Fashion Startup 101 – Part 1 – The Fundamentals
This lesson is the first in our series entitled Fashion Start Up 101. In Part 1-The Fundamentals, fashion designer Kathlin Argiro will get you started by asking you to choose the market category that you want to design for and then explore that customer is in terms of age, lifestyle and demographics. She’ll walk you through various channels of distribution to market your product, as well as important things to consider as they relate to price, logo and legal issues, so that you can create a successful brand.
Next up… Fashion Start Up 101 Part 2- Designing, Merchandising and Costing a Collection.
hoose Your Market
The first step in starting your own business is deciding who you wanna design for. Women, men, juniors, children’s, bridal, the sky’s the limit and that’s step one.
Identify Your Target Customer
The next step is identifying your target customer. What is her age? Or an age range. What is her demographic? Where does she live? What does she like to do? What is her lifestyle like? You need to take all of these things into consideration when you’re designing for your customer.
Channels of Distribution
The next thing to consider are your channels of distribution. Do you wanna go retail direct to customer, via a signature e-commerce website? Do you wanna have a boutique, a storefront? Or do you wanna go the wholesale route where you sell to boutiques, specialty stores, and major department stores. There are a lot of important things to consider at this critical juncture.