Design to Samples

When Jeanne had enough inspiration, in her design room, every few weeks she produced twenty or so sketches and chose accompanying fabric swatches in coordinating colors. Various designs were coordinated into "a line". Those were brought to the Goodmans front office for review. Additional styles or maybe another more economical, suitable fabric might be suggested. Mostly they trusted in Jeanne's instincts.

In a nutshell--The approved designs were brought back to the design room, where Jeanne, working closely with the sample workers, translated them into muslin prototypes in size 8. The samples were then priced and, possibly modified, then made into "duplicate samples" (in the chosen fabrics) for the buyers in the showroom. (Production was handled elsewhere.) Jeanne, who took her designs very personally, would hold her breath for the first re-order, and then, after so much work, it was success.
Jeanne once said, "Getting the cover of LIFE would be nice, but a re-order has more significance to a manufacturer."