How to Start a Fashion Design Business

This how-to article was created to prep people who are interested in taking the leap to start their own fashion design business. It provides information and suggestion to help launch, design and market a fashion line.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Reading Material: Simplicity: Simply the Best Sewing Book The Fashion Designer Survival Guide, Fashion Entrepreneurship: Retail Business Planning Pattern Making for Fashion Design and DVD Package Luxury Fashion Branding: Trends, Tactics, Techniques Patternmaking Materials: rulers dress forms marking tools drafting paper scissors Sewing supplies including: sewing machine muslin fabric (to make your sample) Regular fabric (to create a final show piece) thread seam ripper steam iron

Starting a Fashion Business

1. First and foremost when it comes to beginning any entrepreneurial venture, it is always smart to take into consideration what you already know on the subject and consider whether you could learn something more. If you want more knowledge of the fashion business, get a bachelor's degree in fashion design with a minor in fashion management.

2. Education in fashion design and management will give you the knowledge and experience you'll need to design clothing, create and sew patterns, and manage a fashion line. If going to school is not for you, then I would suggest informing and teaching yourself through the best hands-on material out there: books!

3. For the beginner, start with Simplicity: Simply the Best Sewing Book, The Fashion Designer Survival Guide, Fashion Entrepreneurship: Retail Business Planning, Pattern Making for Fashion Design and DVD Package and Luxury Fashion Branding: Trends, Tactics, Techniques.

Your Brand

4. A business plan is an important next step in starting your fashion business. First decide what kind of fashion design business you would like to undertake. For example, do you want to run a wholesale business where you outsource the designing and sell the merchandise to big name stores, OR would you prefer having a local fashion line where you do all the designing, sewing and production work as well as your own marketing and sell to boutiques or online? This needs to be taken into consideration when planning out your business.

5. Once those decisions are made, begin creating a business plan. Most people would think that designing should be the major focal point of beginning a business, but ultimately, "1 out of every 3 new businesses fail within the first two years," and it is important to have a clear business structure in order to make sure you succeed. (smallbiztrends.com)

6. When creating your business plan, the Fashion Entrepreneurship book will be your best friend. It contains great information and business outlines to help you create a strong business plan. It will take you step by step through analyzing your product, researching your industry and market, finding a location for the business, becoming an e-trepreneur (if you decide to go online), strategies for penetrating your market, marketing plans and creating a financial plan/budget.

7. In order to create a legitimate business where you can be successful it is important to safeguard your work through trade marking and incorporating your business. Once you have designed a name and logo go through your state's local patent office and get it trademarked. Also, utilize your state's government website to review different forms of incorporation. Most small businesses work out well at first being incorporated as an LLC.

8. Protecting your intellectual property through trade marking and incorporation of your start-up fashion company helps make sure that not only are your ideas safe, but also you are creating something that stands out from the competition. Through your research and business plan you will be able to see if your product can be profitable. This will help ensure your organization and success from the start.

Product Development

9. Now that you have the hard part done, some fun will follow with product development. Product development is exactly what it sounds like: developing the product that you have always envisioned. During this phase of creating your start-up company it is important to brainstorm and utilize sketching books, look books, trend forecasting books and your research from the business plan while designing your fashion line.

10. Most people enjoy flipping through magazines to gain inspiration. Tear out the looks and clothing that catch your eye and that you believe are most like the designs you want to create. These sheets are known as "tear-sheets" and can be placed in your look books for inspirations. Look books are binders in which your tear sheets, inspirational photos, color swatches (can be found at pantone.com), fabric swatches (your local fabric store often gives small snippets of fabric out for free) and fashion sketches are all placed to stay organized during the design process.

11. Begin sketching out your ideas once you have the tear sheets. You should use any inspiration around you that you feel you can incorporate into your line. Make sure the designs you create are cohesive and make sense. You want your line to somehow tell a story and don't be afraid to be creative. Take a look at style.com for inspirational designer fashion shows in order to get a better understanding of how a fashion collection looks completed. A general rule of thumb to follow is that a fashion collection is usually 12 to 15 full looks and the industry standard for sample sizing is a size 8. Full looks include: tops, bottoms, jackets and dresses. Once you have sketches that you are happy with and a collection that makes sense to you, you can begin the technical design portion of a start-up fashion line.

Technical Design

12. If you already know how to create patterns and sew, this is the time to utilize the sewing books and pattern-making books I suggested early on in this article. You will need your pattern-making supplies such as: rulers, dress forms, marking tools, drafting paper, scissors, and your sewing supplies including: sewing machine, muslin fabric (to make your sample), thread, seam ripper and steam iron. If you will not be sewing, now is the time to begin your search for a contract seamstress or wholesale manufacturer that you can work with to bring your designs to life.

13. There are many great designers and pattern makers who work with small companies to help bring their ideas to realization. Manufacturers such as American Apparel, Peace Fashion and Pattern Studio A in Georgia all can bring a sketch to life though flat patterns, draped pieces, muslin and final samples.

14. Once you have decided what items to create begin by creating your flat or draped pattern. Utilize the pattern-making book to help with this process. Once you complete your first pattern draft, cut it out and make your muslin(inexpensive fabric) sample. This is just a sample piece that you need to create in order to make sure it fits the industry standard size 8 sample size. The fit can be reviewed on a soft-form mannequin. Check out www.sewtrue.com for some great deals on adjustable mannequins. After you review your fit and make sure the pieces are adjusted to fit well, you can begin to create your garments using your actual product fabric. When you have finished creating each flat pattern, muslin sample and final piece for your collection, your first line is complete.

Marketing and Advertising

15. Now begin to market your fashion line as soon as possible. First plan a photo shoot in order to have great images of your final pieces to use in all marketing and advertising. A photo shoot does not have to be an expensive endeavor, but it should be professional. If you do not have photography skills find someone who does.

16. Use networking sites like fashionindustrynetwork.com, craigslist.com and modelmayhem.com to begin networking with other professionals in the fashion industry and see if anyone would be willing to do a pro bono shoot that they could add to their portfolio. These sites are also helpful to find makeup artists and models for the shoot.

17. These images will be the backbone of your line, aside from the clothing. You will have to use them to show off the clothing online, in ads and in catalogs. These images are what will be selling your garments and you want to make sure they look as good as possible.

18. During this process it is also imperative that you begin to design a website for your fashion line. This should be done even if you won't be selling online. This is just another outlet where your line can gain exposure. If you do decide to sell online, utilizing sites such as etsy.com, ebay.com and myspace.com is the cheapest and easiest way to begin to track in sales and customers.

19. Create a media kit for your company and include a resume that outlines the attributes and experience you have in the fashion industry as well as the mission and vision statement of the fashion line. Make sure you attach a introduction letter about the line, a catalog with your latest designs and any press clippings you may have accumulated on the fashion line.

20. You can create your introduction letter and catalog featuring a cohesive color look/design along with your logo by using programs such as Adobe InDesign, Photoshop or Illustrator. They can also be created at sites such as www.gotprint.com. These items should be sent via email or snail mail to local fashion magazines, newspapers, and blogs. You can also write your own press releases and send them to the press section at apparelsearch.com. This form of marketing is generally the easiest and cheapest since you don't pay for printing when you email media kits or send electronic press releases.

21. The media kits can also be sent to boutiques. Make sure your catalog maintains wholesale pricing up front as well as your contact information in order for the boutiques to be able to call you if they would like to order any pieces. During this stage it is important to make sure you have your manufacturing plan set. The boutiques will need to know how long it will take for them to receive the merchandise. You must ensure you have enough people on your sewing team to meet the demands of your consumer, or you must make arrangements with a manufacture to produce the orders you bring in. It is important to research and find out if minimums orders are required from your manufacturer so you can make sure you notify the boutiques of these terms.

Trade Shows & Fashion Shows

22. Always keep promoting your line. The more you are seen and the more exposure you gain, the better off you are in the long run. Trade shows such as Magik, Genart and Stylemax present great opportunities where you can show off your line and make additional industry contacts and meet with buyers from both the small and large chain stores. These shows can be a bit pricey, but they are worth it. If budget permits, hiring a sales rep to assist you at these shows can be of great benefit to you. The reps can also travel within certain regions and set up additional accounts for you.

23. Fashion shows can often be the most expensive part of promoting a fashion line. Fashion shows are generally additional marketing endeavors that help promote the name of your line and give your consumers an idea of what your garments look like in real life. Fashion shows can be large-scale or small-scale productions. The best can be very expensive, but you can also produce a great show on a budget.

24. Remember to utilize the industry network sites mentioned earlier to find help for free. Models, makeup artists and photographers who are students are often willing to work for free to add to their portfolio. Bars and clubs often collaborate with boutiques and lines on fashion shows with minimal or no charge. This is because the show will bring customers to the location. Interns can always be used as stylists and networking sites like Myspace and Facebook can be used to market the show. These shows take a lot of organization and energy so it is important to plan early and execute within your time line.

25. Many young men and women want to get into the fashion industry because of the glamor factor, but the industry is not all fun and games. Being a fashion designer and running your own fashion business requires a lot of hard work. As a designer you need to stay current with the trends. Even better, understand the patterns and create the trends yourself---don't be afraid to be a little off the wall. Not everyone can be as lucky as Lauren from the Hills, but if you put in enough work, you can definitely be just as good, if not better!