Start A Clothing Business From Home

When inspiration strikes, it usually doesn’t take into account your current circumstances. And starting a clothing business from home can seem like a daunting task at first.

Whether you’re working from home or halfway through a long commute to work, when a great creative idea springs from your mind, it’s a special thing. In short, emerging designers need room to grow, regardless of their circumstances. However, there’s never been a better time to launch a clothing brand and business from the comfort of your own home.

Let’s look at some great ways to start a clothing business from home, along with some fashion mood board ideas, essential tips for success, and what you need to know.

How Do You Start A Clothing Business?

Although we wish that starting a clothing line from home could be done solo in a matter of weeks, it’s more nuanced than that. You have to consider how much it costs to start a clothing line, create comprehensive designs, and scour the market for what customers gravitate toward.

Let’s say you have that creative tour de force that you’re sure that customers will love. What now?

Let’s form a plan and look at some critical steps to launching a product you’ll be proud of. The opportunity to become a business owner is a great feeling, and it’s a great way to share your work with others.

Let’s see how to start your own clothing business.

Finding Your Space In The Fashion Industry: Filling The Gaps

Before your initial designs, determine what the fashion industry needs. Sure, you could opt for designing clothing that people buy and show up at Gucci fashion shows. But are you capitalizing on your unique position?

For example, what are some fashion forward ideas you could explore? It might be time to play fortune teller. Instead of reading tarot cards, you’re following the data, examining what trends are cycling. With that in mind, will next season usher in a need for incognito wear? Maybe next summer will be the season for designer t-shirts. While it’s not necessary to read the future and know what will be popular (you’ll soon run into experts who can help), it’s a helpful exercise for any new clothing designer.

It All Starts With A Plan

Huge fashion brands and clothing lines didn’t become iconic by chance. No, they employed comprehensive business plans. So what happens once the Pinterest boards are filled, and your fashion sketch pads are piling up? It’s time to outline a business plan.

Whenever someone starts a business (clothing line or not), it’s essential to craft a comprehensive business plan. When starting a clothing business from home, these business plans have never been so helpful.

Do some thought exercises before committing pen to paper; where do you want your clothing line to appear? Were you thinking of a retail chain like Banana Republic? Or were you eyeing more specific boutiques? Ascertaining where your clothing pieces will appear helps fuel the search for whom you sell clothes to. After settling on a location, it’s time to put the research in. Perhaps the most important aspect of starting a clothing business from home is understanding your customer. Furthermore, understanding trends they follow, brands they trust, and more.

Understand Your Customer: Market Research

Before you gather the ideal fabric and begin production at a Los Angeles clothing manufacturer, you need some help from the customer themselves.

What does your customer base value? Do they gravitate toward colorful clothing lines? Do they shop products from companies that partake in ethical and sustainable business practices? Learn all you can about your customer base, their shopping habits, age ranges, and more. You should always defer back to finding a need within the fashion industry. These two steps towards starting a clothing business are the pillars that allow the rest of the process to unfold more easily.

Along with paying attention to vital statistics, you must provide excellent customer service and communication (but that’s another article entirely).

After you’ve gotten a firm grasp on those for whom you’re designing clothing, it’s time to find someone who shares your creative vision. Someone who can help you turn sketches into actual garments. Of course, we’re referring to clothing manufacturers.

Remember to Look For Small Batch Manufacturers: Of Pattern Makers And Brainstorm Sessions

Small batch clothing manufacturers, clothing producers with low minimum order quantities (MOQs), can make your clothing creation much more seamless. But why?

Small batch, or low MOQ clothing manufacturers, are companies within the fashion industry that allow designers to order a small number of clothing samples.

For example, a vast production house may have larger MOQs, like 300 to 400 pieces. For small-time designers starting a clothing business from home, 300 clothing samples can be way too many. Instead, there are low small batch clothing manufacturers, even some with no minimums.

At The Evans Group, there are no minimums, freeing up a lot of time and capital for new designers. Whether you’re on your sophomore clothing collection or merely sketching designs for your first foray into fashion, TEG has you covered.

A unique aspect of TEG’s business model is how founder Jennifer Evans will engage one-on-one with a new client. Harnessing the eager energy from the Maker Movement, a client working from home can meet via video conference with the TEG team to hammer out crucial details about their ideas.

Moving forward, the fashion designer meets with the creative services team to put ideas into concrete action.

There exist a few options for emerging fashion designers. For example, the Creative Strategy and Planning sessions, in particular, include:

• Creative planning intake sessions with regular check-ins

• Strategies to develop your clothing collections 

• In-depth creative design analysis

• Merchandise planning

• Pricing assistance

The Evans Group, with these creative services, aims to make the idea of starting a clothing business from home less of a pipe dream and more of a genuine possibility.

In short, new fashion designers have the resources, tools, and guidance essential to starting clothing lines, business practices, and merchandising opportunities from their own homes.

Starting A Clothing Business From Home: Keys To The Runway

Depending on your particular clothing goals, even starting a clothing business from home is now a realistic approach to entering the fashion industry.

Remember these fashion tips: craft a business plan, do some market research on your customer base and find a clothing manufacturer that sees eye to eye with you. And a clothing manufacturer that offers comprehensive low MOQ rates and excellent creative services.

With these resources on your side, you could easily make waves in the industry.