By: Diana Winter
Introduction
After obtaining a degree in fashion, many aspiring designers find themselves in the real world facing the same question that has long troubled creatives of all kinds: what now?
While fashion school can teach you how to design patterns, sew, and coordinate, it doesn’t always prepare graduates for what it really means to start their own fashion brand.
Successful designer and entrepreneur Sarah Donofrio leans on hands-on experience to get the rest of the way. What she has learned over the past two decades is that turning your dream from an idea into a launch and thriving in the exciting world of fashion requires a specific set of skills, a generous dose of creativity, and a workshop full of business savvy.
How to Start a Clothing Brand in 12 Steps
Develop your fashion design skills
Create a business plan for your clothing brand
Keep up with fashion trends
Build a strong brand
Design and develop your clothing brand
Sourcing fashion fabrics or designing your own
Set up production and manufacturing for your clothing line
Plan your collections around fashion seasons
Present your clothing line to fashion retailers
Establish an online clothing store
Open a retail store, launch a pop-up shop, or sell at markets
Learn from the professionals
Develop Your Fashion Design Skills
A distinctive style can help set your clothing brand apart in a crowded market. Sarah Donofrio says
designers like Vivienne Westwood and Dapper Dan have achieved great success in the fashion world, even though they are self-taught. They started their careers before the internet era. We now live in a time of access, where you can learn to rebuild an engine or tailor a T-shirt just by watching a video on YouTube.
It is possible to skip school and start launching your clothing line, but formal education, whether in classrooms or online, has its benefits: learning the latest industry standards, accessing resources and equipment, networking, and receiving feedback from professionals.
While Sarah credits much of her success to learning professional skills in the classroom, much of her education was gained on the job, where she worked in retail companies. “I wanted to work for myself,” she says, “but I felt it was important to gain experience.”
It took me a long time to feel confident enough that I could fill my store with my clothes. Sarah Donofrio, fashion designer and entrepreneur
Sarah strongly advocates spending a few years learning the basics from other brands and designers. “It took me a long time to feel confident enough that I could fill my store with my clothes,” she says. “I think I needed the time to grow and get advice and experience.”
Many institutions offer fashion design and small business programs in various formats. Schools like Parsons in New York and Central Saint Martins in the UK are globally renowned for their fashion programs.
If you’re more motivated than you are resourced or time-rich, there are a growing number of crash courses and online courses for aspiring fashion industry professionals. Check out local community colleges for virtual or part-time formats that fit your schedule and budget, or consider learning through sites like MasterClass (there’s a fashion design course taught by Marc Jacobs himself), Maker’s Row Academy, or Udemy.
Create a Business Plan for Your Clothing Brand
To attract investors, your clothing brand may require a business plan that outlines the target market, brand identity, and sales strategy.
As Sarah discovered, there is a significant overlap between the fashion world and the business world more than she expected.
It requires
starting a clothing brand involves many of the same considerations required for starting any business. How much does it cost to start? When should you seek capital for your startup? What external help will you need to navigate the legal, financial, production, and distribution aspects of the business?
Where and how will you produce your clothing? Let’s discuss that.
Business Models for Clothing Brands
This guide addresses the design and development of your clothing brand and collections. If you are interested in the fashion world but do not have a design interest or skills, consider reselling wholesale clothing or trying dropshipping.
For those designing a clothing line from scratch, this is the point where you will decide what type of business you want to operate. This will help determine the time, effort, and funding you will need upfront.
Some business models include:
- Handmade production: Creating and selling your designs directly to customers through your website, online marketplaces, or at markets and pop-up shops.
- Manufacturing partner: Creating collections and producing clothing pieces through a factory, then selling your clothing line wholesale to other retailers.
- Print on demand: Designing repeat patterns or graphics to print on blank t-shirts and other clothing items using a print on demand model, and selling them online through your own store.
How much does it cost to start a clothing line?
Once you have an idea for your small business clothing line, you might be able to self-fund it and finance it as you go. Designing and sewing clothing on demand yourself means you do not have to carry a lot of inventory. However, you will need to invest upfront in equipment and bulk fabric to be cost-effective. Other costs include shipping materials, fees to launch your site, and a marketing budget.
If you plan to go all in and work with manufacturers to produce large quantities, you will need high upfront costs to meet minimums. A solid business plan and cost estimation will help you determine how much you will need.
In either case, expect to need thousands of dollars upfront. “In the fashion world, it’s not just the fabric, buttons, and labor that cost you,” says Sarah. “It costs you shipping, and it costs you heating and rent.”
There are some low-cost entry points in the fashion world, including consignment, dropshipping, and print on demand.
Keeping up with Fashion Trends
Sarah stays on top of trends but ultimately only incorporates those she finds feasible for her clothing brand. Sarah Donofrio says
From Sarah’s years of developing her brand as a side hobby, she learned that staying on top of trends is vital, but it’s also about focus. Focus on your strengths and be true to your own design sensibility.
Fashion school teaches you the basics of making everything from lingerie to evening wear. “The trick is to find what you’re good at and focus on that,” says Sarah.
I’ve always had a good insight into trends. But it’s about translation. Sarah Donofrio
While maintaining her line’s stability throughout the year, Sarah is always watching trends. She says the key is to adapt those trends to your brand, customize them, and make them work for your customers.
I have always had a good insight into trends,” says Sarah. “But it’s about translation.” Sarah works on plus-size clothing collections during her time in the corporate world and says that translating trends also means considering the needs of plus-size customers.
Even as she stays true to her strengths, Sarah considers what’s happening in the fashion world and the world around her while developing her lines. “Let’s take athleisure,” she says. “I’m not making leggings, I’m not making sports bras, but that great woven crop top will look amazing with the leggings, so that’s how I’ll incorporate the trend.”
From
by keeping her production limited and maintaining control over design, Sarah was able to pivot quickly in the wake of the global pandemic, adding face masks with her own designs. She sold 1,100 masks over a two-month period, turning those sales into repeat customers.
To get inspiration for your own idea, enjoy fashion prints, follow style influencers, and subscribe to fashion newsletters and podcasts to stay inspired and capture trends before they appear.
In the busy fashion world, look for gaps in the industry or fill gaps like these inspiring founders:
- Lyan Mai-Li Helgert launched the vegan winter coat brand Vaute Couture after finding a disappointing lack of cruelty-free options on the market.
- Catalina Girald’s lingerie brand, Naja, was built on empowerment and inclusivity.
- Camille Newman launched the positive addition with Body by Love (formerly known as Pop Up Plus).
- Mel Wills created a swimwear line inspired by vintage and multicultural fashion.
- Taryn Rodriguez also joined the swimwear game but focused on custom suits made to order for each customer.
Building a Strong Brand
A recognizable identity is the consistent thread through Sarah’s social media accounts, her online store, and her clothing designs.
Remember that “branding” doesn’t mean your logo (that’s branding). Building your clothing brand is an exercise in putting your values, your message, what you represent, your story, and more on paper.
Brand guidelines will help steer all your business and branding decisions as you grow. They will determine the visual direction, website design, and marketing campaigns. You should define what you are looking for in a retail partner or new hire.
Use social media to build a lifestyle around your brand: share your inspiration and creative process, add your own personality, tell your story, and be intentional with every post.
Sarah says, “the key to social media is consistency,” adding, “I think you should post every day, but it also has to be interesting.” Her content is a mix of travel, inspiration, and a behind-the-scenes look at the business still in development, along with some intriguing statistics from her analytics dashboard.
Designing and Developing Your Own Clothing Line
Sarah designs all the prints and pieces of her brand herself, and each design starts with a sketch.
Sarah advocates for sketchbooks as one of the most important tools for a designer. “I carry my sketchbook everywhere,” she says. “While drawing, I sometimes feel that this little sketch will translate very well into a repeatable pattern.”
As a competitor on Project Runway, she wasn’t allowed to bring her sketchbook with her due to competition rules. “That really affected my performance,” she says. In building her own clothing line, Sarah developed a distinct graphic style that resonates with her target audience.
Sarah’s tips for designing a clothing line:
- Always be creative. The sketch is the first step towards a completed design. For Sarah, every idea starts on paper before it gets translated into Illustrator or any other software tool. “I always use a mix of new technology and sketch-filled notepads,” she says.
- Make your own samples by hand. This way you can approach the manufacturer with a better understanding of what the production may involve. You’ll be in a better position to negotiate costs if you know the process well.
- Focus on being creative. If production tasks or other business duties start to get in the way of development, it’s time to hire out.
Getting Fashion Fabrics or Designing Your Own
Sarah says that sourcing fabrics largely depends on who you know. Building a network in the industry can help you reach contacts for fabric agents, wholesalers, and manufacturers. When she lived in Toronto, she knew the local fabric market and used an agent to source fabrics from Japan.
But
Even this road has obstacles. “In Canada, everyone uses the same agent,” she says. “All the local clothing lines use the same fabrics.” As fabrics from around the world became more accessible online, Sarah began to find it difficult to locate unique prints and materials, despite having contacts. Her solution: she started designing her own.
“When I graduated from fashion school in 2005, you couldn’t just go online and go to Alibaba. Now, many people I know do,” says Sarah. “That’s why I really became empowered to develop my own fabric design skills.”
For those just starting out, agents can be helpful, but Sarah recommends building personal networks and joining designer communities. Start getting to know others in the industry at local incubators, meetup groups, online communities, and direct fashion networking events.
Setting up Production and Manufacturing for Your Clothing Line
In the apparel industry, there are many ways to bring your clothing line to life. This includes designing and sewing the pieces yourself.
In the early days, you may not produce quantities that warrant outside help, but as you expand, partnering with a manufacturing partner will free up time for you to focus on other aspects of the business and design.
There are some exceptions. If the handmade aspect of your pieces is the cornerstone of your brand, you will be involved in production even as you scale. However, growth generally relies on outsourcing at least some work.
You can achieve production of your designs in several ways:
- Unique and handmade by you
- Made by hired staff or independent seamstresses but still owned in-house (small studio)
- Sewn in your commercial production facility (owned, shared, or rented)
- Outsourced to a local factory where you still have some oversight (try Maker’s Row or MFG)
- Produced in a factory overseas (with no total oversight)
In-house Production
Adrian Botzke of OKAYOK has kept her production in-house by hiring staff as she expands. She also uses a factory for dye operations. In Michigan, Detroit Denim produces clothing in its own production facility, where founders can control the process – on a large scale.
If you’re starting from home, ensure your studio is equipped to accommodate the flow from one machine to another, has storage, and think about the environment – a place that will inspire you and that you’ll be excited to spend time in.
Alternatively, combat isolation and save on equipment costs by seeking out coworking spaces, business incubators, or shared studios.
Working with Clothing Manufacturers
Initially, Sarah’s line was mostly produced by her hands, but she began hiring some elements for local sewing as she grew. Now, she works with factories and is regaining her time to focus on building her brand, developing new collections, and expanding her wholesale channel.
“It’s clear that making in America comes at a higher cost, but it’s worth it for me,” says Sarah
Source: https://www.shopify.com/blog/206934729-how-to-start-a-clothing-line
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