Module-3

Line Development

BY:
SANJANA GROVER
 Introduction
 The line planning is a process that guides line
development and presentation activity. This line
planning process influences the sourcing and
production process. In general, the line plan
process defines the limits of the line. The line
plan focuses the efforts of design team in one
cohesive direction by providing the details like
number of styles, fabrics colors and sizes that
should be developed for each product group.
 Irrespective of the size of the company, the basic
line development process consists of same elements
at different levels.
 The basic steps involved in the line development
process. Based on the product offering frequency,
the company may work simultaneously on two or
more lines at a time. However, the most difficult
portion of this process is the skills and ability of the
designers and merchandisers to transform from one
style/ concept to other more frequently
 The merchandising department’s primary job
is to translating the marketing needs into a
saleable product and deliver to the consumers
at the right place, at right time and at right
price. As companies change their brand
positioning, the merchandisers should
perform their own research on different areas
to accommodate the needs of their changing
target markets.
 In the preliminary stages of line development
process, the merchandiser can determine the
characteristics of a market through various
research, studies or collection of data. This
process is generally termed as forecasting. 
 This forecasting process can be done in
different sectors based on the needs. The
success of forecasting relies on analysing the
trends and developing these for individual
markets at the right time and right place.
Trends may be affected by social, cultural,
political, and economic factors as well as
evolutions in life style, technological
developments, media and retailing.
 Line plan

Fabric research Market analysis

Styling concept

Color research
Sketches and silhouettes
Trend research

Trend research
Style board Product research
Consumer research

Fabric selection

Technical specification development

Prototype development
Quality aspects

Specification
Product
engineering
Style sheet
Costing

Line adoption

sample
 Fashion Forecasting
 Forecasting Research

 1. Market Research
 A. consumer research
 B. market segment analysis
 C. product research
 2. Fashion Research
 A. trend research
 B. fabric and trims
 C. colour research