“Collaboration” is defined as “...the action of working with someone to produce something.”

Synonyms: cooperation, alliance, partnership, participation, combination, association.

Since embracing Instagram as my main go-to for Social Marketing for my new business, all I seem to read while browsing through posts is “Can we collaborate?”, “Looking for collaborations” etc., etc.

A few years ago these high fashion collaborations were in their early stages. Designers avoided them as they were fearful of diluting their brand ideology and even tarnishing a luxury fashion house’s name. Collaboration implied that you needed help and were unable to create memorable collections without working with others in your field.

However, the landscape of fashion has become increasingly democratised, and the formula of offering limited edition pieces designed in collaboration with another brand or person proved to be extraordinarily lucrative and beneficial for both parties.

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Having a website is no longer a choice for a business. Regardless of the size, industry, or location – a company not having a website online is like not having a name.

Gosia Radkiewicz, co-founder at BB E-commerce and Bike Belle, takes a look at the possibilities open to start-ups who are in need of an online presence but are on a shoestring budget.

With ever more people leaving the comfort of the 9-5 job and starting their own businesses or side projects, getting exposure and reaching a wider audience is imperative. Imagine going to a business meeting without business cards: new clients and opportunities would simply bypass you, heading directly to your competitor. Sometimes the first thing we need is to test a market or get a web presence and determine what kind of customer base we will have once we get off the ground. Either way, in today's day and age most entrepreneurs operate on a tight budget.

Do it now

We are all busy people and sometimes it feels impossible to spare this e...

Ask any consumer what brand value is and most will mumble something or other but rarely answer. But ask them why they purchased a luxury branded bag and they may respond with “the quality is good,” or “the designs and fabrics attracted me.” However, the true reason why people buy most products – especially luxury goods – lies in the power of branding and creating brand value.

Brand value. This simple two-word phrase is absolutely vital for your fashion business.

What is branding?

Branding is the process of creating a particular design, symbol or name that is immediately identifiable to consumers and sets that brand apart from their competitors with a consistent theme that builds a loyal customer base.

Successful branding means that an opinion or emotional thought comes to the consumers’ minds when they recall a certain brand. These opinions and emotions are often formed through personal memory with a product, the functional benefits that the product provides to them, or the way the...

For all the energy you spend designing and creating, it’s a shame if a photograph fails to capture your effort when you put your pieces out into the world. Fashion photography is easy to learn, but hard to master, and getting the right photo can be incredibly difficult at times. Don’t worry, this crash course in fashion photography will definitely help you master the art, beautifully.

Once you've ideated and turned your idea into a finished product, you might just want to hire a professional photographer: who wants to put in extra work now, right? Well, bringing in a pro certainly helps to ensure quality, but it can be incredibly expensive if you choose this path.

On the other hand, if you’re looking to take control of everything or are just starting your career in fashion then we suggest these tips for getting the highest quality photos without having to splash out for pricey equipment and staff.

The Fashion Photography Setting

No, we haven’t jumped into the camera settings yet. F...

Attending a fashion trade show is a great opportunity for a new designer brand to announce its arrival on the fashion scene. For those more established, exhibiting at trade shows is just another way to access new national and international buyers.

You’ll expose your work to new stockists that we're unaware of you and build brand awareness. It is also a great opportunity to find agents or distributors, source new trade buyers, meet the press, stylists and bloggers; see what your competitors are doing and get inspiration and new ideas.

However, you’ll need to be very clear about what you hope to gain from attending as some events are more a PR exercise than the event of a sale.

Don’t be disheartened if you fail to recoup your expenses or even place orders the first time around, as buyers prefer to see you for a couple of seasons before stocking you.

Preparation before a fashion trade show

Carefully plan the sample collection that you intend to show at the fashion trade show. It shou...

As anyone who’s whiled away an evening 'pinning' can confirm, Pinterest is something of an addiction. Millions of users can’t seem to get enough of the social scrapbooking site. For anyone in the fashion business, this social platform is one of the best ones out there, especially for sharing what inspires your brand. So if you are not 'pinning' already, you are missing out and here is why.

If you’ve never visited the site, here’s how it works: Pinterest is a highly visual platform to put images that are highly appealing and are relevant to your audience. Let's go over terminologies that pinners use and how you can grow your business with Pinterest.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a search engine tool that people use to discover ideas they are interested in.

Pin - every visual in the form of an image, GIF, or a video, that people use, is a 'pin'. It works in the same way as you'd pin a newspaper cutout of your favourite dress to aboard. Each pin has a URL and a description of it. Th...

Are retail stores dead? Is your favourite shopping source model dying a slow death? With the advent of technology and broadening of minds of consumers, online shopping is quickly becoming a shopper’s favourite. But, does it mean that it is replacing retail stores? Let’s find out.

The retail store is dead, long live the store. Lately, in the fashion stratosphere, there has been a buzz circulating that the end of retail, as we know is dead. With familiar retail outlets closing down following bankruptcy or being bought out at the 11^th hour, an overdue restructure is evidently needed.

E-commerce, on the other hand, is apparently thriving, especially for Millennials, and is being hailed as the new way to shop. I’m not entirely convinced that this alleged apocalypse is really occurring but a transformation of the retail space certainly is.

Experiential Shopping

Eschewing clothes and accessories shopping, consumers are now spending more of their income on restaurants, entertainment and...

To plan a fashion photoshoot is incredibly time-consuming and setting aside weeks, and even months, to arrange everything is quite common. The more time you give yourself, the less stressful the experience.

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Once your samples have been produced and have passed all of the fit and quality tests, selling your range and marketing will, no doubt, be next on your list. However, before this can occur you will need to start planning your visuals. Without these, it will be difficult to communicate with buyers, press, and customers.

Most designers underestimate the time it takes to plan a photoshoot. They don't spend enough time thinking about the kind of images they would need.

So, how should you prepare and plan a fashion photoshoot? What types of photos do you actually need?

That all depends on where the photographs will be used. If they’re to be used for your website, social platforms and a Lookbook, then a selection of style shots and product shots will be n...

Social media videos are a successful and professional way of delivering messages and keeping your network informed of what you are doing. Creating viral video content is on every marketer's priority list.

If you make well-thought information in a dynamic and fun way in your videos, for sure it will be memorable. Videos aren’t that difficult if you choose the correct tools.

You don’t have to depend on anybody or invest too much money or time for a fantastic video.

Here are six tools to help you create your fashion brand videos (some are free). You’ll love them for all the benefits you’ll obtain from them.

1. Be Fast, Use Free Stock Images for Your Videos

When you take care of your photo sessions, you might have to invest time and effort in finding the right spot in your city or some other gorgeous place in the world.

This action by itself becomes pretty expensive and, if you didn’t hire a professional photographer, you might not like the results.

Take advantage of stock photos. Y...

How marketers can employ colours to affect customers’ emotions and behaviour. Let's find out how colours affect consumer buying behaviour.

Almost 93% of people decide whether or not they should make a purchase based on colours. The reason? Humans are visual beings.

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This also explains why people tend to remember 65% of the information available through an image three days later. Comparatively, only 10% of that information is remembered when it is heard rather than seen.

Colours, in particular, have a strong influence on our brains. They help us give out cues, to express, and they enable us to take them in too.

Colours have an influence on feelings. Author Douglas Van Praet said that emotions form the “foundation” of our decisions, not logic.

Hence, savvy marketers have tapped into colour psychology to package or display their products in order to influence customer’s purchase decisions. With 85% of peopl...