Okay, so making jeans isn’t all that simple. Surprise! Not. So, we’re in the 4th round of prototypes now, and it’s been a long, slow haul. The process of producing, QA’ing, shipping (customs!), receiving, reviewing, documenting, communicating, negotiating, re-clarifying, updating, returning (customs!), receiving, pattern-making, grading, producing — wash, rinse, repeat — well, takes time, especially from opposite sides of the planet (Pennsylvania, USA <> Naples, Italy).
Regardless, it IS very exciting to see progress, and the manifestation of an idea take shape. And to be honest, FUZZera Jeans wasn’t even a seductive twinkle-in-the-eye two years ago, and here we are launching a men’s clothing line from scratch. VERY stoked!
As of this moment, I’ve received notification from USPS that the prototype#4 package has been released from Customs in NYC and is on its way to me in PA this very moment, arriving perhaps even today or tomorrow. There’s been some interesting challenges recently in terms of what our friends in Italy will be able to pull off in the factory, since one of the design elements I was really jazzed about turned out to be more difficult (and expensive) to do than anyone thought when we start going down this path many months ago. This 4th prototype will reflect this design not being incorporated into the jeans, and so in addition to the usual review and analysis I’ll be doing with this prototype, the main one will be whether or not I want to move forward into production without this particular design feature. And if not, then I’ve got to pretty much start from scratch and find a production partner who can. Or, maybe, this prototype will look awesome even without the specific design feature I wanted, and we’ll go into production without it. We’ll just have to wait and see.
That’s all I’ve got for now. All’s well, and more updates (and hopefully, inventory!) are forthcoming.
Rock on,
Cliff @ FUZZera
Bell-bottom Jeans for Those Who Rock!