I could hardly sleep last night in anticipation of what was to come this week. Remember last week I told you about concept and what it meant? Well, this week product development and design will “hand off” individual styles as an output of the fall 2009 concept meeting. A “hand off” is literally a living hard document that includes measurements and sketches of an intangible garment that has not been made yet. Synonymous terms you may have heard of include garment specification sheets, tech packs, etc. Once the hand off sheet is given to the production team, the team I am a part of, we send the document to our regional offices. Their receipt of a hand off sheet is a signal to them that we are requesting a prototype based on the specifications found on the sheet. The number of styles we hand off will yield approximately seven weeks until the proto sample is received in New York.

And while hand off is exciting in and of itself, the real reason why I have been looking forward to this week is because there are going to be associates from our regional office here in New York to receive hand off for this season. I will finally get to meet people who I have been corresponding with every day for seven months via email and the occasional phone call! There are four associates here from South Korea and two from Sri Lanka. And, when they arrived in our office, they also brought us presents! They gave us small boxes made of mother of pearl and black onyx. Ashley joyfully suggested, “You can put your business cards inside.” “Excellent idea,” I thought.

Hand off occurs in a room with a big table that seats about eight people. There are three of us from production and sourcing, two from product development, and three associates from our Korean office. Product development walks us through each style and we offer our input and suggestions to help achieve their vision. Now that I have been working here for two full seasons, I am familiar with the process enough so that I can continue to elevate my analysis of what I am seeing and hearing. Keep in mind I work in production and sourcing, so I am paying attention to what fabrics, trims and embellishments are being considered. Based on the fabric and level of skill needed for proper execution of each hand off, our team will allocate each style to a region accordingly (earlier I mentioned we work with regions such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, India, Sri Lanka, and South Korea). My manager has a degree in pattern making and brings extraordinary value to the table during hand off. One of the biggest roles our department plays in the organization is to communicate the brand's needs to our regional offices. The transference of technical terms from English to the native tongue of the individual who actually makes the prototype starts with us. Therefore, it is essential to be precise in regards to measurements, construction and detail on each hand off sheet to ensure we will receive an amazing prototype.