Helping Emerging Designers Bring Products to Market
For many emerging fashion designers, being creative comes quickly and easily. Ideas flow and inspiration is everywhere. But getting your collection developed, branded, marketed and in stores is a heavy — and expensive — lift.
This is where agencies such as Fabric to Finish Inc. can step in and help. The company is a New York City-based firm that specializes in global product development and production management for emerging and independent designers. Here, Jamie Koff, founder and president of Fabric to Finish Inc., discusses the founding of her agency, highlights of clients and milestones from her own career in fashion.
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WWD: Tell us about your company, when it was founded, and the impetus behind launching the business.
Jamie Koff: After a luxury childrenswear license that I was working for closed abruptly in 2006, I founded Fabric to Finish, a New York City-based firm specializing in design, branding, merchandising, product development and production management for the independent and emerging designer. My goal was to establish product development consulting as the new paradigm to bring budding designers from runway to reality.
Utilizing my experience working for apparel powerhouses throughout my 30-year career, I created a well-rounded, full-service solution that helps entrepreneurs with all the back-office support that most start-up apparel companies cannot afford to house internally.
WWD: How do you work with brands? What’s the value proposition?
J.K: The true value of Fabric to Finish comes when our clients allow us to take over and manage the entire process while still leaning in for their creative input. Our team manages all critical functions on a consultancy basis while keeping clients’ overhead low and operational needs in check. We deliver purpose to our clients in a strategic and innovative way.
Our team of qualified industry professionals possess the technical knowledge necessary to source, fabricate, produce, design and distribute a collection. We have the ability to manage the product development process while applying technical expertise across multiple product categories.
WWD: Can you share more about the brands you’ve worked with and talk about their successes?
J.K: Over the past 17 years, we have had an extraordinary roster of brands that we still maintain relationships with today. To highlight a few, would be picking favorites, however, one of our clients that we have helped launch and still currently work with is Powder Puff Collection. They were recently featured in Harper’s Bazaar for their collaboration with Veronica Beard CaraCara. North and Mark is another one of our favorite brands that we helped bring to market, through years of work they have become beyond successful in the luxury men’s outwear space.
Gold Ivy offers comfortable, luxurious and sustainable blankets with an incredible giveback model. By purchasing from Gold Ivy, you are also supporting organizations that are advocating for children’s welfare. CWT is the perfect clean white T-shirt, created to be a blank canvas, staple and investment piece for every woman’s closet.
We are also so incredibly proud of two of our brands that just launched: Lola Pearl and Sol Saguaro. Lola Pearl offers sleek and versatile pet products created with convenience and the comfort of your pup in mind and Sol Saguaro is a men’s golf polo designed with the comfort and performance of each golfer in mind while adding a stylish printed twist.
All these brands are currently live, distributing and selling their products online, which is what they all initially set out to do.
WWD: What are some of the challenges and opportunities facing brands today?
J.K: Some of the opportunities facing brands today lie simply in the way they can present their idea, distribute their idea, and get their idea to market. They’re not beholden to having a physical showroom anymore or booking market appointments with retailers because everything can be done virtually from anywhere in the world. They can open their own online store through multiple social media outlets and engage directly with an audience and can personalize the experience as their own best salesperson. They truly get to become the face of their business.
Some of the largest challenges facing brands today are shipping delays, supply chain disruptions, increased cost of goods, labor and workforce shortages. With the pandemic and how things have changed significantly in our economy, production and sourcing costs have increased significantly and have also impacted the timeline of launching a brand. Customer acquisition is something else to add to the mix, as most start-ups don’t truly recognize the magnitude of this cost when venturing out to start a new [direct-to-consumer] brand. They oftentimes feel that riding the social media train of influencer marketing is their meal ticket, but truly need to invest in themselves to create an organic following with loyal buyers.
Ultimately, one of the greatest challenges that brands face today is market share: everyone has an idea, but how is their idea going to be uniquely different from the one next to them — that is the magic question.
WWD: How would you describe your leadership style?
J.K: I would describe my leadership style as “Transformational Leadership.” My goal is to lead with trust and confidence with my team as a collective group that is working to reach shared goals for our company. I strive to inspire my team to take initiative, increase productivity and think out of the box creatively to solve problems and find solutions. I find great meaning in sharing accolades with my team each time we receive positive feedback from a client, recognizing that each member plays an essential role in our accomplishments.
While leadership and running a business is certainly a learning curve and may vary between each employee, I make a conscious effort to help each member on my team further their skill set and encourage them to always reach their capabilities. We have significant relationships both with our vendors and clients, and that is reflected in our daily flow of communication style to both parties, which is something I’m truly proud of.
WWD: What were some of the notable milestones in your career?
J.K: Besides landing my first job as a production coordinator for J. Crew and moving to New York in 1993, the most notable milestone that ultimately was the impetus for me starting Fabric to Finish was being hand-selected to be part of the start-up team to launch Tommy Women’s and Tommy Jeans back in 1995 while I was a fabric assistant at Tommy Hilfiger. Being part of a team to start-up two hugely successful divisions at an explosive time for that company’s history, made such an impact on me as an employee, me as an entrepreneur and me as a human.
One of my most memorable moments was while I was building a denim line for Artistix, my former boss and mentor, Tommy Hilfiger came up to me after the fashion show to say, “Wow, Jamie, you did all of that?” A close second was when I was putting on my first London Fashion Week show for Nathan Jenden [my first client], who at the time was creative director for DVF, and after the show having Diane come up to say, “job well done.” Another fun milestone was when I helped launch Rosie Pope maternity and found myself in the B-roll opening of all episodes of her Bravo reality show. That was super cool.
WWD: What’s next for you and your company?
J.K: Last year was an extremely successful and meaningful year for us. Not only did we expand our office, but we launched the most brands we ever have in one year, which was extremely exciting coming off two years of the fashion industry being under wraps due to COVID-19. We hope to carry over the same momentum in 2023 and continue to help transform start-up fashion the way we intended when I first founded the company.
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