The founder of Little Neni, Y’Buena, first reached out for development services in the summer of 2019. She was 100% committed and ready for production from the start. Her idea was for a collection of Guam themed items to make new moms living abroad feel more connected to home. The mission of the brand was to spread and share the "Hafa Adai Spirit" through designs that are influenced greatly by the history and culture of the U.S. island territory of Guam. Y’Buena’s clear vision for what she wanted helped the project to move through the design and development phases more quickly. One thing that impressed me the most was that she made all the artwork in perfect repeat[1] for all-over printing herself, using Illustrator as the design tool.
We started the project with an initial meeting to review all the steps that were going to happen in the next 6 months. Though we are both in Washington state, we were able to have our kick-off call over the phone as the fabric swatches and reference samples shipped were easy to follow. Then I got to work sourcing the right quality fabrics and labels for bulk, sketching the items, drafting tech packs and pattern, and getting the first samples sewn at the intended USA factory. This helped us to figure out our first costs and Y’Buena was also able to use the samples for testing at home with her family. They came out great and ready to be approved on the first round.
Getting the print strike-offs[2] and approving the prints was the most involved part of the process. First, I had to make sure all the fabrics and inks used were non-toxic, permanent, and safe for use with infants. We landed on two separate digital printers based on their in-stock fabric qualities. Using their existing fabrics allowed us to work in a lower minimum than selecting and shipping a more specific fabric from another supplier to the print house. It helps move the approvals along faster when the printer has a fabric they are already used to working with. Digital printing uses little to no water and less energy in processing compared to traditional fabric printing methods. There’s less physical waste and it is high quality. This makes it one of the most environmentally friendly fabric printing methods out there.
Many families are already enjoying their original products from Little Neni. Get yours today at ShopLittleNeni.com! You can read more about the brand story at https://shoplittleneni.com/pages/our-story-1
Ready to start your brand? We are taking on 1 to 2 more clients this year since our current ones have renewed contracts. Contact us at https://www.developapparel.com/contact to find out if your project is the right fit. We look forward to working with you!
Thanks for reading & hope you are well,
Jessica
[1] A repeat on a print is one tile of artwork, say 8”x8”, that when filled into a larger size piece of fabric and repeated over and over, creates a seamless looking pattern. See photo above. [2] A strike-off is a test yard or swatch of the print used to check the finished quality and see the colors on the actual fabric before producing hundreds of yards.