Owning a clothing and apparel business is among the most exciting and rewarding. But to survive and stand out in this competitive industry, one has to avoid making mistakes that can disrupt the business. Even brands with great ideas and fantastic designs often stumble upon mistakes that cost them a ton. It would be fun if being a Fashion Designer was all about designing and making pretty clothes. But being able to steal the show is quite a task in this industry.
Do you have plans to launch a new apparel brand? Or is your apparel business stuck and needs to level up? Then you should consider checking these 10 mistakes that you might be committing.
1. Insufficient industry knowledge
Research well is the first and most basic thing to do when entering a competitive industry. Many entrepreneurs and fashion designers assume they know everything and start their businesses without proper knowledge. An in-depth research will give you a better understanding of the industry and reveal secrets on how the top brands are surviving.
To keep your best and safe foot forward, conducting competitor analysis, market research, and target audience analysis is essential. You can curate strategies, marketing ideas, risk management, and more based on this knowledge.
2. Not planning the business process
The next step after research is to put that knowledge to use. Before starting practical work, every fashion designer must design a business plan. Without a business plan, the workflow gets jumbled, inviting burnout. Being prepared with a plan will help face challenges and avoid unnecessary conflicts.
Planning a business process can help in ideating the Unique selling proposition of your brand. A comprehensive business plan encompasses a range of elements, such as product and service offerings, marketing strategies and analysis, financial projections, and budgeting. Following a structured business process creates a productive workflow. A proper business plan will keep track of the budget, investments, strategies, progress, etc.
3. Thinking you can Wing it alone
Many fashion designing businesses fail even before starting because of this mindset- ‘I can do it all alone; I need to manage everything myself for my satisfaction.’ As a budding business owner, it is important to work progressively. The fashion design business demands undivided attention in all aspects of work. Hence, it is important to outsource and build a team.
Building a team comes with its challenges. But with Picktime by your side, it gets easier. Picktime is an online scheduling tool that can help manage your team efficiently. It helps in team management, scheduling calls, interviews, and meetings, reminds task deadlines, makes email communication easy, and builds a healthy relationship with your team.
4. Main focus is the Product
As a fashion designer, your skills and expertise lie in developing a clothing and apparel product. While building a business or a brand, your product is not the sole bread earner. As a fashion designing business, keeping up with business investment, marketing and sales, product creativity, and much more is essential.
As a fashion-designing business owner, you should focus on the product and everything else in building a successful business. Obsession with developing the product can leave you behind in other aspects of the business.
5. No focus on the target audience
When fashion designers start as a business, they often focus on all clientele types. Understanding your target audience can help you focus on the niche you want to work in. Marketing apparel products for everyone is a basic thing every business does in the fashion design industry.
If you want to stand out, narrow your business to a specific audience category. Understanding the target audience will give a deeper understanding of designing and marketing the products.
6. Underestimating the digital presence
The popularity of the internet has forced businesses to create a digital space for their brands. Your target audience is everywhere, not just offline but online too. Online presence has become a necessity for every business for linear growth. Apply Digital marketing strategies to build brand awareness, increase brand value, improve sales, and build strong relationships with your audience.
You can manage your business offline (business locations) and online with Picktime. Picktime can leverage the digital presence of your fashion designing business by managing your bookings and online payments, everything for FREE. Link Picktime to your business website and see the magic happen. Boost your work productivity and sales!
7. Failing to Keep up with trends
Target audience and potential customers follow different trends, especially in the fashion industry. Keeping up with the trends is a new way to see what your target audience loves. Identifying such trends and following your marketing strategies with them can leverage your sales. Being up-to-date with current fashion trends can help you determine what your customers would buy.
8. Avoiding social media
Avoiding your social media marketing game is like saying no to great sales. Social Media is a powerful platform to attract clients and customers. Having a social media account to post pictures is not going to work. A strong social media profile with an optimized bio, aesthetically pleasing feed, valuable and engaging content, links, and resources builds better impressions of your fashion design brand.
To make your job easier, you can link Picktime booking URL to your website and social media profiles so your customers can easily find you.
9. No attention to finances
As fashion designers’ expertise does not lie in finance management, they likely forget about the financial aspect of building a business. Many fashion designers spend a lot on tools and resources seeking perfection in their business. It is essential to invest in tools. Resources and people while keeping in mind the ROI.
Extensive planning of building a business will help set a realistic budget. Planning finances, budgets, and investments from the very beginning will ensure smooth designing and manufacturing processes.
10. Not considering the feedback
It hurts to hear negative feedback from the designs you made with sheer hard work, but considering them and listening to your customer’s needs goes a long way. Your customers love being heard, and when you are considerate of it, they show more love to your business.
Stichting Up!
Avoid these 10 mistakes to flourish your fashion design business like never before. Speed up on the path to success efficiently with Picktime.
