| MadeRight |
San Mateo, CA |
super sweet guys but I did not love their work. Their guy that did tech packs was not good (I had to pay another person to fix their tech pack which they charged me $500 if I remember correctly). They only do production abroad and have minimums of I think 100 pieces per style and color. At the time I was working with them they did not provide a service for having samples sewn so you had to go and get your samples done somewhere else and then bring it to them. Finally things just kind of took a long time. For example, each tech pack revision seemed to take forever... it was frustrating |
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| Melko, NY |
New York City |
I worked with Cindy Mak on a jacket and skirt design. I was very new to it then. She graded them, I wasn't so happy with the grading job, I mean, it was accurate, but I didn't like the grade rules and didn't know enough to check/insist on certain things. The sewing was beautiful...really nice. She seems very competent. Her minimums can be low (25, I actually only had enough fabric for one that was 13, and she did it). Tiny place, if you want your work on view by anyone who visits, that happens there (I didn't love that, but that's the industry sometimes). A couple things weren't right, I had her hem scarves, and those were very late and done with the wrong threads...but the tailored (more difficult by far) pieces were beautifully done. |
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Annina King |
| National Apparel |
San Francisco |
They are well known here. They can do almost anything. knits / Wovens. I had them sew three knit dresses for prototypes. I think becauseI am new they didn't give my product much care. They sewed even though they knew their machines were needing repair caising the bindings and seams to be wobbly. Each dress was about $100 - $140. They don't give price breaks until you hit 500 units. They will do smaller units. I haven't asked them to give me production proces yet. They are fast. Going back to them to get production quotes for 100 units. Will report back here, |
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Tahra Makinson-Sanders |
| National Apparel |
San Francisco |
Have been working towards production with Johnny and team for almost 9 months. Overall they are relatively responsive and nice. But here's my experience:starts with the owner Johnny quoting me a price for production a few months ago based on fully sewn samples and tech packs. I had it in writing via email Then, after I've had all my fabric and materials shipped to his factory, and as I'm gearing up to start production, he changes his mind and demands an increase in the price/unit by almost 25%. Says this new price will ensure his team does a really "good job." Offers no other explanation. I barter a bit, we agree on a new (but still more than the original) price. I have him make me 6 samples (cost $900). His team didn't follow my tech pack (stitching is wrong in several places). He doesn't apologize and tells me its my fault for not pointing out all the details on the tech pack (we had an hour meeting going over everything prior). Despite pointing out the issues, he nonetheless requires full payment for the samples, which I begrudgingly hand over. Now, ready to discuss the contract and the TOP samples, he says he will charge me sampling costs for the TOP samples. I push back gently stating that its my understanding that its an industry standard to provide TOP samples for QC (I confirmed this with several other production facilities that thats true). And so he writes back, "we're not the right shop for you. come pick up your things." |
2/26/17 |
olga lemberg |
| Source Easy |
San Francisco |
After a ton of terminations on the product development team, delegating tasks to the wrong people, and just plain chaos, not only did they simply just not complete the work I paid them to do (source fabrics/trims, complete tech pack, sew me up a sample, etc.) but they managed to LOSE 4 of my sewn samples (4 shirts, 4 pants) I provided as references to them as well as patterns and fabric swatches. Turns out my package was stolen in plain daylight from their offices because it was not adequately supervised (and other clients' packages were also stolen; they think it might be somebody who works for them!). After a huge ordeal and on the verge of threatening legal action, they finally agreed to refund me the development costs and the costs of my lost samples. But I lost a very valuable TWO months in the meantime. I learned that when I provide anything of value to a contractor, I should always indicate the value of that property upon transfer, document what I am leaving with them, and have the recipient sign a NDA. |
4/26/2016 |
olga lemberg |
| Source Easy |
San Francisco |
They fired their entire SF product development team, switched account managers to NY, nobody knew what the heck was going on. |
4/26/2016 |
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| Spooltown |
Portland, OR |
Spent almost a year working with the ladies at Spooltown -- while friendly and responsive, I was not happy with the quality of work (at one point, they used a seatbelt, an actual seatbelt as a strap on a sample) and the slow response time. They also tried to push me to make design choices I did not specify in my original sketches, and kept reminding me how "lucky" I was to work with them. Would not recommend. |
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| Spooltown |
Portland, OR |
They are constantly busy and booked for months in advance. I tried for over a year to work with them. |
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| The Apparel Sourcing Agency |
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I also have a designer friend who is being held hostage by The Apparel Sourcing Agency. I never want to bad mouth people but enough is enough!! These people know that they can take advantage of emerging brands because they bank on us not knowing what we don't know. |
4/26/2016 |
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| The D.N.A. Group |
San Francisco |
I worked with Dan and Alex for over a year to develop my first collection of eco-luxe loungewear. This was my 3rd attempt at trying to find a production facility that would work with me to develop 11 pieces with customizable options and no minimums. The line is demi-couture. Having said that, I realize that most facilities would not even take on my project. Ideally, I was trying to find a local team that I could work with on a per piece basis but was unable to find any one in the Sarasota, Florida area or near where I live. Dan is the operations manager, while Alex is the lead designer. I found out later that they have 3 businesses - including a lingerie line and Alex's own line, in addition to the production facility. I mention this because I believe this is the major issue contributing to my complaints against them - numerous false promises, missed deadlines, and production errors - even when all changes were submitted in writing by myself continually. My complaints were always received with a very polite and immediate response with no resolution, apology, or accountability on their end - there was always another excuse - essentially, blaming me. In the end, I stopped all communication because I was continually lied to and promised the "moon" especially during new phases when they needed more $$ (they require 100% upfront and so you have no recourse for missed deadlines) - It took over 1 year to recieve all of my items - some pieces were never 'right'. These guys are very nice and I think that's why I stayed with them so long - but I feel like their priority is their own lines (including Alex's recent appearance on project runway) and that the production clients like myself are bascially financing their interests rather than being a priority. Ultimately, I "charged-back" a payment due to a missed deadline and severed the relationship. I will never work with a factory again that is so far from me geographically, there is simply no way to oversee production. Lesson learned. Hopefully this will help someone else! |
10/24/16 |
Karen Roth |
| V Mora |
Chicago, IL |
Only when I threatened a lawsuit did I get action but still lost time and money. |
4/26/2016 |
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| V Mora |
Chicago, IL |
Same problem with VMora. Lost a lot of time an money with them with none of the materials I paid for. Very little of the sourcing I paid for did they give to me. They switched account managers on me so many time and moved my project from a Chicago group to a NY group. |
4/26/2016 |
Tahra Makinson-Sanders |
| V Mora |
San Francisco |
I didn't deal with them personally but heard from friend designers that their samples were unusable. |
5/5/2016 |
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| U.S Embroidery |
Wilsonville, OR |
The bulk of their business is athletic football and basketball jersyes, but they do fashion knits and wovens too. I"ve been really happy with their work and found the owner, Kirk, to be responsive and HONEST!. They have two cutting tables, 12 sewers and embroidery machines. Patterns must be digital and ready for production. |
4/14/17 |
Michele Thomson |
| Maderight |
San Mateo / Asia |
Seems they are focusing mostly on woven. They give a contracted delivery date. If they miss the date they give you a % back. First time working together they expect 6 months. After that they expect reruns in about 30 days. They are pushing thier white label line and working off those designs. 14 day sampling gaurunteed. There is a dedicated account rep for your project/ They say they reduced lead time by 50% by allowing customer to see online where in the process the project is, time stamps and notes. Main office is in San Mateo. Sample factory is in Shanghai and owned by Maderight. They carry a lot of fabric in stock. Some of the recent production issues they have had is customers being able to meet fabric minimums. They can do sublimation but has higher minimums. They provide printing services. Plastisol heatpress for active apparel (synthicatical) Heat pressing logos. Minimums are 300 units for production. 14 pieces for sampling. |
06/21/2017 |
Tahra Makinson-Sanders |
| ClutchMade |
NYC |
I've now worked with CluthMade for the product development of our initial collection and one production. I can't say many good things about them. The first few prototypes were done super fast, and while they were expensive (average $1000 each), we were happy to have found someone who could work this fast. The relationship went downhill fast. They missed our first production date alltogether, which they chose the date based on our photoshoot. No apologies (this continued through our relationship). So we were missing pieces for our shoot, which was a huge expense. Orders were constantly late, and quality control not great. Only after our first produciton run did the owner Laura inform us that they would charge us a "monthly storage fee" to hold our very small amount of fabric and hardware! We paid almost $300 a month. Then, when I went to place a reorder a few months later, she informed me that her pricing went up 40% and her minimums doubled. We were stuck completely at this point not being able to afford the new minimums so we found a bew factory and asked her to ship our metal dies to us. She charged us $490 to package them. Not to ship them, just to PACKAGE them. There were only 4 styles. My new factory received the dies, with several parts missing and big clunks missing out of them. I emailed Laura and asked about the missing pieces and she replied that she was shipping them. No apologies no offer to ship on her dime. Needless to say, i DO NOT recommend anyone work with this factory! |
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| Kloth |
Vancouver, Canada |
ve been working with Kloth for a couple years now and I have to say they are WONDERFUL. Their work is impeccable, timely, and the owners, Garry and Michelle, are honest and straightforward - no BS type people. They are a bit on the expensive side, but they also have no minimums and will work with literally any size order you have. I have gotten production runs as small as 18 pieces from them and they don't bat an eye. They don't push my work to the side in order to satisfy larger clients either, which I know is very often an issue for startups with small minimums. I started working with Kloth because they were the only low-minimum factory near me in Vancouver, but since learning so much more about the industry I realize how lucky I've been! They are now located on Vancouver Island, about 45 minutes from where I live, and Garry has even come into my town to pick up fabric/notions from me so that I didn't have to ship it or drive it up to them! So helpful and friendly! They have even been patient with me while I sorted out funding, even though I know they are extremely busy. |
11/14/17 |
Kaitlin Martin |
| U.S. Embroidery |
Oregon |
A factory that I work with would like me to share their information to all you awesome designers. The factory is U.S Embroidery in Wilsonville, OR. They have about 12 sewers and also have a full run of embroidery machines (obviously, hence their name). They sew knits and woven. The've sewn a simple long sleeve t-shirt for me and now are sewing a woven slip dress. I've found the owner, Kirk, to be professional, knowledgeable and fair and honest!. You will see from their website that the majority of their work they do is football jerseys and sports team uniforms, but I've been very happy with their work and Kirk is open to working with small designer companies like us. No minimums. The slip dress cost me $30, but I am only making about 20 of them in production. |
12/28/2017 |
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| Suuchi |
NJ |
Discussion in FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1837844186441304/permalink/2394822980743419/ |
1/27/18 |
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| krysmanufacturing.com |
Philadelphia, PA |
To start, this website is essentially false advertising. Kristin ( the owner) claims to have a skilled team, she doesn't it's her and a few non skilled workers and interns. It also claims " she will make certain your product is EXACTLY the way you want it " this is not even remotely true. I first met with her at the end of January, I explained that I wanted to start with 2 gowns that were bodice/skirt combos so 4 pieces total. One of them would be a remake of my wedding dress, which I left there as a reference. and the other would be a remake of a gown that was mostly completed but needed some changes based on what the fabric was telling me etc. I agreed that I would make the changes to the pattern myself and bring it in the future. In that meeting I told her that these patterns were a bit tricky, that I was looking for someone who had experience with formal wear and the fabrics that were used in it namely silks, organza, dress bones, slippery lining fabrics, invisible zippers etc. I said that I understood that many companies specialize in things like uniforms, street wear, athletic gear etc and that if she didn't think they were set up for my project I totally understood and I didn't mind if she wanted to talk to her people and get back to me afterward. I gave her the opportunity in that moment to choose whether or not my project was a good fit for herself and her team's skills. She told me no problem, that we should just walk through the patterns when I came back and then it should be fine. We met again the next week, I brought the aforementioned wedding dress, that I made by myself, and the incomplete sample bodice and skirt which were complete enough to provide an adequate reference for anyone saying that they are qualified for such a project. I also brought the relevant patterns, some invisible zippers and interfacing. We went through the order of operations for the bodices which were the complicated part, I physically showed her how all the pieces folded and fit together, I let her take notes on the patterns and add additional info as she saw fit, I listened to her input, answered her questions and asked her if she needed anything else from me. She said that now that we had done that it seemed pretty straight forward and doable and she had the examples as well as photographs I had given her as references so she would be fine. We agreed on the price and the standard 50% deposit and that she would do the preliminary samples before the final fabric samples which I agreed was standard, I asked if she needed materials for that and said that I would be happy to provide muslin or any appropriate fabric that was similar to the silk in the bodice. She said they had what they needed and they would probably start on it the following week. I said I was going back to NYC mid Feb ,( about 2 weeks from then )to have a few meetings and to source fabric and that I would let her know what I had when I came back. It seemed pretty standard for companies to make full muslin samples of each agreed upon garment, in my case 2 outfits totaling 4 pieces. According to everyone I've talked to initial muslins are meant to include all facings, finishings, linings, trims, closures and the agreed upon type of hem. This is what I was expecting to have by the time I had my real fabric. I gave her the time to walk her sewer through the patterns like she said she would, and to start making these proper samples while I focused on my upcoming trip and getting fabric. When I came back with my fabric I emailed her what I had and asked if the samples were finished. She showed me one photo of a sloppily put together bodice front in a dark, textured fabric that wasn't the right weight. I said it was hard to see the detail in that fabric and it didn't seem folded properly or lined and that it was on the right track but not there. She provided no other pics of the other bodice or 2 skirts. She had said she'd keep working on it. I waited to hear back about the progress or any questions. About 2 weeks passed, I assumed that since there were no more questions she was just working away at it and I emailed to check in. She said she thought I was sending the fabric to her even though I never said I would do that , I said let me know when you're done and ready for the real fabric. She also said that because she thought I was sending it she had stopped working on the project instead of continuing to develop full samples like a professional would do. I said I would drive up to check in and bring fabric ( one hour each way if there's no construction or traffic ) When I arrived we went over everything again, she again said it would be straight forward, not to worry and that she didn't make the skirts because she thought they would be easy. She said they would start working on it again in the next few days, They didn't. Then I start getting the barrage of emails with photos because now she has tons of questions because she wanted to take a short cut and not work out the patterns in muslin like a professional. Some of her questions she wanted to blame on the patterns being bad, they aren't I used them to make my wedding dress by myself just fine and they were professionally made by a woman who was a pattern maker for Nike who used the latest pattern making software. I answered all of her questions she said she understood but it started to become obvious that she wasn't following the directions I had discussed or written and that she wasn't following the sketches I left which included each swatch for each piece along with the list of additional notions that each piece required. The next time she emailed me it was obvious that not only had they not been working as much as they said that because she wasn't following my instructions she was in fact, cutting out pattern pieces in the wrong fabrics i.e. one gown was white, one was light pink, she was cutting out a large pattern piece clearly meant for the white dress out of the pink fabric and then telling me I didn't have enough pink fabric. I ordered more and had it sent there and the problems continued with her sending me pictures showing how sloppy her work was. I was seriously stressed at this point, and I knew that I had done a much better job and that I could do a much better job so I decided she was destroying my project and I needed to fire her and go get it. So I did. She had plopped everything on a table on the lower level of the building so she could just buzz me in without helping me or discussing anything. I grabbed everything and went home. Once I started looking through everything it became obvious how horribly unprofessional she was. I had brought all of my patterns either hung on hooks or neatly folded in their envelopes. I would say there were 50 pieces total. When I brought them home none of them were hung up and every single pattern piece, even the ones in the envelopes were completely wrinkled. I had to iron every single piece and the wrinkles will never come out completely so I will have to pay to re print them. She had partially remade the pink skirt with the wrong pattern, the bottom of the skirt was uneven, the seams were puckering and she didn't even bother to face it. The other skirt was partially cut out and each piece had jagged edges because she clearly did not know how to cut silk and didn't give a shit. The white bodice was partially assembled and smashed. The pink bodice was a nightmare. The inner corset was slopped together, the fusible interfacing wasn't fused, the boning which comes on a roll, wasn't ironed first so it was buckling and the front pieces were thrown together. NOT A SINGLE PIECE FOLLOWED THE 1/2" SEAM ALLOWANCE ! It went from 1/8- 3/4" like the person had never used a sewing machine before and they just shoved it through ! This is silk that I now cannot reuse. On top of all of that,she kept the leftover 2 types of dress boning, lining, used that wrong zippers and every single item smells like she sprayed it with perfume. I can't use any of what was returned and now have to buy more silk because of her and start over. It was clear that she didn't care at all about my expensive fabric or my business. She took a project she was absolutely not qualified for, tried to make excuses about it, destroyed it and never apologized. She has no business in this business and I wouldn't trust her to make a simple cotton pillow case let alone a garment. I literally could have done a better job drunk ! |
1/18-4/18 |
Michelle Fite |