Behind the scenes: production of the new G&G collection

In this blog, I take you through the production process of our new colors collection. Because… that was a hell of a ride! I’m very happy that we finally launched the new colors and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

The original idea was to launch the new colors before the summer of 2023. But, in early 2023 we decided that we wanted to move the G&G production another factory in Portugal. And then you actually take a few steps back first. Samples have to be sent back and forth again, the new factory has to get to know the brand and understand exactly what is important to G&G. Adjustments and improvements are made (even more samples), before you actually have everything set up properly at the new factory. You have to imagine that just this process of moving to another factory takes several months. And then there’s the elastic waistband, which has also been quite a pain in the a** for me the past months. The production of the elastic was also moved to a new supplier in Portugal, but I wanted the exact same color, stretch and feel as the original G&G elastic waistband. During the production of the new elastic, we discovered that the manufacturer of the original elastic had not commited to the agreed color code, so it seemed impossible to get the color identical. Fortunately, we work with incredibly good craftsmen in Portugal and after some trial and error, the elastic became almost identical! And even softer than the original elastic waistband already was. 🙂 Meanwhile, I already finished the design for the new colors. Then it was time for the “lab dips,” where small pieces of our fabric were dyed in the new colors, with several tiny variations. I chose which variation I felt was the best for each color. Once the colors were approved by me we could move on to finalizing the print, as the print had to be tested in several variations on the light brown fabric, the background color, as well.

And then production could finally begin! Within no time, the solid colors were ready and I received huge boxes of truly the best quality products I could have hoped for. As I was unpacking those boxes and filling the warehouse bins by myself, I did shed a tear. I realized “I’m just doing this.” And often it’s terrifying, investing so much money, not knowing if customers are going to like what you’ve come up with, but I just do it. But… (there always comes a ‘but’) the solid colors were dyed, also already sewn and delivered to G&G in NL, but the print wasn’t ready yet. Printing the fabric could not be done until the solid colors were dyed. And during the Portuguese summer break all the factories are closed for a month, so the printed fabric would not be ready before summer break. Fortunately, the team in Portugal was able to realize that they could made a small batch of print styles ‘up-front’, so at least we could do the photo shoot before the launch. In early September, all the factories in Portugal opened and we quickly received the very last delivery, the new print. Furthermore, we were ready for the launch, so the day after the print was delivered to the Netherlands the new products were launched! Very exciting how such a new collection will be received by the customers, but the feedback is great.

So, now you know a little bit of what was going on behind the scenes to launch this new collection. And I have learned (again) that in the end, everything comes together, even if the whole schedule falls apart and everything turns out differently than the ideal situation.