take raw materials, the payback period will be longer, since the margin is not high.
The key factor influencing the payback of production is the volume of sales or the number of orders, if you work on give-and-take raw materials. But it is extremely difficult to make any forecasts in this area: you can recruit the required number of orders immediately, or you can be «stranded» for several months.
The main way to cut production costs is to produce more products. The more volume of production as a whole, the cheaper one thing costs. The fact is that you have to purchase more materials, while the greater the amount of purchase, the lower the price in the end. But at work you can not save in any way.
The biggest problem, with what not only for sewing production, but for the whole country, is labor productivity. It is important to motivate workers to sew more, then eventually turnover will also grow. From this point of view, the biggest saving is an increase in labor productivity. But it is very difficult to do.
As for risks, production, like no other sphere, turns out to be dependent on various foreign policy developments. If retail can reorient and quickly find new suppliers, it can not always be done in production. Rising prices for raw materials can lead to bankruptcy of the enterprise.
