A Complete Guide on How to Start Your Own Clothing Line

by Ronald Wolf Business Consultant

With all the resources and tools at our disposal today, it’s easier than ever to start our own businesses. Some sectors are easier to enter than others and make for a more solid investment, though. With the size of the fashion industry today, retail is certainly one of these. Whether you want to sell online or offline, clothing is something that is always in demand. If starting your own clothing line has always been your dream, here is a guide to help you realize it.

Think about what you will sell

Naturally, before you can start looking for inventory or listing items, you need to decide on what it is exactly that you want to sell. It’s a good idea to combine your own interest with something that is actually in demand to find a middle ground between your passion and what sells. First, you need to consider your target audience. Who are you going to sell to? What are their needs and preferences? Take a look at the state of the market and identify if there are any gaps you could fill. Picking a niche is a much safer choice than going for a general direction.

Pick a business model

You can start a clothing line in several ways. Firstly, you can put together a clothing line by curating carefully chosen wholesale pieces from a variety of sources. While you don’t take part in the creation of the clothes yourself, if you boast good searching abilities and a great fashion sense, you can put together unique collections that will reflect your brand.

Secondly, there is the option of private label. This basically means that you don’t make the clothes yourself – you don’t have to design anything – but you have a manufacturer on contract who makes the products and you sell them under your brand name. This option gives you a high level of control and customizability, but it also requires you to find a manufacturer you can fully trust.

Finally, if you want to bring your vision to life, the cut and sew model is the one you are looking for. You will be able to design everything from scratch, pick the specific fabrics you want your clothes to be made of, find a manufacturer to partner up with, and so on. Naturally, this takes a longer time than all the other options and is also more expensive. There can also be a lot of trial and error before all the puzzle pieces fall into place.

Get inventory

If you have decided on your niche and the model you will be using for your clothing line, it’s time to get inventory. Before you do anything, make sure you budget well and figure out how much inventory it actually makes sense for you to get ahead of time before you have the chance of figuring out what your buyers want.

Pay attention to minimum order quantities when you shop around for wholesalers or manufacturers since you don’t want to overstock. If you’re starting this business from your home, the issue of storage will also be of concern. You can entirely skip the inventory and storage problems if you choose drop shipping for your order fulfilment method. This is the easiest to get started with but naturally, it won’t make as much profit.

If you’re curating a collection, looking for an online fashion wholesaler whose products resonate with you is the best way to go. There is a huge selection online and it’s possible to run into amazing deals. Alternatively, you can look around at trade shows if there are any such events near you.

If you are to work with manufacturers, it’s essential that you develop an efficient communication system. Ask each of your prospective manufacturers all the essential questions so that you can compare them more easily. Be sure that they offer samples so that you can confirm the quality before starting to sell. Keep track of all the information for future reference.

Decide where you will sell

Finally, the last important step in starting your own clothing line is deciding where you will sell your products. If you want to start with low capital, an online boutique is the most straightforward option. Sign up for an online marketplace or have a website built and start listing your items so that people will be able to find them. An online store is a lucrative idea not only because it’s cheaper to set up. E-commerce is a massive power today: just in the US, almost a third of fashion-related purchases were done online last year. Still, just because e-commerce is popular it does not mean brick-and-mortar is a thing of the past. People still like to see products in person and this is even more important when it comes to clothing that needs to fit. Therefore, don’t be discouraged if you want a physical location for your boutique.

Starting a clothing line requires a lot of passion. However, with the help of the internet, you can not only learn the steps you need to take but you can also find wholesalers and manufacturers from all over the world. So, don’t hesitate to try your hands at starting your own clothing line.