Should you Start a Clothing Business?

Should you start a fashion brand, is the fashion industry right for you? I truly believe that anybody can launch a successful fashion business, but you really have to want it. I bust some fashion industry myths in this video to help you decide if having your own fashion line is right for you.

Want to learn more about how to get started with your fashion brand? Find out about my Starting a Fashion Brand 101 ebook here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoachlearn.com/Ebook

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can launch and scale your fashion brand successfully? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

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I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Influencer Marketing For Fashion Brands

A few weeks ago, I announced my collaboration with mega-influencer The Female Hustlers. In case you're not familiar with them, The Female Hustlers is an online support community focusing on women empowerment. They call themselves "a new breed of disruptors", and quite rightly so if you ask me. This community of dreamers, makers, and action takers has now grown to 3.9 million on Instagram. And clearly, they're showing no signs of slowing down with the release of their flagship product The Masterclass Membership. It's a one-of-a-kind online course that's jam-packed with lessons and tips from industry experts and thought-leaders.  Needless to say, I was so thrilled to be part of the project where I got to talk about my favorite subject, of course, sustainable fashion businesses.

Since my announcement, I've been getting a lot of questions about Influencer Marketing. In this post, I want to share with you my experience working with The Female Hustlers and some of the lessons I learned along the way.  

How we got together

They called me.  Yes, that sounds convenient, right? Well, I want to start by setting the record straight: it's not about luck. I did a lot of PR work on my brand at the beginning of my career. I put in the effort to try to get my name out there, starting with local publications. I networked with the local press until I got one short article here, a mention there. I continued slowly but consistently until the national publications took notice. After some time, even the global publications started contacting me. It was a long process. It didn't happen overnight and it took a lot of patience.  But I knew all that work was an investment. And it's certainly starting to pay off because that's how The Female Hustlers heard about me and my brand.  

If you too are in the process of building your image, remember that if you do the work, it will be worth it. Inevitably, other brands and influencers will hear about your name too. 

Before anything else, put it on paper

Collaboration is kind of like starting a relationship, a long one at that, hopefully. And just like any other relationship, you want to define your terms and expectations clearly and honestly. If you're working with a mega-influencer like The Female Hustlers, chances are they already have standard contracts in place. I was so happy that they did because it gave me more time to focus on putting together the fashion business course that I contributed to their Masterclass.  

Now, contracts may seem a bit cumbersome but it is necessary for any collaboration.  It protects both parties by stating exactly the work that you need to deliver (and when) and prevents misunderstandings or conflicts in the future. Fortunately for me, the contract process with The Female Hustlers was a breeze.  

Now, if you don't have the legal expertise to understand these documents, I would advise getting professional legal counsel. The last thing you want to happen with your first big collaboration is to get stuck with a signed contract that you don't really like because you failed to understand the terms. 

Seeing different perspectives

As I said, I was thrilled to bits that I was asked to be part of this Masterclass. But I must admit, I felt quite intimidated, at first. I mean, they're The Female Hustlers! This group of extraordinary women seems to know exactly where their brand stands.  Their identity is so distinct and very well put together and they already have a huge following online. I was a little worried. I thought, if anybody was going to "give in", it would have to be me. How much of my brand standards will I have to sacrifice? 

What I learned from working with them is that collaboration is about compromise, and that compromise is a good thing.  Sometimes people have this misconception that compromise is restricting.  On the contrary, I found it quite liberating. Working with The Female Hustlers was so fluid and eye-opening, it became a true learning experience for me.  I learned a lot from seeing our two, different points of view coming together to achieve one objective. I learned that my way isn't the only way, that there can be other routes to get to the same destination.  More importantly, I have come to understand that synchronising two different brands with different core values is not an impossible feat. You just need to open to different perspectives and see it from a growth mindset.  You'd be surprised, you might discover something truly amazing.  

Speaking of surprises, have you heard about The Fashion Sales Kit offer that’s on at the moment?  If you want to learn a tried and tested formula for developing social media marketing that actually delivers, then the Fashion Sales Kit was designed just for you. Click here to learn more about how it can transition more browsers into buyers and in just 10mins a day. 

Pinterest Idea Pins for Fashion Brands

Pinterest idea pins are a brand new feature that has so much potential for marketing your fashion brand. In this video, I want to show you what idea pins are and how you can use them for your fashion marketing.

If you're curious to learn more about the Fashion Sales Kit and how it can help you to market your fashion brand without spending the entire day on social media, you can see the details here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/the-fashion-sales-kit

Want to see my earlier video on Pinterest marketing? Find it here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/blog/pinterest

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Why Fashion Brands Need Email Marketing

Email marketing for fashion brands is so important for your business, particularly when converting people from followers to buyers. How can it be valuable and help you to increase your sales and profits? Let's find out in this video!

Keen to learn more about email marketing for fashion? Learn about my email ebook here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/email-marketing-for-fashion-brands-ebook

And catch the previous video on email marketing here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/blog/emailmarketing

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I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Grow your Fashion Brand with Pinterest Marketing

Having supported startup fashion brands, I’ve always come across people who want help to scale and grow. What’s the best route to take? Most people look into Instagram, but I wish more people asked me about Pinterest --- especially for growth.

Pinterest is my favourite way to grow a fashion brand, for free! Instagram is great, but when it comes to building a brand, acquiring customers, and generating cash, which is what startup businesses reach out to me for, Pinterest is the way to go.

If you’d like to learn more about Social Media Marketing and how I can help, you can check my Fashion Sales Kit. This kit will help you grow your mind through various tools, in just 10 mins every day! Should you see that you need more help with anything else that isn’t covered by the kit, feel free to reach out and ask. I’d love to see how I can help you better.

Pinterest is where I started and launched my fashion brand, and it has been a reliable tool that has helped me help clients I’ve worked with one-on-one establish authority, increase discoverability, and reach their respective target audience.

For a business to thrive and continually generate income, knowing the right tools for scaling and reaching your target audience is essential. In this post, I’ll let you know how and why Pinterest has always worked for me and my clients. Hopefully, you can learn a thing or two about Pinterest and apply it to your business.

If you do, please let me know! I’d love to hear more of your thoughts.

A Visual Search Engine

I’m not sure if you’ve used or tried Pinterest yet, but if I had to describe this to someone who has never used it before, I’d say it’s like a virtual search engine where people discover what they’re looking for. People can look for photos similar to something they saw or have a picture of, or they can search for ideas and pegs, pin them to their boards, and save them for reference. 

And that in itself is what separates it from other social media platforms such as Instagram. If I have to sum it up, one main difference would be buyer intent. Buyer intent is what your audience’s intention is when opening the app.

Think about it, on Instagram, people open the app intending to do one among these things:

- connecting with friends and see what they’re up to

- catching up with friends and relatives

- posting a photo or an idea

- scrolling aimlessly out of boredom

No judgement here! While these platforms have evolved and already allow merchants to set up stores and advertise, it is still not the primary reason people open these apps.

One would not typically open Instagram first to buy a fashion product or discover a new fashion brand.

This is what makes Pinterest different, people mostly go to Pinterest for:

- inspiration,

- finding a new product, or

- discovering a new brand.  

And this is why I’ve always put Pinterest first. Because if I look closely and compare the like-for-like followers on Instagram and Pinterest, I can see that I’ve made a lot more cash on Pinterest.

Users on Instagram often tend to passively like, whereas, on Pinterest, users tend to click the pin and go to the website, leading to more email signups and sales vs other social media platforms.  

Also, a virtual search platform works wonders. Sure, you can search for hashtags and keywords on Instagram, but that won’t be as accurate as a visual search of a similar photo or pin that you have on Pinterest.

For example, people can go to Pinterest and search for custom wedding accessories – I know because this is one of the businesses I had and how people found me!

I was able to market on Pinterest for free and didn’t pay for ads at that time. Regardless, people found me anyway, because they were looking for my products! This was from 2011, and I’m still getting likes and pins from my old posts until now.

This brings me to my next point on what makes Pinterest worthwhile……

An Evergreen Marketing Platform

Content on Pinterest has an impact that lasts much longer vs Instagram. If you’ve tried Instagram, you know what I mean!

For instance, a post sort of just dies within 24 hours on Instagram, and in about a week for Reels. So many factors affect discoverability: the algorithm, likes, engagement, and saved posts to name a few. 

You won’t usually get new people to follow you from a post beyond a short time frame.

On the other hand, and for reference, my oldest pins (as mentioned, I started in 2011) grow in popularity over time. This is great especially because we pour so much time and effort into creating great content.

Organic growth is so much easier on Pinterest. Imagine: when you build your profile and people who like what you do follow you and repin your posts, it continues to grow!

In fact, there had been months where I wasn’t able to post for a month or two, and it still generates traffic (for free!) every single month.

I only recently started using Pinterest ads, so most of my content is generating free traffic. And without spending so much on ads, I was able to get up to as much as 300,000 monthly viewers, for free!

I love the fact that it doesn’t take a lot of time too, since it doesn’t provide many functionalities for engagement (comments, and likes). I simply put up a good pin regularly!

When it comes to generating traffic, Pinterest has outperformed most other platforms that I’ve used.

I hope you learned a thing or two from my experience and thoughts on using Pinterest as a great platform for being discovered online and growing your brand. This has worked for me and my clients, and if used the right way, this will surely help your business grow too!

Should you have more questions about how Pinterest works or would like to discuss how you can use Pinterest and other platforms for your business’ growth, feel free to reach out here. Would love to hear your most pressing concerns, or simply drop by to say hello and let me know if this has helped you.

Fashion Startup Mistakes to Avoid Video

If you're brand new to the fashion business and you want to know how to start your clothing brand successfully, I have a ton of videos on how to launch here on the blog. Instead though today I wanted to share with you the biggest mistakes that I see new fashion brands make and what you can do instead.

Want to learn more about the manufacturing process? Find my free Masterclass here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/freemasterclassinfo

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can launch and scale your fashion brand successfully? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Sustainable Fabrics; What's Available and How to Find Them?

You can find sustainable fabrics from a variety of different natural sources, even raw materials like orange peel, banana skins, milk waste and more. In this video, I share some options are available and where you can look for sustainable fabric suppliers.

Curious to know about the Fashion Startup Online Course that takes people from zero to launch? Find it here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoachlearn.com/fashionstartuponlinecourse

🎉 FREE Masterclass 🎉 How to Start A Sustainable Fashion Brand.

Register for free here; ➡️➡️➡️ https://thefashionbusinesscoachlearn.com/sustainable-masterclass-register

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can launch and scale your fashion brand successfully? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

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I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

How to Launch a Swimwear Brand Video

Do you want to start a swim line but you're not really sure where to start? I get questions from Clients all the time on where to start with launching a swimwear business! In this video I share with you 3 tips for launching your own successful swimwear brand.

Register for my free Masterclass, 'How to Start a Successful Swimwear Brand' here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/swimwear-masterclass-register

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can launch and scale your swimwear brand successfully? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

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I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

PR Tips for Fashion Marketing; Live with Lauren

If you're a fashion brand wanting to grow with PR, this video is for you! This is a replay of an Instagram Live I had with Lauren from Put into Words. We covered media kits, influencers, PR tips and what to do when you’re featured, now what?

First! Make sure to follow @thefashionbusinesscoach for weekly content to help you launch and scale your brand and follow @put_into_words_ for all things PR.

Second, check out these resources to help promote your hard work even further:

👉Don’t know what to post or how to market your brand on social media? -https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/the-fashion-sales-kit

👉Want to work with an influencer? Start here; https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/blog/influencer

👉Want to explore PR Marketing for your brand? https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/blog/prmarketing

👉Creating your own Media Kit? https://mailchi.mp/c6c632a3b5f3/grab-your-free-diy-media-kit-checklist

👉Grab your DIY PR starter kit here; https://put-into-words.com/downloads/diy-pr-starter-kit/

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

5 IG Reels Mistakes Fashion Brands Should Avoid

In this video I cover Instagram Reels marketing mistakes to avoid for your fashion brand. I made a video on Reels a few months back and it's been one of the most popular videos that I've made and one that's generated a lot of questions as well. This next video really is just to pick up on some of the mistakes that I've seen people making with their Reels and what you can do instead.

Here you'll find The Fashion Sales Kit, designed to help you create fashion marketing that coverts, in as little as 10mins per day;

https://thefashionbusinesscoachlearn.com/The-Fashion-Sales-Kit

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can launch and scale your fashion brand successfully? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

How to Price Your Clothing Designs

If you're making clothing designs you'll need to decide how much to sell them for. In this video I explain how - and very importantly, when - you need to price your fashion products.

Learn more about manufacturing fashion products and pricing them in my free Masterclass. Register below to watch;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/freemasterclassinfo

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can launch your brand within budget and avoid wasting money? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Pinterest Marketing for Fashion Brands

If you want to use marketing to grow your fashion business, then you need to be considering Pinterest too. So many people don't give Pinterest a thought when it comes to promoting their clothing brand, but it's been my favourite way of promoting my fashion line since 2011.

In this video, I'll explain why Pinterest is my favourite platform for marketing fashion brands and why you should be using it....

Register for my free 'Pinterest Marketing for Fashion Brands' e-book here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoachlearn.com/freepinterestebook

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can grow your brand and make more sales and profits? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

How to Manufacture a Small Fashion Run

If you want to start a fashion brand, chances are you want to make a small amount of products to begin with. But finding a factory who are willing to take on small orders can be tough. So what can you do instead? Find out in this video.....

Register for my free Masterclass, 'How to Get Your Fashion Ideas Produced, Without Wasting Your Time and Money' here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/freemasterclassinfo

Keen to get even more support for your fashion business? Get in touch with me here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

And finally, here's the video on working with suppliers, in case you missed it previously;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/blog/factoryreply

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I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Make More Fashion Sales Online Video

Fashion brands come to me wanting to make more sales and usually the first think they'll ask me about is Instagram marketing. But there's so much more to marketing than social media.

In this video we look at important steps you need to take on your website. Without these key aspects of your website, it won't matter if you have 10million followers on Instagram, you'll still find it hard to make sales.

Watch the video to learn my tips for improving sales for your fashion brand....

Want to learn more about creating more sales with website optimisation? Join my free training series here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/websitetrainingseries

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can grow your brand and make more sales and profits? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Fashion Startup Challenges; The MOQ

People often ask me what the biggest challenge is when starting a new fashion brand. We'll cover the first one you'll face in this video, the first of the 'fashion startup challenges' series.

The first challenge relates to access - there's something important that holds a lot of small brands back from having access to the suppliers, fabrics and materials they want and we'll cover what that is in this video.

The details of my free 100 Must Know Fashion Business Terms Ebook can be found here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/freeglossary

Keen to get even more support for your fashion business? Get in touch with me here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Growing a Fashion Brand During Covid-19

If you're a fashion brand, it's tough times right now trading during an uncertain global pandemic. Last year, I collaborated with The Fashion Network and created this video with tips for those who are finding the fashion industry tough at the moment.

In this video I share 5 tips for running a fashion brand during Covid-19, to help you move forward even during uncertain times.

If you want more tips to help you grow your fashion brand in 2021, make sure to check out this free video;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/blog/scale2021

If you want to try email marketing to build more customer trust and make more sales, there's a free video on that too, here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/blog/emailmarketing

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Fashion Line

Wondering how much it costs to start a fashion brand and how you can figure out how much you'll need? Watch the video to find out how I decide on an amount to spend, plus ideas for business models, no matter how big or small your budget →→→

Want to know more about how to launch a fashion brand quickly? Register free to get my ebook;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/how-to-start-a-fashion-brand-from-scratch-claim-

Keen to get some one-on-one help to understand how you can launch your brand within budget and avoid wasting money? Get in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Sustainable Fashion and Beauty Q+A

If you're interested in sustainable, cruelty free beauty and fashion this live replay is worth a listen as Jen and I discuss openly and honestly what's happening in the industry and how we can improve too.

In case you missed it, over on my Instagram channel (@thefashionbusinesscoach) I hosted an Instagram live with Jen from @consiousartists_ .

We covered so much great information for designers, makeup artists, and consumers who want to work together collaboratively to be more sustainable and ethical industry. If you want to book an ethical makeup artists for your brand, Platforms like Jen's website are a great tool to use! You can find her here; https://www.consciousartists.co.uk​

Interested in getting help making your own sustainable fashion range? Check out my free Masterclass; How to Start A Sustainable Fashion Brand.

Register for free here; ➡️➡️➡️ https://thefashionbusinesscoachlearn.com/sustainable-masterclass-register

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I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

Why You Need a Tech Pack for Apparel Manufacture

If you want to manufacture your own fashion designs, then you're going to need a tech pack. This video explains what tech packs are and why they are so important for getting your clothing designs manufactured.

If you want to manufacture your own fashion designs, then you're going to need a tech pack. This video explains what tech packs are and why they are so important for getting your clothing designs manufactured. In this video, I explain what an apparel tech pack is and how you can use it to improve your products and manufacture process.

Interested in getting help to take your brand from idea to factory ready and having tech packs created for you?

Learn how I can help by getting in touch here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/working-with-me-tech-packs

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I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. 

How to Get a Fashion Factory to Reply

If you're trying to find a factory to make your fashion designs but you're not hearing back - you're not alone! In this video I explain why apparel factories aren't replying to you and what you can do instead. At the end of the video, I'll explain the 3 simple things I do when emailing a new supplier and how you can do the same!

If you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to join the email list below to learn even more free and get notified of new content!

Wondering what a tech pack is and why it's so important for your fashion business and your production? https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/blog/whatisatechpack

Ready to learn more about getting your range manufactured? Register for my free Masterclass, ‘How to Get Your Ideas Produced, Without Wasting Your Time and Money’ here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/freemasterclassinfo

Interested in getting help to take your brand from idea to factory ready? Learn how I can help by getting in touch here; https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/contact

Thanks for watching!

I hate spam too - if you sign up to this email list, your details won't be sold or leased to anyone else. I will email you from time to time with helpful content and occasional offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time.