Design Create Sell

A guide to starting and running a successful fashion business

Alison Lewy

• Publisher: Harriman House
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781908003348
• eBook ISBN: 9781908003508
• Edition: 1

Making the dream a reality...The fashion business is an exciting and diverse industry to be involved with and the number of people starting up fashion related businesses is increasing every year.These new entrepreneurs are coming from many different backgrounds including design graduates looking to start their own label, designers working for other companies that have decided its time to be their own boss, and those wanting to utilise their transferable skills to set up a business that can fit around their family commitments.There are also the innovators that have invented or identified a new product they want to launch.This essential guide will give readers an overview of the fashion industry and what makes it tick. It will guide them through the issues they need to think about before they start and take them through the key steps involved in setting up a new business. Readers will learn how to conduct the research needed for their business plan and get practical guidance on building your brand, getting your product made, marketing & PR and how and where to sell products.This comprehensive book will inspire fashion lovers to turn their dream into a reality.

CHAPTER 1. An Overview of the Fashion Business

IN THE GLOSSARY: A number of fashion terms used in this book are expanded on in a glossary at the back – just look for words in this font when used for the first time.

The Different Market Segments

BEFORE YOU START your new business it’s a good idea to have an understanding of the industry, and then you can decide where your idea or designs fit within its structure, and what the market potential is likely to be for them.

The fashion industry is broadly split into three market segments . . .

1. Haute Couture and Bespoke

The main misconception people have about the term haute couture is that it applies to all handmade and/or made-to-order garments, whether manufactured by seamstresses at Dior or aspiring fashion design students. Many designers add the term ‘couture’ to their collection as they feel it elevates their status. But it can be meaningless.

The term haute couture is protected under French law and defined by the Paris Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Paris):

To earn the right to call itself a couture house and to use the term haute couture in its advertising and any other way, a fashion house must follow these rules:

1. Design made-to-order for private clients, with one or more fittings.
2. Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time.
3. Each season (i.e. twice a year) present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs/exits, with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear.

In reality, very few labels can adhere to the strict criteria, and the costs of producing a collection, as well as the presentations, are so astronomical that the number of brands showing couture collections is decreasing.

Bespoke is another term that is used by many, much to the chagrin of true bespoke tailors. With respect to clothing, a bespoke suit should be something that is specifically designed and made to order for an individual. Many brands that claim to offer bespoke garments are actually offering made to measure – the difference being that, with made to measure, there is a basic block that is amended to fit an individual, whereas with a bespoke garment, the pattern is made from scratch.

The customer may still have the opportunity to choose their material and trimmings and alter the original design to some extent. But a truly bespoke suit will take much longer to make, and this will be reflected in the price. There is a movement in the bespoke community to try and get the term protected in much the same way as haute couture has been in France.

2. Ready to Wear (RTW)

Ready to wear collections started to appear in the late 50s, when designers started offering clothing in standard sizes, rather than everything being made to measure. Most designer fashion today is considered RTW (or pret-a-porter). Designers’ collections are presented to buyers during the buying season, and usually showcase their new collections either in their showrooms, at a static exhibition or by staging a catwalk show.

Major cities host fashion weeks to raise the profile of the industry. The main high-profile ones that attract significant international buyers and press are in New York, London, Milan and Paris. These run in sequence during the two main buying seasons in February and September. However, the number of fashion weeks is increasing, so now many other cities such as Barcelona, Copenhagen and Sydney host their own weeks. The timings and seasons referred to throughout this book refer to the UK, Europe and North America.

During fashion weeks designers will be taking orders from buyers, approximately six months in advance; for example, in February they will be selling their Autumn/Winter collections for August delivery onwards and in September their Spring/Summer collections are being sold for January delivery the following year. The larger brands now produce pre-collections in between which gives them the opportunity to trial new looks and sell more products.

Advancements in technology are beginning to disrupt the traditional way of selling the collections to both buyers and the end consumers. Burberry’s catwalk shows are a clear example of this. Each show is streamed live at selected, invitation-only, global events. These are attended by buyers who are given iPads, from which they can order the pieces as they are seeing them on the runway. Many catwalk shows are now streamed live online, giving fashion-savvy consumers the opportunity to see the forthcoming trends in advance.

Another new development is websites such as Moda Operandi (www.modaoperandi.com) which allow consumers to place orders for products at the same time as they are being shown on the catwalk, rather than having to wait until the products are in the shops. This can be of great help to designers, who will then be able to aggregate orders from buyers with the orders from consumers, and therefore place larger orders with their suppliers. In general, designers only produce to order, as trends change quickly and it is not a good idea to have money tied up in stock; at that level buyers also expect a level of exclusivity.

Ready to wear – diffusion ranges

Once a brand is sufficiently established in terms of reputation and turnover, they will often choose to produce a diffusion range. This will usually have lower retail price points, giving the designer a chance to increase sales and appeal to a wider market. To produce the garments at a lower price the range may be made in cheaper materials and need less work. It’s also an opportunity to try new design directions or appeal to a different age group. Examples are Victoria by Victoria Beckham, See by Chloe, McQ by McQueen, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Miu Miu by Prada.

3. Mass Market

Currently, the fashion industry’s largest market segment is the mass market in terms of volume of sales. The mass market caters for a wide range of customers, producing garments or accessories influenced by the designer labels. The latest trends are reinterpreted so they are sufficiently different as not to look like direct copies, and produced in cheaper materials using simpler manufacturing techniques, so they can be sold at a lower cost.

It used to be the case that key trends would lag a season behind the designer labels, however with digital technology and production techniques these can hit the high street within days. Retailers that manufacture for themselves such as Zara and H&M can produce and deliver new product rapidly, and therefore have the ability to react quickly to consumer demand. Most mass market production is made overseas where cheaper labour and large volumes mean the items can be made at low cost.

There is an increasing amount of crossover between the market segments as we have seen the increase of very successful designer collaborations with high street retailers, such as H&M working with Marni, Giles Deacon and Karl Lagerfeld. Debenhams has a large stable of designers who it works with as part of its ‘Designers at Debenhams’ collective, and Top Shop stocks designers who are alumni of its NEWGEN sponsorship scheme, including Mary Katrantzou and Christopher Kane.

For some designers, the income they generate from these collaborations is vital in supporting the financial sustainability of their main businesses. Generally, the larger luxury brands’ profits come from the mass-produced smaller priced items, such as cosmetics, accessories and sunglasses; either that they make themselves, or under licence agreements with other manufacturers.

Eco Fashion

Eco fashion, also known as ethical or sustainable fashion, is a part of the growing design philosophy and trend of sustainability, the goal of which is to create a system which can be supported indefinitely, in terms of environmentalism and social responsibility. Designers in this category may use recycled materials or organic fabrics. They may also decide to manufacture their product locally to reduce their carbon footprint; however this is not always practical.

There is a growing interest from consumers in the area of eco fashion, and it can ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Publication details
• About the Author
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1. An Overview of the Fashion Business
• CHAPTER 2. Getting Started
• CHAPTER 3. Research
• CHAPTER 4. Range Planning
• CHAPTER 5. Building Your Brand
• CHAPTER 6. Getting it Made
• CHAPTER 7. Routes to Market
• CHAPTER 8. Plan, Prepare, Pitch
• CHAPTER 9. Telling the World
• CHAPTER 10. Finance
• CHAPTER 11. Protecting Your Brand and Products
• CONCLUSION
• USEFUL LINKS
• GLOSSARY OF FASHION INDUSTRY TERMS