How to Start a Clothing Line in 11 Steps
This article is part of a larger series onRetail Management.
When starting a clothing line, you need a competitive and appealing concept, a viable business plan, unique designs, and a solid marketing strategy to build your customer base. Although costs can vary widely, it can costas little as $500to get a small-scale clothing line off the ground.
Plus, after a dip from the pandemic, fashion and apparel sales areexpected to more than reboundin the coming years. If you’re looking for a way to flex your creative muscles with a money-making business idea, starting a clothing line is a great option.
Follow the 11 steps we outline below:
Step 1: Hone Your Fashion & Design Skills
Many universities and colleges offer fashion design programs and degrees. While these courses of study will surely equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to design clothing, they’re not necessarily required. You can start an entirely print-on-demand clothing line without “designing” a single item—you can even outsource the print-on-demand designs.
If youareinterested in designing items yourself but don’t have the means (time, money, etc.) to pursue a degree, there are a few ways to acquire some skills:
- Take courses, online or in person
- Use design templates and patterns
- Practice by making your own clothes—you’ll improve over time as well as build more confidence to do it for others
So, while a fashion degree will certainly give you a head start, you don’t need it to start your clothing line.
It’s also important to recognize your learning style. Not everyone learns the same way, so you’ll want to embark upon education that suits your preferred formats. Perhaps this takes the form of mentorship, classes, video tutorials, etc.—whatever works best for you. Many designers simply learn by doing and identify skill gaps along the way. The key is to never stop learning.
Step 2: Find a Niche & Develop Your Concept
Carving out a niche for your clothing line helps differentiate your business from the competition and creates more targeted designs and marketing strategies. Withnearly 160,000 clothing boutiques in the USalone, there’s a lot to compete with. Having a unique design approach will help you create something people can’t get from other clothing brands.
Choosing aniche marketmeans identifying a specific group of consumers with shared characteristics. The more specific the group, the more personalized you can get with designs, marketing, and promotions. For example, you could niche down from simply being a swimsuit brand to being a swimsuit brand made of sustainable materials for surfers—likeSeea.
Step 3: Create a Business Plan to Determine Viability
Writing a business planis a critical first step for starting any business. Your plan defines the blueprint for your business—how you’ll launch, how you’ll operate, and how you’ll grow. In short, it defines the “why” and “how” of your clothing line. This also keeps you accountable, on track, and aligned with any team members or partners.
There are a fewtypes of business plans, some more comprehensive than others. Regardless of which type you create, it’s also good to have a truncatedone-page business planto avoid overwhelm.
Your business plan should include:
- Executive summary:Briefly explain your company’s purpose, mission, and why it will be successful.
- Company description:Get more detailed and specific about your clothing company, including what problem you’re solving, how you will solve it, which consumers you plan to target, and your fashion and design talent.
- Market analysis:Summarize the fashion industry’s outlook and trends, what successful competitors are doing, and what your strengths and differentiators will be.
- Organization and management:Indicate who’s in charge of the designs, running your business, and taking care of day-to-day operations. Highlight any relevant experience or qualifications.
- Product line:Outline what kinds of clothing you will sell,product pricing, who you plan to sell to, and how you’re going to make the clothing.
- Marketing and sales:Provide an overview of how you plan tomarket your productsand spread the word about your clothing line.
- Funding requests:If you need more capital, specify how much and how you’ll allocate the funds.
- Financial projections:Forecast your business’s bottom line and profitability. Most business plans have a projected financial timeline of at least five years.
- Appendix:Add any supplemental information or documents including design prototypes, any product photos, credit history, business licenses, permits, patents, etc.
You can usebusiness plan softwareto help you through the process—many have templates specific for fashion brands or clothing lines. Alternatively, you can downloadour business plan templateor consider outsourcing the whole thing tobusiness plan writing services.
Step 4: Design Samples
If you’re making the clothes yourself, you could be your own first client. That’s how slow fashion brandNatty Bellegot started—owner and designer Natalie Bell identified a gap in the market and created a coat she couldn’t find available for purchase anywhere. She was actually just starting a career as a therapist at the time.
“I was looking for a coat that would evoke my connection to my lineage, my style, and my profession. There was no coat on the market that could do this, so I went to work sourcing the material first,” says Natalie.
“Once I had the textile, I knew I wanted to design a relaxed yet highly styled and functional coat. I chose a traditional car coat as the base design, adding deep workman’s pockets for functionality. I then enlisted a master tailor who was experienced in working with the delicate yet dense handwoven fabric. The end result was my first sample, to which I personally added the label and did all the finishings,” says Natalie.
For Stephanie Fuentes, the founder of sustainable fashion lineKūla, the process of designing her first sample is very different from how she designs today. “The first samples I designed were done in the conventional way of having a specific inspiration, making designs based off that, creating patterns, doing the fitting, and then finding the fabrics. Due to the sustainable nature of my brand, I now prefer to have the fabrics beforehand and create from there, finding inspiration in the moment. For me, this makes everything more real and meaningful.”
Step 5: Register Your Business & Patent Your Designs
Registering your businesscan cost $40 to upward of $1,000, depending on your location. Each jurisdiction has its own requirements and associated fees for business registration. You can usually find information online. To register your business, you’ll need a business name, address, point of contact, andemployer identification number (EIN).
When registering your business, you’ll also need to determine if you’re alimited liability company (LLC), S-corp, or C-corp. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks depending on your situation. This also qualifies your business for things such asbank accounts, loans, and other ways toseparate personal and business finances.
Once your business is established and protected, it’s a good idea to safeguard your designs themselves. You can do this byapplying for a patentfor your designs, as well as atrademark for your business.
Step 6: Get Funding if Needed
If you need more capital to launch your clothing line, you don’t have todig into your own pockets. There are external sources of funding that can help you get off the ground, including:
- Startup business loans:Money from lenders that you’ll have to pay back at an interest rate.
- Crowdfunding:Get potential customers in on the action and make them feel like they contributed to something greater.
- Friends and family:Sometimes, this money is free and sometimes it comes with the expectation of payback—communication is key to ensuring things don’t go wrong here.
- Small business grants:You might find “free” money in the form of grants from organizations, government entities, and even businesses or corporations. If you qualify, look for资助minority-owned businessesor forwomen-owned businesses.
Step 7: Secure Manufacturers & Fabric Sources
Fabric is extremely important when it comes to sourcing suppliers for your clothing line. And, it becomes even more important if you’re operating in a specific niche. Let’s take Natty Belle and Kūla as examples—both of which source fabric from specific sources overseas. Kūla uses all organic, fair-trade fabrics from India, for example.
It’s helpful to understand your main options when it comes to bringing your designs to life:
- Manufacturer:You design the clothing and outsource the creation. This option allows for the most control over the product but also takes comparatively long. Natty Belle takes this route because it allows the brand to have complete control over the quality and characteristics of the fabrics, an important differentiator for the clothing line.
“Some of the most luxurious and unique fabrics are constructed by hand, and very few have as many touch points as Malian mud cloth. The fabric is infused with minerals and elements of the land. From the cultivation and spooling of cotton, to the weaving, to the dying process—the meaningful and intentional hand application of every motif. This was the perfect textile to bring the coat to fruition that I had envisioned,” says Natalie.
- Wholesaler:You can purchase clothing from wholesalers and develop a brand around those curated items. Wholesalers sell clothing in bulk at discounted prices to retailers who then resell the clothes for a profit—some will even offerprivate labelingso everything is tagged with your branding.
Working with wholesalers is the quickest route for sourcing but also allows for the least control over the clothing.Motif Concept Storeis an excellent example of a clothing line that uses this business model.
- Dropshipper:This is when you sell products directly to customers and then outsource the manufacturing and fulfillment for each order.Dropshippingis the most hands-off option but also yields the lowest profit margins. This is an ideal option if you’re doing print-on-demand clothing.
When choosing your supplier(s), research a few options and order samples from around two to five suppliers. Undergo quality assurance testing to make sure the clothes are up to your standards. From there, nurture your vendor relationships with effective communication and efficient payment—eventually, you can negotiate discounts and other perks, especially for high-volume orders.
Step 8: Build Your Brand & Sales Channels
Many of today’s consumers don’t want to simply buy clothes; they want to buy clothes from abrand他们联系。你的品牌身份是本质of who you are as a store—it identifies your “why.” Branding attracts new customers and builds strong relationships with existing ones. Plus, consistent branding across all channels canincrease revenue up to 20%.
As you prepare to launch your clothing line, you’ll want to think about why it exists in the first place, and then develop branding that represents your why. Elements of your clothing line’s brand include:
- Visual branding: Choose fonts, colors,logo design, storefront and in-store signage, tags for apparel, packing slips, etc.
- Store name:Use thisfree business name generatorto help come up with ideas.
- Mission statementandvision statement:Define how you plan to serve your community and customers.
- Brand positioning:Identify what sets you apart from competitors in your niche and makes potential customers want to buy from you.
你要把这个品牌身份into your digital platforms and sales channels. Use your logo, colors, and fonts when youstart your online store. Maintain that consistency through social media, Amazon, pop-up shops, and wherever else you sell.
第九步:消除操作和物流
Once you’ve identified your suppliers and how you’ll bring your products to life, you’ll need to iron out business operations and logistics.
Tery D’Ciano, for example, only launches small batches of products at a time. Tery makes every item herself by hand, and she also handles packaging and shipping. Small batches help her keep it manageable as a self-managed fashion brand.
But, if you’re looking to grow beyond small batch collections, you may consider outsourcing tothird-party logisticscompanies. This is especially feasible if you’re not personally making each item by hand and instead work with manufacturers, wholesalers, or dropshippers to bring your line to life.
Step 10: Pitch Your Clothing Line
To get your name and designs out there, you’ll want to come up with a pitch to promote your brand to retailers, brands, and/or influencers. Getting your designs into brick-and-mortar stores is a great way to introduce customers to your brand without having the risks of owning a physical shop yourself.
When pitching your line to potential retailers or brands you want to work with, highlight what makes your clothing line stand out from the rest. Remember, it’s a crowded space, so it’s essential to have a distinct point of view. Differentiators like sustainability, product quality, and manufacturing processes are important to include. Additionally, if you have an existing audience on social media or a decent-sized email list, you’ll want to share that information to show howyoucan puttheirbusinesses in front of your own audience.
Regardless of how you plan to sell your apparel designs, collaborating with influencers is another great way to put your clothing in front of new audiences. Perhaps you send some free gifts to influencers who operate in your niche. The key here is to look for influencers with an engaged audience that fits your target demographic—it’s not always about who has the highest follower count.
Step 11: Stay on Top of Trends & Forecasting
Fashion is always changing, and it’s important to stay on top of the latest trends. Follow key pages on social media in your industry and niche, pay attention to what your audience is posting and wearing, and use tools like Google Trends and Keyword Planner to identify which fashion trends are making headway in search. Check out industry publications and stay in the know with fashion influencers.
You can also check out these resources to learn how to forecast sales and predict demand:
- Demand Forecasting in Retail: Models & Why It Is Important
- The Ultimate Guide to Sales Forecasting (+ Free Templates)
- The Best Sales Forecasting Software
Bottom Line
If you’ve been dreaming of how to start a clothing line, it’s a great way to flex your creative muscles. And while it can be a lot of fun, it’s also time-consuming and requires both design and business skills as well as careful planning. Starting your own fashion brand is a demandingretail business to startbut rewarding when you find success.