Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
DAS is a dedicated team of BC Fashion Apparel Professionals.
DAS provides a full range of In-House Apparel Manufacturing, Pattern and Production Services.
Learn more about this 20-year established Cut and Sew garment shop for innovation and design line support specializing in swimwear and eco-friendly fashion knit styles.
www.DesignerApparelServices.com
How getting back to basics built a manufacturing business. Digital pattern making services became a key player in the late 1990s as visible in the gallery line list collection snip of DCMFG-Inc. / TDR Creative Sizzle Brand Apparel.
The welcome product design service sales work of the Sizzle contemporary ladieswear line began in around 1998 a full 24 months prior incorporation of the maker Direct Current Manufacturing Inc. The company established in 1999 was simply responding to a wide open niche that was most notably and successfully exploited by the ever popular American Apparel Brand that emerged into the trade at just about the same time.
It all started with a little sketch, or client driven new product request… Every “body” has a story.
And here we are some 20 years later. American Apparel has peaked and is now gone. Lululemon carries on strong and other Brands that were once viewed as solid (Esprit, Benetton, Mexx) if not somewhat invincible have themselves become quite extinct.
Here we have seen major and minor players drift off, a new string of designers and marketing apparel business developers continually emerge with all the same vigour and ambition that we have witnessed for decades to result in various degree of acceptable ROI.
What the team at DCMfg-Inc. set out to do it has done and will continue to do for many years to come. Operating as one part Incubator, one part general apparel contractor and one part fashion design house, Direct Current has remained somewhat consistent and true to form. There are no massive profits to report or glossy annual reports. The business has clients and hosts the “ethical” cut and sew of independent designers who by certain exhibit publish such works.
The common denominator is this, a willingness and profound focus to the task at hand. DCMfg-Inc. was always about what made the other party look good. And hundreds upon hundreds of styles and designs have been created.
In 1999 we needed to have a few things made. The Sizzle line was made up of about six, better fitting than what the other guys where doing garments. The styles were extraordinary for the day. Modern (new) cotton/ spandex knits sometimes made with lycra(TM) by trade. Followed by the eco-friendly introduction of Hemp and Bamboo… Digital pattern management made quick response and small batch domestic manufacturing flow functional.
None of this is important to tomorrows bright star. What the Apparel Trade in Canada needs now more than ever are skilled hands. Crafty people who are willing to sew.
Get Industrial Sewing Training – BC Alliance for Manufacturing
Finding a good solution to manufacturing apparel in Vancouver, BC can be a challenge for new and existing clothing and other textile product producers. At Direct Current Sales – we understand the access to skilled labour resource problem as an opportunity to grow cooperatively in the trade. 
Direct Current Manufacturing Inc., was established in 1999 (2000) to fill the void between the need demand and availability to quick response, local garment making. The benefits of expanding resources for apparel made in Canada is desirable for a host of reasons to include new job creation and stewardship toward sustainable business practices.
Next to achieving a great fit, the “straight of goods” is perhaps one of the most important quality control concerns. And proper patterns are at the foundation of all products made.
To ensure cost control in production it is a very good idea to make sure every detail is well refined before spending on bulk sewing labour begins. The necessity to prototype and design is a craft reliant on a willingness to work out component details as a major part in the process of pre-production.
In practice, this is a chore that is best given to the brand/ project manager to administrate in a format that prevents guesswork by pattern makers who are draftspeople with infinite options. For this reason, it becomes the project managers chore to supervise and table the desired goal with answers limiting the back and forth with patterning and production that if not properly respected will lead to frustration, inflated cost and in the worst case delay and poor results will lead to waste and work stoppage.
We hope this post will be useful to explain the importance of what is sometimes referred to as a condition “standard in the trade”. We think making apparel is akin to horse racing. It’s a rich person game. If you have to ask repeatedly “How much” then we would recommend greater research be applied to plan before spending.
Projects fail when questions that inevitably arise if a design is not fully thought out by the creators and business managers. Let us face it upfront – a good sewing shop is hard to find. The best sewing shops have little or no time for problem-solving. We sometimes find that clients sending out a “Tech pack” feel that their job is done and the responsibility has been handed off to production to handle. In our experience, that attitude alone does not work without consideration to the time investment of the handler tasked with receiving the plans – especially if those plans are in any way incomplete. This is an important point to review when asking for a price. Who pays for the customer interface? The breakpoint here is the administrative fee relative to getting the job ready for the cutting table that should be reflected in the pre-production budget allowed.
Time is money and the Cut make and trim per unit is sewing shop labour so beware the bottleneck that can crush a timeline or other sensitive R&D hope. Remember garbage in = garbage out.
Contact us for solutions to growth. For help with your business apparel design ambition #MadeinCanada email info@directcurrentmfg.com
Sustainability in Apparel will require Environmental Stewardship and Significant Social Responsibility to Equity Brand Interests.
With Domestic Garment Manufacturing visible to Statistics Canada as a high potential growth Industry. Canadians have challenges to face beyond the estimated 35 Kilo (80lbs) per person of textile waste entering landfills each year.
If the consumer economy is dependent on disposable “Fast Fashion” the natural inclination is to seek out “Made in Canada” as part the “Act Local – Think Global” catchphrase works to promote. But in this “ethical” “sweatshop-free” coin a phrase put a sticker on it. promote you have a blue box ambition. Are we really getting anywhere?
What is Direct Current Manufacturing Inc. doing with regards to sustainability was a question recently put forward by a student study project originating from Queens University motivate me as a CEO to apply additional effort to a topic that we have been participating to follow along with in spirit since about 2010 but since that time the industry as a whole has in my opinion not very much progressed. Attending to respect the agreement made to answer a short list of question several hours of self-study and a review was given to the topic in preparation for my interview.
By adopting an expanded view we discovered an ability to approach the conversation with open-mindedness with new thinking and answer to say in fact there was nothing being done towards sustainability and this reality fostered thought for greater concern and the development window to a pathway for greater change was opened.
I want to thank this student who was artful in reaching out to me at my desk to request participation in the simple survey questions being asked. It has always been my habit to reply or contribute in some way even if only to satisfy the curriculum criteria need in brief the student can carry on to say they have completed their task.
At other times I have invested greater amounts of time to help students complete there projects. The dividend has been received in long-lasting relationships, kindly thank you notes and on one occasion a coupon for a few Big Mac’s arrived sent from a father who appreciated our input in his daughters project the man a MacDonalds Franchise Owner operating a business that is also uniquely engaged in this topic… 15 years ago I thought very little of it and saved the compliment as a souvenir.
Sometimes I refuse student requests if the query is empty as I am reluctant to the casual take of hypothetical requests for quotations in speculation of some imaginary upstart… Predictable as this is – when that time of year comes and the business professor releases the group to spam my inbox pretending to be clients seeking a quote I cringe and reluctantly reply to state policy with regret – I opt out.
What this student did was stimulate thought. A credit to her course master. I became the student and my experience guided thought to better understand the potential of what can be done.
The resulting potential is great and I look forward to implementation and sharing with others. A Project Plan has been created. The Student has been invited to contribute to making a change. I am extremely confident that our company and others can pick up the pace to join in the discussion and action necessary to improve.
Were we began by responding to what programs are in place. What effort is being taken has transitioned to thinking about what source is the genesis of this question as being sustainability or sustenance. The answer we suspect in fact contains a much broader sensibility to feel around to accept the obligation as being societal as much as it an industry concern. I doubt greatly there is any sustainability that will come from a patchwork plan towards maintaining the status quo.
The student has learned that asking a question has pioneered a path to discover there is a job to be done. This is exciting – we think this is great! Get it wrong and we’re all going to be living in a massive junk heap.
Direct Current Sales 