Tag: Factory
SFF129 How this designer freelanced while starting her fashion brand
Launching a fashion brand is expensive. And many designers who dream of having their own brand find themselves stuck in this dilemma: You need to work to support yourself while you’re starting your brand. But a full time job hardly leaves any time to work on your line! In this interview, Atlanta-based sustainable designer Christina […]
SFD112 How to launch a shoe brand without any fashion experience
Not all successful fashion designers go to fashion school. Lila Stewart used to do marketing in the music industry, and her husband Jeremy was a political consultant. But when they decided they wanted to start a business with philanthropy at its heart, they found themselves entering the fashion industry with zero experience. In this episode […]
SFD109 How to Get Your Clothing Line into Production with The Chicago Patternmaker
If you want to see your garments and accessories in the hands of more than just a few customers, you need to understand how to get your fashion designs into production. On this episode of the Successful Fashion Designer podcast, patternmaker and designer Xochil Herrera Scheer of The Chicago Patternmaker draws on over a decade of experience to share what she’s learned about factories, production, and bringing your designs to life!
SFD088 How to Build Your Fashion Business with Festival Vending
Kimberly Ponniah didn’t take the typical route into the fashion world. Yet through grit and perseverance, she went from knowing almost nothing about the industry to running a successful fashion design business. She now works full-time designing her own line of accessories, Wild June. Through years of experience, Kimberly learned how to use festival vending […]
SFD083 How This Designer Built a Vegan Luxury Shoe Brand
Bebe Mehr’s fashion entrepreneur journey began in 2001 while she was in college and started selling stuff on Ebay. Little did she know, that 13 years later, after a lot of different fashion careers, it would turn into her own line of vegan luxury shoes, Cult of Coquette. Coming from an entrepreneurial family, Bebe’s journey […]
SFD078 Working with Factories as a Freelance Fashion Designer
There are a lot of different paths to becoming a freelance fashion designer. And Heather Royer took one I’d never heard of before. Instead of working directly with brands, she got her first freelance opportunity designing for a factory in China. The best part? There are ways you can create the same freelance opportunities for […]
SFD075 How to Be a Lingerie Designer with Laurie Van Jonsson
Being a lingerie designer is its own unique and interesting niche of working in the fashion industry. There are tons of different things you have to think about compared to designing – let’s say – shirts or jackets. But it’s a pretty cool job! Laurie Van Jonsson knows this firsthand. From launching her own lingerie […]
SFD041: How to Set Up Your Fashion Brand Successfully, from Samples to Production
Tricia runs her fashion studio, Hello World Fashion, in DTLA. With more than a decade of experience in the industry designing, sourcing and doing production, she can help you set up your fashion brand successfully, from the entire design through development process, including sampling and production. One of the things I love most about how Tricia runs her studio is her […]
SFD039: How to Start Your Clothing Line with No Experience
If you have no fashion industry experience, it can feel really daunting to try and start your own clothing line. Where do you source materials? How do you find factories and manufacturers? How do you sell your line to retail shops? But if you go slow, do your research, and have some patience, you’ll discover you can get […]
SFD022: Why We All Must Ask: Who Made My Clothes?
Carry Somers is founder of Fashion Revolution – a global movement calling for greater transparency, sustainability and ethics in the fashion industry. If you’ve seen the “Who Made My Clothes” sign that millions of consumers, brands and producers have shared on social media, then you know what Fashion Revolution is doing. Simply put, they’re asking […]
SFD019: Clothing Manufacturers in the USA: A Good Choice vs Overseas?
One of the hardest decisions a startup designer has to make is choosing clothing manufacturers in the USA vs going overseas. But what if I told you US production is starting to compete with overseas prices? And lead times are WAY faster? And minimums are MUCH lower? Learn how (and why) you should choose Made […]
SFD017: Picking a Niche Market for Your Fashion Brand with Anna of VMora
It’s easy to feel like you should design for everyone. But the old adage of “if you speak to everyone you speak to no one” holds true, even in the fashion industry. Here’s why picking a niche market for your fashion brand will make it easier to build a loyal audience and sell your designs. […]
SFD 015: Find a Factory in the USA to Make Your Clothing Line
You’ve reached out to clothing factories and manufacturers, but no one replies! Learn essential strategies about how to approach them and what terminology you need to know so factories will take you and your clothing line seriously. Get industry insider secrets from expert Kathleen Fasanella to learn how to find a factory in the USA to […]
SFD013: Clothing Line Production: The Step by Step Process for Fashion Designers
Learn the step by step process to clothing line production and the critical parts to think about like: how long it takes to go from idea to finished product, how much to budget, and whether you should manufacture locally or offshore / overseas. In this episode I’m chatting with Abbie Ellis, co-founder of Stitch Method […]
SFD012: Starting a Clothing Line: Why (and how) to Build Your Audience First
A clothing line without an audience or customers is just a pile of clothes collecting dust. If you’re serious about starting a clothing line, you need to build a group of raving fans who are dying to buy your designs. Learn exactly how to get people excited about your product before you even launch (so […]
SFD010: Strategies to Manufacture Your Fashion Brand Overseas
In this episode I’m chatting with Shilpa, founder of Nayali, an activewear brand for women bra size “D-cup & Up”. Shilpa spent over a decade working for huge brands like Conde Nast, Fubu, and Gap. She took all her experience, quit her job, and went to Bali to do a solo label. A year and […]
