The parts nobody sees decide it.
A shoe is a last, a tooling spend and a lead time; a bag is hardware, a lining and a leather that has to grade. None of it behaves like apparel, and a system that only knows garments is no help at the point the money is committed.
The one job this page is about
Prove the design can be tooled before the mould is cut.
- How often it comes round
- Every new last, every hardware set, every development round.
- Skip it once
- The tooling is committed against an optimistic volume, and the first honest costing arrives after the mould is paid for.
The build
A shoe is an assembly, and a factory quotes the depth.
The bottom unit alone is three parts with three suppliers and three lead times. A flat component list is what a factory sends a question back about.
Upper
Leather or textile
Cutting yield is set here, and it decides the real cost per pair
Lining
Rarely specified early, and a common reason a sample fails wear testing
Reinforcements
Toe puff and counter - invisible, and the difference between shape held and shape lost
Bottom unit
Outsole
Tooled. Paid once, amortised over a run nobody has forecast yet
Midsole
Density and drop, which is where a comfort claim is either true or not
Shank
A structural part with a certification trail on safety footwear
Hardware and trims
Eyelets and buckles
Plating spec, and the nickel-release limit that applies where you sell
Labels
Fibre, origin and care - a compliance field, not a branding one
Depth is what a factory needs before it can quote. No prices or week counts here - both move by supplier and season, so yours come back against your own spec.
A dozen bought components and one tooled part. This page is about the eleven nobody photographs.
The problem
What this actually costs you.
The tooling is committed before the volume is honest.
A mould is paid once and amortised over a run nobody forecast, so the per-pair number is wrong.
What we do
Landed cost with tooling amortised over a real volume, so break-even is visible first.
- Fibre commodity prices
- Official trade and duty data
- RFQs, sent and compared
Hardware and trims are approved on a phone photo.
Plating, weight and finish are what a customer notices and what is signed off least formally.
What we do
Every trim gets a card - spec, supplier, approval - so sample and run share one document.
- Print-quality PDF
- Verified factory directory
- Live certificate check
A design lands and the factory says it cannot be made that way.
Construction that fails on a last is found at sample stage: weeks, and a round of tooling.
What we do
Specified in the factory's own language up front, with callouts and the bill of materials.
- Pattern blocks and grading
- Fit-risk audit
- Everything packaged together
How footwear & accessories use it
One ask each. The real file back.
Every document below opens. None of them is a mockup.
PDFDevelopment
Specify the construction so a factory can quote it.
Open the pdf
ExcelCosting
Work out what the tooling and the run actually cost to land.
Open the excel
PDFMaterials
Get the leather, lining and hardware documented properly.
Open the pdf
PDFApproval
Sign the trims and hardware off before the run.
Open the pdf
What actually runs
Tooling, materials and costing are three different conversations with three different suppliers. One system, 102 tools and 222 playbooks behind it.
Fibre commodity prices
Official trade and duty data
RFQs, sent and compared
Print-quality PDF
Verified factory directory
Live certificate check
Pattern blocks and grading
Fit-risk audit
Everything packaged together
Handed to
- Production Specialist
- Materials Specialist
- Sourcing Analyst
- Finance Analyst
Get started
One brief in. Deliverable out.
Start with the question a footwear & accessorie actually has, and leave with the file.