Advanced User Guide to Maker’s Row

Since its inception, the Maker’s Row mission has been to make manufacturing in America more accessible. We are constantly testing, evaluating, and modifying our platform in order to make that goal attainable to all brands despite levels of expertise. We have tailored our Maker’s Row Academy, In-person Learning Series, Live Facebook sessions and blog to help new brands transition by increasing industry knowledge. Confident, established brands also continue to use our platform for the resources, security, and convenience it provides. Here are some great features to discover for our seasoned users in order to optimize your experience on the platform.

1. Create A Projects to Send to Your Favorite Factories or Get Matched to New Ones

As new projects come to you, it is important to connect to relevant manufacturers by location, specialty, and budget/price. You can create an online portfolio with the details of your product (material, stitching, etc) and special instructions on how you want your finished product to look. Projects also allow your network of manufacturers to efficiently collaborate and manage the production of your goods.

At the completion of your project, you will be given a few options for next steps. A unique link will generate for you to share the project in any future digital communications. You will also see an option for matches. This allows you to see what factories fit based on the info you included in your project.

Projects are for the user that wants to save time by having one reference to better streamline communication and pre-production. For an in-depth guide to projects check out:What is Maker’s Row Projects Software?

2. Let Factories Find You

Once you’ve finished detailing your project, you will have the option to make it public or private. Making your project public will allow thousands of our factories to view it and offer you their services. This means that when we launched project bids, your projects will be publicized and available for bidding.

Factory Matching are for the users that wants factories to approach them or are curious about what other options they might be overlooking. For more info:What is Maker’s Row Projects Dashboard

3. Request A Quote

Similar to messaging, you can contact factories to inquire about pricing. However, quotes makes it easier to get pricing information. Just as knowing what to include in your initial message to a factory is critical to a receiving a response, so it knowing what to include in a pricing inquiry. The “Get a Quote” features guides you through a concise and specific way to express what you are looking for. There is an option to attach your Maker’s Row project for even more details (this helps a lot, from what we hear from factories). This reduces the back and forth by giving as much information as possible to give you an accurate quote.

Quotes is for the user that knows what they want to make and is ready to start competitively shopping for factories. Here are a list of factories that are ready to answer your quote requests.

4. Consulting From Industry Expert

Even as established designers, you may be faced with a new challenge. It is wise to reach out for direction in order to save valuable time and money. Maker’s Row Labs offers personal sourcing from an industry specialist that will advise you in making a world-class product, no matter the industry. Our in house expert, Liz works with brands on a daily basis to source the right factory. Her results driven approach has helped even the most advanced of brands get to their goal.

Personal Sourcing Consultations are for users that want insight and direction on getting the right factory for their product. Whether you are experimenting with a new product idea, or looking to refine an existing idea scheduling a consultation is a tremendous resource in the pre-production and production process.

5. Groups Pages

Our team curates groups of factories to help you browse the 10,000 factories in our network. Here are some of the pages:

6. Industry News and Resources

If you are not familiar with Maker’s Row blog, you should consider reading a few of our top posts. We have a community of guest bloggers who write posts on a range of topics based off their industry, specialty, or experiences. We publish posts daily on a variety of subjects within the design, manufacturing and startup space. We have authors from the apparel and furniture industry, including Jake Bronstein from Flint and Tinder and Jeff Sheldon from Ugmonk.

Our daily blog is for the user that wants to stay informed and up-to-date on:

>Trade shows (Trade Shows to Attend Summer 2016 and 9 Furniture Trade Shows to Attend)
>Best practices (How to Make Tax Season Easier Next Year and Vetting Factories for Quality)
>Insights from entrepreneurs (When Your Data Tells You to Stop Making a Product You Love)

Feel like you missed a couple of steps? Check out our previous post on 4 Maker’s Row Tools You Didn’t Know Existed.