Financing a fashion business is one of the key components and prerequisites to being in business. There are some businesses that do not require large capital at the start, and in fact, some get the clients to pay in advance for the product or service offered. Sadly, these are not usually fashion businesses.

In fashion, vast amounts of finance and capital are required, often in advance. Disappointingly, financing a fashion business is like throwing money into a black hole: the more you throw in, the more you need again, and again…

So, being good with money, or partnering with someone who is good at managing finance, is essential. Knowing how to raise money is also important and in most cases, it is necessary.

In the past, the route to starting a brand was often paved by fashion graduates or ex-fashion employees, whereas today anyone can launch a brand. Often, more mature people make a career change and armed with passion and perhaps a good idea, they launch a new fashion business.

R...

Rarely does a new business start with enough money to last until a profit is turned. It might happen in the movies, but what happens in real life, more often than not, is that, very quickly, you start spending some or all of the capital you have raised. That, or you know from the outset that you don’t have enough to last until you make a profit because you have only raised a partial amount of capital.

Allocate your budget

Either way, you need to make a plan for how best to spend your money and make funds last as long as possible. It is often said in the fashion industry that it takes a minimum of three seasons before buyers start buying your collections. It’s also believed that it takes three years for a business to establish itself and perhaps start making money – not to be confused with making profit.

Read Equity vs Debt here

So, if you were to take these two scenarios as a benchmark, you are looking at a minimum of 18 months with no money of any real help, coming into your busin...

Design and product development are the cornerstones of a fashion start-up.

It is no secret that the fashion industry is predominantly a product-based industry. Success is often underpinned by great design, strong product and well-structured collections. Many fashion companies and brands launch and eventually fail as they often focus too much on the "design" itself, without realizing the additional components required to create a long-lasting product, rather than a short-term fad.

In this installment, we will explain what you need to do for your fashion business in order to have your ideas translated correctly into the products that you want.

Read the previous instalment in the Toolkit Series here.

The starting point

There is no right or wrong here. How one designer designs is different from another, some get inspired by a piece of material, an exhibition they visited, a holiday, or a movie – whereas others start with a product in mind and build around it.

Moreover, success means ...

If you have decided that finding investors for your fashion business is the best option for you, here is some advice on how to prepare yourself to find the right one; whether you’re looking for a venture capitalist, an angel investor, a super-angel or a growth investor.

Finding an investor is not for everyone, but if you have the financial backing that you need, you will be free to work on promoting your fashion business, design more products and sell, sell, sell.

You should have a plan

First things first: You need to make sure that you have a business in place. One that is attractive and stable enough for someone to plough their money into.

One of the main components of a good business plan is the research you put into it. You should be aware of your target audience a.k.a. your "ideal customers," your competition, the demand for your product, and where it would sit in the hopefully hungry market.

You need to make sure that your business sounds, and actually are, worthy of investm...

Once upon a time, not that long ago, the word “logo” was synonymous with “brand.” Fast forward a couple of decades and today a “logo” is merely a shadow of a “brand,” but nowhere near what a “brand” is in its entirety. Yet, not many people seem to make the distinction and realise this, especially start-ups. Let's talk about fashion branding basics.

Fashion Branding Basics – Some Hard Truths

All too often I see or hear of young entrepreneurs spending vast amounts of money on a logo, designed by a top designer or agency who designed the logo for [insert big brand name]. They blindly pay way over the odds, money they don’t have or that can be better spent. The end result doesn’t even scratch the surface of creating a brand. Many start-ups often talk about their “brand,” but dig deeper and ask what the brand is actually about, and I hear detailed explanations about colours, texture, product, ideas, and so on – and then they continue to share their struggles with poor sales, brand reco...

No matter how amazing your fashion product design may be, without a Fashion Tech Pack, and with no experience or knowledge of the industry, most factories will not take you seriously, agree to deal with you or if they do, you will face countless problems. And yet so few fashion entrepreneurs know about it or know how to put one together.

While in my final year at fashion school, I designed a product called a Jac Sac. I made the pattern and a couple of samples myself and had the brilliant idea to sell it to the public. After setting up a photoshoot with my friends, I cobbled together a Lookbook. Then I made calls to buyers and the press and set up some appointments. I received a lot of press coverage and orders were placed by some great shops, including Paul Smith, Duffer of St George and a couple of boutiques in Japan.

Thinking back, this all sounds easy. I was certainly lucky to get as far as I did, but one of my great strengths was that I knew how to make a pattern and to sew. You ...

A truly great pattern cutter is behind every good designer. Fashion Insiders' pattern cutter expert, Monisola Omotoso, explores why pattern cutting is so important to fashion design, and the different types of pattern cutting available to designers today.

What is a Fashion Designer? … A Pattern Cutter.

What is a Pattern Cutter? … A Designer.

I think you may have guessed by now, that I’m a bit of a pattern cutting geek. As a fashion student in the distant past, I really looked forward to the mandatory, weekly, pattern cutting lessons. These valuable sessions really peaked my interest and enabled me to create some technically challenging garments for my coursework. It might sound harsh but, in my opinion, you cannot really call yourself a designer if you don’t have some knowledge of pattern cutting.

Consider Jeanne Lanvin. During her tenure at the helm of her fashion house in the 1930s, she was often called a dressmaker or seamstress, as most designers were during that period. In rea...

In essence, the Fashion Spec Sheet is the "blueprint" for your garment production, as it contains all the necessary components required to manufacture it. Let's see its importance and how you can create one.

Whether you like it or not, being creative is not enough. You need to be able to communicate clearly your idea to the makers, who can be next door or halfway across the world. To avoid the risk of being misunderstood, which will lead to a waste of time and money, certain admin and processes must take place.

As in architecture, you cannot build a good building without a blueprint – in fashion, you cannot create a product without a Fashion Spec Sheet.

What is a Fashion Spec Sheet?

 A SPECIFICATION SHEET commonly referred to as "Spec Sheet," is produced to provide essential details to ensure the correct execution of your designs into professionally finished garments. It should be given to the factory whenever a sample needs to be made and when you issue a docket. This will enable ...

Approaching a fashion factory for the first time can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you’re new to the fashion business. Monisola Omotoso examines why often designers’ enquiries remain unanswered.

Finding a fashion factory in the first instance is difficult enough but how do you begin that all-important first conversation, that will hopefully lead to a lengthy union? This can be done in a few ways, such as by email or telephone, or even by setting up a video conference call. Whichever way you choose, firstly you need to get informed about their operation. Secondly, present yourself as someone who is professional and knows what they’re looking for. However, in spite of doing all these things, some business relationships are just not meant to be. The following five reasons should shed some light on why these partnerships fail to make it out of the starting gate.

Unrealistic Expectations

Problem: It’s the middle of summer and your collection needs to be produced within 3 ...

I’ve searched and searched to find out where the name Pantone derived from. So far I have failed so I decided to hazard a guess and assume that it stands for Paint Tone. Between 1956 – 1961 the New Jersey-based company was a small enterprise that manufactured colour cards for cosmetics companies. In 1962, Lawrence Herbert, an existing employee, bought the company. He immediately changed its direction, developing the first colour matching system in 1963.

Pantone Colour

The company’s primary products include the Pantone Guides, which consist of a large number of small (approximately 15×5 cm) thin cardboard sheets, printed on one side with a series of related colour swatches and then bound into a small flip-book.
For instance, a particular "page" might contain a number of yellows varying in luminescence from light to dark.

The idea behind the Pantone Matching System ("PMS") is to allow designers to 'colour match' specific colours when a design enters the production stage – regardless of...