Jasonissm
Practically Family
- Messages
- 584
Thanks for the insight Bryan, I love hearing your thoughts on this as you run your own brand.Brands do not necessarily do their own pattern work, an experienced pattern maker will do a better job. Often pattern makers work at or for the “factory” themselves (most sewing factories/workshops in Japan are quite small).
I have clothing made for my brand in Japan so I know how I work, but generally brand owners are designers and run the business side of things, i.e. coming up with new designs, running a store/website, fulfilling orders, returns, taking photos to post online, working with stockists, working with designers on tags, collecting vintage clothing for reference and to copy details/patterns, observing the market and keeping up with trends, running social media, etc.
You then get fabric swatches from the mills and find workshops/factories willing to take on an order for your clothing item. This might mean various different workshops as some specialize in just shirts, pants, tees, etc. You give them your drawings/CAD/patterns or they help you with ODM. You sort your tags and supply them, you contact the mill and order the requisite fabric, etc. Sewing makes samples for you and you make adjustments (additional rounds of samples if necessary) before bulk production and in the end you receive the product you wanted that’s then ready to sell.
I was just writing what I heard online, and from all the misinformation and speculation around Japanese brands especially ones which don't really give out much information online like Freewheelers does (also have heard some people use the words 'design' and 'pattern' interchangeably which I know is wrong, I'm guilty of this myself), I don't trust that as much as what you've said. It's good to hear straight from the source how most brands will generally run it.
Would it be possible they collaborate on pattern grading or would that be something that they give the design to the factory, and they check it based on samples? There are smaller shops which blend designing, pattern grading, and construction like Field Leathers, would it be possible Freewheelers does pattern work as well or unlikely?
It would also make sense why Freewheelers leather jacket patterns are quite good in my opinion as Rainbow Country also does very nice patterns themselves.