Great resource for apparel start-ups
If you are a start-up company in the apparel industry, I highly recommend a site called Fashion Incubator. Fashion Incubator offers great advice for apparel manufacturing and the fashion business in general, particularly for small businesses. It has been an invaluable source of information for my business of girls’ stylish smocked dresses. I have found very useful resources on how to build a line sheet for my Spring/Summer line of little girl dresses, advice on the role of sales reps in the clothing industry, and comments on the pros and cons of having a website when you are also trying to sell to retailers. Kathleen Fasanella, who has nearly 27 years of experience in the apparel industry, writes nearly all the material on the site. Subscribing to receive their emails is free. Along the same line, I recommend Toronto Fashion Incubator. This site, with a focus on Toronto, ‘nurtures and supports fashion entrepreneurs’. The content is nevertheless not free; you can become a member for $130…..which I still haven’t done. I’m tempted to join to gain access to interesting seminars and information, such as a list of retailers in Canada and the U.S. and Sales Reps. As a small business in the children’s clothing business, with limited funds for professional advice, these sites have become extremely useful as a source of information to guide me through the intricacies of having a small business designing and manufacturing little girls’ dresses.
Maria
Fine Children’s Clothing
Kathleen said,
August 4, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
Hi Maria
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Thanks for the plug. I would say tho that the best part of fashion-incubator is what goes on behind the scenes in the member’s forum. To join, one has to have purchased The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing. Btw, the site works hand in hand with the book and you get a lot more out of the site if you have it since the blog doesn’t duplicate its content. Iow, fashion-incubator.com is a set of three tools and I’d encourage people to avail themselves to the full set of resources as they grow into need of them. Our results in nurturing start ups speaks for itself
best wishes for your continued success!