Article · Sample Development
My Deadlines Are Burning. Why Does a Sample Take 15–25 Days?
Is there any way to influence a factory?
That question deserves more than one answer, so I’ll take it in parts.
Part one: “Why does a sample take 15–25 days? I’ve heard it can be done in three.”
Short answer: three days is real — when nothing is being developed. Last month a client asked for mesh briefs. We had black mesh in our stock, the construction was simple — a few seams. They were made the next day. But that is either an exception, or a revision of an existing style using material we already had.
So let’s talk about standard development — not the exceptions.
There are two types of bras
One doesn’t need a press mold. The other can’t be made without one.
Let’s take a bra that needs a mold. The reference number there is 25 days.
Opening the mold takes about 15 days — up to 20. Why the spread? The usual reasons. First, there may be a queue. Second, those 15–20 days already include several rounds of mold corrections.
The fabric track runs in parallel: buying the material, then lab dips — the small dyed swatches that lock your colour — usually two or three rounds of colour matching. The two tracks meet at roughly the same point, around day 20.
All clear so far. So where do the other five days come from? Why 25?
Here it is: once the mold is made, the material goes to the molder (that’s the road), then the cups are pressed, then they travel back to the factory (the road again), and only then the bra is sewn. That is how you arrive at that number.
And the bra that doesn’t need a press mold: 15–20 days
What sits inside that number? Waiting for materials made to order, the dyeing, and the making. Simpler here.
Part two: all the materials are in. What can go wrong next?
So all the materials are in: fabric, lace, elastic, trims. It feels like the hard part is behind us — next stop is the sewing floor and a finished sample.
Let me tell you about three situations that come up on our sample line all the time. The point is not to scare anyone — the point is that these things happen almost always, and it helps to be ready for them.
The design didn’t sit right on the body
The sample is sewn exactly to the drawing: measurements spot on, seams even. But on a real person the fabric puckers and gathers near the underarm.
The drawing isn’t wrong — it simply doesn’t know how a body behaves in motion.
What we do: adjust the pattern a little — usually a few millimetres across the top of the cup and the armhole — and sew a second sample.
It’s important to understand this: it is not a rework and not somebody’s mistake, it is a normal stage of development. Fit cannot be checked on paper — only on a person.
Red bleeds
A different case. The client picked a specific fabric — one of the new developments. Soft, comfortable, beautiful. But the standard ways of fixing colour don’t work here: the red bleeds more than acceptable, and the sample fails the wash test.
Red is the most demanding colour in general — as are black and navy.
What we do: the timeline shifts. The dyehouse tries a different dye and a different process, and we repeat the tests until we get the result we need — sometimes that takes two or three rounds. If the fabric simply doesn’t hold colour, we say so honestly before cutting the material, not after.
Comfortable for 10 minutes — not for a full day
The fitting went great: everything sat exactly as it should. But lingerie is not worn for ten minutes. Half a day of wear — and things start to show: the strap slips, the underwire pushes past the underarm fold, the closure digs in.
What we do: a wear test — a real person wears the sample for a full day, in normal life, not at a fitting. We collect the comments and put them back into the pattern. That is why our development schedule always leaves room for a second fitting round.
Why we don’t rush into bulk
The main thing I want to get across: reworking after the first sample is normal. A sample is never ready for bulk on the first try — issues always come up, the only question is which ones.
That is exactly why we bring the sample to a proper state before starting the batch. Fixing the fit on one sample takes days. Fixing it on three thousand finished pieces takes weeks and money. The more calmly we go through these iterations, the better the batch turns out.