Define The Collection

A mood board is a visual summary of inspirational images, objects, material swatches, trims or product examples that explain the concept and feeling of your brand, collection or customer. Basically a brain dump of whatever you are inspired by.

When you are designing your collection, you need to assign style numbers to each design. The style numbers will help you to better communicate with your retailers, agents, distributors, suppliers, pattern makers, and everyone else you are working with. Here is a style number system for you to use.

New season, new inspiration, and new possibilities. Once you’ve launched your first collection, it is time to start thinking of the upcoming one. With the feedback you have received and with the stats you have collected from the previous collection, you’ve got a good restarting point.

It is vital that you stay focused and narrow down on your core vision of the brand. What do you want your brand and your products to stand for? What is your point of view, your identity, and how does that differentiate from the other designers? When you have that clear, make sure you implement it in every design you do.

Building a collection requires a fine balancing act between designing products that incorporate your values as a company and brand, and actually producing garments that sell.