How to Start a Clothing Store for Teenage Girls
If you are intrigued by teen fashion and the retail industry, consider opening your own store. If you've always wanted to design clothing and sell it, here's your chance. This guide will help prepare you to start a clothing store for teenage girls.
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Instructions
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How to Start Your Business
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Become a fashion expert. Read about men's, women's and children's fashion to understand the industry. This may lead you to ideas for how to make your teen clothing line stand out.
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Decide on a location. Having an online store avoids paying for retail space and can work now that many teens spend most of their free time online. If your dream is to have your own store, find a retail space that is accessible to teens.
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Construct a business plan. Check out books on how to start a business. They often include brief samples of business plans. Read articles online about successful business plans. A business plan must include: Executive summary, company description, product/service, market analysis, strategy, Web plan summary, management team and financial analysis. Many software programs can walk you through the planning stages. See below for links.
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Secure financing. Unless you are fortunate enough to have money set aside for this endeavor, you will likely need the assistance of a bank, or perhaps friends or family. Consider a business partner. Someone out there with the same dream could cut costs in half.
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Secure a lawyer to ensure that necessary contracts are completed. You will also need someone to handle taxes.
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Decide whether you want to produce the clothing in the store or purchase it from a wholesaler. If you choose to produce your own clothing, you will need to design a season of fashionable clothing, decide how much merchandise you want to offer, and find out how much materials will cost. You must set aside time to purchase fabrics and to manufacture the clothing. Consider hiring help as it may take a while for you to construct enough clothing to sell. If you want to purchase clothing from others, research wholesalers online. Attend trade shows to network with wholesalers who specialize in teen fashion and negotiate sales with them when you are ready to buy.
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Hire an interior designer or a Web designer familiar with what appeals to teen girls to create your retail or online space.
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Establish a grand opening date and market this event with press releases, advertisements and word of mouth. Distribute business cards around the neighborhood. Find out where your teen girl audience is and market your store to them.
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Tips & Warnings
Think like a teen girl. Read monthly fashion magazines. Find out the latest celebrity fashion trends.
Employee turnover: Find employees who have a record of staying at their place of employment for at least three months.
References
Resources
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