PRODUCING A SAMPLE

Welcome back Everyone. I’m excited that you all decided to continue on this blog journey with me. 

The last or should I say, 1st blog post, I ranted about the creation of Imaginary Socks and my self-education into this industry etc... This posting we will journey thru the contracting of a graphic designer and our search for a manufacturer who would ultimately produce some awesome conceptual designs. 

A friend recommended Fiverr as a possible short term solution until I was able to hire a full time graphic design for the company. I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical at first, but after some diligent searching I found a young lady who was perfect. At the moment let’s call her Lara, since I haven’t obtained her permission to use her name. From the beginning Lara and I hit it off, I would send her my child hand-drawn sketches and she would come back some some beautiful conceptual designs which I fell completely in love with. We connected so well that she had virtually conceptually designed nearly full collections that were ready for creation. To give Lara credit, she helped bring forth Independence, assisted with the inspiration of Lady Liberty, C.U.R.R.E.N.C.Y. and LOGO, plus, she provided me with some concept ideas for our educational children’s collection. Many thanks to you Lara for helping me in this quest, we will definitely work together again in the future.  

With some design files in place, next was to find a manufacturer who could produce some samples. Dear God why didn’t someone tell me that this was a daunting task, I had no idea where to begin to look. I tried internet searching, writing to various manufacturers etc... until I had decided to see what the cost of a sock machine was. Previously I had ventured onto LinkedIn and had joined some of the Apparel Industry groups and connected with some great individuals in the field. I linked up with an individual who was a sales representative for a sock machine company located in North Carolina, however, I still continued searching for a manufacturer on my own. It wasn’t until one depressive day, I mean depressive is an understatement, where I mustarded the courage to reach out to this individual. I sent him an email explaining my situation and within about 2 days, he replied stating, “call me and let’s discuss things”. When we spoke I poured my all out to him and after a lengthy conversation, I ended up sending some of my conceptual designs for him to see.

During our second conversation he informed me of how much the machines costs and the associated issues. Then in a moment of pity on me, he informed me of a gentleman who had just started his own manufacturing company and was in need of clients. After hearing that I just screamed within, “Thank You Jesusss”, lol... such luck was all mine. A few days later I call the manufacturer and things just felt right, I knew this was the one. Just when I thought this battle was over, I hit another wall, the files required for his type of machines were not compatible with Lara’s files. 

Luckily after explaining the situation, I was introduced to a graphic designer who was able to redo the files into a format which were readable. After that hurdle was cleared, my travel partner and I took a trip to the Carolinas where we were able to have our first product samples produced. 

I cannot explain the joy, excitement I felt to see my designs go from image to product, OMG, it felt like losing my virginity, LOL... I didn’t care about anything, I was just HAPPY AS HELL!

Well friends this is it for now, again I hope you all didn’t get to bored while reading, I promise, this is only the beginning and the trust me, “We’ve only just begun”.

Until next blog my friends, PEACE ✌🏼