Managing Design Changes After Sample Approval

A change requested after the pre-production sample is approved is not a small change, whatever it looks like on screen. By that point fabric is cut or booked, trims are in production, the marker is made, the grade is set and the line is scheduled. A request to move a cut-out edge by 8 millimetres touches the pattern, the grade, the pad pocket and the operator instructions. The discipline that prevents this is not refusing changes; it is classifying them before they are made.

Why Late Changes Cost So Much

Cost is driven by what has already been committed. A change after tech pack lock costs a redline. The same change after fabric booking costs a fabric rebook and possibly a write-off. After cutting, it costs the cut pieces. After sewing starts, it costs finished goods.

Time follows the same curve. A change that takes two days at the tech pack stage can take four to six weeks after PP approval, because it re-enters the sampling sequence rather than sitting on top of it.

Classify the Change

Level one, cosmetic: colour, artwork, print position, packaging. These usually need a revised PP sample and a new approval swatch, but no new pattern. Impact is often zero to five days and little or no cost beyond a sample fee.

Level two, component: swapping elastic, changing pad construction or thickness, changing hook gauge or row count, changing label type. These affect fit or function and require a revised PP sample with a fit check, plus new trim minimums. Impact is typically 10 to 20 days and a real cost in trim rebooking.

Level three, structural: changing the cut-out shape or position, moving the racerback convergence point, altering the cup or the underband geometry. This is a new pattern and a new grade, and it requires a full re-sample and a new size set. Impact is 30 to 45 days plus full sampling cost, and possibly a fabric rebook if the marker efficiency changes.

Decision Rules

Set a freeze date in the program calendar, usually at PP sample approval, and name it in the contract. Require a written change request stating the change, the reason, the classification and the requester. Require the factory to respond with time and cost impact within a fixed period, commonly 48 hours, before the change is authorised.

Require specification versioning. Every revision gets a number and a date, and the tech pack on the factory floor is the numbered version, not a file called final_v3_reallyfinal.

When to Say No

Decline any level three change after cutting has started unless the alternative is an unsellable product. Decline changes that cannot be verified before shipment: if there is no time for a new PP sample and a fit check, shipping the change is shipping an experiment.

Also decline changes requested by someone who has not signed off on the cost. Most damaging late changes are approved by a person who never saw the impact note.

If You Must Change

Prefer sequencing over rework. Ship the approved version and introduce the change in the next drop, using the first drop's sell-through data to confirm the change is worth making. If the change must happen now, run it as a documented deviation on a defined quantity, keep the two versions physically separated, and label the cartons so the warehouse does not mix them.

The goal is not zero changes. It is knowing, before you authorise one, exactly what it costs in days and dollars.