Key Fears of Key Fears Of Starting A Fashion Line: What Are My Initial Costs?

Fear of raising money and fear of losing money can stop many would-be fashion entrepreneurs from launching the fashion line of their dreams. I’ll give you some key strategies to overcome these fears, launch your line, and succeed.

So many designers ask our team about what will be the cost of launching a new fashion line. What is my total cost? The reality is that until we take a deeper dive and get a deeper understanding of your project we cannot really tell you. Every project is different, and that means every product launch will cost a different amount than any of the others. There are many factors that can affect the costs. Are you going to source, sample and produce off shore or create your samples and source in the United States? The labor costs will be very different, and also the minimum quantity of your order will change. Off-shore manufacturers tend to require larger minimums while U.S. producers can work with smaller orders. There are many other factors and options you have that can affect your total cost. In this blog, I will review some of them so that you can move from fear of the unknown and determine a probable cost for launching the fashion line of your dreams.

Money is always a real concern and it is not something to be feared. It is important to know what your dream will cost, and having that information can often help you sleep better at night. When you know exactly how much things will cost, you will overcome a lot of fear that may be holding you back. 

A great deal of the fear of money and investment is tied up in the fear of losing it and failing as a business. This can be a healthy fear and drive you to be diligent and prudent along the way. There are also other ways to help overcome the fear of losing all your money or someone else’s money. Our book, “The Foolproof Plan To Kickstart Your Clothing Line” addresses that fear and getting through it. We also have an Instagram community of other fashion entrepreneurs who have faced that fear and overcome it. They can help support and advise you so that you can successfully cope with the fear of losing money. Another good idea is to take advantage of our free strategy call where we can help talk through some of your fears and help reinforce your confidence to succeed. 

A critical necessary step is to make a realistic, detailed fashion line launch budget. Be sure you include money to create and produce some inventory, and also to properly market and generate brand awareness for that inventory. In addition, create a specific business plan describing in detail how you are going to execute your strategy, and always leave in a contingency fund for overages and unexpected situations.

Once you have a dollar amount and a plan, your dream takes on more substance. It is becoming a business and that evolution can help you eliminate a lot of your fear. The decision is now whether you can self-finance or need an investor, a partner, or a group of investors to partner with. Dealing with partners and investors can cause additional fears and challenges, and I will review that as well in a later blog.

It costs Money to Make Money 

You have heard the phrase many times before, “It takes money to make money.” It may sound trite, but it is very true. Creating a fashion line does not come at a low cost. Materials, pattern makers, tech packs, marketing, and much more all come with a cost, and identifying these costs can give you a realistic, solid figure of what kind of investment you will need. 

How Much Can you Do on your Own?

Depending on your skills and experience, there are a lot of things that you may be able to do by yourself; however, no one can do it all, and there will always be things that you need to pay for. If you get a realistic total calculation of the cost of launching your line, and you don’t have enough money to invest yourself, what we suggest is to start your research, study your niche, and read our book, “The Foolproof Plan To Kickstart Your Clothing Line”. That way you can learn the specific ins and outs of starting your clothing line. You will understand what you can do yourself and also learn what you will need to contract out. 

It’s important to maintain your regular source of income during this learning period. You must pay your bills and if possible, start saving a nest egg that you can invest later. The more money you are able to put into your line the better the odds of your success will be if you allocate the funds correctly. It is important to put the proper investment into sampling and production as well as strategic marketing to build brand awareness for your line. 

If you want to DIY your collection, it’s a good idea to study our book. That can work as a reference and blue-print to help you learn every step of the process. When you finish, you will understand what is important to contract out and what you can do yourself. Many things you can probably do yourself include drawing rough sketches that make what you are thinking of visual, creating a mood board that captures the tone and identity of your brand, going to fabric shows and trade shows to pick out materials and trims, asking vendors what their minimums are, and starting the communication about your soon-to-be fashion line. Also follow our Instagram page to become part of the community of fashion entrepreneurs so you can learn tips and tricks from others who have been where you are.  

What Do You NEED to Pay For?

If you follow our book, you will learn that you will need to pay for things that you don’t have access to or can’t do yourself. For some people, it could be pattern making, for others it can be grading. It is important to pay for experts when it comes down to getting everything right for your collection. You don’t want to economize on something and set the standard of low quality garments. You want to make sure you have the right experts behind you in order to make your collection as good as  possible. 

Total Costs

When it comes to launching a collection the total costs can range widely. The sky's the limit. For some brands, especially big brands in stores, they have hundreds of thousands of dollars or more for their start-up budget. For new designers, entrepreneurs, and business owners, those sorts of budgets are not always feasible. What we recommend is that you go through your finances and think about what is affordable and feasible for your fashion line. It may take longer than you think to acquire the investment necessary to successfully launch your line; however, that start-up and acquisition time is very valuable for doing research and learning about the business along the way. Our book has helped so many new designers learn everything that they need to know about starting a clothing line. 

Another option may be to consider a more creative investment strategy. Some of our designers will create tech packs, get samples made, and get patterns made. Then they photograph them and create an Instagram page where others can help crowd fund their initial production. That way they can finance the costs of their production by crowd funding. 

When it comes to costs, it’s up to you and what you think you can do in terms of finances. Sometimes you may want to self-fund, other times you may want to crowd fund, and still other situations may be right for raising money through investors. 

There is always a financial element in starting a new business. The Fashion business is no different. Money is not something to be afraid of and that fear should never hold you back. If you approach it realistically and make a detailed budget and business plan, you can know what the ultimate costs will be. Understanding that investment and knowing the funds you will need, can help dispel your fear of the unknown. When you don’t have fear stopping you, the road to success opens up and you can launch the fashion line of your dreams. 

Stuck on product Production? At V.Mora we can help you through the entire production process from designing, to sourcing and so on through our Production Development services. If you are in need of the following Development and Production services: 

• Sourcing 

• Technical sketches 

• Pattern Making

• Prototype making 

• Sample Making

• Fittings 

• Digitizing and Grading

• Marker Making

• Manufacturing

Please contact us at: vmorainquiry@vmora.com