Comments on: How to start a clothing line

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:45:04 +0000

Hello, I find these options to be viable from a beginner’s point of view. I too aspire to start my own line for voluptuous women and would try with options 1,2. Thanks for the advice.

By: Sarra Bess

Sarra Bess — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:27:59 +0000

I’ve been going through the archives from the beginning, and it continually amazes me just how many people comment without the courtesy of doing a quick search through the site. Do they honestly expect a stranger to drop everything she’s doing and answer “how do I start a clothing line” when they very obviously haven’t even done the research of reading other posts on the blog they just commented on?

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:46:51 +0000

If the site weren’t up, you couldn’t post to it .

Hit the “home” button at the top of the page and you’ll see the site was updated as recently as yesterday. Check the categories in the drop down box for a sampling of content published here over the past -almost- seven years now. If you prefer, you can subscribe to have entries emailed to you. There’s a lot of content here and hope you find it useful.

By: Alana

Alana — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:56:53 +0000

Hi, I’ve just read all of the comments and suggestions and find all of it to be very interesting. I don’t know if this site is still up but am taking a chance. I am so interested in sewing and designing and am currently enrolled in a dressmaking and design class through penn-foster. It’s online but very informative. I’m taking this route to get more sewing experience before pursuing a dress line. I want badly to be apart of this profession because I love clothing and want to create something from me. I will get the book suggested and give this a try. Thank you for sharing such good information because before reading this, I didn’t have a clue. I will keep looking for more information from you.

By: emily

emily — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:53:18 +0000

I have a question. I am starting a t-shirt line and have been told that to sell to boutiques you first have to be recognized by the state which can cost upwards of $500….is this true. Also that boutiques will take around 20-30% of what they sell? So what is the freakin point then? Im better off selling them myself. Any advice?

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:32:29 +0000

Hi Kathleen

You mentioned in your first response to Tonya’s email that “She needs to merchandise and sell the line herself to small stores in her area (Andrea is working on a guest post on this topic). ”

I wasn’t able to find this thread. Can you provide a link? I’d like to do research and see which specialty stores best fit my target market.

By: fredrick (NIGERIA)

fredrick (NIGERIA) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:00:31 +0000

hi,
i am Fred from Nigeria. i am 21 yrs old and a student of civil engineering. i already run a clothing line and this has been for like close to a year plus but i have to deal with the problem of getting committed people to work with. i have a partner but he’s so much engaged in some other stuff that he hardly has the time for the co., pls, how do i go about this?

By: serina

serina — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:24:22 +0000

I want to start a clothing line and I can sew; but, I have no idea how to do pattern making. How do I make patterns and how do I make all pattern pieces coordinate and fit the size? How do I find fabrics?

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:35:05 +0000

I would love to start my own clothing brand but I just don’t where to start.
Your post was very helpfull. Unfortunatly, it’s out of my reality. I’m living in Portugal, and things are different here. But the Internet option seemed ok for a start.
We just got to have money to get the fabrics and to pay the sewers initially to make some pieces.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 15:48:12 +0000

Hi Elizabeth
A couple of things “bug” me. These also bug everyone else btw.

1. People intend to generate an income, if not profit off of my advice. Why am I not entitled to the same? Let’s be real. If I didn’t generate revenue, the site wouldn’t exist and everyone would lose.

2. It’s the sense of entitlement that bugs me most. People feel entitled to generate their profit but I’m not. Why are they more special than me when I’m the one doing them the favor, lol!

3. Often, not saying you are, the people who want answers to the most basic questions are drive-bys, hit and run. Take what they can get and go. No commitment. They don’t want to do their homework, minimally searching the site for the answers. They want me to serve it up personally. I do not hesitate to help people, pointing them to salient entries if it is obvious they’ve looked already. Often, they just need the right search terms because industry terminology is different from what newcomers use. I help all of those people.

4. Clutter. Many people here are ready to move beyond the basics. The entry level questions are asked over and over and over (see #3). If the basics are covered in the book, we can use this blog to grow beyond that.

5. Successes are generated by a few individuals in key groups. This is one of them. This is where the best thinking takes place, people who are committed to each other (see the forum). It doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Asking other people to commit to a hit and run or a drive-by dive bomber, cheapens the commitments of people who’ve availed themselves to others. They tire of it. I can’t tell you how many thank you letters I got from forum members, thanking me for closing it off to the general public.

6. It is difficult to answer many questions in snap shots. There are too many related factors. One entry won’t cut it. The book provides a comprehensive step by step logical sequence, with check lists, detailed instructions and forms. I just don’t see how that could be done except in a whole series of posts (and then I’d still get emails from drive-bys who didn’t bother to search the site). Even something as simple as issuing style numbers is complex. I don’t know how many entries I’ve written on that. It looks easy if you’re on the outside looking in. Inside, it’s much more complex. Doable, but complex.