Tough question, especially if you are a designer or artist. Your creativity may be fighting hard against your business plan. At JLD-Studios we are designers too, and love to work on collections. The larger the collection, the more room to explore different concepts. So when a client comes to us with a big idea, it’s hard to tell them to slow down. Despite the flow of our creative juices, we have to encourage new brands to scale it back.
[ctt tweet=”‘Despite the flow of our creative juices, we have to encourage new brands to scale it back.’ via @MakersRow” coverup=”DRefy”]
The manufacturing process can be expensive. Plus there are many other parts of starting a business that will be a drain on your time and wallet. Narrowing down your initial assortment to 5-10 styles will allow you to make these pieces phenomenal. Plus, you will have funds available to create the next season.
We understand the drive to show everything you’ve got. Consider this: it may take a couple of seasons to swing buyers in your direction and if you use all your financial resources on round one, you won’t have anything to follow up with.
To help streamline your first season, loosely plan out 2-3 seasons at a time. This way you can decide which concepts to showcase first and you will start to see how the line will evolve. Think of creating silhouettes you can easily modify for future seasons. Strong blocks with impeccable fit will help you move quickly if there is immediate demand for new product.
[ctt tweet=”‘To help streamline your first season, loosely plan out 2-3 seasons at a time.’ @MakersRow” coverup=”DRefy”]
Launching a website and worried about filling it up? We would still recommend caution. It’s better to sell out five pieces and generate some demand than have 30 pieces sitting stale on your website for a year waiting to sell through. Break your season into 5 piece mini-collections that deliver on a 6-8 week rotation. It will allow you to keep your marketing fresh and stay current with quick moving online traffic.
Hopefully we’ve convinced you to narrow down your collection to a small cohesive grouping. We have one more suggestion to assist you in planning out your first year: plan your budget, then double it. Same goes with your design calendar. However long you think it will take to get your samples and initial production, double it and start early. This will prevent you from having a wispy summer collection available for delivery in December.
If you are planning your first launch, check out these 5 tips too.
Ready to start producing your products?
Use our new Projects software to organize all the details of your project. We will guide you through each step to ensure you consider every process of production. When you’re ready to start on your project, we will match your project with a list of relevant factories.
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4 thoughts on “How Many Products Should You Launch With?”
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I am so appreciative to have access to this blog, its giving me so many tools and validations on the decisions i am making for my own bag line. My initial idea was multiple styles with multiple color options and now i have narrowed it down to 1 great style with 6 color/ fabric options. It allows me to use those other great designs for future collections.
Exactly what I am planning to do come August for my re-launch. Great advice