How to Start a Clothing Line?
Below are a few things you can do to get your clothing line started successfully.
How do you start a clothing line? Well, there really isn’t a simple answer. Know that starting a clothing line is a special business model. It takes a lot more than just registering your business as a D.B.A., INC or LLC and opening up a bank account. In this article, we will go over some of the major points.
Let’s start with the name of your clothing line.
Start with a simple outline as a guide to your business plan. Choose a name that best represents you now and where you would like to go in the future with your clothing line. Next, do a search trademark search for your name at www.uspto.gov . If it is available – register it with the United States Trademark Office (about $325). Your brand name and company name can (and should) be different. Your company name, for example, can be your initials or a variation of your own name, while the name of the collection (the clothing line) can be something more creative and representative of the style you’re going for.
Thereafter, get your website domain name for your clothing line. Web sites names are going super fast so get your today’s for as little as $10. Brainstorm a lot of different logos, but narrow it down to one and make sure you are completely sure about the one you choose. Make sure your website is professional and presents your line in the best light. Provide contact information, in case stores or other merchants want to get in touch with you. If you want to give people the ability to buy clothing from your website, you’ll need to set up a shopping cart and merchant account so you can accept credit card payments.
How much money does it cost to start a clothing line?
Capital: The answer to this question is different for everyone but key is to be realistic. First you should make your business plan and determine how much money you need to get your line off the ground (it will include operations and payroll expenses, design expenses, sales/marketing expenses, consulting expenses, registration and license expenses (such as copyrights, trademarks, garment registration, business/reseller licenses), show/showroom expenses, warehousing, fulfillment/distribution and intangibles. Coming up with the capital to launch your clothing line can be tricky depending on intangible business. Credit cards, bank, SBA loans, investors. partners or family are all good places to start for funding.
Now you should be thinking about what type of clothes you want to make first. This is the Fun part. Do you want to start with men’s or women’s T-shirts, jeans, couture etc. Keep your scope limited at first until you build a name for yourself. Get all of your fashion sketches and ideas together and figure out which ones you want to produce first. Show them to friends, family and industry experts and see which ones people like the most. Next you can use your sketches to give to a seamstress or screen printer with a vertical operation who can make your designs for you. Find manufacturers or look for local contractors like screen-printers to print your garments.
Ask whoever is producing your line whether there are any restrictions, such as if they can’t print certain colors. If you are designing a t-shirt line, get the following information from the t-shirt printer: size specifications (specs) of the design (how big it can be), the type of shirt you want to print on, and the weight/quality of the fabric (e.g. choose thinner, less expensive fabric for summer clothing lines).
Detail is everything. When you do your sketches, create a layout that shows every detail clearly and uses the proper terminology–if you don’t know what the terminology is, find a photo and show it to the manufacturer and ask what they call it.”Learn the lingo” and be prepared to properly identify the fabric you wish to use by weight (yield), content, and construction.
Collections are usually designed by season. Most department stores buy at least two seasons in advance, while smaller stores buy 1-2 seasons ahead. You’ll need to time your design, production, and delivery accordingly.
Promote your line.
As a clothing line owner, you have to think about how to brand your line. It is important that you give consumers and store owners a reason why they should choose to support your line. Make sure you stand out. Being different and unique is a good thing in the fashion industry.
Write a press release, send it to local newspapers and magazines. Purchase ads in papers and on websites that people in your target audience read. Sponsor events that cater to your target audience. Get a celebrity endorsement (or get the most popular person you know to wear your stuff–give it to them for free). Establish relationships with websites and blogs that can bring attention to your brand and site. Use yourself as a walking billboard. Wear your own fashions and ask people’s opinions and record them; this will also aid you in designing a product people will like. Take every suggestion a person has to offer; it’s like having your own marketing and design team and it doesn’t cost you a thing. Starting out, money is going to be tight, so take advantage of every opportunity you can.
Where can I sell my clothing?
First think about putting your line in local stores. Make appointments with the store to go in and show the buyer your line. After getting your line in stores locally and learning how things work you can then move on to thinking about national distribution. (Consignments are becoming more common in the marketplace. It allows the stores to carry your line without much obligation. If you have the luxury of making the goods and offering consignment…..go for it especially if it’s a store with lots of traffic). Also build a local selling network by selling your items to any and everyone you know. People will see them wearing it and ask how they can order. Make sure you offer deals if people buy more than one. Once you have a network and followers that loves your clothes you can always sell them your new releases. Make sure you maintain a contact list of all of your customers.
Take orders. Sell at festivals, markets, and to everyone you know. Get appointments with local stores and convince them to carry your line. Offer your clothing on the Internet. Print a catalog and mail it to clothing stores and potential customers. You can also go to a fashion trade show (e.g. the MAGIC Fashion Trade Show held in Las Vegas in the US, Europe’s Bread and Butter fashion trade show) and market week held in cities such as Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
For more information contact Rogen Studio, Inc.