After completing three orders with retail giant Urban Outfitters, we’re now looking back to extract all of the information acquired and put it to good use. The process was enveloping, as we narrowed through all of the distribution requirements, completed the construction of each piece, and took to shipping the purchase orders out. While fruitful, working with UO was our first glimpse into the future of Impish Lee, if we continued down the wholesale path, and the journey was seeming a bit weary. Why? Because we realized that from this point out, each decision regarding the design of our garments, would be a gamble. We would be gambling on you, the customer, having interest in our garment. Though confident in our design skills, we knew that there was no way to truly mitigate this problem.
Before being discovered by Urban Outfitters, our business relied solely on made-to-order production. With this model, we communicate with our customers to determine their personal style as well as their specific measurements. Then, in a collaborative effort, we’re able to create the custom garment. This certainly gives the customer some control in the design of their wears, but the process isn’t scalable unless there’s a more simple way to extract the users style and design aesthetic. This is why we are moving forward to create an online design tool that allows the user to design and see the end-product as an illustration before going into production.
Check out this informative read from Dr. David M. Anderson on mass production:
http://www.build-to-order-consulting.com/Mass%20Production.htm
We are so convinced that this method is not only better for us but also better for the customer, that we’ve decided to start taking the next few steps to bring to you our customization platform. If all goes well, we will be launching our new website by the beginning of next summer. Stay tuned!