In Full Circle

As they say, "You learn something new everyday." There's a reason for that title so, guess what I learned... Re-learning adds a little more spice to the things you once learned (Haha). And, that's why it all comes full circle. What I'm referring to here are the things I learned when I was in college- production costs. The added spice was simply the context behind it, which was of course the fashion industry. It was refreshing to re-learn production costs because to be honest, the calculative aspects weren't something I always looked forward to, but when placed in the context of a field I love... Now, we're talking.

The context behind this project was to account for the production cost of a prototype I made based on my "Heavenly Calm" mood board. I was inspired with the calming hues of porcelain blue complimented by the bold gold lines, and the soft, feminine textures of the objects. So, what was concretized from it was a vintage blue, gold-rimmed necklace I put together.

To make the necklace, I just needed two things: a plain gold chain and a blue, gold-rimmed pendant. Both objects were found lying in the house so I decided that it was perfect to reuse two different things to make something new and elegant. To price the item, raw materials that were similar from the ones I had were searched from several online sites. This was to ensure I got a grasp of the prices in the market.

I was able to get the production cost by adding the prices of raw materials and approximate salary. After getting that, a 20% profit margin was added to come up with the estimated cost of the product. Even if the Suggested Retail Price (SRP) was increased, I figured it would still be competitive in the market after comparing my price with competitors. Ta-da!

Now that I have my price prepared, I went to see how much it cost if my raw materials were bought in bulk. To no surprise, it was cheaper by more than 50%! Despite the huge price cut, I understand that you always have to pay close attention to the quality of your raw materials because I think they are crucial for the production process. If the quality's not at par with your standards, and the customer gets ripped off, they won't be loyal to you, no matter how affordable your product is. So, in this exercise, I not only refreshed my memory in terms of pricing but also had a deeper understanding of the importance of a product's quality and worth.