The 26 Steps of Making Atèlette
A corner of my inspiration/mood board in my office
I think it's a Godsend I did not go to fashion school. I think if I had, I probably would have not started a clothing line, let alone a sustainable slow fashion label. I wanted to briefly outline the many steps involved in creating just one of our garments. This does not include any of the steps involved for website, wholesale, or marketing, so as you can see, starting a sustainable women's clothing line is quite an involved process.
DEVELOPMENT
1. Sketch/Design Concept
2. Create Tech Pack (multiple steps)
3. Receive Sample
4. Review Sample (fitting/initial shoot)
5. Revisions (this can happen multiple times)
6. Source Fabric/Trims (we always look at deadstock first)
7. Research Prints (if doing custom print)
8. Design Print/Research Pantones
9. Send Print for Sampling
10. Approve Pantones/Print on Sample
11. Request Size Grading
12. Review Size Grading (this takes me forever)
13. Final Sample Shoot
PRODUCTION
14. Order Fabric (if custom print)
15. Fabric Ships/Final Approval
16. Blocking/Shrink Testing
***PRE-ORDERS RELEASED***
17. Pattern/Fabric Cutting
18. Sewing/Assembling
19. Finishing (Buttons, Zippers, Trimming Loose Threads, Tags)
20. Counting
21. Inspection for QC
22. Packing
23. Shipping/Import
24. Duties/Taxes
25. Receive at Warehouse
26. Inspect/Count
I want to highlight that regardless if an item is consciously crafted or sustainably made, almost every single article of clothing being made goes through a similar process. As a consumer driven society, so many people have been fooled into believing garments and apparel should be cheap and fast. When you look at all of the steps involved in the making of a garment, think of how many hands and the amount of labor was involved in just that one piece. If you're buying a dress for $25.00 retail, there is no doubt that that garment was made exploiting a human being. In sharing just the surface of this process, I hope you start to have a better understanding of how many hands and how much work goes into garments being made. Shop mindfully, shop with your conscience, shop with your heart.
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