The 26-week roadmap
Six months, ~25 hours a week, ~650 hours total. The calendar is built backwards from one fact: factory lead times, not your learning speed, are the critical path. Sampling rounds take 3–5 weeks each in Asia and you will need at least two. So sourcing starts in Week 11 even though you’re still learning, and production runs in the background while you build the brand.
Calendar
| Week | Module | Focus | Running in background |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01 · 02 | Anatomy, vocabulary, first teardown | Start outreach emails |
| 2 | 02 · 03 | The layering atlas; lasts introduced | Outreach |
| 3 | 03 · 04 | Last geometry, sizing, grading | Outreach |
| 4 | 04 · 05 | Pattern engineering, 2D↔︎3D | Request sole catalogues |
| 5 | 05 | Bottom units, construction methods | Sole catalogues arriving |
| 6 | 06 | Materials, components, hardware | Request material swatch books |
| 7 | 07 · 08 | Design language; drawing on the last | Swatches arriving |
| 8 | 08 | Line drawings, orthographics | Shortlist soles |
| 9 | 09 | Tech pack construction | — |
| 10 | 10 | Line architecture, MVP scoping | Design locked |
| 11 | 11 · 12 | Global supply map; factory search | RFQs out |
| 12 | 12 | Vetting, negotiating, terms | Quotes in |
| 13 | 13 | BOM and costing sheets | Factory selected · proto ordered |
| 14 | 14 | The sampling cycle | Proto in production |
| 15 | 14 | Reading and correcting samples | Proto ships |
| 16 | 14 · 15 | Proto review; QC and testing | Round 2 sample ordered |
| 17 | 16 | Freight, Incoterms, duties, labeling | Round 2 in production |
| 18 | 17 | Entity, trademark, contracts | Round 2 ships |
| 19 | 18 | Unit economics, pricing, cashflow | Confirmation sample approved |
| 20 | 19 | Funding, pre-orders, deposits | Bulk production starts |
| 21 | 20 · 21 | Brand strategy and identity | Production |
| 22 | 21 | Naming, packaging, photography | Production · packaging ordered |
| 23 | 22 | Channels and distribution | Production ends · inline QC |
| 24 | 23 | Launch mechanics | Goods ship · in transit |
| 25 | 24 | Fulfillment, sizing feedback, CX | Customs cleared · launch |
| 26 | 25 | Post-mortem, V2 roadmap | Fulfilling orders |
Critical-path warnings
Week 10 is a hard gate. If your design is not locked by end of Week 10, every downstream date slips one-for-one. Locking an imperfect design beats perfecting a design you never make. You get a V2.
Week 13 is the money gate. Ordering the first proto typically means a $200–600 development charge plus courier. If you are not confident in your factory by Week 13, spend Week 13 finding a better one rather than paying a bad one.
Chinese New Year and August in Europe will wreck your schedule if your Weeks 14–24 land on them. Chinese factories effectively close for 2–4 weeks around CNY (late Jan / mid-Feb, date varies annually); Portuguese and Italian factories largely close in August. Check your start date against these before Week 1 and shift the whole plan if it collides.
Two sample rounds is the realistic minimum, three is normal. The plan above budgets two with slack. If your Round 2 sample is wrong in a way that matters, take the extra round — shipping a bad shoe is more expensive than shipping a late one.
If you fall behind
Cut in this order, and only in this order:
- Colorway count — go to one colorway.
- Size run — a truncated run (US 7–12, whole sizes only) is a legitimate first drop.
- Custom anything — laces, sockliner print, custom eyelets, woven labels can all revert to factory stock.
- Phase 5 depth — a simple honest brand beats an elaborate late one.
Never cut: the confirmation sample, the trademark search (not the filing — the search), or QC inspection before you pay the balance.