That you can sew very well or you are an extremely talented and creative fashion designer doesn’t automatically make you business smart. Fashion business is to be taught and learnt, just as you learnt how to cut and sew a basic bodice or draft a pattern for a suit. If you want to have a career in fashion, you must understand the business of fashion.
According to entrepreneurs.ng, fashion business involves the designing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of different kinds of apparel. Fashion business is an act of producing all kinds of clothing for human beautification; clothing such as skirts, dresses, trousers, pants, shirts, socks, suits, underwear, gloves, and other kinds of body covering.
Fashion business is one of the most lucrative businesses in the world. This article is going to explain the basics of fashion business to a complete beginner or a novice. There are some questions you should answer before delving into fashion business, but mostly importantly, you need to have an entrepreneurship spirit.
1.What part of fashion do you want to venture into?
Fashion does not include clothing alone. Shoes, bags, make-up, cosmetics, jewelries, hair, modelling, and others are parts of fashion. If you want to delve into footwear, there are some questions you have to answer: are you going to be making the shoes or you prefer selling ready-made shoes? If your area of interest is bags, what kind of bag – big, small, clutch purses, tote bag, etc.
You have to know your area of preference in fashion. You can pursue two to three areas but you definitely cannot do everything. If not, you will be a jack of all trades, and master of none.
2. What is your target market?
Remember that this is a business, and in business, buying and selling take place. The seller here is you, you can sell your fashion goods or services, and the buyer is your customer or prospective customer, who buys your goods or services.
If your area of expertise is clothing, is your target market men, women or unisex? What age range are you selling to – babies, students, working class, elderly people, etc.
For example, if you are a student in a higher institution, and you want to start an earring business, the female students that use earrings will be your target market. Also, if you plan on selling male corporate wears, your target market will be men that work in offices or wear corporate outfit.
Fashion business will be discussed in a series of articles. It is a broad subject that cannot be exhausted in an article. There are other important things you need to know. In ‘Fashion busines 002‘, and the other series, more questions will be asked to stir your fashion entrepreneurship spirit and put you on the right track.
Starting a fashion business requires creativity, dedication, passion, perservance and hardwork. Your business growth and profit depends on how much information you are armed with and how you disseminate the information to the areas where you need them.
References
Enterpreneurs.ng
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