Incubating sewn product and fashion businesses in New Mexico
Many months after the fact, I’m pleased to report that we manufactured over 200 pairs of pants for donation to needy New Mexico school children. Our weak link continues to be distribution (giving away free stuff is harder than you’d think) but these should be going to their new homes before the end of the month along with the coats we just made. Here is a picture of the Spring 2017 Boot Camp staff:
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
Here are photos of the final prototype bomber jacket that we’re making in Fall 2016 Apparel Manufacturing Boot Camp. Again, volunteers (2 slots still available) congregate over 4 days in my Albuquerque sewing factory to make winter coats that are donated to needy children in our community. I’m quite pleased with how it came out. Clicking on any image will take you to the full size photo, and discussion plus links to videos follow below them.
This bomber jacket has raglan sleeves with a darted shoulder for superior fit. This particular jacket is a size 7, designed specific to our “customer”. Our customer has a rounder and slightly longer torso in relation to over all height. I suppose one could say it is designed for a child who gets a lot of macro nutrients. To be less diplomatic about it, the jackets will fit a heavier than average child.
The angled trim along the sleeves is reflective. The trim itself is exceedingly difficult to source and involves much gnashing of teeth and copious begging. The same could be said for the ribbing but that’s another story. Returning to the trim, we changed the placement of it as compared to the coat we made last Fall because this will be more visible and eye catching. The trim of 2015 was along the yokes which ended up being covered by a backpack or its straps. As the wearer is often swinging their arms as they walk, putting it on the sleeve is an excellent choice. I don’t remember which designer had that idea but it’s gold, in my opinion.
Speaking of our designers, the two who finished our final prototype, allowed me to video them being somewhat silly. The first one is their testimonial for boot camp. You can meet these characters and work with them if you register today -we still have 2 openings. Enjoy.
