5 Tips For a Successful Fashion Start-Up
Hawthorn, the London-based clothing manufacturer, has given us some useful advice on how to start a successful clothing brand.
1. The Key to Success
The key to success is patience and perseverance. In business there is often a “honeymoon period” where you’re excited and driven about building your brand, but there will come a point where things get tough. Many start-up brands will begin in the bedroom of a budding mogul who is juggling their idea alongside a day job — it requires a lot of outreach and communication and it can take its toll. However, perseverance distinguishes successful entrepreneurs from those who decide to end their brand before it’s even really begun.
2. Fund Your Brand
Starting a brand can be a costly endeavour and after student loans and monthly bills, your personal savings might not be an option; however there are routes you can take to get funding.
The best road for funding your brand would be via the Government operated Start Up Loan scheme. This is a loan, which means that you’ll eventually have to pay the money back, but if you believe enough in your idea and brand then that shouldn’t be a problem. Best of all with the Start Up Loan scheme, you get a mentor to turn to if you need advice on anything business related and you’ll also get a very good interest rate.
The second road is via crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. However, if you’re going to go down that route be sure that you’re well prepared; you’ll need samples (which can be costly to obtain in the first place), along with a solid marketing campaign and material. You’re trying to convince people to actually invest in what is (at this point) just an idea, so you’ll have to work hard to make that happen. Crowdfunding is generally over saturated, as it is seen as the easy option for new brands.
3. Vital Tools
There are two things that would be useful for people starting their own brand to know about: MOQs and tech packs.
MOQs (Minimum Order Quantities) are essentially the smallest amount of an item which the manufacturer can produce without charging the customer too much, and without losing too much profit. The number of designs can depend on the manufacturer themselves, and it can be driven by a number of factors: 1) The availability of fabrics.
2) The deal they have with their supply chain.
3) It can be driven by mechanical processes.
Some printing and embroidery machines take a lot of time and money to set up, so it wouldn’t be worth the manufacturer going to all that effort for under a certain quantity.
Tech packs are collections of all specifications and technical information required for manufacturing, and with such a huge spectrum of options available in the industry, a great tech pack is the difference between the exact product you want, and months of design tweaking, sampling, and expense.
4. Know Your Stuff
A clothing brand isn’t just about designing your own clothes; you have to be entrepreneurial minded too. It’s essential to understand the basics of business, marketing, and advertising as it’s no use having a great product that no one can see! You’ll also need to have a realistic view of the financial investment needed to really get your brand off the ground, such as the profits and losses of scaling business.
5. Have Passion
The best clothing brands have been built by those who don’t only have a love for fashion, but by those who also have a passion for business and making money. After all, if the business isn’t a success you won’t be able to continue designing and creating new items, which for most is the really fun and rewarding part of owning a clothing brand.
