Well done! You’re launching a fashion business and there are so many things you need to focus on. Your mind is busy with endless to-do lists. We got you!

We’ve compiled the key things that you need to bear in mind to give you some clarity and help you act efficiently and effectively.

Don’t be scared of competition

You need to be aware of your competition for a variety of reasons: building an appropriate pricing structure, and staying unique and true to your brand. But being aware is all you need to be, don’t spend too much time and energy stalking your competitor. That energy must be saved for your business.

Also, look at how well their products are selling, are they constantly pushing discounted stock outside of ‘normal’ sale periods? Find out as much useful information as you can by visiting stores, going online and researching your competition overall.

Take note of how your competitor engages with your mutual audience, use your common sense and business acumen to analyse if it’...

How frustrating is it when you contact factories or suppliers and get no response? Regardless of whether you are contacting them for business, pricing or for more information, you mean business, so why don’t they reply? Here are the Do’s and Don’ts of communicating with factories so that you get better results.

It is always a little confusing after you pitch to a factory with an email or letter asking for information or a quote and they never get back to you. It is hard to understand why anyone would turn down the opportunity to build new connections and create new business. But the simple truth is that suppliers often receive many enquiries from designers and fashion start-up businesses, that rarely result in orders for that supplier.

Here is some advice on communicating with factories:

Don't contact a supplier before you're ready

Make sure you are well organised so you can order - and provide - accurate and well-structured prices and guidelines. Suppliers are going to need certai...

Patrick Morrison, the founder of Furious Goose, shares his experiences after encountering a production issue with his manufacturing supplier.

Morrison established Furious Goose in 2014. His brand designs and produces luxury fashion accessories and fabric prints for interiors. The silk scarves, pocket squares and cushions are all printed and hand-finished in the UK.

As a recently launched luxury accessories brand, we’ve found that our greatest challenge is finding, choosing and managing our suppliers. We are aiming for the top-end of the market, so quality and attention to detail are just as important as our designs, and our suppliers are extremely important to us.

Early on in our product development, we approved a proof where the reverse of a scarf was about 85 per cent ink density when compared to the front. This is reasonable for a digital print onto heavy satin. We said: “Go go go!” and waited with bated breath for our first batch of scarves to arrive.

On opening the box we inst...

The editor of Insider attended a talk at last week’s International Jewellery London show, on the ways in which fashion brands and designers can work effectively with the trade press.

The talk, Working Effectively with the Trade Press to Get Coverage for Your Brand/Business, was led by a panel including Editor of Retail Jeweller, Ruth Faulkner; Director of FACETS PR and Jewellery Editor at LUXURE, Sarah Carpin; and Consultant and Senior Account Manager at FACETS PR, Kathryn Bishop.

The aim of the talk was to encourage fashion brands and designers to interact with the right kind of press, and to do so in an effective manner. Of course, it is easy to see the press as your route to sales, but they have to want to include you in their publications too, so you have to be viable. As Sarah Carpin said: “There’s no point being in Vogue if you have no retail stockists, you need to talk to trade publications first.”

But we get it, you haven’t worked this hard – and you've managed to get that c...

Being in the fashion industry means that you have to schmooze (read: network as a professional) at events. But being a fashion business owner means that you have to effectively network with a range of people, at a number of different events. 

How to network

This can be a nightmare if you hate networking, if you believe that you’re just really bad at it, or worse still, if you just don’t have the time. But it doesn’t have to be a nightmare. The thing to remember is that everybody has an agenda when networking; people either want to promote something or get something from someone else so that they can get on with selling something.

Networking should be a great way for any fashion start-up owner to build up a strong bank of contacts and links to resources. Here is some advice for fashion professionals who want to learn how to network.

Figure out who you should connect with

If you need a mentor, or a graphic designer or a web developer, find a way of finding them. The best way to do t...

Finding the right fashion manufacturer is not as tricky as many believe it to be. Like with any first business meeting, you need to go prepared and armed with clear information about who you are, what your business is about, where you want it to go, and what you need out of this meeting.

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People often underestimate the importance of having this information when meeting a fashion manufacturer, and the importance of creating the right first impressions.

So, let’s dispel this myth and be clear on what is needed to turn that first meeting into a success.

Have a clear vision

Meeting a factory manager or owner is, in effect, a business meeting just like any other. The person on the other side also has a business to run and wants to pick the right client to work with – just like you do.

So, go to this meeting with a clear vision of what your business is about. Practice and be ready to ‘set the scene’ in three sentences – literally! The other side needs to know in...

Productivity hacks to make the most of your time and keep on track: 

1. Have some airplane time

The internet is the biggest source of procrastination, so once a week why not schedule time in your calendar – anything from an hour to a whole day – dedicated to completing non-internet based tasks. Turn off your smartphone, set up a temporary out-of-office email and get cracking. You might be surprised by how much you achieve.

2. Make the most of your morning

We are normally the most alert and productive first thing so don't waste this precious time. Instead of starting your day by reading emails and checking social media, dedicate the first hour of your working day to completing one or your most difficult or dreaded tasks. This ensures you make the most of your brain at its most productive and sets your day off on a positive foot.

3. The two-minute rule

If a task takes less than two minutes to complete you should finish it immediately. Whether that means responding to an email or co...

Business crowdfunding is probably as close to an act of mass altruism as we will get in this age.

Although it is essentially a business transaction, crowdfunding creates a way that people can offer a creative entrepreneur a realistic chance of success – and in turn, creative vision can come to life for those people who want and appreciate it.

Many emerging designers are turning to business crowdfunding – a great post-recession fundraiser – to create a product that they love and know their target consumers will also love, and buy.

One can directly gauge the interest that a specific community has in a product and furthermore seek the validation required, and with many crowdfunding platforms you retain the ownership of your product.

Crowdfunding can also be the ultimate referee and garnish for a CV and portfolio, if sales figures and information on the demographics of the consumer audience are included. It can also be the part-time job that partially finances your fashion business.

I...

Whether you are an entrepreneur or a more seasoned professional, starting your own fashion business is never easy. It may be easier for some, but it is not easy for anyone.

Fashion business mistakes are easy to make and hard to correct. Seemingly small, they can fast lead to the death of your business in a matter of months or less.

No one is perfect, and running a fashion business requires so many varied skills and know-how, which explains why studies suggest that as many as nine out of ten new businesses don’t make it past their second year.

The fashion industry, as attractive as it may appear, is one of the hardest and riskiest industries in which to enter, crack, and run a successful business.

So when businesses go under, usually there are commonalities that can be spotted that led to the bitter, sad end.

So here are the most common fashion business killjoys.

#1 Fashion Business Mistakes: Lack of Market Need

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of starting a fashion business b...

Quality control in the fashion manufacturing industry is incredibly important. Failing to maintain certain standards can lead to all sorts of problems, especially for a start-up company.

Without a track record for selling your products, buyers who do invest in you will expect perfection.

But what exactly is Quality Control?

Simply put, it is a process implemented in factories, for maintaining the best quality throughout every stage of the manufacturing of products.

There are many different quality control processes, including checking materials for flaws and defects, ensuring that colours are correct, and examining the strength of the final product.

In the apparel, accessories and footwear sectors, seams and/or stitching must be neat and strong, and all products must be produced to the same size and standard.

With so many quality control processes involved in the manufacture of products, factory workers should be trained to maintain standards for their own work. These processes w...