Starting a Fashion Line
Everyone knows that food, clothing, and shelter are the basic needs of all people. We all love looking good in our clothing, all of us have different preferences of what we like and what we don’t like. Some of us prefer a luxury brands and some prefer the causal lines, while others are not very particular about which brand of clothes they wear. Every iconic clothing brand has its own origin story. It is not easy to start your own clothing or fashion line. Many of the well-known fashion brands of today have had a small launch being run out of one room or the garage. While launching your own fashion line is challenging, but thanks to the booming e-commerce and online marketing industry, it is very much possible to turn a small brand into a big fashion line with a massive following.
The fashion industry has evolved dramatically in the last two decades. The rapidly changing dynamics of the fashion industry has led the charge to low cost and flexibility in quality, design, and speed to market. Today, if you want to launch your fashion line, you will need to come up with strategies to maintain a profitable margin in this increasingly demanding and rapidly changing market.
As an entrant to the fashion industry, it will be difficult at first to wrap your head around the very idea of this billion-dollar industry. After all, starting a fashion line requires tremendous sweat equity. There will be challenges at every step, especially if it is your first time starting a business. However, this does not mean that you should not follow your passion. If you are passionate about fashion, if you believe you have an innate understanding of what your customers’ like and dislike, then you owe it to yourself to do everything possible to make your fashion line a reality.
Remember that the great fashion brands we see today were not built overnight. They are where they are today after a lot of trial-and-error. These brands followed a business plan and continued to grow their business with a creative yet flexible strategy. Here are some basic steps you must follow while setting up your own fashion line.
1. Identify what your customers need: The first step to starting your own fashion line is to identify a potential need in the market. After all, a successful fashion line will not succeed simply on the credentials of the founding designer, especially if you are new to the industry. Identify a niche in the market that is not presently being addressed. For example, a t-shirt that can be worn on formal occasions? Or a line of hoodies that glow in the dark? If you have imagination, then it should not be a problem to come up with a product that is not currently being offered by any other major fashion company.
2. Create a sound business plan: A business plan is necessary to guide your journey of launching a fashion line. To develop a business plan, ask yourself, what is the ultimate goal for your product? Do you want the brand name to be sold in stores like Macy’s or Nordstrom? Do you want to create a private label brand for another company? Or do you want o to create a premium brand that is sold in a boutique? Identify your ultimate goal and keep your business plan in mind as you go about building your brand.
3. Identify your target customer: This step follows on from step number one. Your ultimate objective is not to just identify a clothing niche that you want to enter but also the target audience or market for your product. After all, your fashion line can produce some of the most brilliant designs, but it will be of little use if there are no potential customers for your product. Consider the pros and cons of the demographic you want to target. For example, if you’re going to target the youth, keep in mind that young adults tend to be very style-conscious and are more receptive to online marketing as well as word of mouth. However, they are likely to have limited funds. On the other hand, middle-aged customers are more likely to afford a higher price, but they are also going to be less concerned with style and are more likely to already have a brand they are loyal to. So keep these points in mind while identifying your target audience or market.
4. Begin designing and get your finances in order: When you are interested in starting your fashion line, one can assume that designing is your forte. Now, this is your chance to shine bright and start designing your clothing line. Remember that the first collection you release into the market will speak volumes about you as a fashion designer. This is why it is important that you create something that you will be happy to use as a showcase product as you move forward. Also, remember that since it is your first time entering the market, whatever you design will need to be produced in a cost-effective manner. To run a business, you need to crunch the numbers first. Here, it is important that you have a good credit rating so that you are able to borrow money from banks if needed. It is important to understand that you need to have the capital or arrange the capital to start your clothing line.
5. Consider these costs: Here are some of the immediate expenses that you need to keep in mind when starting your own fashion line:
- Any licensing or permit fees
- Your fashion brand design, which includes business cards, a website, and a logo
- Deposits and rent for any physical work location you may need to lease as your workspace
- Basic infrastructure costs like internet service and phone, invoicing software, etc.
- Advertising and marketing costs
- Sewing or designing tools (such as sewing machines, ruler, scissors, pattern maker, fabric printing accessories, templates for t-shirts, etc.)
- Hourly wages to cover the design and construction time
- Materials for building your first clothing line collection — including fabrics, embellishments, notions, and accessories.
If you plan to hire any employees, you will need to budget in their wages as well into your start-up calculations. After all, a successful fashion line means you will need to earn a profit after all your expenses are accounted for.
6. Choose your price point: This step again ties in with identifying your target audience because you need to be sure you don’t alienate the customers you are targeting. You will also need to keep in mind your budget so that your price point covers the production cost.
7. Begin your marketing: By this time, your new fashion line is all ready to launch, and you need to now create brand awareness. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and others are popular places where influencers are happy to promote new and upcoming fashion brands if you provide products in exchange for their marketing.
8. Keep realistic sales and distribution goals: Many people are often afraid of partnering up with other professionals to launch their distribution. Just because you are creative and have a fashion sense does not mean you understand everything about clothing distribution. It helps to partner with a professional who understands the business to help your business grow. Remember, all this will surely take up a lot of time, but don’t forget your business plan while moving ahead.
9. Start with a soft launch and let your brand speak for itself: Once you have started selling your clothes (even in limited quantities), the next step is to grow your fashion line with potential business and co-investors. Of course, it is nice to own your business and keep all the future profits yourself. But, as your business needs to scale up, you will need more access to capital. Partnering with others who can help provide you with the capital in exchange for a cut of your future profits is the most convenient way of growing your fashion line.
To launch your fashion line, it is important that you learn how to market your products and keep your customers happy. The business of fashion comes with many ups and downs, and many young designers make the mistake of rushing in to set up a business after being attracted by the perceived glamor often associated with the fashion industry. However, behind the success, stories are days and nights spent sweating overbuilding their brand and designing the clothes.
Running a fashion line does not only mean you get to take in the praise and glamor. It also involves packing the boxes yourself, steaming the clothes over and over again, and crunching receipts and numbers to make sure you have the money to run your fashion business. This is why before you start your fashion line, make sure you have the endurance, tenacity, and dedication to set yourself up in this challenging and hyper-competitive industry.
For the right few, this can be an extraordinarily exciting and energizing business to be in. Remember that a fashion-based business is one of the few businesses that always survive regardless of what the economy is going through. So if you have faith in your abilities, follow the steps discussed here to launch your fashion line today.
