Welcome to this special zine edition. The issue is dedicated to short runs in the textile and clothing business, so you’ll find a range of articles, blog posts and ideas from people across Europe, all of whom work in the industry.
There is plenty of design and manufacturing talent available in Europe, but there is always more that can be done to improve the situation. Acquiring the necessary skills to work in the sector is a perennial issue: we have a portrait of IFM setting out a new model for delivery in France. Finding the right expertise to help bring a concept to fulfillment in a cost-effective way is another issue that many struggle with: we’ve identified seven online sites that might be able to help, including new TCBL partner Sqetch. Katty Fashion, based in Romania, provides a case study showing how a small company made a successful transition to become a short runs producer and we have links to a couple of different case studies as well. Other pieces provide perspectives on some of the opportunities and barriers within the textiles and clothing sector.
- The Business Case for Short Runs by Richard Axe, Bill Macbeth, Ruth Farrell
- Katty Fashion – a business model for short runs success by Gabriela Iftode
- Process flow from ‘design’ to ‘fulfillment’ by Ruth Farrell, Alison Lewy, Jenny Holloway, and Caterina Ailiesei
- 7 Sites to Find Design and Manufacturing Expertise by Bill Macbeth, Richard Axe and Ruth Farrell
- Portrait: Institut Français de la Mode, Paris by Danièle Clutier-Léauté and Valérie Praquin
- The Problem with Fast Fashion by Jenny Holloway
- The production challenges of fashion start-ups by Alison Lewy
Finally, to share an external resource, we ran across this article on “How to start a clothing company lean start-up”, which you can download here.
We hope you find something of value.
Yours,
Richard Axe, Ruth Farrell, Bill Macbeth
Guest editors of the special issue