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Images and ideas
Reference or inspiration images, a sketch, a design drawing, or a rough concept that still needs shaping.
Service — Design & development
From a reference to something you can make
Design and product development for labels, designers and boutique buyers who arrive with a concept but no technical material. Send us what you have and we will say what it can become.
The brief
What we take on
Few projects arrive complete. Most begin as a photograph, a sketch or a garment someone already made.
We look at what you have before quoting. Where the material is thin, the project is assessed first, and if more work is needed before a quote is possible, a paid assessment or a further development step is proposed and agreed with you before anything starts.
Feasibility is judged per project. The complexity of the style, the materials it needs and the level of finish you sell at all shape what we can take on, and the answer is written down before work begins.
You can commission design development on its own and stop there, or carry it into patterns, sampling and production. The quote sets out what the fee covers: how many concepts are developed, how complete the drawing set is, and how many revision rounds are included.
Starting points
What we can start from
Any of these opens a project. None of them has to be complete before you write to us.
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Technical material
A full tech pack, technical drawings or a size chart you have already written and want us to work from.
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Garments and patterns
A physical sample garment to match, or existing patterns and digital blocks we adjust instead of drafting again.
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Your own materials
Fabric, trims or embellishment material you supply, developed around rather than sourced for you.
Deliverables
What you get
A set of design drawings or a design proposal, plus the detail and material direction that make the style buildable. The deliverable list is written into the project quote, and not every project includes all three.
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Design drawings or a proposal
Drawings that fix the silhouette and the main construction, or a written proposal where the direction still has to be chosen.
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Design detail
The decisions behind the garment: panel lines, seams, closures, the lining approach and the finish level your brand sells at.
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Material and craft advice
Fabric, trim and embellishment suggestions, with the techniques that would carry them and what each choice does to cost and time.
Where it leads
How it connects to the rest
Design development is a starting service. What it produces is what the later stages work from.
Patterns and tech packs
Drawings and detail become a working pattern, a graded size set and the documents a factory reads.
Patterns & tech packsSampling and handwork
The first physical version of the design, where fit, structure and embellishment are decided on a garment.
Sampling & handworkODM development
If you would rather start from a style that already exists, this is the route that begins with a developed design.
ODM developmentStill deciding where to begin? These articles cover design development, starting a project and how a project is priced and quoted.
Briefing us
What we need from you
Three answers make the first reply concrete instead of polite.
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Your starting point
Whatever already exists: reference images, a sketch, a tech pack, a sample garment, patterns, or materials you supply.
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Your customer and price position
Who the style is for and where it sells, so the finish level and the material choices match the price the garment has to hold.
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Your quantity plan and target date
How many pieces you are planning, and when you need them. Rough numbers are more useful than none.
Questions
Questions before you begin
What if I only have reference images?
That is a normal starting point. We assess the references and the brief, then tell you what can be developed from them, what is still missing, and what the next step would cost.
Do you develop the design, or do I?
Either can work. Some clients arrive with a finished drawing that we develop technically. Others hand over a rough concept and let our design team take it further. The split is agreed before work starts.
How are design development fees handled?
Design development is quoted per project. Pattern work and technical documents are priced separately from sampling, and every fee is confirmed in the project quote before work begins.
Start
Ready to turn your reference into a garment?
Send your images, sketches or a short brief. We will reply with what can be developed from them and the next step.