Overproduction is often called the fashion industry's dirty secret. But how bad is it really? And more importantly — where does it actually start, and what does it take to fix it at the root?
In this episode of Fashion Forward, host Christabel Achu — Fashion Technology Consultant and founder of Mudel — sits down with Vinchy Chan, co-founder of Makea, for a wide-ranging, deeply honest conversation about one of fashion's most persistent and costly problems.
Vinchy came into fashion as an outsider. A qualified accountant who launched her own made-to-order brand, experienced the broken system firsthand, and then built Makea — the first infrastructure platform for agile, on-demand small-batch fashion production — to fix it.
In this conversation, they break down why overproduction is a systems failure, not a demand failure. They explore the real reason factories set high MOQs, why demand forecasting alone can't solve the problem, and what the shift happening in Chinese manufacturing right now means for brands globally.
If you're a fashion founder, designer, product developer, or tech builder in the fashion space — this is one of the most practically useful conversations you'll hear this year.
Find Christabel at mudeldigital.com or on LinkedIn.Find Makea at https://www.makea.co/.
(00:00) Introduction to Fashion Forward and Guest Background
(08:12) The Journey to Founding Makea
(13:25) Understanding Overproduction in Fashion
(18:25) The Role of Demand and Planning in Overproduction
(23:22) Minimum Order Quantities and Their Impact
(28:43) Barriers to Entry in Fashion and Future Solutions
(34:35) Challenges in Fashion Production
(43:11) Tech as an Enabler in Production
(50:34) Agile Production and Low Volume Viability
(54:45) Enhancing Visibility in the Supply Chain
(01:00:14) Navigating the Shifts in Manufacturing Trends
(01:13:24) Regulatory Changes and Their Influence onProduction Models
(01:18:53) The Future of Fashion Supply Chains
