Underlines welcomes Suzy Haber Wakefield to the Underlines team. Suzy has her own consultancy specialising in design, development and sourcing of lingerie, swim and lounge apparel but she has had an exciting and varied career. We are delighted that she is lending her expertise in a regular advice column ‘Suzy Says’.
Is it necessary to send an NDA prior to sending sketches for my collection to a vendor?
In a word, Absolutely. This NDA conversation also includes sharing your sketches ( and brand vision) with people like ourselves who might be designing your collection for you. Your brand is built on these ideas and so you want to take them very seriously. And in turn, you want anyone you are speaking to do the same. Any credible business partners that you will be working with will expect that you would do this. If you need to find one you can of course work with a lawyer for something. Or you can google one like this for free.
And don’t be surprised if your vendor would like you to sign one as well. It’s in both your best interest to have no grey areas for respecting each other’s intellectual property. And don’t let it scare you. It protects everyone involved.
We often get asked as designers if we work on similar categories and clients at the same time. And the answer is yes, and we can do this because of the confidentiality between our clients and ourselves. We share our expertise and network with all of our clients equally and conversely, share nothing about them with each other unless specifically notified. For instance, if one client introduces us to another.
TIP OTW- Keep in mind, it doesn’t need to be overly complex. It can be very straightforward. Basically getting to the crux of I won’t share what you to me and visa versa.
For even more advice to get you started on your exciting brand journey check out a link to
