Line planAll guides
How to build a line plan for a fashion collection
A line plan is the season on one page: which styles you will make, in which colours, at what price, how many, and by when. It is the first thing a brand agrees on each season and the thing every later decision is checked against.
What a line plan is for
The line plan turns a creative direction into numbers the whole team can work from. Design sees how many styles each category gets. Production sees what has to be sampled and ordered by when. The founder sees whether the season adds up to the budget and the revenue it needs.
A good line plan answers three questions for every style: what it costs, where it stands and what happens next.
The columns
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Category | Tops, shirts, knitwear, trousers, outerwear |
| Style | Name and style number |
| Colourways | The colours it comes in |
| Fabric | The main fabric and its supplier |
| Target price | The unit cost the style has to hit |
| WSP and RRP | Wholesale and retail price |
| Planned units | How many you plan to sell or order, ideally per size |
| Margin | What is left after cost |
| Status | Idea, in design, sampling, approved, ordered |
| Owner | Who moves it forward |
| Deadline | When it has to be approved to make the order date |
Build it in five steps
- Start from last season's numbers. What sold, at which price, and what was left over. This sets a realistic size for the season.
- Set the frame. The number of styles per category, the price levels and the total budget. Leave room: some styles drop out in sampling.
- Give every style a target price. Work backwards from the retail price the market accepts to the unit cost the style can have.
- Plan units per colour and size. Units drive the order quantities, the fabric you need and whether you reach the suppliers' minimums.
- Date it back from the order. Start from the date the purchase orders must go out and count back through approvals, samples and fittings. That gives each style its deadlines.
Keep it alive
A line plan made once in a spreadsheet goes out of date the week sampling starts. Prices change, styles are dropped, a fabric is swapped. Keep the plan as the place where those changes happen, so cost, margin and budget always show the current season.
Check it every week with the team: which styles are late, which are over their target price, and whether the planned units still fit the budget.
Line plans in Tr3e
In Tr3e the collection is the line plan. Every product sits in it with its categories, colours and sizes, Target Price, RRP, WSP, planned units and a live Unit cost. The collection table shows tags, owners and prices for every style at once, the Budget card shows spend, projected revenue and profit, and the Critical Path dates eight milestones back from the PO Ready date.
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