HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY START A FASHION BRAND

To start a fashion brand is a very exciting and life-changing journey. Owning a fashion brand is more than a career, its a lifestyle. Getting this dream off the ground is however no small feat. You have to keep dozens of balls in the air at once and manage everything from designing, to sourcing fabric and materials, the production process, costings, marketing, sales and more. That’s why we have simplified it by creating a step-by-step guide on how to successfully start a fashion brand!

When starting a fashion brand, you’ll face a saturated market that is not only competitive but also in constant transformation. So it is important to look at feasibility and opportunities and not be solely focused on the ideation phase.

Creating innovative, beautiful, luxurious and practical designs-ideas is the easier part, ensuring production feasibility and making your business profitable is another story…

If you want to start a fashion brand, is the below criteria part of your business plan?

√ High-quality product
√ Ethical and sustainable manufacturing
√ Sustainable and luxurious fabrics
√ Low minimum order quantities from the manufacturer (MOQ’s)
√ Low manufacturing cost in order to offer “Affordable” retail prices
√ High profits to grow the business and make a livelihood

If this is part of your plan, great! It sounds perfect, however, you should know that this is also what most start-up fashion brands want, and if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it…

Generally, combining all of these criteria’s does not add up. Something will most likely have to give initially to get your concept off the ground. However, don’t fear, the good news is we are here to help!

With our extensive experience and international networks, we have developed ways to help small boutique fashion brands get the same opportunities as large established brands benefiting with more buying power. Our aim is to see more diversity in the sustainable sector as the buyer starts to concentrate more on quality over quantity.

In our free guide on ‘How to successfully create a fashion brand’ we’re covering the following topics with do-it-yourself-resources  and templates:

• Business plan: Outlining what’s most important to plan out and prepare before you invest time and money going further into the process of creating a fashion brand.
• Brand name: The aspects to consider before you settle on it.
• Register your business name, trademark, URL’s and tax registration: Don’t make the mistake of delaying this only to find out that you have to change your name after you have already made your branding or even products!
• Logo and branding: What you need to consider in the design stage when starting your fashion brand.
• Set up cost, budgeting and pricing products: Making sure you have a realistic calculation for both cost and income, and that you enough money for not only starting up, but to keep going! Pricing your products including all import cost and setting profitable margins whist keeping in line with your competition and target market is not easy to get right, but this is crucial for the success your business.
• Timelines: Templates outlining time frames for the entire process starting with design, to sampling, production and until in-store deliveries, which are calculated to meet key selling months.
• Design process: Templates and resources for the research stage, fabric sourcing, design handovers, range plans, tech pack creation and sample reports.
• Sample process: Explaining the process and the different samples types.
• Bulk production process: Explaining the process including quality control.
• Marketing process: Suggesting multiple ways to market your brand. Remember, your marketing is just as important as your actual product, creating amazing products only known to your friends and family won’t keep your business alive.
• Retail and wholesale selling methods: Limiting your selling methods to your own online store will generally leave you with a bumpy cash flow! There are many ways to sell your products locally and internationally, we’ll explain the options and how they work along with some referrals.
• How to start : Feel free to use the guide below to create a roadmap on how to start a fashion brand. If you need us, we are here to help at any stage of the journey! Book a free 10min consultation below