How To Write A Business Plan For A Fashion Business

Fashion Design - How To

I receive questions from people quite often about business advice that I can give them. I decided that it is probably best to just summarize it here as briefly as I can and maybe provide a list, like a table of contents, that would serve as a template for those that are starting out.

One of the most important things to do before starting a business is writing a business plan.

A business plan is usually used to get a loan from a bank, it doesn't just talk about what you want to do, it has to be written like a research paper that proves to the bank why they should give you money, and provide proof that you will be successful and proof that you will repay them (with interest).

 

But, even if you are not looking to get a loan...

A business plan is also good for helping you realize things you might not have thought about.That is why I think it is really important to write one anyway. The biggest part of running a business, is running a business. That includes research. So this is a good start!

Below I have written out a summary of things that you would naturally include in a business plan for a fashion business. These things are also great to consider before opening up a business license as a thought action plan. Feel free to copy and paste these into a word document and to use these as a template for a business plan! Remember, depending on your company differentiation, you might want to add some categories.

1. Company name, logo, date founded
2. Summary of team that is part of the business and their roles 
1. You will go into more detail proving why this team will help your business later.
2. Nice to include photos and contact information
3.  Company information (basic summary of what you plan to do) and a brief summary of your company history
4. Company motto and mission statement
5. Company deep dives (In great detail you will be describing your company)
1. Product (You will need to know exactly what types of products you plan to make and describe these. I recommend having collection sketches with fabric swatches and a cost sheet done for each garment)
2. Why product will sell (What makes your product special and why should people want your product)
3. Branding (Describe your brand, your lifestyle image of your product)
4. Short term business goals and how you plan to achieve them
5. Long term business goals and how you plan to achieve them
6. Resources (What resources you will need in order to produce, market and sell your product. You will get into more detail on these specifics later, so a summary will suffice before the bullet points. I recommend listing all items out first and then doing deep dives)
1. Woven labels (describe woven labels and attachment method, images included of design with measurements and color codes. List out place where you will manufacture these and why that is the most cost effective place)
1. You will need to make sure you follow all legal regulations for tagging garments for sale
2. Hang tags (describe hang tags,images included of design with measurements and color codes. List out place where you will manufacture these and why that is the most cost effective place)
3. Packaging (describe how you will package and deliver your product and where the distribution happens from. Describe the packaging design, images included of design with measurements and color codes. List out place where you will manufacture these and why that is the most cost effective place)
4. Tagging (describe the tagging method for hang tags, images included of design with measurements and color codes. List out place where you will manufacture these and why that is the most cost effective place)
5. Labeling(describe your labeling process and design and methodology, images included of design with measurements and color codes. List out place where you will manufacture these and why that is the most cost effective place) 
7. Production
1. Sourcing
1. Where you will get all materials, who will do the sourcing for trim, findings, fabric etc. How they will help sell your product. (Don't forget to follow all laws and regulations for labeling fabric content)
2.  Cut and sew contractors
1. You will need to describe what form of production you will undertake for the estimated quantity of product you plan to produce, how it will be produced and who you are hiring. You will need to describe why you are hiring that specific cut and sew contractor and prove that that is the best decision for your business.
2. Location of production
3. Location of packaging and product distribution
3. Cost of production (How much it will cost to produce each of those in bulk, how quantity affects cost) 
4. Timelines and time expectations for production, tagging, and delivery
8. Market analysis (This is incredibly important to your business)
1. Demographics (Target Market and why)
2. Geographical (where you are selling and why)
3. Market entry (really important to think about this)
4. Barriers to entry (really important to think about this)
5. Expansion
9. Marketing and advertising (you will need to IN GREAT LENGTH describe HOW you intend to advertise and market your product.)
1. Look books
2. Trade Shows
3. Print and video advertising (Where you will place print ads and how much that will cost is important to include and look into)
4. Sell through and building demand (if these two things don't happen your business will surely fail)
5. Ways to build brand awareness and demand
10. Forecasting and research
1. If you are designing trend driven garments that are not part of a niche group you will need to prove how you know you garments will sell (otherwise you will spend money on bulk that just collects dust at home or never sells out to made to order). So you need to describe in great detail what kind of business consultation/ publicist you will have and how you plan to do trend forecasting.
11. Competitor analysis (can't stress enough how important it is to pick out 3-4 competitors that make the same product you do and do the following for each of them)
1. Competitor demographics and product analysis
2. Competitor market entry
3. Competitor market share and expansion
4. Competitor advertising
12. Company differentiation (Really Important! This is about you!)
13. Management team
1. All the people that are part of the company, their history and why they will help you be successful 
2. It is helpful to create a list of job roles that will need to be filled to make your business successful first, and then describe how those roles will be fullfilled and distributed.
14. Financial analysis - Costs and Expenditures
1. How much everything will cost you to make/produce per garment, in total, and over time
2. How much you will need to pay employees in a year over the time you described in your expansion plan. 
3. Keep in mind taxes and other government fees 
4. Include website and advertising costs
5. Don't forget manufacturing overhead and other investments in assets
15. Financial projections 
1. Monthly and yearly based on REAL ESTIMATES in order to prove that you can cover your costs and expenditures over time.
16. Loan proposal ( How much you will need, why you need that much, what it will cover and where the money will go)
17. Loan repayment plan
1. Monthly and yearly (Don't forget to count interest rate!)

And that sums up the business plan summary. Hope this helps you in your business ventures and gets you to think about how to be successful.

Let me know your thoughts!

xoxo

Nune

Innovation In Textiles

Textiles - Innovation and Design

Nune Hov

I had the opportunity a while back to be interviewed for a documentary as a fashion expert. One of the questions I was asked was what inspired me as a designer and what inspires innovation in design in general. My answer was, "Everything!".

I feel like I failed. I wasn't wrong, but I failed because I did not describe why everything inspires innovation in design, specifically when thinking about the innovation in textiles. So I would like to make up for it now.

 Innovation in textiles is provoked by many things, some of those I can briefly summarize. They will be:

• Art and Pop Culture Movements
• Socio-economic need
• Cultural roles
• Technology
• Functional needs
• Cyclical trends

 Art movements and pop culture, throughout our history, have been an integral part of every design industry. As stated in previous posts; clothing is what we wear, but fashion is a form of self and group expression. Since many designers create textiles specific to their seasonal lines it goes without saying that collaborations with local or popular artists will yield innovative prints or styles of textiles.

Throughout history art movements like, art nouveau, dadaism, futurism and many others directly affected fashion as they were the top of mind cultural influence. We will never forget how during the pop art movement Andy Warhol created the Campbell Soup mini dress (1966) or how during the abstract movement Yves Saint Laurent created a mini dress identical to Mondrian's painting.

On a more recent note I think we can all safely agree that when Frozen came out (and the year after) every fabric store "magically" began to carry every possible blue fabric interpretation of the "ice dress".

What happens in our economy largely affects our art movements, our film and pop culture and also what we wear. The golden era in the United States was a time for frivolity and color and social progression with the women's rights movement. But during the great depression in the early 1930's fashion changed dramatically to reflect the deflated economy. We live in a multi-trend society now where fashion cycles very quickly. But that was not the case back then. It was only after the mid 1930's that, even during the great depression, society at large seemed to want to fill a void with opulence. There was a need and a drive to experience something royal.

There were many designers that jumped at the opportunity to provide opulence to a depraved society, but Elsa Schiaparelli was the leader in textile innovation during this time. From what was a dull filled decade she brought textile innovations to the world that were rich like sequins and rhodophane. This was a huge technological advancement in the textile industry. Soon matelasse fabrics became popular and so did perma-pleating textiles. Largely embroidered velvets became popular as the trend to be inspired from the artistic movements in China began to influence Western culture as well. Fabric was being stamped, burned, crinkled, pleated and chemically processed.

Our world and what happens in it affects our lives and our roles. Women used to lead sedentary lifestyles until men went to war in the 1940s. They wore pants for the first time to fulfill the roles at home that their husbands could no longer do. Women began to work in factories and on farms doing hard labor that required durable textiles and freedom of movement.

It was shocking (maybe not to the world, but to me) how quickly women's roles took decades of steps back when the men came back from war. With Christian Dior's New Way women went back into the home and began to experience a life of luxury and leisure and had taken back the corset (even though the bra was already invented in 1936).

Technology affects all industries as it also affects the textile industry. There are almost a million examples of this. The most fun for me are the spray on textiles that were created by the medical industry. Textiles that are hydrophobic and never get wet are the latest sensation thanks to technological advancements and are used in everything from shoes to shirts. Several years ago Chinese scientists created a textiles that would bend the light around it and would appear 'see-through' when looked at through a camera. Laser cutting created a new way for designers to manipulate and design fabrics. Our latest 3D printing brought forth creative innovations in fashion like the designs of Iris Van Herpen. And who can forget the memorable Hussein Chalayn 2007 show where digital wires were woven into the textiles so that the garments could move on their own?

I think that touches the tip of technological innovation in textiles, but I think it is good enough.

While a lot of designers create textiles because of aesthetic needs, many create textiles specific to functional needs. Most significantly this happens in the performance wear categories in fashion, but is not necessarily limited to it. Airplanes have luggage bags that are created from a material that is considered one of the strongest. Hot air balloons are made from nylons that are light but sturdy, and yet these same nylon materials are taken and adjusted in performance wear to be light to wear, breathe while exercising and perform other complex tasks.

However, these functional innovations in textiles also transcend into the fashion world. For example, when Balenciaga used neoprene to create gowns for the red carpet and skirts and sweaters.

I could probably write ten pages about these two categories alone.

Lastly, in design we cannot ignore the existence of cyclical trends. Some textile and design innovations keep coming back and continue to be cycled and re-cycled throughout our history. For example, the striped blazer. The striped blazer was first introduced as cruise wear in 1890s and then would disappear and reappear again in 1930s, 1970s and most recently in 2010.

I think that this more or less appropriate to the summary I was referring to in the introduction to this post.

I can now feel like I answered that original question several years ago to my satisfaction.
Can't wait to post more later!

xoxo
Nune

Gabino Mabalay Does it Again!

Another great series of great photography by Gabino Mabalay

All styling and makeup done by Nune Hov 2015

Follow me on Instagram @NuneHovCouture

 

NUNE HOV COUTURE DOES KPUNK

its all about the color + the 'tude

 

xoxo

Nune Hov

@NuneHovCouture

Fantasy Glamour by Noctem Photography

Nune Hov for Noctem Photography

 

Check them both out in Rebelicious Magazine Issue # 25

http://issuu.com/rebeliciousmagazine/docs/rebelicious_issue25digi

Or buy the 2015 Gothesque Calendar

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/822542 

 

xoxo

Nune Hov

@NuneHovCouture

BRAND RELEASE + KICKSTARTER

KARTOFIL + KICKSTARTER

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nunehovcouture/kartofil

A campaign to manufacture a collection and create a look-book for retailers that will spearhead and sell the release of my first brand.

(Updates to Come to This Post In November)

Nune Hov Couture (www.nunehov.com) is a brand dedicated to the young & hip; to those trendsetting teens who take risks in their style. It is a brand you wear to feel cool,to rock ‘n roll, to party with your friends and to prowl the city streets in the search of freedom. At least that’s what I want it to be.

from the collection

While I may be a market research analyst by day, by night I am the owner of a soon to be famous fashion design company. And although I currently have a glorified employee list of one, I have always dreamed of expanding the company, and of working in fashion design full time. Before you think I’m in way over my head, let me tell you a little bit more about me:

I finished IADT with a degree in Fashion Design in 2011. I fell in love with fashion when I started modeling in 2007. Beginning in 2008, I have been teaching at local agencies; I teach everything from runway, posing, and industry terminology to acting and speech. This drive to be part of the fashion world also pulled me into event production. I have produced and directed over 85 fashion shows over the span of 6 years. I have even opened a non-profit corporation for the purpose of supporting and promoting local talent in the art, fashion and music industry through scholarships and exposure. My annual show, called NNU for Seattle’s “Northwest Networking Umbrella” currently boasts over 4,000 members in the Facebook group and we are growing every day.

In order for me to really get my fashion design company going, I need to manufacture, produce and grade a few pieces from my new collection, all of which costs way more than a junior market research analyst can afford. I am hoping that dreams can come true on Kickstarter.

from the collection

Photographing mermaids in chainmail gowns underwater or dressing up models in hand sown bubble wrap dresses are but a few of the things to be expected from Nune Hov Couture, but I also design more casual clothing for every day use.

 from the collection

For the purposes of this Kickstarter campaign, I am hoping to jumpstart my ready-to-wear fashion brand KARTOFIL – a hip, ready to wear collection focused on denims and motorcycle jackets. All of my looks will be produced, manufactured and designed in the US! This Brand is about attitude. I plan to work with domestically produced and recycled textiles. I believe we can change the world through what we wear, so I choose not to use fur and leather in any of my designs to discourage animal cruelty.

                                          from the collection

On the business end of things, the most difficult tasks are production and selling of designed garments.

I have written and developed a detailed business plan; I possess both a degree in business as well as in fashion design, so I am pretty confident that I can successfully produce and sell my garments.
I have already tested the manufacturing process by producing and grading a sample garment I had developed. Including writing spec packs, building prototypes and managing the tagging, branding process post production.

Because I have many connections in the fashion industry in Seattle, I know I can find all the necessary resources for advertising after my look-book is completed. The only thing that stands in the way of advertising success is the financial investment needed for print ads and online ads. If it were not for Kickstarter, I would not know how to realize my dreams without taking out a big business loan. I am very grateful for this opportunity, and extend a thanks to all those who have taken the time to even click on this link and read about my project.

To pre-order your very own Asymentric Floor Length Top (pictured below) or Buy your own custom Mermaid Chainmal Gown donate at Kickstarter:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nunehovcouture/kartofil

                                          Asymetric Floor Length Top - from the collection

xoxo
Nune

Oblique Foto for Ratliff Industries

Swimwear

by: Nune Hov

Produced by: Ratliff Industries and Oblique Foto

  xoxo

@NuneHovCouture