So you're thinking about starting your own fashion line. Your head may be reeling with creative concepts, but the saying goes – you'll need more than twenty-five dollars and a dream to make it. While it's true that we live in the age of mass-consumption, now more than ever, the fashion retail market is stricken with the plague of cut-throat competition and tragic loss. Fact-of-the matter is, it doesn't matter how big or small your 'house' is. Lack of proper support will make you a statistic.What do Elsa Schiaparelli, Paul Poiret and Issac Mizrahi all have in common? Besides being legendary designers and media darlings, they had all claimed insolvency because their overhead far outweighed the profits. Sadly, it's not uncommon. Many fashion designers dash head-first into the industry without having any real business survival skills. Research shows that 80% of the start-up retailers out there close their doors within five-years. Even mass-retail chains have fallen victim to insolvency. In 1997, Eaton's, once Canada America
First, take it for what it is – an extremely harsh business. Roughly, the odds of making it as a top fashion designer are 160,000:1.That doesn't necessarily mean accept failure, but understand that a winning personality and creative ideas are only one-eighth the battle.
Be sure you're cut-out for the business - get some-hands on experience. Internships are the best-way to get an inside look into your burgeoning fashion career. Through interning, you'll realize a career in fashion design and retail is about long, and sometimes grueling piles of work. It's everything from sitting behind a computer constructing 'tech packs' and pattern cutting, to extensive mathematic equations for inventory, sales tracking, financial budgeting and distribution purposes. If you're able to get paying work in a store, head office, or warehouse – take it! It's through these means that you truly learn the operational side of retail.
Think on a small scale. For example, a t-shirt line. The challenge of the t-shirt is turning this basic (and bland) article of clothing into an original, punchy fashion piece. Work with a test market consisting of friends and trendsetters who will endorse your line. Trendsetters are the innovators of fashion, so if they endorse your line first, chances are, the general audience may follow suit.
Cultivate your ideas by getting to know your competitors. Ideas can surface in the most casual ways, but once they materialize, it's almost always not what you expected. Fashion is an ever-evolving industry and you must stay on top of what the competition is doing. Founder and designer of New York-based Married to the MOB Leah McSweeny's brand came to her while talking to her male friends. She noticed that men dominated the street fashion world, and she saw that as an opportunity to offer street fashion for women of a similar magnitude. Kareem Blair, creative director of men's street wear line Lemar & Dauley noticed a lot of brands were either too retro or focused on the darker side of urban culture. In effect he chose to produce street wear influenced by pop art and projected athletes and rap artists' of the `90s as heroes.Both of these young brands (also young designers) gained recognition for their distinct trademarks and tailored marketing strategy.
Do your research. Excellent easy-to-read books Retail Business Kit for Dummies, and Retail in Detail: How to Start and Manage a Small Retail Business by Ronald L. Bond provide A-B-C principles of retailing. Entrepreneur.com is a navigation-friendly online publication that provides information on start-up costs and trends analysis. If you can, speak with a professional fashion consultant. Licensed advisors can give you an objective take on the marketability of your brand.
Join registered associations. The British Retail Consortium provides seminars and intelligence for retailers of all sizes. The Fashion Monitor is an online resource centre to industry contacts and networking information. Fashion United is also an excellent source for information on fashion on a global scale. There are fees to join, but you'll be thankful that you made the investment in the long run.
Master the art of customer service, marketing and sales. Everything that you do has to accumulate into dollar value. From the first point-of-contact with customers, visual merchandising, advertisements, to write-ups in publications. It's imperative to be as visibly and interpersonally accessible as possible. Nothing beats your naturally ability when it comes to public relations, but to help your marketing and PR strategy, read Marketing For Dummies, 2nd edition, and The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott.
Get an accountant. This often goes overlooked, but hiring an accountant can extend your brands life drastically. Accountants fill-out important forms, monitor your brands overhead and spending, and can advise you of certain benefits and claims that your business may qualify for. They show you where you're going and how to make your business grow financially.
Learn the importance of the Internet. People's attention spans have gotten shorter. You have to utilise the quickest way to get into the public eye and work harder to stay there. If a publication wants to feature your brand, find out it works under a 'media umbrella'. Publishing companies are amalgamating print media with digital web, TV, and blogs. Try to establish cross-promotional relationships so that your brand can get as much exposure as possible. Through Really Simple Syndication (RSS), people can receive 'feeds' (updates) from your website, blog or online community tool such as Myspace or Facebook. By creating e-newsletters and distribution list through services like ConstantContact.com, everyone can get to the latest releases and updates on your brand.
Get with it. Be up-to-date with technology and finance as you are with fashion. You may or may not have gone to fashion school, but in order to have a promising fashion career, your adaptability outside of the classroom will determine your staying power in the real world.
- Safra Ducreay
0 Response to "Starting Your Own Retail Business"
Post a Comment