The sampling calendar.

Sampling is the part of a programme where the calendar most often slips, and almost never for the reason buyers expect. It is rarely the making that takes the time. It is the deciding.

Week one: reading and pricing

The pack is read, the gaps are listed, materials are sourced or substituted, and an indicative price comes back with the questions. Buyers who answer that list quickly are usually the ones whose programmes land on time, and it is nearly the only variable they control.

Weeks two and three: the counter-sample

A last is selected or modified, a pattern is cut, and one pair is made by hand at the sampling bench. It will not be perfect. It is not supposed to be: its job is to turn a document into an object that can be argued with.

The first sample exists to be corrected, not admired.

The correction rounds

Two to three rounds is normal. Each one takes days to make and, in our experience, longer to approve — a pair travelling to a buyer, around an office and back is often the single longest stretch in the whole calendar. Consolidating comments into one signed list per round is the cheapest speed a buyer can buy.

The confirmed sample

The last round produces a sealed pair kept at the factory and a twin kept by the buyer. Production is measured against that pair, not against the drawing, and every inspection downstream refers back to it. It is the most important object in the programme.

Plan six to eight weeks for a straightforward style with an existing last, and more if the last has to be made. Then protect the approval days, because those are the ones that slip.