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Excellent Service!!
I would like to take a minute and complement Sean and his team at The Pattern Makers for the excellent service they provided me. I started my journey in the clothing industry about 6 or 7 months ago. My goal was to have men's knit sweaters and cardigans created from scratch using my own concepts. Myself, having no background in fashion or design, did not know where to turn. Luckily, I found The Pattern Makers through an internet search. After doing my "due diligence" and researching the company further, I decided to move forward with them. As a beginner in the industry, I had a million questions and was nervous to begin my journey. Sean and his team did a great job giving me advice and guidance along the process and always answered my calls and emails in a timely manner. Their professionalism and communication put me at ease and I intend on utilizing them in the future for other garments once I get my company up and running!
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Patient, Honest and Accessible
My business partner went from successfully selling wholesale apparel to deciding to launch a clothing line unique to our brand. Though I am a creative my creativity does not extend to fashion - from concept to production. We had no idea where to start. After months of research, RFQs, and many emails to potential manufacturers someone suggested we become members of Maker's Row. We were (are) a two-person brand with limited resources and needed to tap into a network of manufacturers (etc.). The Pattern Makers (TPM) was one of 20 companies we initially contacted. My business partner was drawn to TPM due to their willingness to share information and provide guidance freely! After several emails and phone calls, I realized he was right about TPM. We've been working with TPM for almost two years. Sean has patiently walked us through every single step (i.e. concepts, sample, more samples, another sample, patterns, fabric sourcing, etc.). He's answered every single question with enthusiasm and met every challenge with possible solutions. Also, the TPM staff, Gwyn in particular, is amazing. They've treated our tiny brand as though it was a major brand. One last thing (a recent example) - I misinterpreted some design details given to me by my partner. I called TPM to admit that I provided TPM with the inaccurate information. I humbly requested a conference call for my business partner and Sean to speak. They seem to speak the same language. The conference call was scheduled. Sean and my business partner discussed the design details. We were off and running on the next sample...again. We even learned a new term (Sean is always educating and providing information)…"back yoke". It's been wonderful working Sean/TPM. - T. Smart
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Careless and inconsistent
I recently worked with Sean and Gwyn to create a pattern and produce a line of tee shirts. I sent the required materials in August of 2017 to The Pattern Makers. It took 9 months before I finally had a good sample ready for production. And then Sean tells me they are phasing out of production. So now I end up with 70-plus yards of materials returned that I have to re-pack and ship it off to a factory that can actually produce what I asked for last year. Oh joy... I get to pay for shipping again.
At least on one occasion they sent my sample garment to wrong address, or they didn't send it in the first place. I cannot be certain because they never provided a tracking number or a simple email to say, Hey – we shipped you sample!
Their service is slow, careless, inconsistent and very disorganized. It seems as if their right hand does not know what their left is doing. On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best) I give them a 2. As I told Sean ... if he offered to work for free I would say, No Thanks.
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Great company
Working with Sean was a great success for us. He not only accepted us, but worked with us even though he knew we had no idea of what we were doing. He is very precise and detail oriented, and lived up to his promises. He helped us to become successful. He is honest, intelligent and well worth using for any project.
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The Pattern Makers Rock
In starting my fledgling eCommerce active wear company I needed to find a network of designers/entrepreneurs who could help me prototype and design my first assortment. The Pattern Makers team of Sean and Gwyn not only built out my prototypes based upon simple sketches I provided, but gave me great advice on how best to alter the designs to best fit the need and function of the clothes.
It's so important to not just have someone to make clothes but to be able to share and contribute to the vision of what you are trying to deliver. I couldn't be happier with the team at The Pattern Makers for what they have done, and they are a critical part of my design ecosystem. I highly recommend them to anyone getting into the apparel business.
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FALSE PROMISES
I endeavored to work with this company a while back. After seeing my designs they assured me that they would be able to make my samples and do production. I provided them with all the necessary info and told them to contact me if any questions. In the end, I ended up with no samples and because they did not test the patterns, many of the patterns had serious issues. On top of that- after they charged me $$$- they told me they could not do my production because the styles were too complicated for them to sew. This last bit was something they could have known just from looking at the designs I sent to them. I had to use another manufacturer and they had to basically remake some of the patterns because they were not cut right or were missing pieces altogether. I paid a lot of money to get the patterns made with The Pattern Makers and it all turned out to be a waste. If you have complex pattern or even mildly complex patters, I would not use this company no matter what promises they make. I think they may do better when things are easy. However, the patterning was just not worth the money they charged.
Response from the manufacturer
Odari,
Thank you for the feedback. We were not notified (at any point) that your current factory needed revisions made to the patterns. Every factory is unique in how they approach apparel production, especially on complicated styles. Had you reached out to us during the sample making process, we would have gladly provided any revisions needed (as is our policy). We have a full set of slopers for your project and we can assure you that there are no missing pieces. We are happy to send out any "missing" pieces should your current factory still need them. Just let us know how we can assist.
Thanks!
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So Thankful!
I have been working with The Pattern Makers for almost a year now. I started with some very rough ideas for my active wear line. Sean and his team helped me with simplifying my designs, sourcing fabric, a dozen or so skype calls, my first samples, and now we're moving on to production. I made the trip to Cleveland to visit their factory for my first fittings. There were some revisions, but the process went fast.
I would definitely recommend The Pattern Makers to anyone starting out in the apparel business.
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Horrible experience
We hired them to create a small swim wear collection. The patterns that came back are unsewable. I can tell that they have little experience in actual assembly. When I contacted them to try to work out what they'd done I managed to reach them once. All other calls and emails went answered. We scrapped everything they done and had to start from scratch. A $1200 costly mistake.
