2009 Kathleen Fasanella All rights reserved The Entrepreneurs Guide to Sewn Product anu!acturing http"##!
ashion$incu%ator&co'
Allocation Ta%le
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2009 Kathleen Fasanella All rights reserved The Entrepreneurs Guide to Sewn Product anu!acturing http"##!ashion$incu%ator&co'
Section 2: How to Plan a Line
Allocation; The First Step to Costing
All about Allocation
Al-lo-ca-tion 4alo$5a6shen78 noun& )&
So'ething set apart !or a speci!ic purpose& 2& A
distri%ution %* plan8 allot'ent8 assign'ent& +& A
thing allocated&
9ow that we6ve covered the factors o! cost in sewn
product 'anu!acturing8 it6s ti'e to introduce
costing 'ethods& For gar'ent industr* purposes8
allocation is an industr* speci!ic ter' that re!ers to
the :uantit* o! 'aterials and tri's that are needed
to produce a given st*le& ;e use allocation to 'ean
how 'uch !a%ric and guts a certain design needs8 in
order to %e co'pleted& Accurate allocation is
'andator* in order to !igure costs8 and is re!lected
on costing sheets& Figuring these costs will allow
*ou to order <ust enough 4!or e=a'ple7 inter!acing
!or the entire line& That wa* *ou don6t need to spend
too 'uch 'one* !or things *ou don6t need8 or to
5eep !ro' running short in 'id$strea'&
Allocation table
The goal o! the allocation ta%le is to ta5e the 'ost
convoluted 'easuring s*ste' 5nown to hu'an5ind
and convert it into a rational s*ste'8 where it can
%e divided %* ten& >6ve onl* seen this in !actories8
and it6s a ge'& This is what we call an Allocation
Table& >t converts the actual *ardage scale8 into
units o! ten& >n doing so8 a waste allowance is added
at the sa'e ti'e& ?* the wa*8 ever*%od* in *our
shop needs one o! these ta%les& >t6s a good idea to
'a5e several copies and la'inate it to the ta%letops
and post it on %ulletin %oards&
How to use the table
;hen *ou la* out a pattern !or the !irst ti'e8 use
this ta%le to !igure the *ardage& @! course8 *ou6ll
need to la* *our pattern pieces out as *ou would a
'ar5er& >t adds a sa!et* Aone !or 'is$cuts and errors
without going over%oard& For e=a'ple8 sa* *our
product ta5es l*d and )+ )#2B& ;ell8 it6s a lot o!
trou%le to 'ultipl* that %* however units *ou hope
to sell& So *ou6d loo5 !or )+ )#2 in the chart& Cou
will !ind this !alls %etween the range o! )0 /#-Band
)1 )#2B&
Dunning *our !inger over to the right8 *ou6ll !ind .
4& So *our allocation would %e 1.4 *ds&
At the sa'e ti'e8 *ou6ve added an e=tra inch& That
inch is *our B%oo$%ooB %u!!er& 9ow *ou would
'ultipl* )&1 ti'es however 'an* *ou were going
to 'a5e& So i! *ou cut )00 units8 *ou6d %u* )10
*ds&
This section on allocation is si'pl* intended as a
starting point& ;hen *ou are cutting a higher
nu'%er o! units8 ever* inch counts& The !igure o!
)&1 could end up costing *ou :uite a %it i! *ou didn6t
ad<ust the !igure %e!ore production purchasing&
Section Four will e=plain in 'ore detail how to
!igure !a%ric usage& Speci!icall*8 *ou6ll need to 'a5e
a 'ar5er and draw in the pattern several ti'es to get
a %etter idea o! the real costs&
?* the ti'e *ou get to the production end8 *ou 'a*
!ind that *ou have costed *our product three
di!!erent ti'es8 i! not 'ore8 which is a good sign& >n
the design phase8 *ou should concentrate on
%allpar5 esti'ates& Figuring allocation is <ust the
starting point to get esti'ates in the design phase&
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