Starting a clothing line takes money. Probably more than you realize. So how can you get money for your startup fashion brand without borrowing (and going into debt)? Most articles share obvious advice like:

1. Take out a bank loan (terrible idea)
2. Put it on a credit card (even worse idea)
3. Crowdfund on Kickstarter or GoFundMe (not as easy as you think)
4. Borrow from friends and family (also a bad idea)
5. Get venture capital from investors (super, duper, duper hard)

And sure, you can get money using these strategies. But they’re not the best options.

So, What’s The Best Way To Get Money For Your Fashion Brand (Without Borrowing Money)?

There’s a much easier way to fund your fashion brand, even if your family isn’t rich and you don’t have a cushy trust fund. 

Forget about high interest bank loans (that are really hard to get since most fashion brands fail).

Say buh-bye to even higher interest rates on credit cards.

Skip the laborious and not-so-fool-proof Kickstarters.

Adios to borrowing from friends and family and risking relationships.

Instead, Get Money For Your Fashion Brand By Freelancing On The Side

Not many people talk about this strategy.

But I’ve interviewed people on the SFF podcast who’ve successfully done it.

Like Mat Booth, who funded his entire fashion brand with freelance income.

And Christina Yother who freelanced on the side and invested the cash into her clothing line.

Even if you don’t have industry experience, you can get started as a freelancer and use your income money to pay for startup expenses.

5 Reasons To Fund Your Startup Clothing Line By Freelancing

Other than the obvious reasons like not going into debt, paying high interest rates, or giving part of your company up to investors, freelancing is a great way to fund your clothing line. Here are just 5 reasons why.

1. Freelance Startup Costs Are Practically Nothing

You can get started as a freelancer with pretty much no money. Depending on what services you offer, you can get away with an Illustrator and Excel subscription for less than $40/month. Of course it takes some sweat equity (like anything), but you can quickly turn that time investment into paying clients.

2. You Can Quickly Find Clients And Start Making Money In A Few Weeks

It will likely be years before you make any profit from your fashion brand. Alternatively, you can start making money as a freelancer almost immediately. And it doesn’t matter where you live, you can work remotely with brands around the world.

Many of our ​​Freelance Accelerator: from Surviving to Thriving (FAST) grads from around the world have seen this kind of success.

Like Arya, from a small town in India, who landed her first 6 clients in about a month.
And Alexandra, a fashion school dropout, who started making serious cash in a couple weeks.
And Amy, a full-time mom, who earned $2k in her first 2 months of freelancing.

How would it feel to have $2,000 in your bank account right now that you could invest in your fashion brand?

Stop your scroll for a sec and really think about it. 

What could $2k do for your clothing line?

You could earn it as a freelancer.

3. Profit Margins For Freelancers Are Insanely High

As a freelancer, you won’t have hardly any overhead (except for some essential software), so most of your income goes straight into your bank account. You can make some serious cash. Cha-ching.

4. Double Dip On Resources, Suppliers And Factories

As long as it doesn’t infringe on your client and you’re freelancing for brands that are complementary and not competitive to yours, you may be able to use the same resources, suppliers and factories. Sourcing takes time, you might as well kill two birds with one stone.

5. Learn From Your Clients’ Mistakes

You are essentially getting paid to avoid painful trial and error. A lot of freelance opportunities are with smaller, independent startup brands. Which means you’ll get an unfiltered behind the scenes peak at all the parts of the process to see where things go wrong. Priceless. And of course #winwin.

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Want To Fund Your Startup Fashion Brand By Freelancing But Don’t Know Where To Start?

I gotchu covered with a ton of resources. Get started with my Beginner’s Guide to Becoming a Freelance Fashion Designer (it’s free).

YOU GOT THIS!!!

xx Heidi