Tag: Niche
SFF160: Fashion Freelancer Q&A: How to Pick a Niche for Surface Pattern Designers (plus more on pitching & pricing)
Surface pattern design is a broad category that includes textile design and print and pattern design for all sorts of applications, from dishware to packaging to office supplies. If you’ve been listening to the SFF podcast for long, you know how important niching down is for finding freelance clients. But in such a diverse specialty, […]
SFF148 How She Built an International Freelance Fashion Design Agency from India
A common myth about freelancing is that it’s unstable, and you have to hustle 24/7 to get enough projects to survive. That was how this episode’s guest, PK, felt. When she had her son and started freelancing, she got burned by a client who refused to pay, and felt like she was constantly searching for […]
SFF 144: Fashion Freelancer Q&A: Why Your Emails Aren’t Getting Replies (+ more on pricing, starting without experience, and finding clients)
Starting a new career is scary, and it can be easy to underestimate what you bring to the table when you do. In this interview, Heidi helps new freelance patternmaker Vanessa dissect Vanessa’s current outreach approach and strategize how to receive more email responses, starting without experience, what her pay rate should be, how Upwork […]
SFF142: How to figure out your services as a fashion freelancer
One place new fashion freelancers get stuck all the time is figuring out what services to offer. If you’ve been spinning your wheels thinking you need to learn flats, and repeats, and tech packs, and patternmaking, and sourcing, and… maybe graphic design? before you can start freelancing, there’s good news: You don’t have to offer […]
SFF137 Fashion Freelancer Q&A: I feel like I’m losing my skills and confidence…
If you’ve ever felt rusty or worried that you’re losing your edge in your fashion career, this episode is for you. Tina is a freelancer in Germany. Coming from the activewear category, she now exclusively designs workwear, and loves it! But will her workwear clients notice that she’s “lost” her activewear skills? And how can […]
SFD127 How this 22 year old designer got featured by Vogue
This is my second interview with Noémie Jouas, a young designer who started creating bespoke dresses from her college housing in small-town Scotland. Since I spoke to her last, she’s had her first runway show, adapted to the pandemic, and gotten her work featured by both Teen Vogue and Vogue. You can listen to the […]
SFD106 How This Designer Launched a Bespoke Dress Brand (while still in college)
Noemie Jouas is a self-taught designer who runs a bespoke dress brand that keeps her steadily busy with several clients a month. The incredible part? She’s still in college! In this episode, she talks all about how she got started, where she finds her clients, and the number one thing she credits for her early success.
SFD105 How to Predict Fashion Trends (and work as a trend forecaster)
If you want your designs to stand out and capture your market, you can’t just know what’s big now; you have to know what’s going to be big next. From her 2+ decades of experience in trend analysis and fashion marketing, including working at WGSN, guest Wendy Bendoni shares how trend forecasting has evolved over the past 20+ years, and how you can sharpen your eye to spot what’s next in YOUR niche.
SFD104 What Is a Fashion Tech Pack (and do you really need one)?
Most aspiring fashionistas don’t envision their fashion career and think, “I can’t wait to create an amazing tech pack!” But love them or hate them, tech packs are a crucial part of getting your garments from your head into your customers’ hands. In this episode you’ll hear from Belinda Jacobs of Tech Packs Co on what a tech pack REALLY needs, why they are SO important, and how you can be sure yours gets the job done RIGHT!
SFD103 How to Make More Money as a Fashion Freelancer (than in a full-time job)
Freelance pattern maker and product development specialist Alison Hoenes left her job after just 3½ years in the industry to pursue a freelance career. Hear how she perfected her niche, went from zero customers to a steady clientele, and within two years was making more than her full-time job–and she still works just 40 mostly-remote […]
SFD099 Why this Startup Fashion Brand Makes Clothes for Short Men Only
Steve Villanueva is an entrepreneur with a history of success in multiple industries. And, like at least 40% of men, he’s also less than 5 foot 9 inches tall. Frustrated with clothes that just weren’t made to fit short men, Steve set out to find a better way to design clothing for this underserved market. […]
SFD097 How to Become a Fashion Freelancer (and work remote)
Guests on the SFD podcast tend to fall into one of three categories: They’re employed by a company in the industry, they work as a fashion freelancer, or they’ve launched their own brand. In this episode, you’ll hear from someone who has done all three! If you’re wondering how to become a remote fashion freelancer, […]
Bonus: Freelancing Advice for the Fashion Industry
In this special episode, check out Heidi’s interview on the Spirit of 608 podcast. The interview, which originally aired in March 2018, focuses on her work as a freelance fashion designer, and Heidi doles out tons of valuable freelancing advice for the fashion industry. Heidi talks candidly about her fashion journey, sharing the highs, the […]
SFD096 Q&A: How to Become a Fashion Freelancer with Heidi & Marissa
Have you been dreaming of beginning a freelance career, but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you’ve been freelancing for a while, but you still have a ton of questions! Between pricing, juggling projects, finding clients and resources, and more, it can be overwhelming to navigate the fashion freelancing world alone. In this special […]
SFD094 This Dirndl Designer Grew a BIG Fashion Brand with a TINY Niche
Is it possible to start a successful fashion brand when your niche is super small? On this episode we hear from Erika Neumayer Ehrat of Rare Dirndl. Her full time job is designing and selling dirndls. If you’ve never found yourself desperately scouring the web for the perfect dirndl, we’re not surprised! It’s such a tiny […]
SFD093 How to Land Your Dream Job in the Outdoor Apparel Industry
Fashion is a tough scene. Even when you manage to break into the fashion industry, how do you get into your dream category? With so much competition for design jobs, it seems like luck can play the biggest factor in many designer’s careers. But what if you could make luck work for you? In this […]
SFD092 Should you sell your clothing line on consignment?
Sometimes it seems like there are as many ways to sell your clothing line as there are types of fabric! But when you’re starting a clothing line, should you sell your pieces on consignment? On this show, you’ll hear from Sam Murkoff. Sam’s brand, Manhattan Knights, was born when he started refashioning vintage tee shirts […]
SFD091 100 Ways NOT to Start A Clothing Line: These Guys Learned Firsthand What Works and What Doesn’t
Starting a clothing line from scratch is a massive challenge. And when you don’t have big investors and influential connections, it can seem impossible. But these three young entrepreneurs found a way to beat the odds and make their brand a reality. Meet Salvatore Graci, Angelo Acquista, and Luca Graci, founders of luxury streetwear brand […]
SFD085: How this Mom Got her First Tech Design Job After a 12 Year Career Break
Nicola Osborne is a technical designer who got her break back into the fashion industry after taking 12 years off to raise her family. Getting back to any career after 12 years is a daunting task, but getting back into the fashion industry is an even more intimidating one. As Nicola says in her own […]
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 […]
