Allow me to be honest with you. Not everyone in the world is going to buy your collection.

Entering the fashion industry with the mindset that your collection will appeal to all kinds of people is downright wrong and presumptuous. If you believe that everyone is going to love and buy your collection then you are going to waste a lot of money, time, and energy. In fact, that is biggest mistake any business owner, not just in fashion design, can make.

It is absolutely essential that you understand exactly who your customer is so you can properly design and promote to your target market. Knowing your customer profile will give you focus and direction. There are many different types of customers and each of them have their own sense of style.

In order to best serve them it is imperative that you know who they are and what they want. From their age to their geographic location and the brands they patronize, you need to keep tabs of all these vital information.

Begin by targeting a niche for your clothing business to help you distinguish yourself from other sellers. For instance, you can specialize in children’s clothing, teen wear, plus-size clothing, or suits for men.

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Promoting your brand involves creating professional and attractive marketing materials. How you present yourself in your website, brochures, samples, and sales materials will say a lot about your brand. Quality should be seen in every facet of your business including promotional materials, and your sales tools. You want to make working with you a pleasure, organized, informative and aesthetically pleasing.

If you have not already had a designer create a branding guide for you, please take this step first.  A branding guide consists of your logo and its acceptable variation use,  colour palette, fonts, and imagery style.  This tool will help you communicate clearly to any designer you hire to do any of the following projects for you and save you costly mistakes and time. If your brand could use a branding guide please reach out to Shopology Project to connect you with some of the best Winnipeg graphic designers.

 

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Ready to start creating your line sheet and/or lookbook?  Here are some things you will need to move your project forward smoothly:

1. AN INSPIRATION BOARD
Similar to the collages designers put together when you are designing a collection, an inspiration board for your photo shoot will help you communicate your vision. Pull images of models, places, colors, fabrics, and poses that you like and use this to keep focus and clarify your vision.

2. A PROFESSIONAL MODEL
Your product photography has the potential to capture interest or get quickly passed over. This is not the place to skimp on budget. Similarly, the right model working with a professional fashion photographer can make your look book, line sheet or catalogue stand out and help you get noticed. It is very important it is to set aside a budget for this. Swish Model Management or Panache Model Management are reputable agencies here in Winnipeg that have years of experience in the fashion industry. Ian McCausland is one of the most experienced fashion photographers here in Winnipeg, and can take both model and product shots that will showcase your brand competitively in the fashion industry.

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Do you think you are too old to be a designer?  That all designers are 20 or 30 somethings? Think again.  Like a fine wine, these designers became the best with age.

1. Giorgio Armani

After beginning a career in medicine, and then joined the army, he was 41 when he finally followed his love of fashion and launched his own ready-to-wear label, Giorgio Armani S.p.A in 1975 in Milan. Gis acclaimed to be known as the most successful Italian designer. Armani’s forward-looking style aesthetic included experiments with androgyny, softening the lines of menswear while simplifying women’s clothing. Branching out in his later years with perfumes, accessories, and luxury hotels, Armani turned his name into a worldwide style brand of elegance.

He also is credited with pioneering red carpet fashion and first to ban models with a body mass index under 18.

 

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Online, we shop using websites. If the site is appealing and attractive, we go in and look around. Much like in real life, if we see a store that draws us in, we will venture in to see more.

As a retail store, your window displays are the most important marketing tool you have at your disposal. They will make someone a passer-by, enter your store and become a customer or ignore you entirely.

These days, retailers are under a lot of pressure to attract and keep customers coming into their stores when shopping from home has become so convenient and price competitive.

Redefining everything we ever thought about window shopping, these creative window displays will stop anyone in their tracks. As a mix of art, fashion, design and marketing, they not only have to quickly grab our attention they must compel us to enter a store. By giving people an experience, these displays also have the important duty of helping define a brand’s image.

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