Process
Six stages, and a gate at the end of each one.
Stage
Brief and feasibility
Turn an intention into a written product brief, and give an honest read on whether it can be made to the quantity, quality, cost and date being discussed.
Typical duration
1–2 weeks
Inputs
- Brand and audience context
- Creative direction in whatever form it exists — references, moodboards, sketches, designs in progress or production-ready files
- Commercial objective and route to market
- Target price points, indicative quantities and sizing
- Launch or delivery date and the markets it has to reach
Decisions
- What the collection contains and what it deliberately excludes
- Which categories are credible at this budget and volume
- Where the price ladder starts and ends
- Whether the date is achievable, and what would have to change if not
Approval gate
Brief approved in writing. Nothing is developed before this exists.
You receive
- Written product brief with style list, price ladder, quantities and size curve
- Feasibility assessment, including anything we think will not work
- Indicative development scope and calendar
Stage
Product strategy and development
Convert the brief into a product architecture and the technical documentation a factory can build from — twice.
Typical duration
2–4 weeks
Inputs
- Approved brief
- Creative direction and any existing artwork
- Reference garments, where they exist
Decisions
- Construction and silhouette per style
- Fabric qualities, weights and handfeel targets
- Fit intent, block strategy and grading approach
- Trims, labels, packaging and decoration direction
- Target garment cost per style against the price ladder
Approval gate
Materials approved against physical fabric headers, with fabric minimums checked.
You receive
- Product architecture and final style list
- Technical packs: construction, measurements, components, tolerances, finish requirements
- Bill of materials per style
- Costed development plan
Stage
Sourcing, supplier matching and sampling
Match each product to the supplier best equipped to make it, then prove the product physically before anything is committed.
Typical duration
6–10 weeks across two to three sampling rounds
Inputs
- Technical packs and bills of materials
- Target cost, quantity and delivery date per style
- Approved materials
Decisions
- Which specialist makes which product, based on category, quality level, complexity, minimum order quantity, lead time and cost
- Colour standards and lab dips
- Decoration technique per style, tested on production fabric
- Fit corrections from real fit sessions
Approval gate
Colour approved against one physical standard issued to every supplier. Digital approval is not approval.
You receive
- Supplier map with the reasoning for each choice
- Prototypes, fit samples and decoration trials
- Consolidated comment sheets per round
- Confirmed costings
Stage
Approval and industrialisation
Freeze the product. Everything that goes into bulk is measured against a physical reference held by both sides.
Typical duration
2–3 weeks
Inputs
- Refined samples from the previous rounds
- Final artwork and label specifications
- Confirmed quantities and size curve
Decisions
- Sealed sample sign-off per style
- Final specifications and any last construction changes
- Acceptance standard and inspection level
- Production planning, capacity booking and critical path
Approval gate
Sealed sample approved and held by both the studio and the supplier. This is what bulk is judged against.
You receive
- Sealed samples
- Final production-ready technical packs
- Production plan with dates per supplier
- Agreed quality and acceptance criteria
Stage
Production
Run the production against the agreed plan and manage the exceptions, which there always are.
Typical duration
4–8 weeks depending on category and volume
Inputs
- Sealed samples and final packs
- Bulk fabric, trims and packaging
- Confirmed purchase orders
Decisions
- Response to any material, capacity or quality exception
- Trade-offs when something moves — what gets protected and what gives
- Split shipments or consolidation, where dates require it
Approval gate
Pre-production check on the first units off the line before the run continues.
You receive
- Finished goods
- Production status reporting through the run
- A written record of any deviation from the sealed sample
Stage
Quality and delivery
Check the goods against the standard everyone agreed, then get them where they need to be and leave the programme in a state that can be repeated.
Typical duration
2–3 weeks including freight
Inputs
- Finished goods
- Agreed acceptance standard
- Packing and destination requirements
Decisions
- Accept, rework or reject, against the agreed standard
- Packing, labelling and consolidation approach
- Shipping route and timing per destination
Approval gate
Final inspection passed, with an explicit rework route for anything that fails.
You receive
- Inspected, packed and consolidated goods delivered
- Inspection records
- Reorder-ready documentation: specifications, sealed samples, supplier and cost structure
Timing, cost and quality
Something always has to give. We say which.
Every programme is constrained by at least one of date, cost and quality. The useful conversation is which one is fixed, because that determines what moves.
When the date is fixed
Reduce style count rather than skip gates. Fewer styles through the full process is far safer than the same styles through a shortened one — and it usually improves the collection. Where a programme repeats, we pre-develop the system (fabric, colour, block, packaging) so the specific product can be applied to it later.
When the cost is fixed
Protect fabric weight and fit development first; they are the two things no later decision recovers. Reduce style count, simplify decoration technique and consolidate suppliers before touching material quality.
When the quality bar is fixed
Then the date or the quantity has to move. Garment dyeing, fully fashioned knitwear and complex finishes have irreducible lead times, and testing them properly is what stops bulk arriving different from the sample.
Before the first call
What to prepare.
None of this is required to talk to us. All of it makes the first conversation more useful, and several of these answers change what we would recommend.
- 01
What the collection is for
Retail, hospitality, gifting, staff, a launch moment or a season — the answer changes almost every product decision.
- 02
Whatever creative direction exists
References, moodboards, sketches, designs in progress or finished files. Any of these is a valid starting point; none of them is required to be complete.
- 03
Indicative quantities per style
Minimum order quantities — often on fabric before garments — decide which suppliers and which constructions are available to you.
- 04
A target retail or landed price
Cost is engineered backwards from this. Without it, samples get made and then stripped of what made them good.
- 05
The date it has to land
The calendar is built forwards from the longest-lead item. We would rather tell you in week one that the date does not work.
- 06
Delivery markets
Destinations affect labelling, compliance, freight and consolidation, and are cheaper to plan for than to retrofit.
- 07
Who approves
One named decision-maker per organisation. This single item removes more delay from a project than anything else.
Serious development work is paid. A collection that needs product architecture, technical packs, pattern work, sampling and supplier coordination is a real project with real cost, and we would rather be clear about that early than discover a mismatch after three conversations.
Start a project
Have a collection in mind? Tell us what you are building.
Share the creative direction, product references, quantities and the date it has to land. We will come back with the route from concept to finished collection — and an honest read on feasibility.
Or write to hello@weareapexstudio.com