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The fashion industry is like no other. To those on the outside – it is a glamorous and glitzy industry that looks fun and promises fame and riches. The truth is far from it. Yet there is no shortage of career changers willing and wanting to try their luck in it.

Where those who hadn’t studied fashion in the past may have felt excluded and unable to "just" become designers, the age of internet has removed this obstacle. Everyone and anyone can become a fashion designer and turn their ideas into products and launch a fashion brand.

What is interesting to note here is, a large amount of mature professionals making a career change and choosing to enter the fashion industry as career changer. The mistakes career changers make, can be very fatal for mid-career changers.

Many may have years of corporate experience under their belt and a long list of higher education accomplishments, while others may have spent years at home looking after the fam...

To launch a fashion brand to a specific niche of customers or market is an age-old tested recipe for business success. In these 3 part series, we show you how to do it and why it is important in fashion to follow and apply what already is proven to work well.

In part 1 of these series, we looked at why defining a niche is important and the wide positive effect it will have on your future fashion business. In this article, we focus and look into the second phase - once you have completed your research and development and are ready to launch a fashion brand, product or service.

There are 3 Stages in Fashion Brand Business Development

2. The Launch Phase

Once you have fleshed out your idea and done enough research to ascertain that your idea is viable and that there is a product/market fit, you’d have progressed onto developing your idea into a finished product. You would have spent much time, resources and finances to get to a point where you feel ready to plan your launch.

The mi

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Knowing how to grow a fashion brand is always useful, least of all because it can be very costly. I often say that launching and growing a fashion business is akin to throwing money into a black hole. You always need to put in more and the returns are rarely apparent and immediate.

But in our fast-changing world, knowing how to grow a fashion brand and business is more important than ever. Brick and mortar shops are closing their doors in never before seen numbers and at an unprecedentedly fast pace. Most businesses if not already online - are moving online. Those already there, are doubling up and doing more to just standstill.

So - is there space for more? Should you even bother, if it is that noisy and oversaturated?

Yes and yes! There is always space for those who do business well and understand what it takes to grow a fashion brand.

In 2020 what is required is a fine balance between a few tangible and intangible skills. So let's dive in and look closely at these.

"How you d...

To launch and grow a fashion brand online seems like a glamorous way to make a living. Fashionistas and those with an eye for style would be perfect for this job. Unfortunately, there’s more to selling stylish clothes, shoes, and accessories in today's overcrowded online space.

Most businesses usually start small. To launch and grow a fashion brand online at the beginning, it is usually crucial to keep it small because this is where many fail. The reasons for failure, such as the inability to adapt to market changes, not listening to customers, and not marketing online.

In this day and age, people are reliant on the internet for various reasons: it is an indispensable tool for information and communication. Because of that, small businesses should take advantage of this channel for their cost-effective way of being available to customers at any time and any day.

Where do you start to launch and grow a fashion brand online?

A business needs considerable capital, effort, and research...

A fashion Lookbook is a catalogue of well-styled images that convey the essence of your brand through creative storytelling.

Creating your fashion Lookbook should be a natural occurrence for a creative. Wanting to tell your story and market your products to the public is all part of building your brand.

Brand building is all about weaving stories to engage your audience.

In the highly visual world of fashion, how you communicate your design ideas is extremely important.

Once you have perfected the design process, product development and sample making, your marketing should begin in earnest. There are many eye-catching ways to entice buyers, press and customers but the most effective is a Lookbook.

With this fashion catalogue of well-styled images, you will be in a better position to sell yourself in a professional manner. The lookbook conveys the essence of your brand through creative storytelling and works in a multi-functional way. It shows your products on models, in a stylised...

Providing factories with a "Technical Drawing" otherwise known as a "Flat Drawing" is one of the essential requirements when manufacturing garments or accessories.

Whether you are a designer who has skills in fashion sketching, or a newcomer with moderate drawing skills, sketches are great for relaying an impression of your design ideas but should you choose to take these designs to the next level and have patterns made (followed by samples and production), your beautiful sketch -  although they look lovely in your sketchbook, will be useless - you need a technical drawing.

For the people responsible for turning your idea into a finished, fit for purpose product,  they need clear and detailed drawings so that they can produce your vision accurately.

So let's break it down and have a look at what a technical drawing is, why they’re important, where and how they’re used, and how to draw them.

[caption id="attachment_3936" align="aligncenter" width="496"] Flat technical drawing of a f...

Ever thought of starting a fashion label? Many have but as soon as they think about it, their heads become inundated with questions about the Fashion Design Process.

These can be general questions such as...
Do ideas come from inspiration or from materials?
What is the best way to go about designing a collection?

Fashion, by its very nature, is about current populism – and the fashion designer expresses the spirit of the times, or zeitgeist, in their work.

In an industry that is constantly changing, the designer is expected to reinvent the wheel seasonally. Due to the public’s demand for the new, and with ever-increasing pressure placed on them, designers have to dig deeper and search further for ways of interpreting new inspiration into their collections.

The role of the fashion designer could be compared to that of a magpie, obsessively collecting objects and always being on the hunt for new and exciting things to inspire them. This compulsion to source and collate material for use...

At the start of every new season, fashion designers shift through their research and distil the essence of it into what is commonly referred to as "fashion moodboard". A visual diary of details and inspirations that will later serve as a guideline and constant source of further inspiration while finalising the new collection.

Once you have taken your research as far as it can go, many creatives will tell you that their heads are sometimes on the point of explosion with the myriad ideas and thoughts floating around.

What is a Fashion Moodboard?

Collating your ideas systematically in order to make sense of them yourself and to share with others, is the next step in the design process. This process is called research evaluation, otherwise known as moodboard creation.

The main function of a fashion moodboard is to focus the designer's mind on the aesthetic, style and direction of the collection, while also relaying the colour influences and design area. Visual information relating to y...

Starting your own brand can be the most exciting thing in the world. Designing your dream range, the prestige of selling your collections in renowned stores, the glamour of seeing your favourite film crush wearing your clothes and the pots of money to be made is surely very enticing. However, the reality of setting up shop will be something entirely different to your initial perceived idea.

Here are a few challenges in fashion business that entrepreneurs tend to overlook when setting up their business.

1. Positioning in Market and Differentiation

Of the many things to consider amongst the many, is whether your idea has a place in the market.

If it does then that’s great but if it is similar to many others out there how does it differentiate itself and appear unique?

It’s actually OK to be similar to something that already exists and is doing well, as that just proves its desirability.

However, to find customers and perhaps, persuade your competitor's customers to buy your prod...

Ever wondered how top fashion designers manage to create multiple collections per year? Season after season, year after year, seemingly never running out of ideas. It can look like designers have pre-agreed on a theme and are just presenting variations of it. Truth is, fashion inspiration is behind it all!

Fashion inspiration comes from various sources. Its influence can transcend time, geographical location and then manifest itself everywhere. It is the outcome of creative research, which in turn is an essential part of the design process. It is the sourcing of and collection of ideas prior to design.

Once you have defined your subject, the research you undertake should be experimental and investigative. It is an essential tool in the creative process and will provide information, inspiration and creative direction, as well as a narrative to your collection.

Gathering information, to nourish your mind and to inspire your next collection, can easily be done by viewing myriad selecti...