According to Michael, FRW has seen a 50% reduction in their inventory costs since they transitioned to made to order. The money saved is now able to be put towards more technology and investing in things that will grow the business.

“It wasn’t overnight that we got to realize those benefits,” he explains. “It took years to build up these inefficiencies and to deconstruct those takes time.”

Michael recommends fashion businesses to properly identify the problems they have and to partner with people who have experience and expertise in those areas. This was one of the reasons FRW chose to work with Tukatech as they expanded their in-house production capabilities. They didn’t want to guess when it came to investing in the growth of their business; they wanted to work with people who had “been there, done that” when it came to microfactories.

The benefits of using technology were not only seen in cost savings. Michael compared FRW’s creative capabilities before and after their machines to “a small bicycle and racing it against a performance Tesla.”

Before they had a sublimation fabric printer they were limited in their creativity by what fabrics they could source. Although they were quick to buy the latest fabric designs, they would only have a month or so before their competition would catch up, since most other festival fashion companies buy their fabric from the same places.

Now they keep stock only of white fabric and print whatever designs they want. This has even enabled them to collaborate with print designers for the most unique festival looks.

FRW has an active, engaged social media following, which they use to test out new print and silhouette combinations. Alyssa says they use polls and surveys to find out what their customers want. They can make a small batch of new products to see what sells, and then only produce the most popular styles.

“When you’re making things it’s I hope this is going to sell, or I think this is going to sell,” she shares. “A lot of the times, that wasn’t the case.”

As a company committed to sustainability, FRW is not content to throw away dead inventory, or even scrap fabric. One of the ways they use social media is to host “story sales,” where they post old inventory, seconds, or even samples. Story sales are well-received by the FRW audience because they might see an older design from a previous season they missed, or a truly one-of-a-kind sample that never made it to production.

Rather than throw away fabric scraps, Alyssa repurposes them for smaller products like scrunchies, masks, or even packaging. For their swim brand, Never Lost Swim, the scraps become matching drawstring storage bags.