Starting A Clothing Brand
How does this sound. Limited money. Limited time. A Shopify account. And someone who has no clue what they are doing. I would love to start up my own business. And a clothing line seems to be the most affordable, highest profit margin, online business that I can start being under 18. I do have some problems however. When it comes to connections in the area. I have none. When it comes to manufacturing. I have no idea. And when it comes to continuous funding. I have no idea. I want to have some sort of business up and running by the end of this year. 1) To help me financially 2) To boost my university career and CV. Any advice is welcome. Hey if I have 50 responses telling me I'm doing the complete wrong thing that's brilliant. As long as you tell me what I should do instead. Thank you to anyone who leaves anything under this post. Bumps are also appreciated hahaha.
So basically you have:
- No clue
- No money
- No strategy
- No chance
Best way to get that though, outside of money, is trial & error
First you need an idea and passion for your product and the business. I don’t see any of that here. Having a successful clothing company without a vision is not going to happen.
But, sure - trial and error. Which takes time and he said he lacks time. Trial and error also costs money in business.
Inventory/working capital would be brutal unless you're doing made to order + prepay. Don't
Do you have any original designs? Do you have conviction that your designs are competitive and would attract customer? Have you ever designed clothing at all?
Maybe instead of starting some bullshit Hustler U e-commerce business you should use your sigma grid set and ask your dad to borrow his lawnmower and truck and bada bing you’ve got a landscaping business with zero capital invested.
Why is the first idea so capital and/or labor intensive? I believe there companies that you can partner with to do limited runs of a printed shirt. (I.e. online influencer route). Don't know the margins but I'd imagine it'll be a lot. The actual producer will probably take the lion's share of the economics. Honest suggestion, start an etsy shop if that's what you're into, get a few $ in rev, slap that on your resume.
Find a niche product on tiktok and attempt to drop ship. Get 5 sales before thinking about making your own product.
Bad
The vast majority of what you’ll have to spend your budget on to get your brand up and running is marketing, which unfortunately you can’t afford at this stage without someone backing you. Even established designers like Phoebe Philo who had a good track record at well known brands like Celine and Chloé didn’t launch their own brand until they had the backing of LVMH for marketing and name recognition.
yea I read that as well + she is one of the most well known designers.
I’d read / checkout everything u can about “faherty brand”
IB->PE dude started it, doing pretty well
One of the first things OP needs to do that he doesn’t have is to create a mission statement.
”The brand’s mission is to “create the clothing that we’d want to wear — clothes that felt relaxed and casual but were cut right, made from the best fabrics, sustainability-minded, and guaranteed for life,” Faherty wrote”
How about a brand logo + trademark that logo doesn't OP need to do that too or is that something unnecessary in the beginning stages?
I actually pursued a similar venture in high school and you can start a business like this for no-to-little money. Inventory and working capital is no issue whatsoever because you just need to do it through a print-on-demand service, such as Teespring or Printful. This means that the COGS are covered when the sale is made and the product is shipped for you. With Teespring, you can set up a free storefront and sell your designs, or you can do it through Printful and create a Shopify store that looks more legit with better customization (Shopify has a 14-day free trial, then $1/month for the first 3 months).
Here's the biggest hurdle: In terms of actually generating sales, you can either do it fast with a lot of money, or do it slow with no money. When I pursued this in high school, I took the slow route and built up social media pages to sell on. I suggest focusing on a controversial topic (like politics) because these topics have an energized potential customer base that will buy the right product. Realistically if you are just trying to design & sell streetwear, it will go nowhere because you have no brand whatsoever.
Custom clothing labels elevate the appeal of favorite cloth masks with personalized branding or design elements, adding a unique touch to each wearer's style.
• Being under 18 is the first hurdle, without a parent/adult being the responsible party on paper.
• White Label / Private Label Dropshopping companies make the product, but then put your branding on it so that it is "your"product. Using this arrangement with dropshopping, you can often have it with no minimums, and they will make/send it to your customer, and you only need to pay after the customer has already paid you -- so it doesn't really require money up front in that way. You will need to setup your site and arrange everything, but the main issue of requiring cash up front is minimal at that point, if you can find a supplier who provides this (many in China will offer that service).
• I started my first company during undergrad, with no family money, because I wanted to do it entirely on my own. It can be done cheaply, but often requires a lot of trial and error, and research... However, it can be done.
• If you can utilize a white label/private label dropshopping arrangement; and then try to promote the product on social media (using mockup graphics of the product, without needing to actually have it yet), then it allows you to have an opportunity of doing business, at minimal cost, which will eliminate many of the issues you cited as being problematic.
Good luck.
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