IN THE KNOW: Learn from Tinker Tailor’s Mistakes

Tinker Tailor's Failure Can Be A Lesson Learned for You Too 

Aslaug Magnusdottir, the ambitious and industrious, started Tinker Tailor with the plan for customizable luxury. Tinker Tailor would sit at the cross-hairs between designer and couture, a sizeable gap the company was sure to fill. Consumers who were interested in designer pieces often wanted to make changes to the designer’s vision in order to suit their taste, body or lifestyle. Tinker Tailor wanted to make that a reality. Magnusdottir left her post as Co-Founder of Moda Operandi, after 3 years to start Tinker Tailor.

Unfortunately, the timeline goes as follows: Tinker Tailor launched in 2014 and shuttered in July 2015. Fortunately for the rest us, Magnusdottir is open about the mistakes of Tinker Tailor and has shared them with Fast Company (click to read full interview).  

While she pointed to a few of her mis-steps, I thought I'd take apart the idea of Tinker Tailor and share what I think looked like mayhem waiting to happen from a production point of view:  

• Her History: Aslaug Magnusdottir started her career in law, then finance and then fashion retail technology. In none of the bios that I've read of her, was there mention of her actually working in  an apparel company. While shes been very active in the perimeter, she was not active in a design house -- not even an apprenticeship. This isn't to say she didn't research because I do not know. Her vision of design on demand is brilliant, but I can see from the premise of the idea, that there's a lack of understanding of the complexity it takes to produce clothing.  As with any industry, the trenches are the only place where one would actually 'get it'; not soaring above it.
• Economies of Scale: Production requires a different thinking cap than sample making. In sample making, the designer can source from the local vendors at retail level. In production, factors like costing, margins and volume play a vital role in the outcome of the final garment. Take for example contractors such as the fabric mills. Unless the designer orders a stock fabric (and even that is hit-or-miss), the fabric mill will have to make the designer's fabric. In order for the mill to even consider the order, there are minimum yardages the designer would have to order.  In addition to that, turning that fabric order around could take over a a few weeks to a month. Let's say the mill gladly provided Designer A with the fabric he needs for his collection. The designer produces his beautiful collection and all the fabric is used up. If a customer later approaches Tinker Tailor, the designer cannot just get more fabric from the mill. Thus making the clients order impossible to fulfill. Not just fabric mills, but factories and other production services work on that same basis.

• Production on that Scale is Not 'Scalable':I have worked with a number of designers. In my experience, in couture especially, the capacity of output of any design house is fixed.  Not only is it fixed, but often times in small and medium sized enterprises, each team member has to wear different hats. If the adjustments were being done at the design houses, these one-off orders  would have been putting stress on valuable resources, like time and man-power, which could have been put to better use on their line. 

      Roads to success are rarely linear and I'm sure Magnusdottir has learned a great deal from Tinker Tailor's demise. We are fortunate that she was willing to share her story and failures with the rest of us so that we would learn from her mistakes. Based on the interview, I sense that she is adamant about her vision and will be working to bring it to fruition. 

I'm sure this isn't the last we've heard of Aslaug Magnusdottir.

Til next time!