2024 in Review and Future Plans
As LilypaDesigns nears its 7th (what?!) anniversary and continues to look forward, its important to reflect on our past and take stock of any lessons learned. This includes doing a long overdue analysis on on the business as a whole so we can plan for the future. We started this business to serve a often overlooked demographic (large bust, small band) and have expand our size range as we grew. It was, and still is, a passion project that focuses on getting people into comfortable bras and any profit made was simply a bonus and not the main goal. We offer quite a few free resources across multiple platforms including the website, the online community, a number of sew alongs in the form of online videos and now YouTube to help facilitate this. Although we have always known some size sets and styles are more popular than others, we now have enough data to plan pattern launches in a more effective manner.
The “behind the scene” type of social media posts we recently introduced have proven to be quite popular. It likely speaks to the creative, curious and self starting nature of our niche but tight knit sewing circle. In the same spirit of ‘people won’t know what so special about your product or brand if you don’t tell them’, we’re going to be quite transparent about what it takes to develop new bra pattern.
Lets dive in!
Pattern Development Timeframe Part 1
Pattern Development Timeframe Part 2
The timeframe to develop a full bra pattern in 2 size sets takes anywhere from 2-4 months depending on the complexity. The third size set is often released several months later at a slightly accelerated speed to help alleviate the stress on our small but mighty team to launch 3 patterns simultaneously. Each of our bra styles is released in 2 or 3 size sets which go through the full cycle independently of each other. That means 3 different pattern test groups for the same bra style, 3 different PDF’s to manage, 3 different listings, and triple the number of places errors could pop up! Perhaps most surprisingly is how long it takes to develop the instructions - it takes as long if not longer to finalize this vital bit of modern digital sewing patterns. Our Instructions feature professionally illustrated diagrams designed to cater to a variety of learning modalities as well as common adjustments.
And now the finance portion of our analysis.
We’re not going to sugar coat it - 2024 was kinda hard. A little more than half of income come from sales of physical product which was a little surprising as in the past, the income streams were nearly evenly split between digital patterns, physical supplies and teaching (ie. diversified). The catch is that expenses also shot up and we actually lost money - between a new employee, more diversified models for the annual photoshoot, and rising cost of basic software, things add up quickly. Extra help translates directly into extra costs - for payroll, workers comp, and additional tech (both hardware and software), etc. Not to mention the ever increasing cost of the Adobe suite and Webhosting! Between these two, Asana (to help manage and organize multiple remote people), email service, shipping software, and the other webhost (online courses), and Zoom, we’re looking at over $4000 a year just to stay online!
Here’s a lovely infographic that highlights the current conundrum of pattern development. A typical (ie, not complicated) bra pattern requires approximately 380 hours to develop, test and finalize for launch. At the current pricing, this requires the sale of 400 copies of the PDF pattern at full price to breakeven. On average, digital pattern sales are less than 200 per style per year. For some styles, its closer to 100 per year (sigh, anything in the GG-KK size set) which means it takes multiple years to break even. How is this sustainable? Its not. We have been getting by because Lily has never drawn a salary and is fortunate enough to operate this business without needing it to be the main source of income.
MOVING FORWARD AND FUTURE PLANS
We’re not going anywhere. Nor do we plan on cutting back on our size range but you may see a shift in the type of patterns and variety of supplies offered. We’ve cut back on some things for now that will hopefully be enough until we get back on our feet. That said, we were able to cross off a few things from our To-Do list that we’re incredibly proud of.
Extended size range - All bra patterns going forward will reflect our new size range of 26-52 bands!
We launched our very first clothing pattern in a size inclusive range of 0-34 with cup sizes for B-D, DD/E, G/H and J/K!
Increased diversity for our annual photoshoot to include people of different races AND ages.
Teaching in-person at a full blown Lingerie Retreat full of wonderful teachers and students in a smaller, more intimate (pun intended!) setting.
There are currently 2 new patterns in development - one slated for the spring and one in the fall. Perhaps a third if the timing is right (only 52 weeks in a year after all!). We will continue to add more online courses annually and gradually increase our video offerings to cover a broader range of topics (happy to hear your suggestions!). Of course, there’s also our in-person workshops and Annual Lingerie Retreat with Porcelynne and a rotating group of teachers! You can support our efforts by purchasing patterns, supplies, online courses or in-person retreats!