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How to Grow Your Apparel Brand Without Sacrificing Quality?

The fashion industry is one of the most unique, fast-paced and creative industries to work in in the world. However, do not underestimate its competitiveness. It takes the perfect mix of trendy wear and optimum quality for your apparel brand to remain a competitive player in the industry. But, how do you grow your brand in the long run? Is it necessary to compromise on quality products in order to save on costs to keep up with the latest trends?

In this blog post, we provide insider tips on what you can do to grow your apparel brand without sacrificing quality.

A look into the apparel industry

a look into the apparel industry

As attractive as it may seem to work in the textile industry; unfortunately, many start-up brands fail within the first four years of operation mainly due to stiff competition. Today’s demanding customers regularly place brands under immense pressure to produce the latest fashion craze. New designs are constantly praised on the catwalk and today’s in-demand style becomes tomorrow’s forgotten look in a matter of days.

To stay ahead of the game, brand owners cut costs on business operations to increase output and maximize profits. As a result of this, the first department that suffers is usually the quality management department. Many brand owners are under the impression that increasing the quality of products will lead to an increase in operational costs and a decrease in Return on Investment (ROI). This couldn’t be further from the truth! Quality doesn’t need to be expensive.  

In fact, compromising on quality will cost your brand more money in the long run. This is referred to as the cost of poor quality (COPQ) which we discussed in our previous blog post here. Offering up quality will also have adverse effects on your profits as you risk losing loyal customers who have for years supported your brand and you can’t afford that to happen.

So, how do you grow your brand while ensuring that you consistently produce high-quality products? The answer is simple. Work with a textile quality provider by outsourcing a section of or your entire quality department.

 

Outsourcing quality for your apparel brand

Outsourcing quality for your apparel brand

Whether you’ve worked with quality agents before or are completely new to the idea, there are many benefits associated with outsourcing your quality management processes. In the apparel industry, quality control is a very intricate process that ensures that no defect products are shipped and reach the customers. In addition to this, textile products rely on various services which can be provided by textile partners such as textile laboratory testings, textile inspections or QMS audits in order to ensure quality. You may not possess the right equipment, machinery, skills and knowledge to perform these types of inspections. And you may think that it’s only the smaller brands that experience quality problems, but this is not the case. Large brands such as H&M and Zara have failed on quality in the past and severely tarnished their reputations.

Outsourcing your quality management will give your brand a competitive advantage over other brands at a lower cost. Whether they are specialists or generalists, quality providers have years of experience in the industry. They know the ins and outs of the industry and can provide you with the right skills, knowledge, and expertise your brand requires to achieve optimum quality and efficiency. It’s important to understand that outsourcing quality will not cost you more money. In reality, it prevents you from having to pay for a product’s rework, redesign, recall, etc. which was as a result of poor quality management within your apparel supply chain. By pinpointing the problem as it occurs, you’re saving time, resources and most importantly, money.

For a full list of the benefits of outsourced textile quality management, click here.

If your brand is still in the starting up stages and lacks quality management experience, textile quality managers can take the reins for a while and help you learn the ropes regarding quality. And if your brand is already established and gaining traction, outsourcing quality will give you a competitive edge.  As we reach the end of this blog post, we hope that you understand that to grow your apparel brand, producing quality products is crucial. Making the mistake of sacrificing quality in the hopes of reaching maximum profits will only end unfavorably for your brand.

Do you have any questions with regards to growing your apparel brand without sacrificing quality? Do you have any questions about textile quality providers in general?

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