Is Home Sewing Impacting Your Ability To Scale Your Business?

Hi friends! I’m so excited to see this community growing. Yippee!

To those that have joined the Facebook community THANK YOU! I’m loving connecting with you online and in person.

Lately I have been hearing a lot of people ask:

How do I choose a manufacturing partner?!?!

I understand. This can be an overwhelming decision. But wait! Before making a decision on who to use, you need to understand what different sources can offer you.

I’ve broken this down into six categories.

Home sewing
Seamstress
Sample room
Canadian factory
US Factory
Overseas factory

I’m going to break this into digestible parts for you since it can be an overwhelming amount of information. Remember, there is no right answer. Different types of businesses need different things.

We’re going to start with the most DIY version.

Home Sewing

Ahem – this one is pretty self explanatory. You do the cutting and sewing all by yourself.

Pros

No production minimums!

This tends to be the main reason that someone sews their own product. Starting out, it can be difficult to hit the minimum order quantities (MOQ) that other types of manufacturers need.

Less money out of pocket

Since you’re not cutting yourself a cheque to sew your product, this can free up cash for other expenses.

You have total control over quality

That being said, if you’re not a great sewer, your total control may give you shitty quality. Maybe, this is a con…. you decide.

Ability to customize and personalize product

If you are a small maker and you intend for each piece to be different, this can be difficult to do at scale.

Sewing can be enjoyable

Some people produce their own product because they love the act of using their hands to make something. This is a valid reason. But if this is your “why” it is going to be difficult for you to grow your business past a hobby.

Cons

Crazy HIGH labour costs

Wait what? Were you thinking you were saving on labour costs by sewing the product yourself? WRONG! You are the CEO of this company and an hour of your time is incredibly valuable. If you want to grow your business, you will need to outsource at least some of the sewing.

Time consuming

This goes hand in hand with the cost. If you are spending most of your time sewing you have little time for anything else. You still need time to design, find new fabrics and sell your product!

Limited Machinery

Depending on your product category, you might need specialized machinery. Home sewing is possible for simple products like woven skirts. But, technical products like outerwear and swim will need specific machinery.

Reduced Efficiency and Consistency

Large manufacturers run production through a “line” of workers. This allows each person to focus on doing the same operation over and over. This provides consistency and efficiency that you cannot duplicate doing all of the operations yourself.

It’s not just the sewing!

There are a lot of pieces to manufacturing that you might not consider when you first think of sewing your own product. You will need to store and organize all of your fabrics, trims, labels and hang tags. Do you have place to cut your fabric? Is having your product washed before your customer receives it important? Do you want to spend your time managing all of that?

So the real question is

Home sewing can be a great way to get started with limited financial resources. But, the major draw back is the inability to scale.

Again, every business needs something different, there is no right or wrong answer. But don’t expect to grow past a hobby using this method.

Now I want to hear from you!

Did you start your business by sewing all the product yourself? Did you switch to an outside source? What was your major reason for moving on?

Drop me a note below. I love to hear about your individual experiences.

Next week I’ll be diving into the pros and cons of hiring a seamstress. Can’t wait to share it with you!

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