How to Become a Fashion Designer & Start a Clothing Line
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How to Become a Fashion Designer
Fashion design can be an exciting and creative career field - but it can also be very competitive. You want
to get good, sound business information before you launch your company to increase your rate of success.
Peter Gallanis, associate editor for a leading fashion magazine, has interviewed over 2 dozen fashion
design experts to answers to hard-to-find questions about starting a fashion design business or designing a
clothing line. There are important topics covered and questions answered that you may have not even considered
asking.
Peter's guide will give you a really good idea of what you need to get your fashion design business started
- and what you need to do to succeed.
Find out:.
- How to develop your fashion design skills and educate yourself without having to get a degree
- Figure out start-up costs and how to get financing specifically for fashion designers
- How to find suppliers, work with manufacturers and trademark your label
- Tips for selling to boutiques, department stores and private clients
How to Launch Your Fashion Design Business
Think you can't start your own fashion line? Krystal Harrell started her own clothing company selling pajamas and customized apparel
- which started growing like crazy (when she was only 16 years old)!
Fashion Designer Business Resources:
Fashion Designer Schools
Whether you want a fashion design certificate, Associate's degree, Bachelor's degree or Master's degree, you
can find many online classes through FashionSchools.com (a Monster.com company). You can find a variety of courses, including
Fashion Design, Fashion Merchandising, Fashion Marketing, Footwear Design, Accessory Design and more. Do a
search for schools in your local area. They also offer some classes online.
Business plans are essential in obtaining financing for your business, they're a great planning tool and
they prove to be extremely useful in managing businesses and keeping them on track to reach their goals. If you
already have a clothing line product and know where you want to go with your company (but you're not sure
exactly how to get there), a business plan can help you discover that route so you can achieve it
faster.
Writing your own business plan can get complicated and overwhelming - and hiring a business plan writer can
get expensive. The third alternative is to use business plan templates or view plans written by existing (and
successful) businesses - it's a great time saver, and no doubt you'll save some money and come out with a solid
business plan.
There are 7 parts to a business plan.
- Executive Summary (company's objectives & mission)
- Company Summary
- Services
- Market Analysis
- Strategy & Implementation Summary (Including marketing & sales forecasting)
- Management Summary
- Financial Plan
How to Sell Your Clothing Line:
First, you want to take sketches of your designs and turn them into prototypes (samples) so
you have something to display to prospective buyers. If you can't sew them yourself, you can hire a
seamstress to stich your designs for you.
Next, itemize a list of local department stores near you. Find out who the buyers are in those stores and
reach out to them. Set up an appointment to display your clothing samples. Focus on targeting retailers who
sell items that match or somewhat resemble your design style, otherwise you are likely to be wasting your
time.
When you meet with the buyer, be prepared for possible order placement. Know the number of pieces you can
produce in a specified time period. Then figure out whether or not you require the buyer to deposit a partial
up front payment.
When an order has been made, submit a purchase order to the buyer. Microsoft has free purchase order forms the you can download from their website.
Publicity is a very effective technique for getting people to notice your fashion line. When you write a
press release, you want to grab the reader's attention with a catchy headline. Make sure you don't sound like
you are trying to sell something - but giving newsworthy information to your reader.
Keep your press release at about 1 page and send photos or samples when applicable. Focus on benefits to the
reader, use bold headlines and break large paragraphs into smaller ones for easier reading. See sample press releases here under "Step 2".
If you have a variety of products to sell or want to create a special environment to sell your clothing line
in, you can start your own clothing store.
If your items would do well in an "auction-style" environment, you can and list a few
items for sale and monitor your results. Etsy.com is also a popular site for sellers, they specialize in handmade items.
Fashion Design Business Associations and Resources
