Fashion Business: Steps to Success

Fashion Business: Steps to Success

Many people have dreamed of starting their own successful fashion line, but only a handful have actually achieved that dream. Fashion may be "fun" as Elaine Stone says, but the "fame" and "fortune" parts are much harder to come by. This is because fashion is an extremely competitive industry. It is also a very close-knit industry (no pun intended), making it hard to "nearly-impossible" for outsiders to break into the circle. Those who succeed in the world of fashion are those who understand that it is a business, not just a creative outlet. Just like any other product development strategy, designing and distributing a fashion line requires a step-by-step process. According to Elaine Stone, there are six stages to developing a fashion line: 1. Planning a line 2. Creating the design concept; 3. Developing designs; 4. Planning production; 5. Production; 6. Distributing the line (165). In this paper, I will be discussing these steps in detail for the purpose of creating a better understanding of how the industry works. I will also discuss outsourcing and identify three examples of wholesale manufacturers who sell exclusively to designers and manufacturers. Finally, I will summarize my findings and draw conclusions from them.

Planning the Production

Planning the production of a fashion line begins with an idea. The idea has to be something unique and special; something that people have not seen a thousand times before. Once the idea is formulated, it has to be transferred from your mind to something concrete that can be produced and sold. This involves not only the technical processes and the purchase of materials, but it also involves developing a solid vision about what you want your product to be, how you want it to be distributed and marketed, and what will help you succeed in these endeavors. Timing is, of course, always a major factor in launching a new product line. For example, going into production of a high end fashion line for the "everyday woman" during the middle of an economic recession is probably not a wise idea. Planning efforts also have to keep up with the latest trends. For example, designing a line of silk purple clothing just a year or two after such a trend has died, will likely result in disaster. It is also important to be able to accurately forecast what the future trends will be and how likely that your product will sell well. According to Slywotskcy, Morrison and Andelman, there are a number of ways to forecast the demand for a new product that are different from those used to estimate the demand for an existing product. These methods include:

projecting the demand for a new product based on its relationship to an existing old product analyzing the demand for the new product as a substitute for an existing product or service projecting the rate of growth and the level of demand for the new product on the basis of patterns of growth of established products estimating the demand from samples of projected purchases selling the product initially by internet, mail order or through chain stores to estimate demand surveying dealers as a surrogate for a survey of consumers' reaction (118-119).

The product launch will also require strategies to influence demand through marketing, advertising and promotion. However before that step comes into play, the goods have to be produced. Some people choose to outsource the production of their line.

Outsourcing

'Outsourcing' and 'offshoring' have been increasingly used by U.S. multinational firms to maintain cost and quality competitiveness. This has obviously had a dynamic impact on domestic employment as well as local and multinational economic strategies. However these terms are not as interchangeable as they often seem to be. According to Brown and Seigel "Outsourcing is the movement of work that was formerly conducted in-house by employees paid directly by a company to a different company. The different company can be located inside or outside of the United States. The work can occur at a different geographic location or remain onsite" (4). Offshoring on the other hand, as is explained by Brown and Seigel "is the movement of work from within the United States to locations outside of the United States. 'Offshoring' can occur within the same company and involve movement of work to a different location of that company outside of the United States, or to a different company altogether" (4). Simply put, outsourcing is contracting with an outside company in any location, while offshoring is contracting with a company outside the United States.

Examples of Exclusive Wholesale Manufacturers

One example of a wholesale manufacturer that sells exclusively is Mona Lisa Fashions Inc. This "is a full-service cut & sew apparel contractor serving the women's, children's and men's apparel markets." They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania and are encouraging designers not to outsource or offshore their products but to come to them instead. Another example is Sports and Sports International, a company that manufactures sports accessories and apparel. On their website, they announce, "We are one of the most prominent manufacturers, suppliers and exporters of an exclusively broad range of sports products equipment & accessories throughout the world." Finally, there is Fashion Bella, an exclusive jewelry manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Why Go Overseas?

The history of outsourcing and offshoring began when companies began to acquire so many other companies that they could not deal with everything they had to deal with in-house. Originally they would outsource to domestic companies. However, once they began to realize how much money they could save by outsourcing in other countries, they began not only doing it when they needed help, but simply to save money and increase profits. According to Reh (2009) "Companies began outsourcing work to the lowest bidder and lost sight of the effect it had on the company except for finances. Outsourcing this work to 'foreign' or 'offshore' companies, solely to take advantage of lower labor rates in those countries, became known as offshoring."