Danielle of Final Fashion has her own thread going in the forum. The purposes of which are to “kick the tires” of her product line. I think she’s done a bang-up job; there’s detailed illustrations with links to photos of actual garments on her website. I posted one of her sketches the other day. Anyway, I did notice one thing that needed some work and Danielle has graciously permitted us to use the discussion and sketches for the purposes of group education. Specifically, my critique is the design of her style numbering system. If you have my book, you already know the basics and a follow up post is here, to say nothing of the many many times I’ve written about style numbers already (hence, this post is numbered 127 -not that there actually were 126 posts preceding this one).
We’ve decided to do this topic in 3 posts. The first one we’ll correct numbers for product type. The second time we’ll correct for future growth (so your style number system will last the life of your company). Third, I’ll ask Miracle to come in and cast her eye on the structure of the line sheet itself. Again, these are minor tweaks. Please use the line sheet below to see where we’re getting the numbers we’re using. I realize the numbers may be too small for you to read, if so, scroll down this page for a larger image.
Correcting for product type
First, let’s go over the bodies you have. You have tops, outerwear, skirts, pants and accessories. All of the tops (for example) should start with the same number. All of the skirts should start with the same number, etc. Even if this were the only correction you were to make, that’d be okay.
Note: The first number that appears is the number that Danielle issued. After the equals sign is my suggested correction.
Skirts:
1201=1101
3102=1102
2201=1103
Dresses:
1501=2101
Outerwear:
3101=3101
5301=3102
Tops:
4101=4101
4102=4102
4103=4103
2101=4104
Pants:
5201=5101
Accessories:
6601=6101
6602=6102
Summary:
1100 series = Skirts
2100 series = Dresses
3100 series = Outerwear
4100 series = Blouses
5100 series = Pants
6100 series = Accessories
Now, you can assign any of those series to whatever category of products you like. The numbers I applied were arbitrary. Generally, “1” is reserved for the product you do the most of. In this case, I guess you’d make blouses 1100 series but that’s your decision. This tweaking is minutia. Assign whatever series you like to each class of product. Once you put up the correction for this in the forum, I’ll post the numbering system correction for growth both here and there.
Thanks Danielle! Very few people are willing to be guinea pigs for the purposes of our education so I really appreciate your generosity and hope everyone else does too.
Related:
Style Numbers revisited
How to issue style numbers pt.128
How to issue style numbers pt.129
How to issue style numbers pt.130
Danielle, thanks for being willing to have your line’s detail(s) worked through here. This is the very best kind of instruction – hands on with a real product.
This is great and helps to clarify things for me. (I just read this part of the book yesterday. I honestly have so many notes that I could write a Cliff Notes version of your book.)
Anyway, I had a question about style numbers I was going to email you, but since you say you have other designers of handbags who read the site, I thought they might be interested in my question and your answer so I created a question about style numbers in the forum, under Blog Topics.
I’m just glad to have the help! Originally I had the numbers listed by outfit (useless beyond fashion show/school purposes), and then when I tried to fix them I had my style numbers listed by fabric type – woops! This is great. When I asked about style numbers at school the answer was “just make something up”! Ah… university education…
Kathleen, can you help me with style numbers for a High-end Designer Menswear Collection.
WE do:
Shirts
Jackets
Sweaters (knits)
Suits
Outerwear (coats)
Thank you. You did a great job withte womenswear company.
Kathleen, can you help me with style numbers for a High-end Designer Menswear Collection.
WE do:
Shirts
Jackets
Sweaters (knits)
Suits
Outerwear (coats)
Thank you. You did a great job withte womenswear company.
I have 2 garments with the hangtags still on:
style: SIR 053T
style: SIR 113B
the T refers to top and B to blouse. They are both silk so I don’t know if SI refers to the fabrication. They are both Rice colour, so I don’t know if R refers to that.
Anyway I wonder if it is recommended to use letters and numbers in the style no.? On first blush I like the idea bc. it is more descriptive.
At the close of this post you’re responding to are four other entries on style numbers and I would urge you to read them. I strongly discourage mixing letters and numbers unless you have a lot of experience and know exactly what you’re doing (tees etc). People form opinions about your firm based on style numbers and the impression you leave is poor if you mix letters and numbers.