Fashion Brand Launch and Collection Plan

What a good one includes

• A cohesive merchandising matrix that defines the exact number of styles, colorways, and size ranges for the collection to keep production focused.
• A retrograde production calendar that starts from your target shipping date and counts backward to set deadlines for fabric ordering, sample approval, and manufacturing.
• A detailed Bill of Materials for every garment, tracking the costs and lead times for primary fabrics, linings, threads, buttons, and zippers.
• Clear specifications for tech pack creation, outlining the construction details, grading rules, and sewing instructions required by production partners.
• A realistic costing sheet that calculates your minimum viable run, cost of goods sold, wholesale pricing, and retail markups.
• A launch marketing schedule that coordinates your photoshoot dates, lookbook creation, wholesale outreach, and social media teasers leading up to release day.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Ordering production fabrics before finalizing and wear-testing the fit of your physical prototype samples.
• Failing to account for shipping buffers and customs clearances when sourcing materials or manufacturing overseas.
• Underestimating the minimum order quantities of fabric mills and trim suppliers, which can quickly drain a limited launch budget.
• Skipping a formal size-grading plan, resulting in inconsistent and ill-fitting garments across larger or smaller sizes.

Frequently asked questions