5 Rookie Mistakes to avoid when starting a Fashion Business

5 Rookie Mistakes to avoid when starting a Fashion Business

, iSo, you have creative ideas for your fashion brand and are looking to start a fashion business soon or might have already launched. If yes, that’s wonderful, but that stage you’re in is a delicate one.

An overwhelming number of fashion businesses fail during the first two years of operation, and roughly half of all of them don’t survive past the fifth year. These brands launch with so much enthusiasm and fire, but when you check back in a year or two, they seem like they’re barely surviving.

How do you successfully launch and grow? Here are 5 mistakes you should avoid when starting your fashion business.

 

1. Launching without learning, research & proper planning

I know you might be tempted to ‘wing it’ and start with whatever you think will be fast-selling, but that’s not the way to go about it. If you’re going to succeed in business, you need to do proper research and planning. Start by educating yourself about the fashion industry, learn about the creative, technical, and business side of fashion. Study other fashion businesses, find out where they excel, where they are lacking, and then you can now come up with a solid plan.

 

2. Trying to be for everyone

When it comes to business, you can’t please everyone, don’t even try to. Find out the gaps that exist in the market and select a niche. When you choose a target audience, make sure you stick to it. For instance, if you pick a large target market it won’t necessarily translate to more customers. You might have to spread yourself thin and under-deliver, so don’t be tempted to change your target market every three months because you think a different one is better.

 

3. Start too big

You don’t have to start with 30 styles, a professional photoshoot, or a big fancy store in Victoria Island, especially if all your money will be going into it. You need money to run and scale the business; if you expend all the money at the start, it will be hard to grow and scale the business.

 

4. Underpricing or overpricing your products

Pricing is a powerful yet overlooked pillar of every fashion business. Alot of new fashion business owners make the mistake of pricing their products too low, hoping to increase it after they get alot of customers. However, this plan usually backfires. You need to find the right price point, either by calculating or using a pricing tool. That is why, we created an affordable pricing calculator that does the job effectively.

It not only helps you know exactly how much to charge your customer but also enables you to analyze discounts, track expenses, and set targets for yourself. Awesome right?!

 

5. Failing to invest in marketing

The business world today isn’t what it was five years ago. There are thousands of fashion brands coming up with products just like you are. To reach your customers, you need to invest in marketing and brand awareness. They can’t find you where you are, that’s why you need to go to them. There are a variety of marketing strategies you can implement. You can try; influencer, affiliate, email, referral, and social media marketing. Pick anyone you think will be the right for your brand and get started. What other mistakes do you see new fashion business owners making? Let us know in the comments.

 

If you want to learn how to build and grow a successful fashion business, we have online fashion courses for you. 

7 Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur – Free PDF

7 Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur – Free PDF

I was excited to join the world of Entrepreneurship. I had quit my job, gone to fashion school and like every other creative, I was determined to turn my passion to profit. But nothing prepared me for the real world of business! ⁣

⁣In no time, I was frustrated! I cried my eyes out running a business that left me constantly under pressure. I was out of cash and literally spent all I earned on the business with nothing to show for it. It was a real rat race! ⁣

One thing I can tell you, entrepreneurship is not easy! You have to keep working at it and slowly things will make sense.⁣ Although it can be an 'exciting' journey (because frankly I could do without that excitement) but it can also be a long and lonely journey. You pretty much lose track of everything in a bid to make things work. You are so consumed with the business that you spend less time with friends, family and you become a shadow of yourself - if you allow yourself to!

A lot of the things I learnt the hard way, I wish someone warned me about it. Nothing you learn in school prepares you for the real thing.

So this is me taking a trip down memory lane. I have made TONS of mistakes that if I had to write them all, I would fill an encyclopaedia so it was tough to pick these 7 but here they are. It's a really short read - just 1 page per mistake!

Here's hoping you will learn from my experience and avoid making the same mistakes I made.⁣


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AND if you made mistakes as well, share them in the comments below and how you solved them. We'd love to learn from you as well!  Don't forget to leave us a review too! 🙂


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About Me

Tope Williams Adewunmi Martwayne

Tope Williams-Adewunmi

FOUNDER, MARTWAYNE

A fashion entrepreneur passionate about helping people turn their passion to profit.  Check out the home page for more of our business tools, online and offline fashion courses and PDF books. 

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