How to Start a Small Fashion Business

The fact that people always need clothes can make it seem easy to start your own small fashion business, However, many people have the same idea. Factor in competition from big brands and big chain stores, and getting a small fashion business off the ground can be a daunting task. It’s not impossible and we’ve prepared a guide to help you.

To start a small fashion business:

• Find A Niche and Target Audience

• Develop A Business Plan

• Start Designing

• Find a Manufacturer

• Develop A Marketing Plan

• Find Investors

• Soft Launch

Table of Contents

Find A Niche and Target Audience

The fashion world has many big brands trying to sell the same thing. A new generic small clothing business is not going to compete with the big brands in the stores or on Amazon. Just having jeans won’t appeal to a consumer who is already loyal to an established brand like Levi’s or Gap. And you can’t only use the price of your clothes as your selling point. If it’s priced too low, not only will you not make a profit, people will think your clothing is low-quality.

What you need to do is identify a need in your local market. Let’s give an example. Say you’re in a city with a large number of disabled people. A lot of big clothing brands don’t make clothing that is accessible for disabled people. You could start a business selling accessible clothes.

Whatever niche you decide to fill, you must do all the necessary research needed to make sure you design clothes that the demographic will buy.

Develop A Business Plan

A business plan is vital for starting any business. You need it to guide your business decisions and to stay on track. A lot of people can lose focus or get bogged down trying other projects. A business plan should have short-term and long-term strategies. For example, a short-term business plan might include paying back a loan or making a certain amount of sales. A long-term business plan might be to get your clothes carried by a major boutique in a place like SoHo or to have a store there.

Be sure to revisit your business plan frequently. If you’ve reached a goal, create a new goal. If circumstances change in your business or personal life, change your business plan to reflect the new circumstances.

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Start Designing

After you have decided on your niche, you need to design your clothes. Designing, especially for your first clothing line can be a hard process regardless of which demographic you’re marketing to. Your first line of clothing is going to define your reputation in the market. It will be your calling card. So you have to be careful when you design your first line.

Your first clothing line should also take into account the price point you want to reach. If your first clothing line is too expensive for your demographic, you’ll have trouble reaching them in the future. You’ll also have to make sure your clothing is profitable for you. Being a designer is about striking the balance between high-end and affordable.

Don’t forget that you need to design clothes that can be mass-produced. If you’re making clothes by hand, the clothes need to be easy to make repeatedly. If you’re using a factory, you have to remember that most machines are standardized so you can’t do anything too crazy. If the clothes are hard to make, the factory will charge extra or not make your clothes at all.

Find a Manufacturer

Chances are that you can’t make all the clothes you need to fil consumer demand on your own. Especially if you intend to make a lot of clothes. So you’ll need to make contact with a manufacturer. This may mean reaching out to a group of friends to help you make clothes at first or perhaps a fabric supplier.

As your brand gets bigger, you’ll need to reach out to an actual factory. If you’re on a budget and just printing t-shirts or something, you’ll probably do just fine reaching out to a local shop that imprints designs on shirts. If you get big enough, you might need an actual factory. Some major clothing factories make clothing for small brands while they make the stuff for bigger brands. Many of these factories are located outside of the country. While you may want to visit these factories yourself, and it would be ideal if you could, chances are you won’t be able to on your budget. At the absolute least, should be able to do research on your factories online or talk to other people in your local business community about their experiences with a particular factory. You should do as much as possible so you know that your factory will make quality clothes and will be open for the long haul. You’ll also need to check the factory’s record with workers. You don’t want the publicity nightmare of learning your chosen factory is doing something that they shouldn’t.

Develop A Marketing Plan

Once you have started the process of getting your clothes manufactured, the next part is marketing them. Ideally, you’ll have your marketing laid out before your clothes are ready to sell. You need to have a solid plan for marketing your clothes. To make that plan, you need to ask yourself What are your brand’s name and logo? Do they match up with the image you’re trying to portray? Does your marketing appeal to the people you’re trying to appeal to?

You should design a website on an e-commerce website like Etsy or Shopify. Look at other e-commerce storefronts for ideas on what your site should look like. However, don’t plagiarize. You don’t want to face legal troubles during your first few days in business. Plus, your brand needs to be unique to you. People can tell when someone is copying someone else and a copy always performs worse than the original.

You should also make sure that your website has the story of your business on it. People like that kind of stuff. Just make sure that it’s true. Customer trust can be fickle, especially when you’re competing against more established brands.

Next, you should reach out to influencers. In our increasingly online world, influencers on sites like Instagram are especially important. Instagram has a lot of influencers who are happy to promote clothes and products to get some money and some free products. Plus, influencers are often more affordable than a TV ad or magazine.

Instagram has revolutionized helping small fashion boutiques get off the ground. Before Instagram, people had to rely on getting their clothes in magazines or worn by major celebrities and models. Said celebrities and models tended to wear the big brands to the big shows and galas already so it was often difficult to get a new clothing line launched unless you had connections. And there were only so many celebrities, models, and magazines to go around. If you were designing for a niche, getting big magazines to display your clothing was even harder.

However, with the rise of Instagram, almost anyone can be a celebrity. Influencers can come from anywhere and often come from many niches. There are disabled influencers. Some influencers are parents. Some influencers work in trades. And many of these influencers are happy to show off new clothes to their niche audiences. While there are downsides to the world where everyone can be famous for 15 minutes, if you’re a small clothing brand, you can benefit from it, even if you’re selling to a niche audience.

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Find Investors

Unless you have money to finance your own business, you will probably need investors. This can be made easier with a business plan. Investors or bank officers will want to see that you have clear goals and a reasonable plan to reach them before they start giving you their money. After all, they will want to see a return on their investment.

Of course, even if you do have a good business plan, there’s a large possibility that you’ll face a lot of rejection. This is normal. Don’t get discouraged. If they give you constructive criticism on your business plan, take it to heart. Use any rejection as a chance to refine your approach.

Soft Launch

Once you have your clothing made, the next step is the soft launch. Do a limited release of your clothing line. If it is successful, you can bring those numbers to investors and potential partners aboard.