below are some sections from the Business of Fashion site. i get daily email updates from it and i absolutely love it. its so interesting and, i think, necessary to know what is going on in the financial / behind-the-scenes side of the industry (if you are going to follow fashn, that is).
its a little like the double degree that i am applying for at university. i don't see why in the world you would apply for the single degree - when the dual is offered..ANY job in the industry - even if it is highly (or even at least slightly) creative (i.e. designing, buying, PR..) requires a really strong business knowledge to back it up - you cannot and will not succeed otherwise.
'running a fashion business means that packing boxes at 2am, steaming clothes over and over again, and pouring through receipts with an Accountant will become part of your routine. you will likely spend less than 10% of your time designing, while the rest of the time you will be managing production, sending clothes to magazines, dealing with suppliers who want their money (now!), begging Anna Wintour’s assistants to grant you a meeting, managing your employees while hoping they don’t fall ill, and trying to eat and bathe in between. on top of all that, you have to worry about making enough money to declare some kind of dividend from the business for all your hard work.
starting any kind of business require tenacity, endurance and dedication. setting up a fashion business is all the more challenging because this is a hyper competitive industry (who doesn’t want to be a fashion designer these days?) and a very complex one as well, even at the smallest of scales. what other kinds of start-up businesses so quickly find themselves with customers and suppliers scattered around the world, requiring so much coordination and organization? managing to get all of your raw materials (fabrics, trims, haberdashery, etc) all to your manufacturer at the same time to start your production and then sending it all out to stores in different corners of the world (each with their own customs procedures) in only 2 months can be a nightmare, even for those with great forward planning and troubleshooting skills. one of the key drivers of success will be your entrepreneurial skills and your commitment to running a business. in order to be successful, you should think of yourself as CEO first, fashion designer second. a CEO is a manger of people, finances and processes. for some people this is an extremely exciting and engaging situation to be in. for others, it is their worst nightmare.
clearly, you won’t be able to do absolutely everything yourself. this is where you need to find other people who believe in you to join your team or provide support in some other way. Doing a self-assessment of your skills and abilities will tell you what gaps you will need to fill in order to make your business work.
apart from mastering the design process, something that some of the smartest designers do next is to find a business partner they can trust, who brings different skills and connections to the table. Often it is a spouse (Patrizio Bertelli is married to Miuccia Prada), sibling (Christopher Kane’s sister Tammy runs the business) or a friend (Marc Jacobs has long time business partner Robert Duffy) who might take on this role. in this way, not only do you have someone to lean on in times of difficulty, you also have a division of roles, which allows you to focus more on the creative aspects of the business.
you will also need to find people in the industry who agree to support you and work with you. you’ll need a PR who will (at least initially) give you his services for almost nothing and a factory that will make your clothes in small quantities. you will also need accountants, lawyers, stylists, photographers, graphic designers, production managers and interns – hopefully all at discounted prices. finally, for most designers who haven’t come into an unexpected windfall inheritance in the millions, starting a business is also a question of finding money.
if there is one crucial thing I recommend that you do before rushing off to start a business, it is to carefully craft your business concept. what is it about your business that will be unique? why will people choose to buy your product over someone else’s? is it the design, the price, the value or the dream that they are buying into?
you will need to think carefully about who you are designing for. it is cliché now, but i almost always ask designers when i first meet them: ‘who are you designing for? and why?’. most of the time, this simple question is met with groans or blank stares or platitudes like, ‘i design for me and my friends’, or ‘a very glamorous woman with lots of money’. this is not enough. when they provide a fluffy answer, it usually indicates that they haven’t spent much time thinking about this critical question. and if they haven’t done so, it makes me wonder exactly who they are thinking of when they are designing. if they don’t have a specific person in mind, then how do they know exactly what that person needs? you need to get into the mind of your customer and understand what motivates them. where do they spend their time and for what occasions will you dress them? what makes them buy a garment? understand their psychology, emotional needs and relationship with clothing. visualise all aspects of their lives and assess how your business can blend into making them even better.
it’s worth pointing out now that not all fashion businesses have to operate at the high end of luxury, although it seems that that is where every designer wants to be. while it may seem ideal to be a ‘luxury’ brand, also remember that some of the most influential fashion businesses are on the high street and in your neighbourhood mall, because they dress thousands of people around the world.
as for your competitors, the better you can describe and understand their products, their style and aesthetic, and their positioning and strategies, the better you will be able to shape your business to stand out from the pack.
in the fashion business you incur many costs up front (designing, sampling, sales efforts) before any of your revenues even come in. if you can, you should have a trained financial or accounting professional (a friend, family member or other contact) to help you with this section.
in reality, you will make spending decisions every single day, how ever small.
success is rarely accidental. sure, we all benefit from some good luck from time to time, but real success can only come through hard work and good planning. for this, a business plan is critical. it is the document that helps you decide what to do, and just as importantly, what not to do. anyone who has set up a new business knows that when you are looking for investors, employees, suppliers, office space, banking services, professional advisors and everything else that you need, you have to tell people about your business and its aims. when you have spent the necessary time in crafting a business plan, you will be able to be more clearly articulate with what you business is all about.
before sharing the nitty-gritty details of your company with anyone, you should request that they sign an NDA, or non-disclosure agreement, which legally restricts the other party from sharing your confidential company information with anyone else.
creating large, unfocused sample collections with very expensive fabrics can be a death knell for a young fashion company. not only will you spend a fortune on developing a set of samples, you may have also created a collection that could never sell at retail because it would be far too expensive.'
its a little like the double degree that i am applying for at university. i don't see why in the world you would apply for the single degree - when the dual is offered..ANY job in the industry - even if it is highly (or even at least slightly) creative (i.e. designing, buying, PR..) requires a really strong business knowledge to back it up - you cannot and will not succeed otherwise.
'running a fashion business means that packing boxes at 2am, steaming clothes over and over again, and pouring through receipts with an Accountant will become part of your routine. you will likely spend less than 10% of your time designing, while the rest of the time you will be managing production, sending clothes to magazines, dealing with suppliers who want their money (now!), begging Anna Wintour’s assistants to grant you a meeting, managing your employees while hoping they don’t fall ill, and trying to eat and bathe in between. on top of all that, you have to worry about making enough money to declare some kind of dividend from the business for all your hard work.
starting any kind of business require tenacity, endurance and dedication. setting up a fashion business is all the more challenging because this is a hyper competitive industry (who doesn’t want to be a fashion designer these days?) and a very complex one as well, even at the smallest of scales. what other kinds of start-up businesses so quickly find themselves with customers and suppliers scattered around the world, requiring so much coordination and organization? managing to get all of your raw materials (fabrics, trims, haberdashery, etc) all to your manufacturer at the same time to start your production and then sending it all out to stores in different corners of the world (each with their own customs procedures) in only 2 months can be a nightmare, even for those with great forward planning and troubleshooting skills. one of the key drivers of success will be your entrepreneurial skills and your commitment to running a business. in order to be successful, you should think of yourself as CEO first, fashion designer second. a CEO is a manger of people, finances and processes. for some people this is an extremely exciting and engaging situation to be in. for others, it is their worst nightmare.
clearly, you won’t be able to do absolutely everything yourself. this is where you need to find other people who believe in you to join your team or provide support in some other way. Doing a self-assessment of your skills and abilities will tell you what gaps you will need to fill in order to make your business work.
apart from mastering the design process, something that some of the smartest designers do next is to find a business partner they can trust, who brings different skills and connections to the table. Often it is a spouse (Patrizio Bertelli is married to Miuccia Prada), sibling (Christopher Kane’s sister Tammy runs the business) or a friend (Marc Jacobs has long time business partner Robert Duffy) who might take on this role. in this way, not only do you have someone to lean on in times of difficulty, you also have a division of roles, which allows you to focus more on the creative aspects of the business.
you will also need to find people in the industry who agree to support you and work with you. you’ll need a PR who will (at least initially) give you his services for almost nothing and a factory that will make your clothes in small quantities. you will also need accountants, lawyers, stylists, photographers, graphic designers, production managers and interns – hopefully all at discounted prices. finally, for most designers who haven’t come into an unexpected windfall inheritance in the millions, starting a business is also a question of finding money.
if there is one crucial thing I recommend that you do before rushing off to start a business, it is to carefully craft your business concept. what is it about your business that will be unique? why will people choose to buy your product over someone else’s? is it the design, the price, the value or the dream that they are buying into?
you will need to think carefully about who you are designing for. it is cliché now, but i almost always ask designers when i first meet them: ‘who are you designing for? and why?’. most of the time, this simple question is met with groans or blank stares or platitudes like, ‘i design for me and my friends’, or ‘a very glamorous woman with lots of money’. this is not enough. when they provide a fluffy answer, it usually indicates that they haven’t spent much time thinking about this critical question. and if they haven’t done so, it makes me wonder exactly who they are thinking of when they are designing. if they don’t have a specific person in mind, then how do they know exactly what that person needs? you need to get into the mind of your customer and understand what motivates them. where do they spend their time and for what occasions will you dress them? what makes them buy a garment? understand their psychology, emotional needs and relationship with clothing. visualise all aspects of their lives and assess how your business can blend into making them even better.
it’s worth pointing out now that not all fashion businesses have to operate at the high end of luxury, although it seems that that is where every designer wants to be. while it may seem ideal to be a ‘luxury’ brand, also remember that some of the most influential fashion businesses are on the high street and in your neighbourhood mall, because they dress thousands of people around the world.
as for your competitors, the better you can describe and understand their products, their style and aesthetic, and their positioning and strategies, the better you will be able to shape your business to stand out from the pack.
in the fashion business you incur many costs up front (designing, sampling, sales efforts) before any of your revenues even come in. if you can, you should have a trained financial or accounting professional (a friend, family member or other contact) to help you with this section.
in reality, you will make spending decisions every single day, how ever small.
success is rarely accidental. sure, we all benefit from some good luck from time to time, but real success can only come through hard work and good planning. for this, a business plan is critical. it is the document that helps you decide what to do, and just as importantly, what not to do. anyone who has set up a new business knows that when you are looking for investors, employees, suppliers, office space, banking services, professional advisors and everything else that you need, you have to tell people about your business and its aims. when you have spent the necessary time in crafting a business plan, you will be able to be more clearly articulate with what you business is all about.
before sharing the nitty-gritty details of your company with anyone, you should request that they sign an NDA, or non-disclosure agreement, which legally restricts the other party from sharing your confidential company information with anyone else.
creating large, unfocused sample collections with very expensive fabrics can be a death knell for a young fashion company. not only will you spend a fortune on developing a set of samples, you may have also created a collection that could never sell at retail because it would be far too expensive.'
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