Planning Your Fashion Launch Date: How to Get Your Timing Right
Getting your fashion range to market isn’t just about creating beautiful designs—it’s about planning the right launch date. We see it every year—people rushing to get their collections out in time for the season, and the stress is real! The truth is, there’s a lot more that goes into a successful launch than just design and production. It’s all about the timing. Let’s break it down together, so you can set yourself up for success with your next fashion launch.
Why Your Launch Date Matters
Let’s start with the obvious—your launch date is everything. Whether you’re gearing up for a summer collection that needs to hit stores by October or a winter range that should launch by May, timing is key. Every season has a sweet spot, and launching too late could mean missed sales or, worse, leftover stock.
Working backwards from your desired launch date is the best way to ensure you’re giving yourself enough time for every stage of development. There are three major stages that every fashion product goes through: Design, Development, and Production. We’ll take you through these stages and give you a realistic timeline so you can stop rushing and start planning.
Stage 3: Production – The Final Countdown
Let’s kick things off with the last stage—production. Production is when everything is ready to go: your samples are approved, patterns are graded, and your production fabric is delivered. You’ve ordered your labels, trims, and anything else your range needs. Only once you’ve got all that sorted can a manufacturer even think about booking in your production space. Why? Because manufacturers can’t reserve space for a project that’s not 100% ready to go.
At our Sample Room, we always recommend allowing at least 3 months for production. Why 3 months? Well, it’s not that it will take exactly 3 months, but it gives you a buffer. You’ll need time for the current production orders to wrap up and for any potential delays in fabric delivery. Best-case scenario, if everything’s ready to go, your product could be cut within a week. But if the manufacturer is still finishing up another order, it might take 2 weeks or even 2 months before they can start on yours.
So, if you want to be sure that your product is ready for your launch date, plan for delays. Production times can be unpredictable, and the last thing you want is to miss your window because you didn’t allow for a bit of wiggle room.
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Stage 2: Development – Creating the Perfect Pattern
Before you even think about production, there’s the development stage. This is where the magic happens—we create the patterns, grade them to the sizes you need, and sort out all the specifications. Development can take anywhere from 12 weeks to 6 months, depending on your process and how fast you want to move. We’ve found that most of our clients tend to lean towards the 6-month mark, especially if there’s a lot of printing or washing involved.
A solid development stage ensures that your production runs smoothly. We often say, “slow down to speed up.” If you take the time to get things right during development, you won’t be dealing with production hiccups later. And trust me, you want to get things right before production begins if you’re serious about hitting your launch date.
Stage 1: Design – The Fun Part
Now, let’s talk about the design stage. This is where you bring your vision to life! In this stage, you come up with your designs, source fabrics, and trims, and organise your design meetings. At Sample Room, we help our clients prepare a design brief that covers all the important details before moving into pattern making.
If you’re working with another pattern maker, they might dive straight into the patterns without taking the time to understand your overall budget or goals. But we know from experience that our clients value having a clear picture of the cost and timeline—both for now and for the future. We even offer budget sessions to help our clients map out the entire process.
The design stage is your chance to dream big, but it’s also where the planning begins. Your launch date should already be in mind at this point, even if you’re just in the early stages of brainstorming.
Timelines: The Key to a Successful Launch
It all comes down to timelines. A well-planned timeline is your best friend when it comes to a successful launch date. We often hear from clients who are confused about the timing—especially when it comes to aligning social media and marketing with their production schedule.
Just last week, one of our mentees mentioned that they’d already started promoting their new range on social media, but we hadn’t even begun their patterns yet! They’d allowed 4 months for social media, which is great, but development alone would take at least 6 months for their particular range.
Another client reached out asking if it was too late to start for winter. Unfortunately, for this summer season, it was. In fashion, April is when winter stock needs to be on the shelves, which means the development and production process should have started months earlier. This client will be in good shape for next winter, though!
What Drives Your Timeline?
What prompts you to start thinking about your next range? Is it the change in weather? For some people, they don’t think about winter until it gets cold, or summer until they’re dreaming of warm days by the beach. But if you want to be ready for your launch date, you need to be thinking months ahead.
One tool we give all our clients is a timeline calculator. It’s a simple way to map out every stage of the process so you can be confident that you’ll hit your launch date without rushing. We offer this tool as part of our Start Your Local Fashion Business workshop, which is starting at the end of this month. If you’re ready to take control of your development process and stop stressing about launch dates, this is the perfect first step.
Don’t Let Delays Hold You Back
The biggest thing that delays a launch date? Not starting soon enough. The sooner you start, the better you’ll understand the process, and the more control you’ll have over your timelines. Fabric suppliers, pattern makers, and manufacturers all understand how fast the industry moves—they’re prepared. But when clients don’t understand how much time things take, it can lead to frustration on both sides.
You don’t have to feel that stress. Join us for our upcoming workshop, get your timeline in order, and nail your next launch date with confidence. You’ve got this!