How To Start A Fashion Brand - Building your own clothing business
Do you have an idea for a fashion line but not sure where to start?
Maybe you’ve spent hours/years wondering how to start a clothing brand?
This blog post is broken down into 5 easy steps for getting started with the ideas & how to start your own fashion business!
Even if you have recently launched a fashion start up - this blog post will still offer some really valuable information!
the fashion feed - bonus episode 29 - 12 tips to combat self doubt in the fashion industry
Self doubt has got to be one of the biggest things that hold us back as creatives.
It can block all your creative flow as these thoughts have the ability to take over and override any positive ones
Your brain is wired to look out for danger and keep you safe, so to try something new or pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone feels really scary!
Therefore to reach those ‘scary’ places in life, you have to go against that primal instinct in order to succeed
the fashion feed - episode 20- how to get out of your creative fashion rut with elizabeth stiles
This week I’m giving you free reign to get creative!
You may have seen online lots of people who are super inspired and excited to post “new year, new me” posts which can make you roll your eyes if you’re not in that space
Perhaps you need to move on a bestseller and you’ve hit a brick wall to come up with some new designs
I’ve got 5 steps on how to get out of a creative rut…
the fashion feed - episode 19 - 2020 retail trends with elizabeth stiles
If you read the news - there’s a lot of doom and gloom around retail at the moment but I’m here to inject a bit of fun and positivity for the independent brands!
This episode is a solo episode after a lot of you enjoyed the one I did about my career history and all about 2020 retail trends
I take some time out each week to read articles on these platforms - I highly recommend signing up to their newsletters
the fashion feed - episode 16 with jane hamill - increase your sales & make more money (actually!)
Jane Hamill is SO passionate about fashion, sales and helping brands make money - HELLO! A woman after my own heart.
Jane’s tagline is “Create a Simple Marketing Plan / Build Your Following / Get Consistent Sales”
She’s also really funny so it was a pleasure to record the episode with her
the fashion feed - episode 15 with fabric expert katie towle
This week I’m joined my fabric expert Katie Towle - she’s a woven fabric designer & sourcing expert having worked for some of the biggest retailers in the UK
the fashion feed - episode 14 - lucy hitchcock @ sassy digital
Episode 14 of The Fashion Feed podcast is with Lucy Hitchcock of Sassy Digital. I met Lucy in a networking group called The Coven where I saw she’d launched her podcast ‘Winging It’ which is great!
She runs Sassy Digital which is a marketing ‘agency’ designed to be an extension of your team, and one of their strengths from the beginning has been fitting seamlessly into client’s businesses.
Sassy Digital has been managing social media accounts, building brands and websites since 2014 and in that time they’ve worked with plenty of talented people and extraordinary brands.
4 things fashion brands need to know about brexit
Business of Fashion have written a great article about the 4 things fashion brands need to know about Brexit in collaboration with Tamara Cincik (found of Fashion Roundtable)
Here’s the highlights and link to the full article here
The ball is now in the EU’s court for all 27 member states to unanimously grant a Brexit deadline extension until January 31, 2020, which is widely expected to happen.
the fashion feed - episode 12 with fashion designer caro gomez
Episode 12 is with fashion designer Caro Gomez
Originally from El Salvador, Caro and I met in a facebook group when we were prompted to say what our skills were & if they’d be beneficial to anyone else in the group
I needed advice on email marketing and Caro wanted to speak to someone in the fashion industry for advice on launching a fashion brand - funnily enough she became my first ever client!
After realising we were both based in North London, we’d meet by Camden Lock to help each other out but it quickly formed a friendship that was way past a simple skill swap
I wanted Caro on the podcast because people always ask me ‘how do you ACTUALLY start a fashion brand?’
mastering the #hashtag for your fashion brand
2007 saw Twitter completely redefine the hashtag. Rather being used simply for numerical purposes, the hashtag became key in online communication, especially in terms of trends. Since Twitter transformed the hashtag into a way of grouping collective feelings, other social media sites have jumped at the opportunity of utilising the hashtag as a way of increasing engagement, building audiences and subsequently generating greater profits.
the fashion feed - episode 10 with photographer olivia bossert
Established fashion photographer Olivia Bossert is the 10th guest on the podcast!
Olivia approached me via instagram for us to do a podcast swap which I thought was such a great idea
She interviewed me for her podcast ‘It Starts With A Click’ for fashion photographers and I interviewed her for The Fashion Feed!
the fashion feed - episode 9 with fashion brand elsie & fred
This week I’m lucky enough to have 3 brilliant guests on the fashion feed podcast who own the independent fashion brand Elsie & Fred
Founded by three siblings from Coventry, Leanne, Natalie & Ryan Haynes launched Elsie & Fred in 2014 which has now grown into a successful 6 figure business.
Building an Ethical Fashion Business
Over the last ten years there have been a few major disasters within the manufacturing sector which has highlighted a larger problem within the industry. One of which was known as the Rana Plaza disaster where 1,130 people died from a collapsed building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The building contained clothing factories, a bank, shops, and apartments.
the fashion feed - episode 4 with amy fuchsia
My fourth guest on The Fashion Feed podcast is Amy Fuchsia of Fuchsia Shaw
Amy Fuchsia is the ultimate definition of a ‘multi - hyphenate’ - she’s a fashion influencer, stylist, content creator and designer for her own brand Fuchsia Shaw. Her career started in costume design and on- set styling but it didn’t fulfil her creative drive so she slowly transitioned into creating her own designs on swimwear.
How to find fabric suppliers for your small business
In my Facebook group The Fashion Feed, the same question gets asked quite a lot… where can i buy fabric from?!
I decided to collate all the info into 1 blog post and I ‘ll also keep updating it when I see new recommendations :)
I would highly recommend phoning the company if you can’t buy online. A lot of the fabric mills are very old school and it will be easier to work together rather than sending emails back and forth
the fashion feed - episode 3 with catherine erdly of future retail
My third guest on The Fashion Feed podcast is Catherine Erdly of Future Retail
She has over 19 years experience working with product businesses of all sizes from high street names (such as Laura Ashley, Coast and Paperchase), all the way down to brand new businesses with just a handful of customers.
Catherine is your go - to woman if you want to get more organised and make more money.
the fashion feed - episode 2 with sophie slater of birdsong london
My second guest on The Fashion Feed podcast is Sophie Slater of the eco - fashion brand Birdsong London.
Sophie started the brand with Sarah in 2014 as they were inspired by the great skill and creativity in women’s community groups but frustrated by their financial insecurity in the context of budget cuts and rising rents.
why do so many fledgling fashion businesses fail?
This is an article I came across last year and regularly forward it on to my clients as it sums up everything I believe in with regards to budget planning at the start of your brand!
It has been written by Kim Winser for Forbes.com & the link to the original article can be found here
Kim was the youngest-appointed and first female director of the Womenswear Group at Marks and Spencer Plc, chief executive at Pringle of Scotland, CEO of Aquascutum and chairman of Agent Provocateur. She also served as retail guru to 3i, and most recently, launched luxury fashion brand Winser London
managing your suppliers & production to avoid costly mistakes with catherine erdly
This week is an interview with Catherine Erdly of Future Retail UK where we discuss all the tactics you can put into place to avoid costly mistakes within your production process
a video interview about my career & how you can get into the fashion industry
Here’s a video with Emmie from @_emmiestyles_ for ‘The Showroom Collective’ talking all things fashion, my time in the industry & the importance of slow fashion in 2019