Everything you Need to Know About Our Design Process

Ever wondered how we go about creating our corset range? Read on to discover everything you need to know about our design process...

At Corset Story, our range of corsets is varied and diverse. From instant shape and corset tops, to waist training, underbust and bridal corsets, we have created a variety of in-demand styles to suit a wide range of needs and tastes.

As one of our valued customers, you might wonder how and why we develop the designs that we do. Read on to discover everything you need to know about the Corset Story design process, to help you better understand what we do and why…

A Firm Grasp on the Market…

In order to develop a popular range, understanding our customer is key. Even at the top of the business, we all spend time working within customer services and managing our social channels. This means that those high up in the company, making the big decisions, have first hand experience with our customers, their pain points and their needs and desires.

We take the time to listen to each and every problem our customers have and understand how this has led them to our website in the first place. From here we ensure that we provide practical and helpful information on our website, via our size guides, blog posts and product descriptions. Beyond this, if a customer needs further help we always encourage them to get in touch, and make it easy to get answers to any questions they might have. From this, we record any information about how we might be able to improve current designs, but also establish any design ideas that we might not currently offer.

Our Design Process…

By taking the time to fully understand our customer, we are always striving to develop new lines that provide solutions to problems. As we carefully listen to everything each unique customer has to say, we’re able to act on any gaps that we identify within our range, or solve any pain points quickly.

Corsets are used by a huge number of people for a variety of different reasons - as a bra replacement, for back support, waist training, bridal, costume, LARP, fashion, lingerie, the list goes on. Corsets can solve a lot of issues, and in many cases are a great solution, but corsets aren’t always the answer, and we strive to give all of our customers honest advice, to help them find the solution they are looking for. We take the time to collect data though, all of which feeds back into our product development process.

This approach means that we have created fantastic new products that have solved issues that nobody had ever outlined before. Once we identify a trend of similar people with similar issues, we can start to develop a corset that will address this problem. Sometimes this means creating a completely new pattern, adjusting an existing pattern, or creating a new design for an existing pattern.

We work with freelance experts to create any new designs or alter any current patterns. From production technologists to freelance fashion designers, we recruit the very best in the industry to help us deliver high quality products that work to meet a variety of needs. We prefer to work this way as it gives us access to a wide variety of different skills, experiences and viewpoints, which results in the best possible outcome. Through years of experience, we have found that different freelancers excel in different areas. Working this way means that we get the best individual working on one area at a time, and this approach also means we can ensure our designs are fresh, interesting and varied.

Creating the Corset Story Corsets...

The next step is to bring our designs to life, ready for testing. Once we have outlined a design that we are confident with, we then submit this to our CAD Technician and Materials Manager. The CAD technician will create the new design in line with our pattern grading. This ensures consistency with sizing across each and every range. The Material Manager will then go on to work with the mills to find the most appropriate fabrics for each unique design.

Next up is creating a sample for testing from the CAD pattern. We make sample garments in our sampling office. This will then we sent for testing with a model. Once our new design has been approved, we can put the corset into production. At this stage we order fabrics, which can take up to 35 days to be produced.

Once our fabrics have arrived, we take the time to make a pre-production sample and add the new design onto our website. We make our designs available to pre-order, for any customers that wish to reserve the new design to make sure they secure the garment when it becomes available.

The entire process of creating a new corset, or adjusting an existing design can take up to six months from start to finish. We work hard to provide our customers with what they want, and aim to provide solutions to a variety of issues, no matter how big or small.

Our customer is at the heart of what we do, and we always welcome feedback, comments and suggestions. We shape Corset Story around your requirements and needs, and appreciate your time and support as the brand wouldn’t be what it is today without you, our valued customer.

As always, should you need any additional support or have any questions at all, please send them to: sales@corset-story.com