The Setup
To ensure we have the proper infrastructure to manage carryover styles we will need to begin in the Admin Section:
Under the Taxonomy box, enter the Seasons section
Ensure you have created appropriate seasons for your industry. (Fall, Winter, Q1, Holiday, etc.)
Then if you need to, enter the Years category from the left hand menu and adjust them to your liking if they don't follow the traditional Calendar Year
Now enter Custom Fields to create field types that allow you to assign attributes for "new" or "carryover" - such as a dropdown
You may also want to create a text field for "reference style" to callout the original product or launch date of the original season of your product
Then go to the Product Library to begin the process of managing your product across a season.
Creating your Carryover Style
Now with the right infrastructure in place we recommend creating a duplicate of the Product Record you want to carryover and assign the correct taxonomy/custom fields. To do this:
In the Product Library hover over your product you want to carryover
Click on the 3 dot icon and select Copy
A new card with the word (Copy) added to the end will appear - Enter the product summary by clicking on this thumbnail image
Change the custom fields/taxonomy to suit your needs for the new season/year
Now when you filter products in the library it's easy to find
You can also modify a Product's name to reflect the season such i.e. Shirt FA22 or Shirt SU22
Next if you have Product Color Variations that aren't moving over you can easily delete those from the copy - or likewise add colors that didn't exist before
Then in the BOM and you'll see your new colors appear. Fill in new variant information.
If there is a change like new packaging use the delete tool to remove old BOM items related to this, and you can import a template for the new season to fill out
During this process the Size Specification and Feedback/Revisions get copied over but you can easily make changes without affecting any previous seasons products.
These items do not get copied during this process.
Cost Sheet Scenarios
Sample Data
Tech Packs
Pro tip: Be sure to go in and delete anything that was copied that you don't want to carryover to the new season or year. This includes any images that were copied over! Then upload any new files you need.
Managing Across Seasons
Change Management + Product History
Recap: We recommend copying your product and then changing the necessary info because it leaves behind a cookie crumb trail that show old seasons and original products. If you want to tidy up the library even further, rather than having to filter each time you can even archive your old products which is like a soft delete but it moves them to a separate library you can view whenever you please.
Reporting
Managing a duplicate product also prevents changes when you're working in reporting tools. Because reports and products are dynamically linked but your copies are not linked, this prevents unwanted changes to future or previous products iterations.