All about Starting Your Own Label & Becoming a Fashion Designer... (SEE POST #1 FOR RELATED THREADS)

[RocknNeedle]

I currently manufacture all my clothing and supply shops in London. I dont have any other people (yet!) who help me, I cut, sew, trim, tidy, iron, post. It is hard but is so cost effective. I havent reached the stage where I have a ton of orders each day, so far shops havent ordered at the same time so I have been quite lucky. I dont mind it this way but it does concern me for future. I would like to know about larger orders etc how people cope!

 

[BetteT]

I hope that others here can share their experience in production ... the next step beyond making your own line.

But ... if we don't have anyone who has made this jump who can share their experiences ... here are some related threads that might help with some information to think about. (I know that you are probably aware of them RocknNeedle and in fact have started at least one of these, but I'd like to share them with any interested members.)




Threads about manufacturing and production:
Sources for Fabrics / Textiles / Trimmings / Notions / Findings, Etc.?
Basics About Production and Factory Manufacturing
Cost of Production
What Does It Really Cost To Make Those Clothes?
Sourcing Production & Manufacturing in the East or the West?
'Luxe' Manufacturing and Production in China


Books for Fashion Designers: Sewing, Draping, Developing your Own Line. Etc.


Marekting and Selling your line:
What's in a Name? Naming your brand / line / store.
New Designers .... Publicity and Marketing Your Line
Selling my Line to Buyers/Boutique Owners
All About Showrooms and Sales Reps
tradeshows vs experienced sales rep
Product Placements in Magazines: How to get your Line Featured

 

[farou7a]

i start fashion school this summer.. i can draw the designs and picture them in my head.. i just cant stitch.
where i live, labour is cheap so i can get tailors to do it too, but other than a good and loyal clientelle, what else is important?!
suggestions?

 

[daniellat]

One of my designers manufacturers everything themselves, in house, from Houston TX. They pay $12-50 - $15 an hour. They have TWO stitchers. They broke the million dollar sales mark two years ago. Beyond a website and keyword optimization, they do no advertising or show at market etc.

I'll bet you think that's crazy talk. This being a public forum, I won't mention their name (you'd know who it is if you were on my forum).

Here's the crazy part. They have NO inventory. No mass production runs at all. They sell consumer direct. From the time the customer orders the product, this company will cut, sew and ship the product -all within 24 hours.

After 27 years of production experience in this industry, I have a pretty good idea of how someone can make the most of their operation. I just wish all of my clients would listen to me the way this company did. If you're interested, it's called "lean manufacturing".

I tried that, only producing made to order, of course it was crazy at times when there were several orders pending and there was now ay i could get the orders done by 24 hrs..it was more or less a week or so, that because the harder part was to get good, cheap seamstresses and all of the work was made by myself or my bf who was my business parter at the time...but it was craaaazy, things got bigger and i just couldnt face the demand on my own, and talking to fellow designers its a common problem they have, the search of the perfect seamstress.

 

[irresistable_loz]

I think the other problem with lean manufacturing, and maybe kathleen can shed some light on this if she knows of a solution is that, especially with seasonal collections, you have to have all the materials ready to go.

That means having access to all the textiles, which would have to be ordered ahead of time, and could mean having excess or waste if it isn't a stocked fabric that is readily available. What is the designer meant to do with things such as prints that have minimums? Guess at amounts, and just make the style until the textiles run out? It seems like it could be a little wasteful in this respect ... but maybe others have answers to this already

farou7a, once you go to fashion school you'll be sure to pick up basic sewing skills, from looking at this thread and my own experience the rest is a mix of experience (working for other designers or interning), a good business plan and idea of your market, connections (make sure to network at school), perseverance, great product and of course, money. The money issue can't be sidestepped.. so save as much as you can.

 

[couturecouture]

One thing I am specifically having trouble deciding is if it is better to have your garments produced in a factory (which would be cheaper than doing them myself) or if it is better to do it myself and have less items available but at a higher cost.

This is a dilemma of mine as well... it seems cheaper to make the items myself (starting out) but there wouldn't be very much inventory. Having them made at a manufacturer seems like it would be too costly when starting out.

 

[fashionified]

^

i'm also launching my own line this oct and i'll start selling them in boutiques. i found out that the most important thing is to decide your looks and your collection everything else will go from there. if you're good at high end product for ex: good tailoring, good material, good workmanship, a lot of handwork, etc it'd be better for you to go for boutiques and sell limited but high quality items, therefore you could sell them in higher price. but if you're good at doing very simple, basic ready to wear, then it'd be better to go on mass production.

it really depends on what kind of designer you are. since of course the design and workmanship for mass manufacturing and for limited production and different. so you really have to pay a close look at the small little details.

 

[Marjon]

Goodluck fashionfied! What's your line called?

 

[Laurianne]

Help to start a new brand/collection

Hi,

I start this new thread because I hope some of you could provide me some advices.

My friend and I want to start a clothing line. She is a stylist and I love fashion for years, always dreamt to have my own brand, I am a creative person and I'm doing a business school, so I have some skills in this field.

We don't want to create an entire collection, we want to focus on one item: the jackets.
We don't want to position on the luxury market but on the middle and up market.

So we have our position, we have our target and our collection is already draw.

It's the next steps that still are a little fuzzy to us, here's what we plan:
- Doing the prototypes of our collection
- Go see the bank for a bank loan
- Attend showrooms to meet potential buyers
- Manufacturing the quantity ask by our buyers
...

They are all the steps I can think of...

So guys, do you have other ideas, steps I forget, advices... that could help me?

Everything is welcome

I hope my english wasn't too bad for the understanding...

 

[BetteT]

I merged this with the ongoing thread about this topic... you should read this because there might be good information.

Also, we have other threads that might be of interest to you and might have some helpful information for anyone starting up a line: See this post, above: #202

 

[Conhceel]

Showrooms and multilabel stores in Paris

I am trying to find showrooms and multilabel stores in Paris that I could approach about selling my womens highend designs.
Any ideas, names, places?

 

[markese91]

Here I go bumping yet another thread. I'm doing alot of research today so I apologize if you're subbed to all the threads.

Anyway I'm doing PR work for a designer and we are looking into moving into courting a few boutiques(I call it courting because I really feel like the relationship is very similar to dating) but we haven't spoken about factories and mass manufacturing yet. I don't want to have things going too crazy.

I was wondering a few things though(I've read the entire thread
1.) Would it be wiser to move on to Etsy first? One of the big things that I have to work on with this designer is a healthy internet presence. You can't even buy garments online and she just sent me her price point which for the Spring 2011 collection is $325+(i almost fainted). I was thinking some online selling mechanism could help alot.
2.) When selling to a boutique once you have your own wholesale price, how much should you expect the boutique to up it in order to make their profit? I'm wondering about this so I can sort of vet the stores that we don't apply to because of price point.

Look forward to hearing back from you guys. BTW if you wanted to see her designs they are here

 

[BetteT]

Markups in retail stores are typically 2.2 or more... 2.2 times the wholesale price. So that means they would sell her line starting at $715 and up. So you are looking at high end boutiques ... not boutiques who cater to the college crowd or juniors.


Another thought ... I think that her on-line pricing needs to stay in line with that markup, if she hopes to sell to boutiques, too. She should not compete against them by undercutting their prices, IMO.

I can't address if that price point is reasonable for on line sales or not. If her line is not well known to the public ... it might be a strech for most buyers ... to trust that much money. More research would be needed .....

 

[markese91]

Thanks so much Bette T I was thinking that that would be the range and to be honest I don't think this local industry will be able to sustain that type of price point, I just wanted a bit of confirmation before I told her that. Oh and yeah I most definitely think that the pieces online shouldn't undercut the boutiques.

 

[BetteT]

You're welcome.

One of the most important part of "marketing" anything is setting the right price for the market you are located in ... in addition to creating the right pieces for it. "Find a need an fill it" ... it's way easier than finding customers who don't exist.

 

[markese91]

My client just informed me she makes scarves for 7 bucks... THAT'S alot easier to sell!

 

[BetteT]

And ... scarves will sell on line ... size is not a problem! Good place to start ...

 

[markese91]

I do have a bit of advice though for designers wanting to start a line. You need to be very realistic. My motto is you do what you have to until you can or so you can do what you want to. What I mean is that for example I know this one designer who wanted me to rep her after we worked on a photoshoot together. I basically designed a dress for the photoshoot and she made it and i consulted on another dress. They were party style simple cocktail like dresses, would be fairly cheap to make.
Anywho, she has gotten more responses on those two pieces than all of her other pieces which are bridal wear(hard market to break into from what i hear). I've been telling her that it would be wise to explore the cocktail dresses as a money maker to fund her bridal collection(doing what you have to do so you can do what you want to do)... she's hellbent on her bridal collection...

 

[iHUONG iHUONG]

this topic is so helpful! thanks for sharing!

 

[LANZO_358]

I would want to agree with BetteT and if that's her wholesale price then mark-up may be the dealbreaker.

People are more trusting of paying that much money in a regular brick and mortar establishment or high-end boutique. For online sales especially coming from a virtually unknown designer...hmm not so much. So this 'healthy' online presence she wants will have too be defined.

She needs to ask herself, does this 'online presence' mean sales (e-commerce) on her own site, e-market sites (like Etsy, Ebay, Boutiques.com, etc.) or is it more for advertising (e.g. a portfolio site) where she simply shows her line but lists her stockists and directs her customers to them? Whichever choice she makes some adjustments will have to be made. It means either adjusting her price point downward (for the moment at least) for more attractive online sales, or keeping it as it and spend a killing on press, advertising which would then improve her reputation, credibility be better for website traffic and also make the line more attractive to retail buyers.

Still if she prefers the 'healthy' Internet route, she could seek out even more exclusive online boutiques which retail cool independent designers at top price for a small consignment/listing fee. A few exist and do pretty good business, so you'll have to research that further. A final option exists where she sells only lower priced items online (again intially) and direct her potential customers to the boutiques for higher end items.

As her PR agent, it would help if you knew her actual Marketing Strategy for the business, assuming she has done a business plan (and assuming you haven't yet seen itflower:. This important piece of business literature shows the relationship between the Product, Price, Place (i.e. Distribution) and Promotion. Once you have all that info it should make your work as PR agent a whole lot easier and help you to make the best choices in helping to advice this client.

Best of luck!

PS. Why are you as a PR person doing this though? This entails more Marketing task than Public Relations/Press.