After Sarah Donofrio graduated with a degree in fashion design, the real world confronted her with the question that haunts all creative types: "Now what?".
Fashion school taught Sarah how to pattern, sew, and embellish clothes. She learned how to do a French seam . She could tell you all about proper fit. What her education didn't teach her, however, was how to actually create her own fashion brand.
To realize your dream and implement a business idea in practice, as well as to succeed in the crazy world of fashion, you need a certain set of skills, a large dose of creativity and a pinch of business acumen.
Over the past two decades, Sarah has learned this well and today she is a successful designer and owner of her own branded online clothing store.
Sarah has lived and worked in two countries, and her experience spans everything from design and product creation to teaching and actual sales. Over her many years in the industry, she has been constantly learning and working, often simultaneously.
In 2016, Sarah became a contestant on Season 15 of the reality show Project Runway. Since then, she has launched her namesake brand as an online store on Shopify, won numerous awards, and had her work featured in numerous publications and retailers.
In this guide, which includes advice from a seasoned professional, we'll cover all the ins and outs of starting a clothing brand from scratch, from preparation and design to production and marketing.
Improving your clothing design skills
Designers like Vivienne Westwood and Dapper Dan have achieved huge success in the fashion world despite being self-taught. And they began their careers before the Internet. We live in an era of accessibility, where you can learn how to fix an engine or sew a dress yourself by simply watching a YouTube video.
It's possible to start your own clothing line without taking a course, but a basic education, whether in a classroom or online, has its benefits: learning the latest industry standards, access to resources and equipment, networking, and advice from professionals.
Sarah admits that her success was dependent on gaining professional skills in the classroom, but she gained most of her education on the job, working in corporate retail. " I wanted to work for myself ", she says. "But I felt it was important to gain experience".
She's a big proponent of taking a few years to learn from other brands and designers. "It took me a long time to be confident enough to fill a store with my clothes", says Sarah Donofrio. "I think I needed time to grow, get advice, and get the experience I needed".
Step-by-step guide: how to launch your own clothing brand
In this video, we'll walk you through the ins and outs of the fashion industry and everything you need to know to start a successful clothing line from scratch.
Many schools offer fashion design and small business programs in a variety of formats. Schools like Parsons in New York and Central Saint Martins in the UK are world-renowned for their fashion programs.
If you have more passion than money or time, there are plenty of online crash courses for those interested in the fashion industry. Check with your local community college for distance or part-time courses that fit your schedule and budget. Or consider learning from sites like MasterClass (which has a fashion design course taught by Marc Jacobs himself), Maker's Row Academy, or Udemy.
We create a business plan for launching a clothing store
As Sarah discovered, the worlds of fashion and business intersect much more than she expected.
Starting a clothing line requires the same basics as starting any business. How much money do you need to get started? When should you start raising capital for your startup? What outside help will you need to handle the legal, financial, manufacturing, and distribution aspects of the business? Where and how will you manufacture your clothing? Let's take a closer look.
What is your business model?
This guide is for those who want to create and grow their own clothing brand and collection. If you are interested in the fashion world but have no design skills, consider reselling, buying wholesale or try dropshipping.
For those who are developing a clothing line from scratch, this is an important point because at this stage you decide what type of business you want to run. Depending on this, you determine how much time, effort and money you will need at the initial stage.
Several business models:
- Handcrafted and sold directly to customers through our own website, online, markets and island retail outlets.
- Create collections and produce clothing through a manufacturer and then sell the clothing line wholesale to other retailers.
- Create designs or graphics to be printed on t-shirts and other clothing items using a print-on-demand business model and sell them online through your own store.
You can read more about the most popular business models in this article.
How much does it cost to start a clothing line?
Once you have a business idea for a clothing line, you can finance it yourself as you go. Designing and making custom clothing yourself means you'll have to keep a ton of inventory in stock. To be profitable, you'll have to invest in equipment and the right amount of fabric. Other costs include shipping materials, paying for a website launch, and marketing.
If you plan to work with manufacturers to produce in bulk, you will need a large upfront investment to meet the minimum requirements. A solid business plan and costing exercise will help you determine how much you will need.
Either way, be prepared to spend thousands of dollars. Sarah puts it this way: "In fashion, you're not just paying for fabric, buttons, and labor. You're paying for shipping, heating, and rent".
But we are ready to please you that there are several budget entry points into the world of fashion, including consignment (commission sale of goods, in which the owner transfers the goods to the consignee at the warehouse, but the goods remain the property of the consignee until they are sold), dropshipping and print printing.
Additional information on the topic:
- How to write a business plan.
- How much does it really cost to start a business?
- Business Types: Which Legal Structure is Right for Your New Business?
- How to Get a Small Business Loan (+ Everything You Need to Know About It).
- A Guide to Successful Crowdfunding.
We follow fashion trends and choose our niche
Sarah keeps a close eye on fashion trends, but ultimately only uses those that make sense for her brand.
Over the years, Sarah has learned that following fashion trends is important, but it is equally important to focus on your own taste. Build on your strengths and be true to your own design sense.
Fashion school teaches you the basics of creating everything from lingerie to evening wear. "The trick is to find what you're good at and really focus on that. I've always had a really good sense of what's trending", says Sarah.
Although her clothing line is consistent year after year, Sarah makes her own design choices and always keeps an eye on fashion trends. She says the key is to adapt these trends to her brand, personalize them, and make them work for the client.
Sarah worked on plus-size collections during her time at a corporate company and says it's important to cater to the needs of plus-size customers.
While Sarah sticks to her strengths, she's always evolving in other directions to accommodate what's happening in fashion and the world around her. "Take athleisure, for example", she says. "I don't do leggings, I don't do sports bras, but my cool wovens would look amazing with leggings, so that's how I'm going to embrace the athleisure trend".
By maintaining tight production boundaries and control over design, Sarah was able to pivot quickly after the global pandemic by adding face masks with her signature prints. She sold 1,100 masks in two months and built a loyal customer base through those sales.
Sarah responded quickly to the mask shortage caused by COVID-19 and sold 1,100 in just two months.
To get inspiration for your own idea, read fashion magazines, follow influencers, subscribe to fashion newsletters and podcasts to be able to catch new fashion trends before they happen.
In the bustling world of fashion, think about carving out the right niche or filling gaps in the industry like these creatives:
- Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart launched vegan winter coat brand Vaute Couture after discovering a lack of animal-free winter coats on the market.
- Catalina Girald created lingerie brand Naja, which is based on empowerment and inclusivity.
- Camille Newman has brought a new twist to her brand, Body by Love (formerly Pop Up Plus).
- Mel Wells has launched a gender-neutral, vintage-inspired swimwear line.
- Taryn Rodighiero also joined the swimwear theme, but focused on custom suits, tailored to each client's exact specifications.
Additional information on the topic:
- What is a Niche Market? 9 Examples + Products to Sell.
- How to Calculate Market Demand for Your E-Commerce Business.
We create a unique brand for our clothing line
Consistency is the key to Sarah's successful Instagram tactics. Sarah's Instagram photos
Remember that "branding" is not the same as your logo (that's branding). Creating your fashion brand is about properly communicating to visitors your values, your mission, what you stand for, your history, and more.
Creating brand guidelines will help guide all your business and branding decisions as you grow. They will dictate your visual direction, website design, and marketing strategy. They will define what you are looking for in a retail partner or new employee.
Use social media to create a lifestyle around your brand: share your inspiration and process, show your personality, tell your story, and write with meaning in every post.
"The key to success on social media is consistency. I think you should post every day, but it should be interesting", says Sarah. She supplements her content with travels, inspiration, insights into work in progress, and even some fun stats from her Shopify dashboard.
Additional information on the topic:
- Branding Secrets from 14 Fashion Entrepreneurs.
- How to create your own corporate style from scratch in 7 steps.
- How to properly talk about your brand (free instructions in tables).
We design and develop our own clothing line
Sarah is a big proponent of the sketchbook and considers it one of the most important tools for a designer. "I take my sketchbook with me everywhere", she says. "When I'm sketching, I'll occasionally notice that something I've drawn in my sketchbook would fit really well into a pattern I'm creating".
While on Project Runway, she wasn't allowed to have a sketchbook because of the competition's rules. "It really threw me off", she recalls.
Sarah's tips for designing a clothing line:
- Always draw. Scribbling is the first step to creating a sophisticated design. For Sarah, every idea starts on paper and is then transferred to Illustrator or another program. “I always use a combination of new technology and notebooks covered in scribbles”, she says.
- Make your own samples by hand. This way you can build a proper relationship with the manufacturer and better understand the details of production. You will be able to negotiate the price if you are aware of the whole process.
- Focus on creativity. If production or other business tasks begin to interfere with your own development, then it is time to involve outside specialists.
We search for fashionable fabrics or develop our own
Sarah explains that finding fabric depends a lot on who you know. Networking can help you connect with fabric agents, wholesalers, and mills. When she lived in Toronto, she researched the local fabric market and used an agent to gain access to fabrics from Japan.
But even that route has its pitfalls. "In Canada, everyone uses the same agent", she says. "All the local clothing lines use the same fabrics".
When fabrics from all over the world became available online, Sarah found it difficult to find unique prints and materials, despite all her connections, so she began designing her own.
"When I graduated from fashion school in 2005, you couldn't just go online and order from Alibaba. Now, a lot of people I know do that", Sarah says. "That's why I really started honing my textile design skills".
For those just starting out, agents can be helpful, but Sarah recommends networking and joining design communities. Start meeting others in the industry through local interest groups, online communities, and events.
We study the product and its production process
You probably won't be producing at a volume that requires hiring employees when you first start out, but as your business grows, you'll need help . A manufacturing partner allows you to spend more time on other aspects of your business and design.
But there are a few exceptions. If the handcrafted aspect is a highlight of your brand, then you should always be personally involved in production, even as you scale. However, growth usually depends on outsourcing at least some of the work.
The production of your goods can be organized in several ways:
- A one-of-a-kind product made by you, by hand.
- Production by hired employees or freelance seamstresses, but still by our own efforts (small studio).
- Manufacturing of goods in your own commercial production facility (own, jointly owned or rented).
- Outsource to a local factory where you can exercise control.
- Manufactured in a foreign factory (complete lack of control).
Own production
OKAYOK 's Adrienne Butikofer keeps the company in-house, bringing on staff as it expands. She supplies her own dyes to the factory. In Michigan, Detroit Denim makes its clothes in-house, where the founders can control the process company-wide.
If you are starting to work from home, make sure your workshop is comfortable and easy to move around, has ample storage space, is ergonomically designed, and is a place where you will enjoy spending time.
Alternatively, to combat loneliness and save money on equipment, find a co-working space or studio.
Working with clothing manufacturers
In the beginning, Sarah created her clothing line by hand, but as she grew, she began to outsource some of the work to local seamstresses. Now she collaborates with factories, which gives her more time to focus on building her brand, developing new collections, and expanding the wholesale channel.
"Obviously, American-made has a higher price tag, but for me it's worth it", comments Sarah Donofrio.
Careful control over the process has always been important to Sarah, and she has also noticed that her customers prefer local and ethical production – so much so that they are willing to pay more for it.
When choosing local factories, Sarah believes it is important to visit each one to see what is happening there in practice. Before collaborating, she orders samples from factories to check the level of craftsmanship.
Her corporate experience has taught Sarah to take her time and consider the pros and cons. She weighs the strengths and weaknesses of each factory and records her findings in her own database. "Big companies use different factories for different things. Maybe there's a factory that's better at knitwear, or a factory that's better at trousers", she says.
Ultimately, organizing production and choosing a manufacturing partner comes down to a few questions:
- How much production volume do you need?
- Is the label "made in America" or "locally produced" important to you?
- What is more important to you – ethical production or low price?
- How actively do you want to be involved in the production process?
- Do you plan to expand production?
Additional information on the topic:
We plan our collection taking into account seasonal fashion
Sarah creates her prints that are timeless and can be worn all year round.
The fashion industry operates on a seasonal cycle (fall/winter and spring/summer), and working on this cycle means that development of a collection can begin a year or even earlier.
"In the corporation, we developed collections two years in advance. Large corporations tend to develop collections faster because they do a lot of research into the fashion world", says Sarah. But it's worth noting that even without a large team and resources, independent designers like Sarah can work quickly and meet deadlines.
"Prepare your collection for the next season at least six to eight months in advance. If you sell wholesale, buyers should see your collection a month before fashion week", advises Sarah Donofrio.
Sarah explains that design and development timeframes, as well as delivery times, depend on your client and your business strategy, so she advises preparing your collection for the next season well in advance.
Based on the delivery date, determine the development and production dates. Add important events to your calendar, such as New York Fashion Week, that may impact your goals.
But the season doesn't have to dictate your collection. "It's always so frustrating when I create a beautiful print and realize I only have it for one season. I only have six months", says Sarah. So she's inspired to work on prints that are in demand regardless of the season.
While new items are a constant concern for fashion brands, signature and versatile pieces can stay in your collection for years. This works for basics brands that focus on the “perfect cotton tee”, a classic that only changes color from time to time. KOTN is built around quality basics, with everyday tees sold alongside seasonal releases.
We offer our clothing line to retailers
Wholesale played a huge role in Sarah's early brand development. After using other sales channels, such as her own retail store, she recently returned to a wholesale strategy.
In fashion, there are two main ways to sell your clothing line through other retailers:
- Consignment: This is a win-win for everyone, as it gives your line a chance to be seen in a store without the risk. The downside is that you only get paid when the item sells.
- Wholesale: This means that retailers buy a certain amount of items from you at a wholesale price (lower than your retail price). This option is riskier, so you will likely have to establish yourself through consignment first.
"It's much easier for stores to take your entire collection on consignment rather than just one or two items because they have nothing to lose", says Sarah.
Reaching out to customers is tough, and Sarah knows this better than anyone because she has experience working on both sides of the transaction. Her experience as a salesperson helped her stand out when she launched her own line. Sarah explains her success this way: “You can’t just have pretty clothes. You have to know every detail”.
"You have to be prepared for anything", advises Sarah". The first time I presented my clothing line, I asked myself what questions customers would ask me".
When Sarah was first starting out, this strategy really worked. While she’s a proponent of personal space, she recommends not putting off connecting with customers. Start small, she says. Introduce yourself with a business card or a catalog. If you’re not ready, try setting up a meeting later. There are plenty of ways to approach people without being pushy or hiding behind a computer screen.
Additional information on the topic:
- A guide to starting wholesale sales to other retailers.
- Wholesale for a Growing Business: How One Entrepreneur Keeps Up with Demand.
- Wholesale market of handicrafts.
We create an online store for our clothing company
You need to make sure that you have a potentially successful online business idea. Does your clothing line business plan outline how you will handle shipping, order fulfillment, packaging, and online customer service? Is your manufacturing strategy capable of handling one-off orders?
Ready? Okay, let's open your store. It only takes a minute to sign up for a free trial.
A professional online store usually serves two main purposes:
- It is a way to sell products directly to your potential customers.
- This is a live page that can be shown to customers and the media.
Setting up your online store
A platform like Shopify is intuitive to use, even if you don’t have graphic design or coding skills. Choose a Shopify theme that puts photography first, and customize your logo, colors, and other design elements before adding products.
We offer themes designed for fashion brands such as Broadcast, Spark or choose one of the free Shopify themes.
Your product pages should be as accurate as possible to show the visitor details such as fit, appeal, and various features of the garment. The Shopify App Store has a variety of apps that are designed specifically to help fashion brands create a personalized shopping experience for their customers and solve common problems. Some of the best apps for selling clothing include:
Consider other online channels, too, such as social media. Reach your target audience by integrating your store into Facebook or Instagram. Your clothing line may also be a good fit for marketplaces like Etsy, where you can automatically reach an audience interested in handmade products.
Photos for branded clothing
The right theme can make your photos pop, so invest in professional photo sessions. On a budget, a DSLR (or even a smartphone) and a few tricks can help you take professional photos in your own style. Don't forget to capture the details: the texture of the fabric, the trim, and the fasteners.
Shooting in a certain style allows you to create content for other pages of your site and is also useful for your marketing. Show the clothes on the model to demonstrate all the features and give tips to help your clients be stylish.
Marketing Your Clothing Line
Marketing and sales promotion remain the most common challenge for online brands, regardless of industry. Since the fashion market is crowded, developing a brand with a unique value proposition will help you focus on your ideal customer rather than throwing money away.
Your budget will be small when you first start out, but there are still ways to get noticed with creative ideas:
- Invest in content marketing. Use optimized videos or blog posts with keywords to drive traffic to your site.
- Build an email list for email marketing before you launch your store. Promote your upcoming clothing collection on social media and encourage subscribers with exclusive offers.
- Provide your clothes to other companies for photo shoots (such as cosmetic brands) to get feedback and publicity.
- Try influencer marketing, find new Instagram or TikTok stars to promote your brand.
As your company grows, paid advertising and PR firms are also good ways to get your brand noticed.
Additional information on the topic:
- How to launch an online store (see how we created it).
- Customizing Your Shopify Theme: How to Use Images, Colors, and Fonts.
- How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Clothing Line.
- Photography of clothes. Take beautiful photos of clothes.
Open a retail store, launch a pop-up store or sell at markets
It took Sarah 11 years to seriously consider opening her own retail boutique . But it wasn’t a leap—it was a move she’d been preparing for for a long time. Throughout the development of her brand, she used local markets to get to know her customers, test her strategies, gain visibility, and build relationships in the fashion industry.
After moving to Portland, her retail experiment took to the next level. She rented a space for her store for three months before opening it permanently. "I was always afraid of opening my own store because of the expense, especially in Toronto. It was just not achievable", Sarah Donofrio admits.
As she worked, she realized she could use six more hands. She hired a design student to help her run the store. "When you have a retail store and a clothing brand, you just have to learn how to delegate responsibilities, like many entrepreneurs do. It took me a long time to learn how to do that. I pay the store employee because my own time is worth so much more", Sarah says.
This doesn't mean you have to sign a 10-year lease on a retail space to sell your product. You can try more affordable and less burdensome options:
- Sublease of retail space for temporary pop-up stores.
- Mini-shop in one of the departments of the shopping center.
- Bulletin board for craft, fashion and designer goods markets.
- Vendor stands at events such as music festivals.
"I didn't like running a store", says Sarah. After that experience, she closed her retail outlet. The store was a distraction from the aspect of the business that Sarah loved most: design. She still sells directly to customers through a website, but has largely shifted her focus to wholesale.
Additional information on the topic:
- How to organize and open a pop-up store.
- Craft Shows and Markets: A Guide to Organizing Personal Sales for Crafters.
Learning from the Pros: Advice from a Project Runway Graduate
Sarah's time on Project Runway taught her many important lessons about herself and the fashion industry she chose to work in.
While Sarah knew that being able to react quickly in this field was a big advantage, she also thought she would do well if she had more time to maneuver. Despite her experience in development, she was amazed at how much work her fellow contestants were able to do in a short period of time. "For me, it was a completely unrealistic pace. It's a shame my best work wasn't shown on national television", Sarah laments.
She also faced one of the scariest things any creative person has to face: She was eliminated in the fourth round when her swimsuit did not receive a positive response from the judges.
Lesson: Your audience isn't everything
But Sarah was also surprised to see the many supportive tweets from new fans she gained during the show. "This project has taught me that everyone has their own taste. There will always be someone who appreciates your work", she says.
What did Sarah do next? She took her own advice, stayed creative, and stuck to what she does best: design.
Sarah's business is thriving because she worked hard to make her dream come true, overcame the toughest challenges, and let every wrong turn guide her in the right direction. Sometimes those turns were very sharp, but, she says, that's how you grow.