5 Steps to Create a Tech Pack for Your Jewelry Assembly Outsource

Jewelry designers come to us asking for help in assembling jewelry. They have gotten to the point where they can't do it all themselves. Some designers are brand new, telling us they want to bring their jewelry ideas to life. How does one do that? So I thought, how about a tech pack for jewelry designers?

For clothing designers, you have to present a tech pack to a manufacturer. It is imperative that is as detailed as possible. You have to have precise measurements, color swatches, the hardware used (buttons? zippers? snaps? thread?), trim, labels, tags. You have to be very precise and accurate. This goes to a factory and made into 50,000 pieces. Imagine missing a measurement change resulting in 50,000 shirts where one sleeve is longer by 2"? It's happened and it's a devastating and expensive mistake. We have had to remake thousands of jewelry items that were made wrong overseas. You can't communicate over the phone or a handshake and hope they understand and know the difference of what you think is a tube crimp or crimp cover or what they think is a crimp tube or crimp cover.

I wondered, can we make a tech pack that jewelry designers can use? Based on my observation in talking to hundreds of designers and filtering out their needs, I have arrived at this checklist. You have a design concept, now lets make it understood for all parties involved in putting this piece together to avoid costly mistakes and assemble it in a timely matter.

1. You need precise line drawings with correct measurements. A CAD or CAM, computer-aided design, can be used for pieces that need a wax model or are casted. This is generated by taking your sketches and making it a 3D image of your piece. I can't stress this enough, measurements have to be accurate! If you are not casting a piece, then apply the same practice to your strung or wire wrapped designs. Good line drawings with specific measurements. Add a good hi-res photo to the sheet. When we're assembling 10,000 units, you want every one of them to be the exactly the same, consistent and correct.

2. Material list that pertains to the specific piece we are making needs to go along with the drawing. What beads, stones, findings go with the bracelet? It's a good practice to do this with all your designs. Having the correct size jump ring, crimps, clasps, chain sizes, listed pertaining to the piece. How long and thick is the beading wire needed to make one bracelet? List the sources with style numbers of each item next to it. I usually refer to this process as the recipe, with the ingredients needed to make the piece. It has to be accurate to so the bracelet comes out perfect. The first time. Is there packaging involved, such as baggies, boxes or barcode labels? Include them here.

3. Price out all the materials for each piece on the spec. This way, you'll now when going forward with a large order, what you will budget for. Labor costs must be included. Add the time it takes to make one piece to the sheet. This will have you arrive at your wholesale price.

4. Determine your demographic. Who are you targeting? Who is purchasing the item, how much are they paying for it? How many other bracelets are out there that are similar? What do they cost compared to yours? What's the quality and price points of your competition? I tell designers all the time to google their product, with their specific details to find their competitors and see what they are doing. See how they are marketing their products. Think about how YOU are going to market your product. How are YOU going to make it stand out from the rest?

5. You need the budget and time line. You need to determine what you need and when for photo shoots, editorials, fashion week/runway, press kits, PR handouts. This needs to be thought out well in advance. You need time to work out kinks and problems that may arrive while producing the prototype samples, developing the collection. When you are ready, after going over flaws and correcting them, prepare for the time line with your jewelry assembly team to produce large quantities for retail. Your jewelry producer will be able to help you plot out the calendar for your assembling, completion, fulfillment (if needed), shipment out. The time line is determined after ALL the material has arrived to begin assembly.

There is software for keeping track of inventory, product/material lists of your jewelry. 

http://www.beading-software.com

http://www.bejeweledsoftware.com

Here's a review between the two:

http://emreviews.com/jewelry-designer-manager-vs-bead-manager-pro-jewelry-inventory-software-review

The most important thing about developing a tech pack for your designs is the more detail the better. You must be very accurate with all details. It helps us in the speed and accuracy of assembling your jewelry. And try to keep it made in the USA!

So Happy to See The SCORE Crew!

I finally got to a SCORE meeting last week. Ever since the deluge of orders that happened in Necklace Town, I haven't been able to see the gang over in the Carmel, NY chapter. And I was in desperate need for advice, a business pick me up. I'm not a business person. I am an artist, a day dreamer, an inventor, a tinkerer, a renovator. I make jewelry all day. I do not like to add numbers, keep records, fill out forms, or do that Quickbooks. I last entered Quickbooks on November 9, 2010 and became so frustrated that I never went back to it. I'm back to pencil and ledger. It works better for me.

To see my retired business titans again today after nearly two months gave me such a relief. Down to business. Ben said I need an accountant right away. Jim the retired accountant, got on the phone and called one to get me going on getting my books in order. When I came home from the meeting, I had a phone message from a CPA. Ben said that my jewelry contractors meet the criteria of a 1099 and gave me a printout from the IRS outlining this. I mentioned this in "Who is a SubContractor or an Employee?" I met a new guy today, Ken. Ben filled him in on what I was about and what was going on and asked me what I want by the end of the month:

• Get the books together, get my numbers straightened out. NOW. I have 1099s to get out
• Get the big order at Necklace Town finished and put to bed.
• Find a space to move this operation. It's too much for my kitchen. I need more room for more people and room to store this material. I want to be able to go there, work, and lock up. We talked about a temporary spot, like a church or a synagogue to rent a space for short term but I can't drag these rolls of chain back and forth. Jim also called another associate on this one, who has offices to rent.
• Handle new inquiries to new business. How was it to be handled, what were the needs?
• Establish a strong core team that will be there for important clients at a notice to fill an order, establish other teams to handle other clients as their needs arise. Train them to my specific needs and expertise to be able to attend each client specifications.

Ken asked how I got all this business. I told him it was all the internet. That's how I started. The website, the blog, craigslist, Facebook, Twitter. Google jewelry assembly, jewelry outsource and I'm number one, two, three. Ben thought I paid for the spots! It's Search Engine Optimization. SEO has finally worked for me. And tending to social media has worked too, spreading the word of what I do. No paid advertising, no knocking on doors. It's like a garden, you do have upkeep and maintain the website.
I don't blog enough, I'm still kind of new to it and there's so much more I should be doing but right now, focus is on jewelry assembly.

On the way home, I pulled over at every sign I saw "Office For Rent" and left messages. I saw my first office yesterday. It had a listing price of $650 per month BUT it didn't include electricity, did include heat, ac and water (I didn't know you had to pay for water!). I learned what CAM was: Common Area Maintenance. I spoke to another realtor about another space that was $1780. That didn't include HVAC (air conditioning!) or heating (gas!) there's business taxes and proportional fees for the building. So why don't you just say it's $2,500 then?? This is going to be a picnic, finding a space that's going to fill my needs. Ben said don't take the first one I see. I didn't, it was too small. And did I need a sink vanity in one of those rooms? Strange....

I really needed a shot in the arm from SCORE today. Sometimes I come in there so bewildered (what am I doing??) and they take everything step by step, solve, find solutions and I leave more confident and relieved. I have help close at hand, expert advice that's free! and I'm so grateful to those SCORE guys! If you are just starting out in a small business or already in the thick of it and things are getting crazy, find your local chapter. It's like a business partner but you have many business partners all advising you from their vast wealth of experience. Do it!