Shabd Simon-Alexander, a textile artist who makes hand-dyed accessories and home goods under the name Shabd , got her biggest order ever last year right before the holiday season from Urban Outfitters, for 1,000 Magic Jar Dye Kits "It was a little daunting,” she says, and that’s putting it mildly. Because the DIY kit was a new product, she couldn’t order any materials until she had all the orders in, so she could buy in bulk and get the best price. Oh, and she had to pay for those materials out of pocket, which cost her over $10,000. Finally, there was the timing. “After getting the materials in, I had two weeks to make 1,000 kits,” she says. She hired an office assistant (who ended up not working out) and paid several Cooper Union students to work full-time to get the kits out on time.When Tanwi Nandini Islam of Hi Wildflower Botanica got her first big order from Urban Outfitters for 400 hand-poured candles last year, “I was completely freaked out,” she says. She had already invested in a $1,000 industrial melter, but had to spend an additional $10,000 on labor and materials.Morrissey put those costs on her credit card. “By the time I got paid, it was 30 to 45 days after [Urban Outfitters] received the goods,” she says. “I racked up interest.” She suggests turning to a type of business called a factor for the cash, which lends money to small businesses to buy supplies, then takes a percentage of the final payment when it comes in.Every designer speaks with awe about the myriad guidelines that come down from large retailers. “I felt overwhelmed by learning to navigate the back-end and corporate process,” Islam says."Retailers like Urban Outfitters, Nasty Gal, Nordstrom — who we work with now — have a lot of requirements that you have to fulfill,” Morrissey says. “There’s testing that has to happen for lead and other materials. There’s very particular requirements for labeling, the way you have to box everything up, the type of boxes you use, the way you mark things… Or else you get charge-backs, which is when you get fined by the company for errors. There’s specific terminology. Everything is shorthand, so they’ll say, 'We need this, this, and this,' and you’ll be like, 'I have no idea what that stands for.’”Annabel Inganni of Wolfum , who collaborated with the popular e-boutique Of a Kind on a special project for Target earlier this year, is more blunt. "Hire a lawyer. Those contracts are intense!" she says.When Erica Bradbury of the occult jewelry and lifestyle brand Species by the Thousands got her first big order from Target several years ago for 300 screen-printed sweatshirts, she was floored by the requirements. “I had to get some kind of insurance for the products; a limited liability just in case something happened to someone wearing the sweatshirt.” She asked Target to double its order to make the insurance worth it, which it promptly did, to her surprise.Urban Outfitters, for its part, has a supplier-only website with videos, tutorials, and step-by-step instructions. “If you’re confused about something, as long as you’re on top of things, you keep up to date on your emails and stay organized, the buyers are so willing to help,” Morrissey says.And designers are often grateful for the learning experience. "Yes, the rules are strict, but it was important for me to be treated as if I were a bigger company,” says Ellen Van Dusen of the apparel brand Dusen Dusen , who got her first big order from Anthropologie. For Van Dusen, figuring out how to make it through this period of intense growth paid off: “It marked a shift in my business to where I started thinking more about the business end of things, instead of focusing all my energy on the creative end.”