And also overwhelming.

There’s a lot to figure out. And one very important thing is how much does it actually cost to start a clothing line.

So let’s start with my answer: $15K- $30K is a good estimate. 

I know there’s a $15K window in there. And you’re probably frustrated by that.

But that’s because there are a lot of variables! That’s why it’s so important to spend time thinking about what kind of fashion business you want to launch.

So just a head’s up — this post will not give you one exact answer to how much does it cost to launch a clothing line. Instead, it will give you a fair range and explain what variables go into figuring out that cost based on your own goals and ideas.

You need to think about things like…

• Your goals– what kind of fashion business are you planning to launch? Will you do made-to-order? Will you have a pre-sales model? Or will you hold inventory? Do want to sell wholesale? Are you launching a size-inclusive line?
• Your designs– How many styles? How many sizes? How many colorways? It’s a good idea to start smaller than larger. 5 – 7 styles is a good starting point. Enough to learn about what your customer wants but not so much that you are overwhelmed with options and inventory.
• Your technical skills– When you can develop your own patterns and grading and starting sample, you will save a lot.
• Your marketing skills – How comfortable are you using Instagram? How good are you at writing copy for emails and your website? What are your photography skills like?

Important note: You don’t have to have everything perfect when you launch. But you do need a level of professionalism. Remember that when people can see that you have committed your time and money to a project, when they see that you are serious about what you’re doing, they are more likely to trust you and are willing to buy.

OK, so let’s break down this $15-$30K.

Development

Around $5k

The average is around $1K per style, but this varies based on how involved the design is. $1K is a fair estimate.

What goes into development?

• fabrics
• notions and trims
• the shipping cost of materials
• a pattern, digitized, marked, and graded
• a few rounds of samples

I’d like to emphasize “a few rounds” of samples. Don’t get frustrated if the sample isn’t perfect on the first go-around. This is common and to be expected. So get quotes for the cost of the first sample and the cost for additional rounds to perfect the sample.

Production

Around $10K- $20K

Production costs are based on a list of variables including:

• number of styles
• number of colors
• size range
• fabric cost
• notion/trim cost
• location of production (i.e. overseas shipping costs vs domestic shipping costs)
• types of labels and hangtags

Once you’re finished with development and have a finished sample, you shop that sample around with factories to learn their minimum order quantity (MOQ) as well as their quote for producing your piece.

So, if their minimum is 100 per style and their quote is $20/per piece, you know that your production costs will be $2,000 per style. If you have 5 styles, you’re at $10K for cutting and sewing alone. This does not include the cost of materials, shipping, labels, hangtags, multiple colors, etc.

Alternatively, once you have completed a finished sample, you can opt for the pre-sales model so that you don’t need to pay production costs out of pocket, and instead pre-sell your styles on your website (or on another platform) and then either produce them made-to-order or hit a certain number of pre-sales and produce a batch with a factory.

Keep in mind that if you pre-sell to a certain number and then produce a batch, you will still have shopped your sample around with factories to learn their MOQ and price.

Factories will ask for 50% upfront payment and 50% before shipping your order.

Education

$250+/ year

This is by far the most overlooked cost of starting a clothing line. People think it’s not “necessary” but I assure it is. It will cost you so much more in mistakes than it would in education.

Some things you need to learn:

• How to work with a factory
• How to create a pre-launch marketing strategy
• Creating an effective launch plan
• How to plan/maintain the finances
• Creating your sales plan
• How to sell to individuals
• How to sell to stores
• Creating an email marketing strategy
• And SO MUCH more.

If you want your step-by-step blueprint for launching your business without having any prior experience join our membership community here!

Pre-Launch Marketing

Around $1K – $5k+

A major issue I see on a regular basis is new brands using all their money to make the product and then saying things like “I have no money for marketing” and not understanding why they’re not making any sales.

Here are some things you want to make sure you’re doing before you even launch your product:

• Creating your packaging (tissue, envelope, notecards, etc.)
• Developing a website landing page (you need to be collecting emails on this landing page)
• Signing up for an email platform (remember what I said about collecting emails?)
• Branding (logo, fonts, colors, etc.)

Launch Marketing

$3K- $15K

These consistent aspects are foundational your marketing and shouldn’t be skipped.

Let’s talk about three of these aspects of your fashion business marketing strategy that remain consistent and, if done properly, can absolutely skyrocket your marketing efforts.

Identify Your Blocks

The first thing I want to talk about is, surprise surprise, a marketing mindset shift. Blocks are any thoughts or limiting beliefs that hold you back and keep you from making progress towards your goals.

There is so much going on when you’re running a business that blocks will inevitably pop up and keep you from making the amount of progress you know you can make.

And that’s because blocks are crafty little rascals that make you second guess everything about your decisions and are often disguised as “truths”.

But you can’t listen!

Instead, whenever you have a goal to do something but haven’t managed to get it done, ask yourself “What got in my way?”  Then, once you answer that, ask yourself “Why?”.

And then here’s the trick — keep asking yourself “Why?” until you get at the root of the issue. What you are doing during this exercise is digging deep to find your blocks. This process is always powerful and really brings to light what is holding you back.

Figuring out what your blocks are is absolutely game changing for your marketing.

Create events in your marketing

When you’re planning a marketing campaign of any kind — whether a sale, a giveaway, an Instagram Live, or the launch of a new collection — for your brand, create build up, excitement, and intrigue.

Now, I know you may already think this way when it comes to things like launching a new collection but really, any marketing campaign should be treated this way.

Think about something like a giveaway. If you treat this like an “event”, you would be doing some or all of these things:

• talking about it on Instagram a week or more before it goes live
• sending emails that talk about something exciting that is coming their way
• have a landing page with a waiting list
• going live on social the day the giveaway launches
• send a series of emails after  that giveaway is complete thanking people for participating and offering them a small discount for the product that they didn’t win in the giveaway

See how this is something special?

Whatever the marketing campaign, it will be so much more successful if you treat it like an event.

Look at your numbers often

Your data is something you should be referring back to a lot.

I teach my members to create weekly reports with their brand’s key metrics. And they look at this report on a schedule so that the data and information they collect can be used to make their marketing efforts the next week even more powerful.

To figure out what goes in your specific weekly report , ask yourself “What metrics impact the money goals that I have for my business?”

These metrics could be email open rates, email click rates, email sign ups, website traffic, average order value, conversion rate, and more.

You don’t need to monitor all  of these. You just need to decide which ones are most relevant to how you’re marketing and how you’re selling and therefore impacts the revenue goals you have in place.

When you make this a habit in your business, it will do amazing things for you marketing because you’re learning from your efforts and becoming a more strategic marketer.

And while each of these three things is great individually, when you do all three is when you start to see your marketing reach new levels!

But there is also a list of things at the foundation of the business that need to be addressed. Doing so will make a massive difference in your ability to grow your fashion business.

Step 1: Decide what you want

There’s no way you will see growth in your business if you don’t know what you’re looking for. You need to have a clear picture of what you want right now. Now, this may change over time, and that’s fine. But you have to start somewhere so that you can create goals that support what you want, rather than arbitrary goals based on nothing other than what you think you should be doing next.

You should be able to answer these questions in detail:

• What do you want for this business?
• What do you want for your life?
• How do you want to better serve your audience?

Step 2: Get FOCUSED

It’s absolutely necessary that you get yourself focused when it comes to running a business. What I mean by that is working on your mindset. Things like lack of confidence, constantly comparing yourself and your business to others, and being unkind to yourself will be your ultimate downfall if you don’t take the time right now to fix it.

• Create a mantra for when you’re doubting yourself
• Unfollow any accounts that make you feel less-than
• Catch yourself when you say things like “I can’t do this” or “What a stupid mistake” and turn them into supportive statements like “I can do this,” and “OK, I can fix this.”

Step 3: Make your money plan

It’s not enough to save some money and launch your brand. You have to have a money plan.

How will you fund:

• pre-production
• first production run
• marketing efforts (this should not be ignored early on just because you don’t have a product yet)

How will you pay your bills and have money to live off of for a few years while you’re trying to get real traction in your business?

If you’ve been flailing because you didn’t properly plan your money, it’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up. But you need to make a change now. There’s no way you’ll be able to stay in the right mindset if you wake up every day worrying about money. This worry will fill your thoughts, cause doubt, and drive your decisions, none of which you want to happen.

Helping you create a money plan is something that we do in The Designer Membership, our online resource center and community, specifically for independent startup fashion brands. Click here to learn more. 

Step 4: Clarify and simplify

I mean this in all things. To see massive growth, you have to de-clutter.  When your thoughts, assets, and environment are all cluttered with junk it’s really difficult to get past it to the important stuff. I challenge you to take some time to figure out where in your life and business you can clarify and simplify and see what kind of impact that has.

Here are some suggestions:

• your bookkeeping
• your brand
• your marketing communication
• your office/desk
• your business processes

Once you take some time to clarify and simplify your message and how you work, things will run more smoothly and you’ll be less stressed out.

Step 5: Create a customer relationship strategy

I say this all the time but that’s because it’s so important (and because I know there are some of you out there who still haven’t listened) . . . you must prioritize creating relationships with your audience. Relationships lead to community and community leads to sales.

If you don’t spend time really getting to know this person and then acting on what you’re learning about her, then you are missing a major component of building a  successful business.

Are you…

• meeting her in person through trunk shows, pop-ups, and meetups?
• emailing her content that brings value, not just announcements about a sale you’re having?
• getting vulnerable through a blog or video series or Instagram Stories?
• talking to her on Instagram instead of just posting content?

And then, what are you doing with everything you’re learning about her? Are you . . .

• turning what you’ve learned into even more personalized and tailored content?
• adjusting how you speak to her and what you’re saying?
• applying it to the products you’re making?

Step 6: Learn how to sell

Guess what? You’re a salesperson. Yes, you are. If you have a product to sell, then you’re a salesperson.

I’m so exhausted by the phrase “I don’t like to (or want to) sell my line. I suck at it.” You know what? You need to get over that. I’m sorry to say that you have no choice but to suck it up and do what needs to be done.

The commission-only sales rep and the magical showroom placement are unicorns. You cannot make them your sales strategy.

Get out there, make phone calls, talk to people at events, practice your sales talk, take a course if you need to. But know that no one is responsible for getting your startup fashion brand off the ground more than you are.

And if that bothers you, then go back to step 2 and get you focus adjusted because you can do this.

Step 7: Stop ignoring email marketing

Do you know what great email marketing is? It’s consistent communication with your audience that brings so much value to their lives that they anxiously await your next note and if for some reason it doesn’t show up that week, they email you asking why.

Do you know what great email marketing isn’t? One random email roughly every few months that announces a sale or an event where you will be selling your stuff.

Which are you doing? If your answer is the second one, fix it.

In The Designer Membership, we have a step-by-step training all about how to create a really effective email marketing strategy . Click here to learn more. 

Step 8: Learn the skill of goal setting

There is a skill to setting business goals that, once learned, will have a major impact on your ability to grow your fashion business. I’ve talked about this before, but like many of the points I’m making in this post, it bears repeating.

What is a goal? A big picture accomplishment that is tied to the ways that you measure success.

What is a project? It is a focus that supports the goals you set for yourself.

What is a task? It is an actionable to-do that, once checked off, will get you closer to completing your projects.

Start with a few goals, create a list of projects that support each goal, and then break down those projects into very specific tasks you need to complete.

Plop all that into project management software, add some due dates, and there, my friend, is the beginnings of mastering the skill of goal setting.

Step 9: Create a business review practice

If you spend all your time focusing on everything that needs to get done and none of your time reflecting on what’s working and what’s not working, then you are missing a big piece of the puzzle. You want to grow your business? Then make it a regular monthly practice to . . .

• review what’s working and what’s not working
• decide what will you keep doing, what you will change, and what you will stop doing altogether

You should do this at least every month (though weekly is better), make your decisions, and keeping moving. You can’t expect anything to change in your business if you keep doing the same things that aren’t working. And the only way to know that, is to make sure you’re paying attention.

Step 10: Find your support system (and use it!)

In the top three “musts” for any business owner to be running a healthy, growing business is having support. No one can do this alone and stay sane. Honestly, every business owner needs a community to be there for them when things are terrible, to celebrate with when things are wonderful, and to turn to when things are unclear.

It’s our job as business owners to go out and find that support. And then, once found, to use it.

Ask questions, share stories, get opinions, give feedback. Connect, learn, teach. Be vulnerable, offer tough love, accept critique.

These are things we all need. And these are the things that a community will bring you.

—-

I’m often asked questions like “How do I find a mentor?” or “What do I need to do to get this business going?” or “I’ve launched this thing, but now what?”

These are all valid questions. And my answer is always the same– we’ve created a place for you– you just need to go get it. The Designer Membership offers answers to all these questions, and more. Join us and let me help you reach that massive growth you’re after. 

This isn’t even a little bit true.

Happiness in business is actually a conscious decision. A decision made even when things aren’t going as planned in your business.

The process of building my business was exhausting, full of fear, and constant concern. But I was happy. I was thrilled to be doing something I cared so much about. I made the decision to be happy even though I was worried about making money, failure, and disappointing others.

Then once the business was consistently profitable, I again made a decision to be happy because, though it seemed like this was the time to be happy by default, the reality is that “success” is a constant goal.

There’s always more to accomplish and there’s always pressure to not only continue the success you’ve found but increase it!

Therefore it’s important to consciously decide to feel the happiness and excitement about what you’re doing in the moment.

Otherwise, you’re always thinking about how great things will be when . . . (you can fill in the blank).

Here are some things to do to help you stay positive and happy, during both the good times and the challenging times of running a business.

• Make “making business friends” a priority. Connecting with others who are building businesses is so powerful for staying positive, motivated, and goal-oriented.
• Say yes! We’re all really busy with family, running our business, and day-to-day life. This can mean defaulting to the “nope, can’t do that”  response to both business and personal opportunities. Try not to do this. Sometimes just saying “yes!” can lead to some amazing experiences.
• But, you also don’t want to be afraid to say “no” when you don’t feel like the opportunity is right for you at that moment in time. The trick here is to take a little time to think about these opportunities when they present themselves rather than allowing yourself to auto-respond within minutes.
• Find the good in the bad– kind of a basic one here. Often the stuff that sucks the most still has some sort of silver lining. Find it. Focus on it. And make that a habit as quickly as possible.
• Keep educating yourself– don’t be a dinosaur. Keep on top of learning new things in your business.
• Support others. Making an effort to help others is one of the most fulfilling things you can do and brings a very distinct form of happiness to our lives. Find little ways or focus on one big way- whatever!- but find ways to encourage and support others through your work.
• Don’t focus only on the money. I know this is a tough one because we have responsibilities and livelihoods and people are counting on us. But do whatever you have to do (a side gig, maybe) so that you don’t wake up every single day worried about the money. I continued to consult with fashion businesses on the side until StartUp FASHION was consistently profitable on its own. This helped to remove some of the pressure and really allowed me to be happy and enjoy the ride.

I know it doesn’t always seem easy, but finding ways to be happy during this journey is so important for building successful and thriving businesses.

Lots of love and encouragement,

Your idea.

And now you’re angry, sad, frustrated, and worried.

You think you’ve wasted your time, money, and creativity on an idea (whether we’re talking a marketing idea, a design idea, or the idea for your entire business) that can no longer be pursued.

It’s an automatic no-go and you’re wondering, now what?!

When you feel as though you can’t possibly continue with your business because “She just launched the same exact thing!” or “He has a very similar idea!” what you’re really saying is “There is no room for me.”

You believe that because someone else is doing it, you can’t do it too.

I understand why you may think this.

There’s a fear of looking like a copycat.

There’s a belief that no one will engage with you or purchase from you because someone else is doing it.

But I want to tell you something.

You’re wrong.

There is room for you.

You have to believe that.

Make it your mantra: “There is room for me.”

Every time you find yourself wondering if you should keep going with your business, your line, or your mission because it seems like someone else is already doing what you want to do, say that mantra.

Say it when you’re feeling like there’s no point.

Say it when you’re reconsidering every idea.

Because the thing to remember is that no one else is going to do it like you’re going to do it.

Ideas, missions, and concepts are rarely unique on their own. It’s the person behind them that makes them unique.

Your take on a product, a brand, or an Instagram Reel will not be the same as someone else’s take on it.

You bring to the table something no one else can.

So I repeat, There is room for you.

And when you remind yourself of that, you clear the path to move forward.

Lots of love and encouragement,

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

Starting this week, May 10th, I will be posting on and emailing you from Substack.

I will write helpful how-to posts about fashion business mindset, product development, marketing, sales, and business operations once a month and these will be sent to you via email for free.

You will also get my fashion business owner musings sent to you via email twice a month on Fridays now (instead of Sundays).

On these posts, you are invited to comment and ask questions about what you read and I’ll check in once or twice a week and respond to you.

If you are a current StartUp FASHION email subscriber, you don’t have to do anything. Just happily receive emails of new posts and comment if and when you have a question or something to add.

If you want more, you can choose to join our paid membership and receive:

• weekly fashion business musings
• weekly how-to posts
• the entire archive of past posts
• the Launch Your Business Blueprint, made up of 35 masterclasses and workbooks!
• the private business chat where we can talk to each other daily, you can ask me questions and get help with your business, and you can connect with each other and create your strongly connected community of business besties.  

There is no pressure to join the paid group, you can remain a free subscriber and get your monthly dose of fashion business guidance. No problem. 

But if that next-level connection is exciting to you(!) then you will see an option to “upgrade to paid subscriber”, you can do that at any time and I look forward to chatting with you one-on-one in the group!

And that’s it, really.

This change has brought a new energy to my work with StartUp FASHION.

I feel so much excitement about getting back to our roots; to talk to you all and have conversations and know that we are a close-knit community of fashion business owners navigating this industry together.

I look forward to connecting and chatting on Substack!

As always– wishing you lots of love and encouragement,

Do you tend to think more about all the things you wish you had for your business, rather than all the things you do have?

I know it’s it easier to default to all that you still need in your business rather than show gratitude for all that you already have. But let’s try to change that.

Because the energy you put out there when you’re focusing solely on what you still don’t have makes it difficult to leverage the assets you have, no matter how small, in order to grow and thrive in your business.

It’s as simple a concept as remaining positive while simultaneously working towards your goals rather than being negative and letting that stunt your progress.

Here are some statements that I hear all too often:

If only I had a mentor.

Everything would be easier if I had more money.

I need an office away from the kitchen table but my home is too small.

I have no time to get everything done but I can’t afford to hire anyone.

And so on and so on.

I get it. All of those complaints are absolutely valid.

But here’s the thing- it doesn’t matter if they’re valid. If at present they can’t be changed, then it’s your job as an entrepreneur to turn that negative talk into positive talk, work with what you’ve got, and focus on the growth you’re after rather than the things that are keeping you from that growth.

I know that is easier to say than to do.

And I realize that when you’re working to grow a fashion business, resources are often limited and the exhaustion from trying to make it work without those resources is difficult to work through.

I’m not saying that you should ignore your business needs.

I’m saying that you should focus on what you have at your disposal and make a plan for how you’ll use the resources and assets that you do have to work towards the goal of getting what you still need.

Think of it like this  . . .

Have: 500 email subscribers

Need/Want: 5,000 email subscribers

Focus: Ideas and strategies for engaging, impressing, and connecting with your 500 email subscribers.

Result: Your email subscribers talk about and share your brand with their friends because they think you’re awesome, thus increasing your subscribers and being on your way to 5,000.

See how that is much more productive and powerful than . . .

Need/Want: 5,000 email subscribers

Focus: My list isn’t growing, this is so frustrating! Maybe I need to do Facebook ads. But I don’t have money for FB ads. Forget it.

Growth is all about perspective and focus.

Keep that in mind the next time you catch yourself focusing on the negative, OK?

Lots of love and encouragement,

I read a sentence today that said too many people focus on probability when it comes to having dreams and setting goals.

I am without a doubt one of them.  And I’m telling you this so that if you share this tendency you might recognize it in yourself and do something to change it.

I have been working on changing it in myself. Because I want to set massive goals and I want to attempt to reach them from a place of possibility, and I think you do too.

It’s most likely a pretty natural reaction to immediately think about how probable a goal is when you’re thinking about going after it. You need to be sensible, right? You have responsibilities to think about.

Well, let’s pretend that you don’t. Let’s pretend that the goal you’re setting for yourself (whether that’s launching a fashion business, hiring your first employee, or reaching revenue levels that allow you to quit your day job) is totally doable.

Because, honestly, it is.

Don’t think about the fact that you know nothing about starting a business or about the fashion industry.

Don’t think about the fact that you can barely pay yourself, so how could you find the money to hire an employee.

Don’t think about the fact that you have debt and bills and a family to support, and your business has not yet made $1000, so that day job isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Don’t focus on the probability of a goal when you’re setting it. Instead, focus on the possibility.

And then think about what you need to do to reach it.

Only after you’ve worked up the audacity to set a goal that others (and you too) might think isn’t very likely to happen, should you think about the details.

That’s when you begin to lay out where you are now and what you need to do to get you where you want to be.

But just don’t start there.

Don’t start by immediately talking yourself out of the probability of a dream and goal.

Because if you spend all your time and energy thinking about the reasons that it won’t work, why it will never happen, or even how long it’s going to take to reach it, you’ll give up. I promise you.

Don’t give up.

Don’t focus on probability, focus on possibility.

The journey will be much more exciting that way.

Lots of love and encouragement,

As business owners, this is natural. We crave definitive steps and exact tasks. Which feels right . . . after all, if we have the answers, we’re less likely to make mistakes, right? Sure, that’s true.

But the issue is that there isn’t always an answer available.

I know that you don’t want to hear that, but it’s the truth.

There simply isn’t always an answer for how or when or why to do something in your fashion business.

There is no exact roadmap for business growth, therefore not every question has an answer that will work exactly as it did in the past or for someone else.

There is a blueprint you can follow, sure. We teach that in our membership. 

But that blueprint is malleable so that it makes sense for each brand owner’s specific business and goals.

This is not an easy concept for many of us to accept.

But the truth is, there’s nothing we can do about it. And the sooner that we stop waiting around for the answer, the sooner we can get on with making progress.

What’s that thing that you’re stuck on in your fashion business right now?

Not sure which fabric supplier is better to work with? Not sure if that video will result in sales? Not sure what to say in your emails that get people to open them? Not sure which social media scheduling tool is the best?

Maybe you’ve asked some people, gotten a few varying responses. Maybe you’ve researched, spent time on Google digging around.

But you’re finding yourself in the place where you still don’t know “for sure” what you should do.

And this is where the problem starts. This right here is the point at which so many people just don’t move forward because they are so concerned about knowing the answer.

Don’t be one of those people.

Decide to stop waiting for answers. Instead, accept that a definitive answer is not going to magically materialize, trust your gut, and just try something.

If it doesn’t work, so what? At least you made a move. You’ve learned something instead of spending more time going in circles waiting and hoping to find an answer that is most likely not available. And then you can move forward with new knowledge.

Lots of love and encouragement,

But sometimes I think we need to weigh more than simply the necessity of something. We need to also weigh the impact of it.

Here’s what I mean.

There are things that we don’t need in order to run our businesses but, if we had them, the impact they would make on things like our emotional health, confidence levels, efficiency, and/or even physical health would be massive.

I understand that we need to be thoughtful about how we spend money in our businesses, regardless of what stage it’s in. And I’m not suggesting that that be ignored. This isn’t an invitation to just go and spend money all over the place

But sometimes, it’s not just about the logic and the necessity of an expense.

It’s about how it makes us feel.

It’s about the ways it impacts our focus and efficiency.

It’s about what it does for us as business owners who are working really hard to launch dreams and reach goals.

These feelings and actions matter, and by continuing to tell ourselves that an expense is irresponsible, we could be doing ourselves and our businesses a disservice in the long run.

As you start to develop and grow your business, I want you to avoid the automatic “nope!” for everything that costs money, and instead start to think about the impact that each expense could have too.

Ask yourself, what impact would this have on me and my business if I went for it? Does that feel worth it to me?

Maybe the answer is still “No, it’s doesn’t” and that’s fine.

But if it would really make a difference in a positive way, then consider it. Maybe budget for it for the near future.

The point is this: money is not the only deciding factor for every single thing in your fashion business. Sometimes you need to go deeper and make decisions based on more than just what it costs.

Lots of love and encouragement,