At The Speed of the Market

Speed to Market in fashion certainly is not a new thing. Big box retailers have been trying to figure out how to keep up with the likes of quick witted retailers such as H&M, Zara and Forever 21 since they first hit the scene.

Years ago when I was a retail newbie in my corporate management program the company gave me a poster called the "the product life cycle." With this the product concept started a year before anything came close to hitting the shelves. This is so intense...I thought. In fact it was...yet I had no idea how unnecessary it would become.

So, exactly how is it that you see something on the runway or the Golden Globes then see reiterations of it on sales floor literally a month later?

Well, companies got serious, they wanted to keep less inventory and quickly jump on trends to increase sales. At the end of the day in this uber competitive marketplace it had to happen.

From a manufacturing perspective if you are a designer you have to ask yourself. How flexible am I? Which means....

• How Tight is My Infrastructure? Even as a small company it is important to have multiple factories in place. You don't want to inhibit your production schedule or last minute replenishment requests with an uncooperative factory.
  

• Does my Line Look Old? If you've spent months and months ruminating over your line you owe it to yourself before you start selling to evaluate the marketplace to see if you are still running with the trends.

• What Can I Pull in? What are you going to do to keep your retailers interested? You want to be able to take feedback, evaluate sales and REACT. Have a production and design plan to pull product into the mix that will keep your line dynamic and fresh.
  

Advanced Technology, Our Instant Gratification Society and New Business models have all played a part in demanding that fashion companies not only need to have a viable speed to market strategy to excel but to even really play in the game