Confidentiality and design protection
Your designs stay yours
A brand sends its clothing manufacturer the sketches, the tech packs and the plans for the next season before anything has been shown to the market. We treat that material as what it is: the brand's property and its competitive advantage.
We sign a confidentiality agreement before any design is shared, we never name our clients, and every workshop in our chain is bound to the same terms.
Produced in Italy, answered for in Milan
Signed before the first file
The confidentiality agreement comes with the first scope and is signed before tech packs or sketches are sent. A brand with its own agreement can send that instead.
The brand owns the work
Designs, patterns, grading and tech packs developed for a brand belong to that brand, are produced exclusively for it and are never reused.
Clients are never named
No list of brands on this site, and your name will not be on it either. References are shown as anonymised examples of the work.
The chain is bound too
Every workshop, mill and specialist works under our confidentiality terms and receives only what its stage requires.
What is protected, by whom, and how
Confidentiality is not a clause we add at the end. It is the first document of the relationship, and it shapes how files move through our chain.
Confidentiality before the first file
The agreement is signed at the start of the relationship, before tech packs or sketches are sent, and it covers designs, patterns, materials, prices, volumes and calendars. It is a standard document we send with the first scope; a brand with its own agreement can send that instead and we sign it.
What the brand owns
The designs, the patterns, the grading and the tech packs developed for a brand belong to that brand. They are produced exclusively for it and are never reused, adapted or offered to anyone else. A brand that leaves takes its files with it.
Why we never name our clients
We produce for houses and labels that do not disclose their producers, and the same rule applies to everyone, from a first collection to a volume programme. When a prospect asks for references we show anonymised examples of the work, with the category, the volume and the problem solved, never the name. That is also what a careful buyer should expect from a producer: a manufacturer that lists its clients will list you.
The same terms inside the chain
Every workshop, mill and specialist that touches a programme works under our confidentiality terms, which is one reason they remain unpublished (see how we select and control quality). Files are shared with a workshop only to the extent needed for its stage, samples and leftovers are controlled, and nothing a brand develops with us appears on a workshop's own channels.
What we ask of the brand
Send material through the channels we agree, keep the reference numbers on every file, and tell us what may and may not be shown in anonymised form. Everything else is on us, from the first sample to production at volume.
Inside the agreement
The standard agreement we send with the first scope. A brand may use its own instead.
Before a single file is sent
- Step 01Scope
You describe the programme without designs. We reply with a written scope.
- Step 02Agreement
Our confidentiality agreement, or yours, is signed by both sides.
- Step 03Channels
We agree how files travel and how they are referenced.
- Step 04Files
Tech packs and sketches are shared with our team, and with the chain only to the extent each stage requires.
Visits to our Milan studio are welcome at any time. Visits to a workshop are arranged through our team, under the same confidentiality.
One contract, from the yarn to the campaign
Riccitelli Milano produces the collection and, if the brand wants it, the images that sell it.
The same team that follows the garments from the fabric to the packed order can produce the campaign, the lookbook and the launch from Milan, on the same calendar and under the same confidentiality. For brands producing in Italy from abroad, this is the shortest path between the first sketch and the first sale.
The fears we are asked about
- Theft"Our designs were on a factory's own channels before our launch."
Workshops in our chain receive only what their stage requires, under our terms, and may not show the work. Samples and leftovers are controlled.
- Exposure"We cannot have our name on a producer's client list."
It will not be. We never name clients, and references are shown as anonymised examples of the work.
- Ownership"Who owns the patterns if we change producer?"
The brand. Patterns, grading and tech packs are its property, and a brand that leaves takes its files with it.
- Trust"We were asked to send tech packs before anything was signed."
With us the agreement is signed first. The scope is written from your description, without designs.
Frequently asked
Will you sign an NDA before I send my designs?
Yes. We send our confidentiality agreement with the first scope and sign it before any design, tech pack or plan is shared. A brand that prefers its own agreement can send it instead.
Who owns the patterns and the tech packs you develop?
The brand. Designs, patterns, grading and tech packs developed for a brand are its property, produced exclusively for it and never reused for anyone else.
Can you give me references from other brands?
We show anonymised examples of the work, with the category, the volume and the problem solved. We do not name clients, including you, and the same rule protects every brand we produce for.
Are the workshops bound by the same confidentiality?
Yes. Every workshop, mill and specialist in our chain works under our confidentiality terms, receives only what its stage requires, and may not show the work on its own channels.
Can I visit where my collection is made?
Visits to our Milan studio are welcome at any time. Visits to a workshop are arranged through our team, under the confidentiality that protects our chain, when the programme and the workshop allow it.
Start
Share your next collection with confidence
Tell us what you are developing. We will send the written scope and the confidentiality agreement before you send a single file.
The project qualification form takes about five minutes. It asks what you make, in what quantities and on what calendar. You receive a dated reference straight away and a written scope as soon as possible, in order of arrival. Or contact our Milan studio.