Things You'll Need:
- Creative mind
- Business smart
- Good team of people
- Marketing plan
- Determination
- Never give up attitude
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Step 1
Business Plan: The next item on your list should be preparing a business plan that defines your goals and the services you plan to offer. The plan should demonstrate that your goals are well thought out and provide details as to how you intend to meet those goals and grow your business over the next three to five years. There are no set number of pages that defines the difference between a good or great business plan – just remember if you are presenting your plan to a financial professional in the hopes of obtaining funding it should be detailed yet short and to the point. Financial professionals don’t have the time to read a novel – you need to get their attention in your cover letter or at least the first page or so. Make sure your grammar and spelling are flawless – use your spell check and then go over every word again – have someone else proof read it as well. Make your plan as professional looking as possible have it bound at a print shop and remember you should send or leave two copies – folks will be more apt to share the plan with someone else if they don’t have to make a copy of it. If you need help preparing you plan use local resources such as community colleges – they may have students enrolled in Business or Financial Degree Programs that will be more than willing to help as a class project or for extra credit. Other great resources are the public library and the internet.
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Step 2
Funding: Now you are ready to begin searching for funding. There are numerous methods you can use to locate the funding necessary to get started. The United States government along with most State governments has numerous grants available for small businesses qualifying for a grant is the best way to go if possible – grants do not have to be repaid.
The Small Business Association provides low interest rate loans to new and existing businesses – be prepared for lots of forms!! When all else fails check with your local banks. All of these resources require a solid business plan for consideration. As a last resort you might also check with an attorney; however, the time they spend on your behalf will be billable to you so if you are going to use an attorney make sure you understand what the hourly billable rate will be. Searching the internet may help but be wary of sites that require some sort of payment for lists or CD’s even if it is just for shipping and handling, most of the time the product you receive can be had at no charge by going to you local library.
Save – Save – Save as much on operating expenses as possible – cut as many costs as you possibly can, try to work from home if you can – don’t forget the I.R. S. allows for home office deductions so check with your Tax Advisor as to what the requirements are. -
Step 3
Creating a Clothing Line: After you have most of the business end of the design world in order (or so you think) now it’s time to create your fashion line. I would suggest starting with a small collection of 6 to 12 pieces – remember the quality of this first collection is in the long run going to leave a more lasting impression than the quantity. When your sketches are completed it is time to choose the fabric. If you are in New York City try the area between West 36th. and West 46th. Streets there you will find nothing but marvelous fabric stores. Explore the web by searching for “Fabric Convention” – you will be presented with many sites that allow you to purchase fabric on line and keep you updated on the latest Fabric Trade shows. This last item is a MUST - when selecting and purchasing fabric always make sure that you purchase enough or that you can make additional purchases of the same fabric as needed. You don’t want to have samples at a trade show and be lucky enough to get orders only to find out later that the fabric is no longer available – not the way to start or maintain a successful relationship with a client.
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Step 4
Marketing your Line: Marketing is your next big hurdle – I would suggest attending as many trade shows as possible New York, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco – there are always at least two per year in each location. You may not be ready to show a collection but there is nothing preventing you from doing some networking with the folks that are showing their lines or the buyers who come to look at the lines. Make sure you bring lots of business cards and don’t be shy always ask anyone you speak to if they have a card and give them one of yours. When you get back home make sure you spend time organizing the cards for future use, wait two weeks and send an email or call and tell the designers how much you enjoyed meeting them and how much you enjoyed seeing their collections. The buyers that you exchange cards with will probably be to busy to give you detailed information – they will probably just tell you that your best bet is to contact boutiques in your area – more about that later. Contacting all of the buyers after a week or two and offering to send them a look book for their comments and suggestions will again bring valuable information as well as a future networking contact.
Get ready to do some “Cold Calling” – get out the Yellow Pages or go to the internet and call as many boutiques as you can making sure to keep good notes as to the type of merchandise they handle, their target audience, who you spoke to and if they would like a copy of your look book or better yet if they would like an in person presentation. Last but not least – follow up with a note, email or call thanking them for their time.
Find yourself a professional to help you prepare a Press Release and above all else make sure you develop a professional web site – might cost a few dollars but it will pay off in the end. -
Step 5
Manfacturing your Line: Determining how to have you line produced can be a little tricky and risky as well. You can hire a few seamstresses to sew your clothing line or you can hire a manufacturing company. This is where the choice gets tricky – most manufacturing companies require a minimum run of 300 pieces per style - if your collection is 6 pieces you will need to pay for 1800 pieces in total which can be a bit costly when you are just starting out. Another aspect is that some manufacturing companies will sew the pieces as long as you provide the patterns and the fabric. This will necessitate you finding a pattern maker to produce a pattern, make and grade the samples and patterns for whatever size range you are designing for. Many companies will do it all for you from finding the fabric, sizing the patterns and producing your collection. There are many companies in the United States especially in California and New York that can handle these projects – the advantage of using a domestic company is that you can visit their factory which gives you a great opportunity to build a lasting relationship with them.
Now just wait for the orders to come in - Speaking of orders – you may eventually get an order from a large clothing company or a retail chain remember that most established companies will expect Net 30 Day Terms for payment of your invoices – don’t forget a collection is at least 6 months ahead of the season of the year – you may get orders for your Fall collection in the Spring but you will not see that money until the orders have been delivered.
Most nationally known companies also require Vendor Charge Backs if the merchandise doesn’t do as well as expected – be prepared to accept the returns and reimburse the retailer. It may hurt for a little while but they will remember how cooperative you were and there is always next time.
Comments
dachozn1 said
on 8/17/2009 Very detailed information...Thanks for writing this article. This is also one of my goals. Thanks 5*