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6 Crucial Mistakes People Make When Starting a Clothing Line

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StrategyDriven Business Startup Article |Starting Your Own Business | 6 Crucial Mistakes People Make When Starting a Clothing LineBuilding and marketing a clothing line these days is easier than ever with easy access to manufacturers from all over the world, private label options, and cheap marketing methods. But that also means the market is more saturated than ever, and for every clothing startup that succeeds, thousands fail. That’s just the reality of the business. However, in many cases, clothing startups with great concepts and products fail because they committed some crucial mistakes that could have easily been avoided. Let’s take a look at some common mistakes clothing startups make and how to avoid them.

Trying to Start Too Big

One of the most common mistakes is trying to start too big and having too wide a selection when getting started. Buying tons of inventory is also a bad idea.

You should only start with a handful of items, or with one signature product. A lot of clothing companies started that way and made it big. Now successful Johnny Cupcakes started by selling t-shirts with their logo on it. Jac Vanek is another example. She started by selling simple bracelets at music festivals and now owns a multi-million-dollar label. Starting small will allow you to limit your overhead and initial investment while building brand awareness.

Ignoring the Small Details

When starting, it’s important to have a solid marketing strategy and great designers, manufacturers, and distribution channels. But it’s also easy to overlook the simple things, like label design and manufacturing, for instance.

These are the kind of things you cannot ignore when you start building a brand. You want to design a label that represents you and that will leave a lasting impression. People often don’t realize how important the role labels play in a purchasing decision, but it could actually make or break a purchase. If they like your product and your label looks cheap or poorly written, it will reflect on your brand as a whole.

You not only want to work with a label designer that will be able to help you with your design and help you bring your ideas to life but you also need someone who can deliver consistent results and on time. That’s why you have to do your due diligence and work with manufacturers with a solid reputation in your business.

This label manufacturer, for instance, has worked as nominated label supplier for major brands like Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. That’s the type of manufacturer you should be looking for if you want to make a mark with your brand. Don’t make the mistake of cutting corners in this area – invest in quality labels for your brand if you want to give off the right impression.

Not Having the Resources

Another thing you’ll have to consider is resources. If you don’t have the resources to fulfill major orders from an important retailer, this could reflect badly on your business and you could potentially miss major opportunities. You have to make sure that you have the proper financial backing, either through a line of credit or a partner, so you can cover for any emergency. This also stresses the importance of starting small and limiting your overhead before you think of expansion.

Bad Promotion and Marketing

Yes, it’s true that social media is a cheap and simple way to market your brand these days. But it’s also very hard to stand out because of the thousands and thousands of other people marketing there. That’s why you need to use more than social media marketing and use all the options available to you. At first, you should calculate your projected revenue and spend at least 10% to 20% of it on marketing. You can then drop down to about 5% once you start getting recognition.

However, make sure that you use this money wisely and don’t assume that you need to spend tons of money on a fashion show. These can be very expensive and won’t give you much of a return on your investment. A much better idea would be to attend trade shows or have a launch party. These will give you both visibility and the chance to close some sales as well.

Not Building Good Relationships with Vendors/Stores

You’ll have to work with a lot of people when starting a clothing label and your relationships with them could play a huge role in how successful you’re going to be. You will be dealing with buyers, factories, and other businesses, all with their own agendas and timetables. So you have to make sure that you keep things cordial with them, but make sure that your objectives are met too.

If you want to sell your products to stores, you should make sure that you contact their buyer and schedule an appointment first. There’s nothing retailers hate more than walk-ins. You should also consider which stores you want to sell through at first. A bad retailer could potentially screw you over. This is why you should also have a lawyer draft proper contracts, so you’ll have legal recourse if anything happens.

Overspending

One of the most important things when you’re getting started is setting and keeping a budget. You should also avoid spending money on unnecessary things. Start learning about taxes, and how you can get deductions on things like office supplies, your company vehicle, or gas, for instance.

One of the major mistakes people make when getting started is spending thousands on a fancy website. Creating a website nowadays is extremely easy and cheap, even for someone with limited computer knowledge. Start small with a DIY website using one of the many drag and drop builders out there and wait until you have the money to have a professional site made.

Conclusion

Starting a clothing line might seem simple, but starting a successful one is a whole other ballgame. Make sure that you come prepared and have a solid plan before you even get started. And make sure that you have the proper people surrounding you that will have the skills and expertise to make sure your brand becomes a success.

Starting Your Own Business? The Areas To Gain Knowledge In

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Starting Your Own Business | Starting Your Own Business? The Areas To Gain Knowledge InStarting your own business could be one of the things that you want to do. You may already have an idea that you want to go with. Something you have nurtured in your mind for some time. You have the courage to finally do it. Take that plunge, but then you realise that perhaps, you might need some added support in terms of actual business and the things you can do to make your idea become the success you envision it to be. So here are some of the areas you might want to brush up on, in order to have everything you need to really go for it.

Knowledge in business

You may have a real cracking idea for a business, a product or service that you want to offer, but that isn’t all that is needed to make it a success. Knowledge in business, from the general running of it to things you might want to try in terms of marketing and accounting could really help your new business thrive. So it could be worth looking into things such as an mba program online in business. You could also look at attending marketing events and networking groups to learn off other people and really pick up on things you may never have thought about before. This is a great way to give yourself a decent platform to bounce off of when it comes to launching your new business.

Social media

These days a business cannot really succeed without some form of social media presence of advertising. So it may be time to start thinking about these things before you startup your business. It could be that you read various different articles about social media strategies and how best to use specific platforms. It could be that you might want to focus on only a few to begin with, the main contenders like Twitter, Facebook or Instagram might be good places to start.

People skills

Working for yourself might not necessarily mean that you think you need good people skills, but actually this will become important to you. Even if it is just you for a while, you may still have to deal with customers and clients. Either on the phone, over email or face to face. Having decent people skills means that you are likely to handle a situation professionally. This will also help when it comes to hiring staff which could happen for your business in the future.

Websites and IT

Finally, while you may not be an IT expert, generalised things such as website management or even creation might be something you want to learn before you launch your new business. It can save you money instead of having to commission someone to do it for you, and you get to learn on the job about what will work for your business and what won’t. Things like SEO and keywords will be important, alongside a decent ecommerce facility. Thankfully there is a wealth of information online that will have you creating a decent website in no time at all.

Let’s hope this has made you more comfortable with starting your own business.

Entering The Business World As A Novice

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Starting your own Business |Entering The Business World As A NoviceAt one time or another, everybody has thought about the wonderful idea of owning their own business. The notion of being in charge, having no boss, making a lot of money, and travelling around the world seemingly effortlessly – it’s glorious.

As a kid, you have your favorite hobbies and wonder if you can do an extraordinary job like an astronaut or a sportsman/sportswoman. Into your – teens you begin to get a little more realistic and think about different ways you can perhaps take a passion of yours and make it into something to make money from. You’re now a fully-fledged adult with a working life, and you want to leave your current situation for greener pastures. However, you’re slightly unsure as to how to make the step and what avenues to take.

There are a lot of facets to the business world, grasshopper, and there are many ways in which you can access it. Let’s take a look at a few things you can do to learn about and get stuck into the world of business.

Constantly Think Up Ideas

If you want to create your own firm, it’s probably not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. If you don’t already have the kind of idea you wish to pursue, then you’ll want to spend a fair bit on time in, say, the evenings to jot down different thoughts. Perhaps there’s something you’ve always needed in your house, or maybe there’s something you’ve always needed to make your day more convenient. It could be anything. They say if you chuck enough mud at the wall, some of it will eventually stick – so get thinking!

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Starting your own Business |Entering The Business World As A NoviceRead Books

There are thousands of books scattered around the world that you can purchase that will teach you the ways of business. Whatever the field or sector you wish to enter, there will be something for you. They can be motivating, educating and inspiring. Experts around the world are dropping knowledge bombs for you to take on and work with. If you’re a bookworm, you’d love this thought.

Watch Videos

Watching videos and learning this way could be for you if you’re not exactly a fan of reading lots. They also give you a different angle that perhaps a book cannot, as the person talking may be able to articulate certain parts better verbally as opposed to a rigid text form. You can also sense the passion of someone’s words as you hear them – something you can’t quite do as well when you look at written sentences.

Listen To Podcasts

Most podcasts are free and easy to access, so if you’re working away and wish to get some advice or education, you can load up a business show and listen on the job.

Look Up To Others

The internet has also given us the ability to learn about others who have been in our footsteps and managed to carve out fantastic careers. For example, if you want to learn from the likes of experienced business people like Jos Opdeweegh, you have the ability to do so. You could take some aspects of their journey and apply it to yourself as you go through your enterprise adventure.

Go Back To School

Not everyone can just start up a business and go with it. If you feel you want to learn in a classroom or lecture hall environment and have genuine face-to-face tutoring, then there’s no problem with going to college or going back to university and giving the courses a go. It may be the missing piece of the puzzle you need to get going.

Look For An Internship

Finally, if you’re in the position to be able to work as an intern, then it might be the right way to go. Starting from the bottom as an eager go-getter, learning everything there is to know directly from your boss’s mouth might prove beneficial as you’re right in the middle of it all while taking information in like a sponge.