How to Establish a Fashion Line on a Budget

It is common for members of the fashion industry to make significant sacrifices required to establish themselves in the fashion industry. It is particularly tough to get your foot in the door in this industry as a fashion designer. When it comes to designing and producing collections, coordinating runway shows, and selling to boutiques, it can take a lot of funding.

Designers must pay for everything, from fabric costs to production of the samples and hiring models. Not being able to pay for garment production can be very overwhelming for passionate clothing designers. In this article, I’ve listed my top 4 methods to help you lower costs of building a fashion line, while raising operating funds and profits.

Tips to Build a Budget-Friendly Fashion Line

• Be Hands-On:  If this tip upsets you, walk away and kiss your fashion design dreams goodbye right now. You cannot expect to keep everything low-cost if  someone else performs the work for you. Overall, costs of production and garments will be less the more hands-on work you do.

• Learn. Study. Sharpen.: Extending the previous tip, learning how to make patterns, sew samples, style clothing, illustrate designs, etc. will help you in the long run. Classes and online study about these topics are essential for fashion designers. It is important to make yourself a well-rounded, self-starting designer.  In most cases, starting a fashion line on a budget means you will build your brand as a one-designer army.

• Find Volunteers: There are many students and volunteers looking to gain experience and grow their connections through internships in the fashion industry. Post internship opportunities on job sites and interview students and volunteers to join your team for free. Keep an open mind and work with them to become more experienced in your industry.  Assign your volunteers work that will help you speed along the process while you tackle the detailed and challenging tasks.

• Purchase Wholesale Fabric:   It is very important for a budget conscious designer to purchase fabrics from independent fabric suppliers. Fabric stores such as Mood Designer Fabrics in the New York garment district is not as wallet-friendly as independent fabric suppliers.

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