The nitty gritty of starting a business in the fashion industry? -

i m 25 and my new years resolution is to set up my own fashion boutique. I am good at art and drawing and I love fashion. i do not have a fashion degree. my goal is to do volunteering work setting up a fashion show which I have already organised with a. volunteering company.first of all, I need to find a job to get the financial gain and then this is where I need to decide how much money I need and networking as well as having a reliable accountant. My dad is an accountant and my mum has her own launderette. the problem is my mum is supportive of my decision of opening up business, but she assumes I cant cope because there s so much pressure that s involved. it s not that she doesn t believe in me, she doesn t want me to struggle in business. that s one problem, how can I convince my mum to help me with my business? my dad is surely willing to help me too and he is staying positive about it. I know I need to research the market but how? how do you look into competitors? how do you see a gap in the market? how do you research your market than just researching online? a book tells me to write down how much income I will be getting each month? how do you estimate income as I need to find out the income I need each month and distinguish it with profit. the book tells me how to estimate how much income I ll be making in the first three months, how? how much money do you need anyway to set up a boutique? I know it goes down to hard work and pressure but with my passion for fashion, art and design, my mum (which I need convincing) owning her own launderette and my dad as an accountant, I know I can make it happen. how can you sample your product before its sold? how do you predict fashion trends? I will consider doing a fashion and art and design course but not later when I have everything planned.

The fashion industry, as you can well imagine, is a very competitive one. To succeed takes knowledge, patience, talent and a bit of luck. As far as the knowledge bit goes, I found some sources that will assist you further.Associations may be a good avenue to explore. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you ll inevitably have about the clothing industry as well as many you haven t anticipated yet. http://www.iacde.com/ -- International Association of Clothing Designers Executiveshttp://www.apparelsearch.com/association�� -- Associations Directory for the Apparel Fashion IndustryThere s nothing quite like research �C the more you know about the clothing industry, the better. There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check out these articles:http://ezinearticles.com/?Key-to-Startin�� �C Key to Starting Your Own Clothing Company by Bradley Johnsonhttp://ezinearticles.com/?Your-New-Cloth�� �C Your New Clothing Company �C Apparel Sourcing by Bradley Johnsonhttp://ezinearticles.com/?Fashion-Market�� �C Fashion Marketing 101 by Amie PronowskiAlso, here are some book titles that may interest you:* The Official Step-by-Step Guide to Starting a Clothing Line by Jay Arrington,* The Business of Fashion: Designing, Manufacturing, and Marketing by Leslie Davis Burns* Fashion for Profit (Revised Edition with Retail Chapter) by Frances Harder* The Fashion Designer Survival Guide: An Insider s Look at Starting and Running Your Own Fashion Business by Mary GehlharHope that helps! I wish you much success happiness in all your ventures!

You re so welcome! If I can answer any other questions, please let me know. Best of luck to you! Report Abuse

im doing the same thing but im 1 with 2 friends trying to raise money. it shouldn t be that hard just raise money start in a garage or something and climb up the ladder like we hope 2 do!

To be honest you are asking far too many questions here and have probably put people of attempting to answerMaybe ask your parents all of this, because if they are already in business they will give you starting pointsYou don t say where you live,so that also prevents a constructive answerAnyone starting out in business has really to do their own homework by looking at where there are fashion boutiques already , and how are they successful, is it their designs, their individuality, their prices, their location,their customer service ?Then prepare a robust Business Plan with everything taken into accountSeriously only you can do this, not us