Advantages And Disadvantages Of Having A Clothing Business

Starting your own business doesn’t have to be stressful, especially if you plan ahead and do your research. Understanding exactly what you’re getting into when you start your clothing business is key—and whether the disadvantages are worth pushing through to get to the advantages. 

The advantages and disadvantages of having a clothing business are:

• Advantage: An advanced degree is not required to start a clothing business.
• Disadvantage: Regardless of your skill level, you can expect long hours and an inconsistent income. 
• Advantage: Owning your business can be exciting and rewarding. 
• Disadvantage: Owning your own business can be extremely stressful. 
• Advantage: Creating a clothing business is very creative.
• Disadvantage: It can be hard to get a leg up in the business.
• Advantage: You can work anywhere.
• Disadvantage: 70 percent of small businesses fail within the first ten years.
• Advantage: Your business could influence trends and the industry itself. 
• Disadvantage: If you don’t follow existing trends, you could fall behind and lose profit.

Depending on what you want out of your clothing business, you may find any or all of these disadvantages surmountable. Read on to find out more about what makes a clothing business worthwhile and what you can do to combat the things that may make it difficult. 

Advantage: An advanced degree is not required to start a clothing business.

You may think a college degree is necessary to start any sort of business, but that’s where you’re wrong. An advanced degree is not necessary when you’re starting your own business—it’s the experience that puts you above the rest when you’re just starting out. As long as you have passion for your business, you can push forward on creating that clothing business. There’s no doubt that a degree in business or fashion design can help you in the long run, but there will be no one forcing you to do so. 

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Disadvantage: Regardless of your skill level, you can expect long hours and an inconsistent income. 

Even though you don’t need experience to start your business, it doesn’t matter—you will still be working long, sometimes random, hours and have a very inconsistent income, especially when you’re just starting out. A clothing business has to shift with trends, so you’ll have to make sure you know all the latest ones. It’s also a very hard market to gain popularity in, especially if you’re just starting out—people know what they like when it comes to clothing, and it’s hard to break that mold. So how can you combat this disadvantage and even use it to your advantage? Stay consistent in your branding so you can increase your profits, and make sure you’re constantly staying on top of the latest trends. Educate yourself—although it doesn’t have to be through a degree—and learn how to find the latest information for the target audience you’re working with. 

Advantage: Owning your business can be exciting and rewarding. 

While experience doesn’t matter, your passion does. You have to be ready and willing to put in all the hard work for your business, and if it’s something you’re passionate about, you can make anything work. Make sure to set goals for your personal and business successes so you can celebrate when you hit those marks.

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Disadvantage: Owning your own business can be extremely stressful. 

While that passion can drive you forward, it can also mean you’re blinded to the details of the job. Those hard hours and complicated decisions can weigh on a mind, and you if you don’t plan ahead, you may find yourself stressed beyond belief in trying to run your clothing business. How can you combat that? You need to create a balance in your work and home life, along with planning ahead. Make sure you create a useable, workable business plan where you can navigate all the stressful decisions you might have to make, so those plans are made beforehand. 

Advantage: Creating a clothing business is very creative.

If you’re looking for a calling that is creative and allows you to express that creativity, your clothing business can do that for you. Whether you’re starting a clothing line and creating all your clothing ideas from scratch or if you’re selling items in a boutique, you get to decide what to create and what to sell. While that can be difficult to choose, many business owners relish in the fact that they get to make these creative decisions—right down to the logo, fonts, colors, etc. that you use to represent your business. 

Disadvantage: It can be hard to get a leg up in the business. 

While the creative side of things is a definite draw, trying to get a leg up in the clothing business can be incredibly difficult. It’s hard to stay creative and unique when you’re trying to sell to a large group of people, so how can you stay true to who you are and what you’re doing if you’re trying to make a profit? It’s about finding that balance between what you want and what your target audience wants. Make sure your audience has enough demand and even enough people to make purchases from your business so you can turn a profit. If that means broadening your scope of your business, you may want to do so. It’s also about knowing your marketing—find where your target niche is getting their shopping ideas and market on those fronts. 

Advantage: You can work anywhere. 

Whether you’re creating a clothing boutique or if you’re starting your own clothing line, it doesn’t matter—you can be anywhere. In our day and age of the Internet and sharing online, you can literally be in any corner of the world running your business. This is made even easier if you’re creating a store that is purely online—you can sell your products to a global audience. 

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Disadvantage: 70 percent of small businesses fail within the first ten years. 

Yes, that’s the honest statistic. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, within the first five years of business, fifty percent of small businesses will fail. By the tenth year, that number increases to seventy percent. While those odds aren’t the greatest, it makes it even harder because the fashion industry is notoriously hard to get a boost into—as you learned before. The best way to fight against this is to stay passionate about your work and make sure you plan ahead. Failure comes from not planning ahead, and you can easily stay ahead of it if you think on your feet. 

Advantage: Your business could influence trends and the industry itself. 

While getting popularity might be incredibly hard as you work through your clothing business, you never know who or what may catch wind of what you’re doing. If you’re doing something new and exciting, you may find yourself influencing trends and even changing the industry itself. Hopping aboard the trendy train may lead you to even more popularity and profit. 

Disadvantage: If you don’t follow existing trends, you could fall behind and lose profit. 

But those trends go both ways. If you find yourself not sticking to the current trends that your target market is looking for, you may lose your profits and your popularity. This is where research comes in—and it’s not always about the general, extremely popular trends. Look at what is trending within your target market. It may be different than other trends, so if you’re looking to keep those customers and business partners, lean into those trends instead. 

Regardless of what you decide, it has to come from you. You’re the business owner and you’re the one who has to make the decisions and ultimately shift your business in case one of those disadvantages tries to take your business down. The main piece of advice to take away? Plan ahead. The better you plan for your business, the better prepared you are to move forward and jump over the hurdles placed in your way. 

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RELATED QUESTIONS

What items can be sold through a clothing business?

While it truly depends on the target audience you’re considering, your niche, and your personal preference, you can sell anything you want in a boutique. Most focus on a style of clothing for their main inventory, but you can sell anything from jewelry to accessories to bags to home décor in your boutique. 

How do I find the current trends in the fashion industry?

When researching trends, it’s important to check multiple sources. Three of your best source categories are watching fashion shows, looking through fashion magazines, and checking social media. If you want to know what high fashion trends are in vogue, those fashion shows are best for you. Fashion magazines tend to show a wide range of different options, from haute couture all the way down to standard clothing stores. Social media, on the other hand, shows what the masses are looking for. Consider following influencers that match your clothing brand’s niche to find out what they’re wearing and even what they are supporting on their social media pages. 

To learn more about how to start your own fashion clothing line check out my startup documents here

Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.