Our goal is to facilitate “best in class” product design within high-profile global companies. We specialize in working with our customers to design award-winning products, but we don’t stop there. We are also prototype builders, product developers, and master pattern drafters. We are a process driven design studio, and have evolved a design paradigm in which we combine our disciplines into a powerful design process.
Vertical design is the connection between design and prototype development. By linking design and development we are able to refine the development process. Many of our “eureka” moments occur during the evolution of the prototype development phase. Our studio is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery which allows us to quickly create working examples from design concepts. Thus we are able to rapidly test ideas and perfect designs. Our end products accurately reflect the parameters of the design brief, the details of the concept work and the client’s expectations.
Design
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Factory Liaison
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Prototype
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All of our projects start with a confidentiality contract. We take our confidentiality very seriously, and honor our contracts to the letter.
Our documentation begins with the first conversation. We document all interactions with our clients, and provide you with a copy of our paper trail upon completion of the project.
We are excellent communicators. We produce “outcomes” documents, which communicate the information from each meeting, or presentation. This ensures that we are always on the same page as our client, and facilitates open dialog and a great working relationship in every project.
Our market research gives you a snapshot of the current product landscape, identifies opportunities, and enables us to leverage our design skills effectively in your markets.
The design brief becomes the guiding framework for your project. This cornerstone sets the goals, vision, ideals and tone for the project.
Whether we are working within the context of an existing brand or creating an identity from scratch, design signature, visual design language and brand identity are of utmost importance.
We form our initial conceptualization with the outcomes of our market research, the design brief, and frame it within the context of your brand and design language. During the concept phase, we throw a bunch of ideas at the wall, and see what sticks. The concept phase finishes with a formal presentation to our client. Click here to see an example of an initial concept presentation. This formal presentation is followed by feedback from our client, and then we draft an outcomes document outlining the path forward.
Once the initial concepts have been approved, we refine the work and the details begin to emerge. This is where the heavy lifting begins, and we sketch out every detail of the design. This phase ends with a formal final concept presentation of the product design. Click here to see an example of a Final Concept Presentation. Again, this is followed with feedback from the customer, and an outcomes document that outlines the path toward the prototype development phase.
We develop the BOM for our products so there are no surprises when we get the price for the product from the factory. The BOM lists out the materials costs for the product, and an estimate for labor, overhead, and taxes. Click here for an example BOM.
Once the samples have thoroughly tested and approved, we draft the manufacturers spec’. This detailed document communicates all of the specifications to the manufacturer. Click here for an example Spec.
Wookey has relationships with dozens of manufacturing facilities both domestic and abroad. We match your products to the most appropriate factory and govern the counter-sample process. We provide on-site manufacturing quality control and ensure that the integrity of the product and quality of the manufacturing is maintained. Click here to see a gallery of images from factories that we work with.
We work with your seasonal cycles and liaise with your forwarding agent at the factory, and delivery agent with your distribution centers, to guarantee timely delivery.
We use the drawings and the outcomes from the concept to build a scale three-dimensional model of your product. This model is then photographed, and can then be further embellished and rendered digitally.
Patterns for your product are drafted directly from the model, ensuring proper relationship of seam elements and integrity of the design. Our patterns are drafted by hand to ensure accuracy and are digitized into professional pattern software that integrates with nesting software and our laser cutting equipment.
The sewn prototype will be nearly identical to the model and will be a fully usable product. We generally will make 1-3 revisions depending on the complexity of the product. The advantage of using our sample room capabilities is we protect your intellectual property by keeping the design out of the sample rooms in the big factories. These sample rooms tend to be “cross-pollination chambers” where ideas are shared, diluted and sometimes clearly ripped-off. Click here for a tour of our workshop.
Our combined 30+ years of experience with sewn product design has given us a thorough understanding of biometrics, fit, and how products need to be designed to work with the human body.
We offer a range of beta testing solutions. Wookey can beta test in house, contract with professional testers, and set up test groups. Regardless of your budget and time frame, we will provide the feedback needed to bring your product closer to market.
Our vast knowledge base of raw materials, and our strong relationships with fabric designers, mills, and wholesalers, enables us to find or develop the perfect fabric, buckle and trim for the job, every time. We can create new and novel materials, laminated and calendared fabrics, and custom weaves. Need a new buckle? We will provide CAD drawings, prototypes, cavity creation, and production of your idea. Click here to see examples of fabrics that we have designed.
Our color services include: forecasting, color palette development, colorway design (color usage on the product), lab-dip evaluation, and colorfast specification. Our state of the art Pantone color evaluation equipment ensures that our work is accurate and consistent.
We are expert illustrators and can provide graphic design, illustration, logo art and custom embroidery. We can also help you design catalogs, hang tags, and websites that extol the virtues of your product to your market niche.
Your brand is unique; that is why you are able to prosper in a global market. We design within the context of your brand, design signature and corporate identity. We develop designs to a high degree of clarity, eliminating the need for manufacturing partners to translate the details of samples, patterns, specifications and BOM. This process ensures that our factory time is spent addressing small details, saving you time and money.
Our passion for the outdoors enables us to create lasting designs that impact the industry. Our experience and understanding of the market is evident in every product we have designed. We look forward to working with you to create our next award-winning product!
With the acceleration of technologies in the manufacturing of textile products, who can keep up? Wookey Design Studio can! We have our fingers on the pulse! Our state-of-the-art studio is equipped with the latest technology, enabling us to keep in step with the industry’s leading manufacturing capabilities. And we employ cutting-edge techniques that give you the competitive edge and help you save time and money.
Hot air can be used to tape seams, join layers of fabric, and laminate trim pieces to fabric. This technique creates a stitch-free look and can be waterproof. This is the primary method by which seam tape is applied to garments to make them waterproof.
Radio frequency welding (also known as Dielectric Sealing) is used to create water and airtight seams in polyester and PVC backed materials. A radio frequency wave is passed through a die, which focuses and directs the waves to the material to be joined, heats the fabric, bonding it with RF waves and pressure. This is the technique used to make most commercial dry bags and rubber rafts, but can also be used to attach plastic pieces and webbing to material.
Similar to RF welding, ultrasonic welding joins fabric using high-frequency ultrasonic acoustic vibrations. These vibrations heat the fabric through a die. The combination of heat and pressure permanently join the layers of fabric together.
Dye sublimation (also called paper print) is a technique that can add graphic elements to fabric and is used for logos, care instructions, size information and artwork. The dye sublimation process differs from screen-printing and heat transfers by printing into the fabric rather than on it. The dye turns into a gas and becomes integrated into the fibers of the fabric, ensuring that your graphic element will never fade due to UV saturation, wear, or washing. Dye Sublimation should be used on Polyester, only.
Laser cutting is used on fabric shapes that need to have the edge sealed against fraying, or when the shape is too complicated for a traditional steel rule die. Laser cutting reduces fabric consumption, as the precision laser is able to cut pieces very close together.
The die cutting process uses a steel rule die on a large hydraulic press to stamp a shape out of foam, plastic, neoprene or the like. This allows one to cut complicated shapes out of thick materials.
Advanced glues create a welded look in situations where sewing is not applicable or possible. Glues are also used where the fabric is too fine or is not of the right composition to be used with hot air, RF or Ultrasonic techniques.
Thermally molded foam creates air channels, recessed areas and comfort zones which form to the anatomical shape of ones body. The foam is laminated to fabric and heated in an oven. The composite layer is pressed with a die that shapes and cuts the foam. The result is always impressive. Click here to see our thermal molding gallery.
We augment our design capabilities with decades of sewing experience. This experience informs and enhances our design process. By applying our advanced sewing techniques, Wookey Design Studio is able to create products that streamline the manufacturing process, saving you time and money in production.