For people looking to turn an outdoor product dream into reality, Founded Outdoors is publishing a free three-part blog series: From Concept to Creation: A Guide to Successful Product Development for Outdoor Apparel and Soft Goods.
Founded Outdoors is a national platform for outdoor entrepreneurs that recently partnered with the Michigan Outdoor Recreation Industry Office and Pure Michigan Business Connect (PMBC) in a year-long program to educate and connect entrepreneurs with the state’s product design and scaled manufacturing opportunities.
The blog series is an outcome of that partnership. It summarizes the findings from a recent “Idea to Production Workshop” led by Karen Buscemi of Detroit Sewn and Lionel Vargas Cruz of the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center.
“We created the ‘Idea to Production’ guide because we frequently hear the same questions from aspiring founders about how and where to get their great new product made. By detailing a well-thought-out process that encompasses everything from understanding competitors and pricing to getting referrals to trusted manufacturers, we’re hoping to ease and speed the process of turning a concept into a product reality,” said Enhao Li, Founded Outdoors director of curriculum.
The Founded Outdoors community includes more than 400 outdoor entrepreneurs at different stages across product categories and is supported with knowledge-sharing, peer support, resource databases and topical workshops and events.
The Concept to Creation series is being published on LinkedIn and will be available through the Founded Outdoor open resource library: a collection specifically curated for outdoor entrepreneurs, including original content, recordings of previous Founded Outdoors workshops and a repository of other company-building resources.
Part one of the Concept to Creation series summarizes the steps of the product development process, part two focuses on the creation of a manufacturing tech pack and part three dives into strategies for finding a manufacturing partner.
While the series specifically focuses on outdoor apparel and soft goods, Founded Outdoors will be building guides for additional product categories in the future based on requests from its community members.
To learn more about Founded Outdoors, go LINK. To become a member of the Founded Outdoors community, go LINK.
