What does a standard spec sheet look like? Hmmm… that will depend on the product you are producing. You may find books at the Cal Mart bookstore that can give you a clear visual for your category including “Forms for Profit,” by Frances Harder which gives you a copy you can download.

Also on the note of specs the FBI has a Technical Design workshop coming up on March 22nd that goes over how to create specs. For more info go to www.fashionbizinc.org.

One of the best resources in the city for finding fabrics is Cotton Inc. located in the LA Mart. They actually have a library of cotton fabrics you can touch and feel…then you can go directly to the vendor. It’s a fabulous resource…and a great place to start your search. Infomat.com is also good for online research.

We get a lot of questions at the FBI about how to protect your designs. Fortunately we just caught wind of an event that will discuss legal issues as they relate to the Fashion Industry. It’s put on by the California Lawyers for the Arts in association with Doniger Law Firm.

The Details:

This Wednesday….February 20th @ 7pm

Where: Ken Edwards Center 1527 4th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401

contact: scott@donigerlawfirm.com

With several of the FBI seminars at this years Magic show literally out the door, we realized just how much we have to share on our new blog. Remember we do these same seminars in LA as well folks….so make sure you check the FBI calendar for updates.

In the meantime I’ll be reaching out to our most valuable resources as well as to our readers (including you) for thoughts on some of the most popular questions we’ve received. If you have any suggestions or comments on the posts please…please…please….don’t hesitate to comment. We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Together we’ll make this work!

We received an inquiry about Finding Factors a struggle for a lot of new designers. Besides word of mouth from other designers you may want to check the trades. You will find that many factors advertise in the classified sections of publications such as California Apparel News and WWD.

My short answer…..Yes! You absolutely need sales representation– either a showroom or a rep that is willing to take on the challenges of introducing a new line.

Like anything if you have your druthers…in the very beginning you could try to do it yourself.

But my advice– if you’re new in this business, do what you know how to do best and find a sales rep that knows what the hell they’re doing as well.