With more and more people turning against fast-fashion retailers and turning their attentions towards slow fashion and independent manufacturers, there has never been a better time to get into the business of making and selling your own clothing.
Yes, you heard that right! You can start your own clothing business online during a pandemic. Since many are working from home, they are dressing in more comfortable or fun clothing than ever before.
Of course, there are still changes. You will still need to compete with companies that can shift such volume that their margins are like a fine thread. If you want to succeed, you need to make sure that there is a big point of difference between what you do and what they do.
So, what do you need to think about when it comes to setting up your own fashion company? If you have followed me for many years you may remember I ran a fashion medical scrub company before I got into blogging and social media. Yes, way back in time!
Here are some of the steps that you should take if you want to start your own clothing business online today.
If you have followed me for many years you may remember I ran a fashion medical scrub company before I got into blogging and social media. #InspireToThrive Click To Tweet
Come Up With A Niche For Your Own Online Clothing Business
The first thing that you need to do is find your spot in the market. Ideally, you want to find the gap that nobody has yet filled. If you are a creative entrepreneur, this should come naturally to you.
It is important to define your niche from the very start. Are you going to target a certain specific demographic? Are you going to focus your attention on developing one specific product and producing variations on it?
Create Your Budget For Your Own Online Clothing Business
If you are starting out as a shoestring business, then you will want to test out your ideas on a small scale. Maybe selling on Etsy.
However, if you plan on starting bigger and you have some money that you can invest then you will need to come up with a full business plan. This should include full costs and a budget. Work out how much you have to spend, and what you can spend it on, and stick rigidly to your budget.
Don't forget to factor in a contingency in case anything goes wrong.
Write Your Business Plan
You will need to secure additional finances. Whether that is from the bank or from private investors, they are going to want to see a business plan.
Your business plan should include an analysis of the competition, as well as a breakdown of exactly what you plan to do and how you will do it.
Create Your Products For Your Online Clothing Business
For a clothing business, the most exciting phase of the process is product development. Start getting your designs onto paper. From here, you will need to create your tech pack.
This is the information that you will need to give to the factory to make your product. This will also include the important information that will go on the care label.
Create Your Clothing Brand
Choose a brand name that will appeal to your target audience. Run market research workshops to see what works for your potential customers. However, don't forget the brand name will be part of your domain name.
The right colors and words can make a huge difference when you go to market your own clothing business online.
Use Social Media to Get Your Own Clothing Business Online Noticed
This will take a lot of time and effort. You may want to learn how to use Instagram. Instagram does very well in the fashion sector. People love shopping right on Instagram. Users stay more engaged and on the social network as they shop and look at products and images.
You can also feature your products in the popular stories feature on Instagram.
Get The Orders In
Once you have the design and branding in place, you will have something to show fashion buyers in stores. Start generating your first wholesale orders based on these designs and then set to work manufacturing the orders.
Make sure you always let people know when you have out of stock items. That is one of the biggest things I had issues with selling online. (Customers got angry when they ordered and found out it was out of stock later.) And of course, fast delivery is a must today.
I'd love to know if you have produced any products to sell online? Please drop a comment to discuss.