A simple thing like changing a dress form can save a lot of money. We changed our form to the Alvanon form recently. They’d been working with old Wolf forms. The problem with old Wolf forms is they are just not made like a human, and when you start to use those forms as a base, your garments are bigger and too boxy to reflect how people are. The Alvanon form looks more like a human in so many ways. The thigh looks like a thigh, the ankle looks like an ankle. You can see a muscle’s shape and when you start to design you can really look at that form and create something, and as a technical designer you can work with your designer better to get a nice fit. Then your consumption is going to go down if you’re working with that form. So I did push for us to use them. We put our old garments, the fall garments, on those forms and consumption lessened by an inch and a half!
PinkyShears: So the company can see that changing the forms saved them money?
Not always. They’re going to get the consumption numbers from the factory. The only way that I would be able to know if the factory is telling the truth is when I get garments. I have had to turn garments inside out to see if they are using the seam allowance that they say they are. A lot of times, they’re not, and they’re eating the consumption in that way. Too little a seam, the garment will be too big. Then you have to talk to the factory about being exact with the seam allowance because if it’s too big or too small you get a totally different result.