Ultimate guide to fit sessions for your fashion business

If you’re manufacturing your fashion line and want to perfect the fit, you’ll need to be familiar with fit sessions. Fit sessions are super important to get right if you want customers to love your product and be able to easily find their perfect size (and in turn, hello low returns rate!). Fit sessions are used in conjunction with your tech packs (which you can learn about here) and the two things combined help you to get that perfect fit for your products. In this posts, let’s find out what a fit session is and how to run one correctly, to ensure that your fashion garments fit well and look amazing.

What is a fit session?

A fit session is a meeting involving the fit model, a garment technician (like me) and someone from the brand (you!). A fit model is an employee or freelancer who has the measurements of your average customer. The fit model will try on any fit samples from the factory, so you can assess the fit and decide if it is suitable for your customer. During the meeting, fit samples (samples sent from the factory at various stages of development, to check the fit) will be tried on by the fit model. The buyer/designer will comment on the overall styling, fit and quality of any trims or fabrics sent for approval. It is the garment technician's job to make a note of what has been approved and what needs to be changed. This information is recorded on the tech pack and will be sent to the factory so they can work on any amendments, or make the final order if the sample has been approved. 

How do I prepare for a fit session?

You will need to know, or organise the following in advance of the meeting;

• Before the meeting, I would measure the garment, so you can check how it compares to what you have asked for in your tech pack. This will make it easier for you when you come to feeding your comments back to the factory. 

• You will need to book time with your fit model and make sure you have space for them to change, wherever you are holding the meeting

• You will need to bring the sample that needs fitting, as well as any previous samples as they may need to be referred to 

• Tech packs for each of the styles you are fitting. This could either be a printed document or on your computer, whichever you will find it easiest to refer to and make notes on

• Personally, before going into a fit meeting I like to familiarise myself with the situation; things like, which sample we're on, any problems we've been having and how long we have until the item ships, are all useful to know

• If the sample is made from alternative fabric (i.e. not the actual fabric you will be using for bulk) you will need to bring a sample of the actual fabric and any trims, if you have approved them. Note; wherever possible samples should always be in the correct fabric.

• You should bring a tape measure and have enough space on your phone for photos!.

What should I look out for in the fit session?

The purpose of the fit meeting, or 'fits' is to make the garment as close to perfect as possible. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to correct every issue, but the idea is to make sure the garment is suitable for your customer. You're not only looking at the styling to see if it appeals to them, but also at things like the fit and how it feels when it's worn. If it's supposed to be for work can you sit down in it comfortably? If it's meant to be for sports is it stretchy, can you move easily? Is the fabric pulling and creating drag lines? Over time you will develop an eye for detail, but here's some initial things to look out for to start you off;

• Look at it from a customer perspective. If your customer saw this in a shop, would they like it? Would they want to try it on? Does it give the impression it's well made?

• Look at the stitching, is it straight and neat, or is it wobbly and inconsistent?

• Ask the fit model how it feels. Ask them to move around, look out for common problems such as restrictions on moving your arms forward, or things (especially trousers/pants) being uncomfortable when you sit down. 

• If the garment is meant to be fitted, is it saggy anywhere, are there any drag lines (where fabric 'bunches' together)

• Is this the right size for your fit model? If not, change the measurements so it is a good fit.

• How about the length? Is it working for the look of the garment and also in terms of practicality?

• Are all of the components working together, such as styling details, buttons, pockets? Does anything look over the top or out of place? Or do you feel something is missing?

• Can the model get in and out of the garment ok? Is the zip long enough, is it good quality or is it getting stuck? If the garment uses buttons, are there enough, or are there gaps where you can see the model's skin?

Essentially, you are looking for anything that will either affect the performance of the garment (such as zips that get stuck, or seams that are coming apart), or things that will stop your customer from buying it (like it restricts movement, or is uncomfortable to wear). 

How often do I have a fit session?

Here, I would love to write 'as many times as you need to', but unfortunately it's not always that simple. When time planning, I always allow for 4 samples and fit sessions, but aim to only need 3. A first fit, pre-production (sent for final approval before the stock is made) and a shipping sample (sent after the stock is made but before it is shipped so we can check for any issues before it leaves the factory). To reduce the number of clothing samples you’ll need, giving clear instructions to the factory is essential, as they are often unwilling to use common sense or imagination (sounds awful to say but sadly that is often true), so make sure you're very specific about what you want. I’ve heard of some people who aren’t as experienced in fittings and don’t have detailed tech packs needing as many as 9 samples, so putting in some work upfront really does pay.

The other things to consider are how much time do you have and are you paying for samples? If you're a startup or small business, the factory will often charge you for the samples, so you need to decide how important the changes that you'd like to make are vs the cost of an extra sample. In terms of timeframe, if you're asking for extra samples, this may cause a delay to the delivery, so again you will have to assess how critical the changes are vs the delivery date into store is. 

I hope this has given you a few ideas for things to look out for! If you're finding the process a bit overwhelming and are looking for detailed guidance and step by step help with the fashion manufacturing process, you might be interested in The Fashion Startup Online Course, which has a whole module to cover the sample process and another dedicated to working with factories and the process for production. You can learn more about the course by clicking here.

Thanks for reading! Vicki