If you’re a fashion designer, you know the mix of excitement and anticipation while waiting for your garment sample. After pouring your heart into designing a garment, you want the final product to turn out as you envisioned. The reality is, it’s not always easy. A lot of things can go wrong in the sampling stage, including problems with fit, construction, and materials.
Understanding the sampling process and knowing how to review a garment sample properly can help you catch any issues early and ensure your next sample or proto comes back correctly.
Here’s how the sampling process in fashion works and what to look for when reviewing your samples!
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Overview of the Garment Sampling Process in Fashion
Sample-making involves creating prototypes (also called protos, apparel samples, fit samples, or development samples – check the different types of garment samples here!) before full-scale production begins.
A well-executed sampling process and prototype review saves fashion brands heaps of time and money as it helps catch issues early to avoid costly and irreversible mistakes during mass production.
Step-by-step guide to the garment sampling process
- Garment Design: Fashion designers combine silhouettes, materials, and color to bring their creative vision to life.
- Tech Pack Creation: Creative designers may collaborate with technical designers to develop the garment tech pack.
- Garment Sample Making: Using the tech pack as a guide, samples are made either by an outsourced manufacturer or an in-house sample maker.
- Garment Sample Evaluation: Samples are sent back to the fashion designer to evaluate the design, fit, construction, and materials. It may take multiple samples before the final sample (also called the pre-production sample) is approved to proceed to mass production.
- Final Sample Approval and Production: Once the clothing samples meet the requirements, they are approved for full-scale production.
Throughout these steps, the design team, including technical designers, merchandisers, and manufacturers, collaborate to ensure samples meet all requirements.
Pro Tip: When developing a new garment, fashion designers can study reference garment samples as a guide for their designs. By studying these garment samples, designers can analyze existing garments’ style, construction, detailing, and fit to identify what works well and areas that can be improved.
Tools Needed to Review Garment Samples
Before we learn how to review a garment sample, here’s a quick check-list of the tools that’ll come in handy:
- Tech Pack: Use it as a guide to check if all the requirements have been met.
- Computer (or any documenting tool): Jot down measurements, notes, and comments, ensuring everything stays in one organized place.
- Tape measure and ruler: There’s a lot of measuring from your Points of Measure (POMs) – everything from button sizes to print placement.
- Camera: Take photos to document flaws, fit issues, or design details.
- Pins: Use pins to temporarily tweak the garment’s fit (without causing any permanent damage). This is one of my fave tools as it really helps visualize how the garment can be improved.
- Marking Tool: Highlight specific areas on the garment that need attention or modification.
5 Steps to Evaluate Garment Samples
I’ve broken down the garment sample evaluation process into five key steps, allowing you to focus on each aspect of the garment step by step and keep a consistent sample review process.
- Measure the garment sample
- Check the garment construction and stitching
- Assess the materials and finishing
- Check the fit and functionality
- Document your feedback
1. Measure the garment sample
It’s crucial to measure the garment sample early on in the sample evaluation process as you’ll use these measurements to discuss discrepancies and adjustments when fitting the sample.
To start, lay your garment flat on your work table and gently iron out the wrinkles using your hand. By gently, I mean reaaally gently. Don’t stretch or force the fabric as this will lead to inaccurate measurements.
Pro Tip: It’s common practice in the garment manufacturing industry to measure a garment laying flat. This means most horizontal measurements are actually half of the full garment measurements.
Whip out your measuring tools and record the garment measurements.
Tips on measuring a garment sample:
- Use the measurement specifications on your specs sheets so you know what Points of Measure (POM’s) to take note of.
- A How to Measure Guide (that’s shared with your sample-making team) is how you ensure consistency in the measurement process. It’s basically just a document on how you measure your garment, including photos or fashion flats.
- If the sample-maker isn’t hitting measurements, make sure you’re using the same measurement process.
- For more specific steps on measuring a sample, check out my Points of Measure (POM) Guide here!
2. Check the garment construction and stitching
Scan the garment from top to bottom, flip it front, back, and inside out to catch any garment stitching and construction issues.
Are seam allowances neat and properly finished? Assess the overall construction for any stitching defects like loose threads, puckering, or irregularities, and double-check common problem areas.
Don’t be afraid to gently pull on the seams and check for any breakage or slippage. There’s no quality issue too small, this is your chance to prevent any defects from arising during bulk production.
Tips on checking the garment construction and stitching:
- Although it’s important to take note of inconsistencies, keep in mind that deviations from tech packs are not always red flags. Sometimes, manufacturers purposely change some details as they have more experience and technical knowledge of the construction needed for specific types of garments.
3. Assess the materials and finishing
Evaluate if the fabric meets quality standards in terms of texture, drape, and weight. Verify if the correct materials were used. If you’re skeptical, take a small cutting and conduct a fabric burn test.
Check garment details, including trims, buttons, zippers, and labels. Ensure labels are securely attached and provide accurate information.
After checking the materials, assess any finishing techniques applied, such as dyeing, printing, or embellishments.
Tips on assessing the garment’s materials and finishing:
- If possible, ask for additional material swatches from your manufacturer to have several options.
- Ask your manufacturer for fabric shrinkage and color fastness reports once you’ve finalized the main materials of the garment. These are things that will cause a lot of trouble when a customer receives and washes the item. Shrinking or bleeding are major problems you need to catch early on!
4. Check the fit and functionality of the garment
Most fashion companies use professional fit models to ensure sizing consistency when reviewing fit samples. Some brands just use an employee. Either way, you want to conduct a fitting.
Observe the design sample and see if you’re getting the desired fit. Does it hug the body in the right places? Is there ease of movement and comfort?
Also assess how the garment functions in different positions, such as sitting, walking, reaching or even bending over. Consider other practical aspects, such as pocket placement, closure mechanisms, and overall wearability.
Tips on checking the garment’s fit and functionality:
- Just like you need to know the measurements of the sample garment, you also need to know the measurements of the person fitting your clothing samples. Set standards on what your brand recognizes as “standard small, medium” and so on. How much your fitter deviates from these standards is key to making proper fit evaluations.
- As a final option, you might have to fit the garment on yourself or a dress form. I only advise this if there’s really no option left (for example, if you’re a freelance fashion designer working remotely and left with no choice). It’s more difficult to make proper evaluations and adjustments on a garment you have on yourself or a dress form that doesn’t have soft parts or move like a real body.
5. Document your feedback
Be clear and specific with feedback, highlighting positives and areas that need improvement. For example, if the armhole is too tight, don’t just say “armhole is tight.” Instead, provide clear instructions like “The armhole is too tight, add 1″ to the armhole straight measurement.” Also, update the revised measures in the specs sheet and POMs, and include photos of the garment on the fitter, clearly showing the trouble area.
It helps to have a Sample Evaluation Sheet, where you can put all your comments from the first original sample to the final sample. Tech pack software that includes this feature may be helpful, or a simple tech pack made in Excel works great too.
Pro-tip: Always keep a physical copy of the final approved sample (also called a pre-production sample or counter sample) that reflects all the correct details such as design, fit, construction, and materials. I’ve heard horror stories of garment manufacturers switching out the material in the bulk production run! Having a 100% accurate approved sample (sometimes called a red tag sample) gives you leverage to discuss what went wrong and negotiate solutions such as a refund or product recall. Check out my guide on 12 types of garment samples (and which ones you actually need).
Communicating Feedback After Garment Sample Evaluation
When it comes to providing feedback during the garment sample evaluation, I recommend direct communication like a Zoom call or even a face-to-face meeting (if accessible!). So much misunderstanding can happen in the sampling stage, and direct conversations with the sample-making team can make everything easier.
For remote technical designers who can’t meet in person, phone calls or video conferences are excellent options. Make sure to review and reiterate all the revision points with the sample-making team and discuss the feasibility of your suggestions. This way, you avoid multiple incorrect samples.
These discussions are excellent opportunities to share ideas and learn from the expertise of the sample-making team. Over the years, I’ve gained so many valuable insights from these interactions. Remember, regardless of your experience, there is always room for growth and learning from others.
Garment Sample Review Checklist
The garment sample evaluation process may seem overwhelming, but it’s a great opportunity to bridge the gap between your creative vision and the physical realization of your design.
Use this garment sample review checklist to make sure you haven’t missed anything!
- Measurement:
- Construction:
- Stitch choice and quality
- Seam allowances
- Overall construction quality
- Materials & Finishing:
- Fabric (quality, texture, drape, weight)
- Trims (buttons, zippers, etc.)
- Labels (care labels, size labels, brand tags)
- Finishing (dyeing, printing, embellishments, etc.)
- Fit & Functionality:
- Desired fit and silhouette
- Ease of movement and comfort
- Practical aspects (pocket placement, closures, etc.)
- Feedback:
- Clear and specific comments
- Updated specs sheet and measurements
- Photo documentation of issues
You got this!
