Success! Fall 2016 Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp

Above: L-R, Faith, Susan, Jamie, Eric and Jane. This is what 100 coats looks like.

Late in coming, here is a report of the apparel manufacturing boot camp that was held over Labor Day, 2016.

We, the project organizers, feel that this was our most successful event yet. Attendees agreed, rating it 4.95 out of 5.  100% said they would recommend this event. 95% plan to return (the lone exception has a factory to run and can’t get away). I’ll include some comments from attendees at close so scroll down for those.  We successfully completed 70 coats in 4 days. We had inspected, inventoried and hung the last 30 coats by 11 AM the following morning. The most dramatic indicator of success was the very low defect rate, namely 4% and these were very minor details such as a label needing a corner tacked down. Contrast this with our first boot camp in which only 3% of our coats passed inspection. Yes, we were too embarrassed to admit that our defect rate was 97%, some errors being quite grave. We did fix them all before delivering them to our “customers” but it took 4 of us, about 4 week ends to do it.

We didn’t have a dream team this time; we actually had half the staff (22) of the first event. Here is a break down of our attendees: Read More

Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp -the podcast edition

I’m so excited to announce that the Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp was featured on the most recent American Fashion Podcast. Interviewed by Charles Beckwith, I’m flattered to share space with such luminaries as the CFDA, Ralph Rucci, Naeem Khan, Bob Bland, Richard Spiegel, Crispin Argento, Teri Agins, Lauren Sherman, and Timo Rissanen. Maybe the American Fashion Podcast is a best kept secret? In this episode, I dish on why I started the Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp and how it affects growth in the industry today.

First Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp Delivery

Front and back view of the coat produced at the apparel manufacturing boot camp in Albuquerque's sewing factory.

Front and back view of the coat produced at the apparel manufacturing boot camp in Albuquerque’s sewing factory.

At this late date, I realize that I never posted photos of the coat delivery.  Before I forget, if you’re interested in the technical end of it, to include an explanation of the quality and safety features we designed into each coat. see Design of the Child’s Coat -Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp, Fall 2015.

As I was; the packaging and inventory control ended up being more work than we imagined.

Eric and Violet Ahmie packaging coats from Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp

Eric and Violet Ahmie packaging coats from Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp

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