Understanding Lingerie Product Development Critical Path

As a lingerie entrepreneur, one of your most important responsibilities is guiding your product from concept to completion. This process is known as the lingerie development critical path, and it encompasses everything from market research to final production.

While there is some flexibility in the order in which you complete each task, there are certain milestones that must be met along the way. By understanding the critical path and timeline for lingerie product development, you can ensure a smooth and successful launch.

The first step in any product development process is market research. This is where you gather information about your target market, their needs and wants, and what they’re currently buying (or not buying). This research will help you determine whether there’s a need or want for your product idea, and if so, how to position it in the market.

Once you have a good understanding of the market, it’s time to move on to designing the actual product. This is where you’ll sketch out your ideas, select materials, and finalize all the details. Once the design is complete, it’s time to start product development!

As a Lingerie Product Development House, something we use every single day with every client is our 27-step Critical Path. You could break up this Critical Path into a determined range of time, however, for us, it changes depending on our factories’ capacity and other factors. But we will share with you and explain to you our own Critical Path system so you could use this as a base for planning your product development cycle.

Interior B Studio 27-Step Lingerie Development Critical Path:

1. Concept Meeting
2. Initial Sketches
3. Fabric and Component Sourcing
4. CADs & Technical Sketches
5. Development Tech Pack & Bill of Materials
6. Ordering Sample Yardage
7. Liaison with Production Factory
8. Dispatch Tech Packs to Factory
9. 1st Fit Sample in Base Size (Factory)
10. Liaison with Production Factory
11. Approve Lab Dips
12. Review, Spec & Fit 1st Fit Sample
13. 1st Fit Sample Tech Pack
14. Initial Costing Sheets
15. Place Purchase Order (P.O.)
16. 2nd Fit Sample (Factory)
17. Review, Spec & Fit 2nd Fit Sample
18. 2nd Fit Sample Tech Pack
19. Pre-Production Sample (PPS)
20. Review, Spec & Fit PPS
21. PPS Tech Pack
22. Submit Size Brakes
23. Submit & Approve Grade Rules
24. Final Costings
25. Review Top of Production (TOP)
26. Quality Control Inspection (QC)
27. 1st Delivery

Steps 1 to 4

In this creative process, designers design the collection, source and choose fabrics and components, review costs of materials and MOQs with suppliers, and sketch and finalize the final designs for the collection that they will develop.

Step 5: Development Tech Pack & Bill of Materials

You need to create a detailed tech pack for each garment intended to be developed. A tech pack is a document that has all the details of the particular style. It includes information about the fabric, what type of components, construction call-outs, and measurement of each part of the garment. (You can learn a lot more about tech packs here!)

You also need to create a detailed Bill of Materials (BOM). It is a list of all the materials that are needed to make a product. This list includes the type of material, how much you will need, and where exactly in the garment is to needs to go. (Learn how to make a BOM here).

Step 6

You need to order a few yards of the fabrics that you will use before placing a bulk order from the fabric supplier. This is important because 1) you need to make sure the fabric selected will work out on your garments before compromising to a big order and 2) you need to make fit samples with your factory to estimate how much material you will need to manufacture your production.

Steps 8 to 21

This is the core process of product development. Initially you will speak to your manufacturer and explain the range you want to develop and manufacture with them. It is important agree since the beginning the MOQ you want to produce and make sure your factory is aligned with that. Then you will submit your Development Tech Packs. So they can follow to make initial patternmaking and the initial prototypes of 1st fit sample. Fit samples are the prototypes of the product to see if it fits well, and make all the corrections needed. You will receive 1st fit samples from the factory that you need to review, spec (measure), and fit. (It is important to note that fit samples are not usually done in the correct fabric or trim colorways but in available components.) You will also receive and approve lap dips from the factory (more on lab dips here).

After fitting and reviewing fit samples, you must update your tech packs communicating to the factory all the corrections they need to do to the patterns, and in terms of style and construction. This is an ongoing process that normally takes between 2-3 rounds of sampling where the steps are the same. After reviewing your 1st fit sample and sending corrections, the factory can give you an estimate of costing per style. You will then need to review and make sure it makes sense financially. If it doesn’t align with your RRP and margins, you might need to alter the design a little bit to bring costs down if needed.

Many times, before the factory develops the 2nd fit sample, they will request the client to place a purchase order (P.O.). This is to make sure that you are moving forward with them because for them all the product development cycle is an investment. So they need to make sure they will get a return of investment from you bulk order. After approving the 2nd or 3rd fit sample and nearing production readiness, the factory will develop a Pre-Production Sample (PPS). The Pre-Production Sample (PPS) represents the final version of the garment as it will appear in production. At this stage, the sample should come in final colors. Dye everything accordingly and ensure the sample looks pretty accurate

Steps 22 to 24

Once you have fit-approved and prepared your samples for bulk production, you should send the factory the size breaks for production. (A size break is a percentage of the order allocated to each size, or the size ratio). Finally, you need to submit your grade rules for them to grade up and down the base size to the rest of the sizes.

Steps 24 to 27

Samples are approved and ready to go to production! The factory will send you updated and final costing based on all the corrections they did. Many times it can change a little because more or less fabric is consumed depending on the corrections. So costing can go slightly up or down.

Once production starts, the factory will send you some of the first garments from production for your review of how production is turning out. This is basically called a TOP or Top of Production. These are not samples, but actual garments from production.

Once the bulk production is ready, arrange a Quality Control Inspection to ensure that all the products are within the requested specifications and that the quality is excellent. Dispatch the production shipment afterwards!

Launching a lingerie collection can be a daunting task, but with careful planning and execution, it can be a smooth process. By taking the time to map out each step of product development and by following the critical path we’ve outlined, you can minimize stress and maximize your chances of success. If you run into any snags along the way don’t hesitate to reach out to professionals who can assist you in bringing your vision to life. With careful preparation and attention to detail, you can launch a beautiful lingerie collection that will delight your customers and help your business thrive.

Are you looking to effectively visualize your lingerie product development critical path? Subscribe now to download our Template Roadmap for Intimate Apparel Development.