Clothing Line Help

[continued] Press releases for your clothing line are a must. Do not depend on others to write for you for free. I’ve had this tossed at me numerous times and to be honest, its the quickest way for a successful person to ignore you.

Asking for freebies from a person who is successful makes no sense because it benefits them probably nothing and they already have a stressful lifestyle maintaining their own business and bills. Why would they add to that stress trying to work for you? Writing a press release for your clothing line is not hard and the only excuse to not create them for yourself is laziness.

A press release for your clothing line should be interesting to readers and publications that might pick it up. You want to write about things important to your clothing line and use keywords throughout the release that your target audience might Google search or browse for on a news site.

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Clothing Investors for fashion designers

[continued] A third and last idea for expansion is finding a financial backer or investor for your clothing line. Investors, sometimes termed angel investors, are always looking to let their money work for them but usually are very strict on what you must present to them for a plan. If your plan is not looking 100% lean/fit they will reject your proposal and you will be back at the drawing board. With an investor, your first appearance is everything so make sure you are giving your best shot. A full business plan should be presented with numbers everywhere, graphs, statistics, and history.

A method I’ve always though about but never tried was simply sending out a press release about your clothing line looking for investors to expand. As simple as that, I think it can help raise awareness of what you are trying to do in a good way but should be done before you actually need the funding so your options are open.

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[continued] Do not ask for a multi-month plan which you pay the discounted rate each month. It shows your lack of seriousness to many and may get you ignored by a publication that could have done great things for your clothing line.

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[continued] Once established, you have a few options to expand your clothing line. Angel Investors, celebrities, and pre-orders with store accounts are all ways of funding expansion.

Going backwards, taking pre-orders from store accounts is the riskiest way to expand your clothing line and I would not recommend it typically. It is sure to cross your mind when looking to expand but I assure you it?s a lot harder than you will expect to manage that money properly. If you choose to go this way, put everything on paper and stick to that paperwork only to save money. If you come across an option that keeps some in your pocket, go for it, but do not spend against your clothing line expansion plans.

A second option, is celebrity backing. If you have celebrity contacts, a solid history, and a great expansion plan for your clothing line, you can always pitch the idea to a person with money and influence. If popular they already know their influence value and if a product is already successful on its own, the combination will only take the brand to global sales success. You will need to reinvent your marketing plan to utilize the celebrity?s image in association with the brand, but this is an almost sure way to sell your clothing line to store accounts internationally.

[continued] The designs you have created to start a clothing line will be turned over to a garment manufacturer for production after you complete designs. If you want, you can find an American garment manufacturer but your costs will of course be higher. If you are not familiar with garment manufacturers overseas, use sites such as AliBaba as a networking resource. Quite a few clothing manufacturers list here.

Beyond only manufacturing your clothing line, using ApparelSource.com as another great resource for listings and knowledge would be wise.

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