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.
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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.
Direct Current Sales 