How to Start Your Small Clothing Business from Home

With the Internet age, anyone has the opportunity to start their own business from home. But how can you start your own clothing business out of your home office? What do you need to do to make sure you can gain success within the confines of your own home?

To start a small clothing business from home:

Familiarize yourself with the clothing industry and what you want to sell.
Create your business plan.
Put together your budget.
Put together your point-of-sale system—your website.
Create or purchase your inventory—but be smart about your budget and quality.
Tell people about your clothing line.
Explore other avenues of selling.

What is the best way forward when it comes to starting your small clothing business from home? Read on to find out what you should do before you even consider purchasing or making your inventory or creating your first post.

Table of Contents

Familiarize yourself with the clothing industry and what you want to sell

No matter what direction you want to take with your business, you need to know what you’re getting into and know what kind of products you want to sell. This can be something as simple as doing your research out of your home office—find out what people are searching for, consider latest trends, and start looking into your target demographic. Who do you want to sell to? Who are you looking to influence? Note that if you are selling out of your home, you are more than likely selling online—and that should be a factor in what kind of clothing you decide to sell. Older generations are not as likely to purchase online, so focus your attention on younger generations who frequent social media websites.

But what are they looking for, and how do you determine exactly what niche you want to look into? That is up to your personal preference! Make sure it’s a style of clothing that you like, as shifting and changing may be hard—staying as timeless as possible is key to make sure you bring people back to your shop.

Create your business plan

Business plans aren’t just for people who own physical stores. Regardless of where you set up your shop or call home, you need to have a business plan. What does this entail? Your business plan should outline all your business decisions and then some. The more you plan ahead, the less decisions you have to make on the fly later, which can help reduce stress and confusion down the road.

So what goes into your business plan? Consider adding sections outlining:

Operating procedures.
Management.
Finances.
Staffing.
Business structure.
Insurance.
Business name.
Licenses and permits.
Mission statement and goals.

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Put together your budget

While this is something that you should consider in your business plan, it’s important enough to consider as a separate step in creating your business from home. There are many moving parts when it comes to selling, and it doesn’t change too much when you sell from home. Some of the items you should include in your budget before you begin include:

Your product. How much are you spending on your inventory? What do you need in terms of supplies to make your inventory? How much does a manufacturer cost?
A point-of-sale system. If you are starting your business out of your home, this is most typically your website. Some website providers give you assistance in starting up your business shop online, while others may require you to use a third party provider.
Marketing. With selling online, this is the only way you can get your shop information out to people. Consider using free social media websites to reach your target audience.
Photography and Modeling. You’ll need photos and information about your clothing before you even start selling, so make sure you include this in your budget. Without photos, customers can’t visualize your products.
Staffing. This includes you! Make sure you include a salary in your budget for you and all the hard work that you do.
Insurance, business permits, and utilities. Even if you are selling out of your home, you need to consider how it affects your insurance and utilities cost. Make sure you are getting your share of the profits for what you do within your home, whether it’s electricity, internet, or even insurance. Check with your insurance provider to see how starting your own business may change your costs. You will also need business permits and an employer’s identification number so the Internal Revenue Service can collect tax on your products. Other permits may be required through your state and local governments.

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Put together your point-of-sale system—your website

If you’re selling out of your home, it’s likely you’ll be selling online. As you learn how to do this, make sure you research your options thoroughly. You will not be working with cash transactions, so everything will be online—meaning you have to have the proper accounts to do so. Set up your shop’s online presence, but make sure your point-of-sale system is compatible with your website. Many website creators will help walk you through the process.

Create or purchase your inventory—but be smart about your budget and quality

When you get to this point, you’ll be creating your inventory—whether by hand or through a manufacturer. While it doesn’t matter which it is, you need to make sure you have the right amount of sizing for photographs, at the very least, and the highest quality of materials you can provide. Make sure you do your research! Manufacturers are always looking to make the highest profit at the lowest quality, so consider what your priorities are before making a choice on how to proceed.

Tell people about your clothing line

Up until this point, you’ve been planning your line, but now it’s time to start telling people about it. Because you’re selling from home, you need a great online presence. Put together social media pages that attract your target demographic, and make sure you post—but don’t post randomly and without a focus on your brand. Everything you do needs to align with your branding, your colors, fonts, etc. and what you want out of your business. Link every post back to your website so people can easily make a purchase. Your social media advertising may be free, but it’s also your best way of bringing in people, so it’s up to you to catch their attention!

Explore other avenues of selling

There are other ways that you can sell out of your home without having to put your items online. Some small clothing lines partner with local boutiques, where they sell clothing from other providers. You can also consider creating a door to door selling business, where you can be invited to parties and other people’s homes to sell your product to parties and groups. Another option is boutique trunk shows. From here, you can sell to a large group of discerning buyers and possibly find a boutique owner willing to sell your products directly from their store. You have many options, and none of them require you to have a physical storefront yourself!

While this may be a step-by-step guide taking you from your business idea to your opening day, the hardest parts of starting your own business, you cannot plan for. The best way to get yourself prepared for both the good and the bad is by planning ahead—like you did in your business plan, try to plan out every answer to every struggle you may face. If those come to you as you’re starting your business, you’ll already have a plan for the way out. Don’t be afraid to make changes to your process as you go! The best way to gain success is making sure you’re both prepared and flexible. Seek out help if you feel the need, and make sure you consider each possible issue as a chance to grow and a challenge to do better rather than a setback.