Tag: Selling
SFD116 How to start your clothing line on Etsy (and then build an empire)
Anna Triantafellou designs fantasy couture dresses for girls, and her business is now so successful that she supports her family of 3 on only her income. If you’re thinking this kind of success is only possible for lucky people with trust funds, you’ll definitely want to hear Anna’s story. Coming from a traumatic childhood in […]
SFD115 How to Start a Clothing Line with (practically!) No Money
When you think about starting your own clothing line, you probably imagine garments you designed completely from scratch gracing a magazine page or floating down a runway. But starting a fashion brand takes years… and a major investment of cash. If what you really want is to get something of your own design out into […]
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 […]
SFD101 How to Build a Direct to Consumer Clothing Line
When you’re starting a clothling line, there are so many options and details that it can overwhelm even the most savvy designer. One of the questions you may be asking is, “Should I sell my clothing line wholesale or direct-to-consumer?” On this episode of the Successful Fashion Designer podcast, you’ll hear from Ellie Mae Waters, […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
SFD082 Fashion Startup Trade Shows: Are You Ready (and what’s the cost)?
When it comes to trade shows, there are SO many questions. How much is this going to cost? How does this all work? How do I make sure it’ll be a success? Am I ready? In my interview with Danielle Licata and Kelly Helfman, we talk about these exact questions and more. Danielle and Kelly […]
SFD080 Production & Manufacturing Processes for Small Batch Fashion
This episode was first published January 21, 2019. February 2, 2021: Jessica checked in, and Privy Label is still going strong! Privy Label teaches fashion entrepreneurs how to launch their custom Men’s or Women’s apparel lines through design, development, and small batch manufacturing in the US. If you have an idea but you aren’t really […]
SFD076 Six Steps to Starting a Fashion Line that Sells
Designing and starting a fashion line is exhilarating and inspiring and something most of us want to jump right into. Starting a fashion line that sells is something completely different–but it’s something you can do. Robyn and I are BACK with a podlet that sums up six easy steps to starting a fashion line that sells. The Successful […]
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 […]
SFD067 Working with a Fashion Showroom
You finally have your design process down and your merchandise production down to a science and you feel like you’re ready to take on one of those big time retailers, but you have no idea how to reach them. You have no idea how to get your foot in the door of a fashion showroom, […]
SFD061 Are You Ready to Quit Your Job for Your Fashion Startup Business?
You have had this full time corporate fashion job for several years. You’re comfortable where you’re at, with benefits, income and stability. But you also have this “passion project” that you started as a creative outlet and it has turned into a fashion startup business. You spend all your free time designing, making, creating and problem […]
SFD046: How to Authentically Engage with Your Audience for Fashion Entrepreneurs
As fashion creatives, we think if we come up with the world’s most brilliant design, it will just sell itself. If we just put up an ecommerce site, people will flock to it and buy our beautiful designs. Unfortunately… it doesn’t work that way. You can create the best product in the world, but if you don’t strategically attract […]
SFD042: Surviving Failure and Competing Against Huge Fashion Brands
“But I’m just one person. It’s hard competing against huge fashion brands out there?” It can feel really hard to launch your fashion line when you’re just one person. Which is why you have to persevere and you have to find support somewhere. And I know I sound all fluffy inspirational here…which is pretty out of […]
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 […]
SFD038: Hard Lessons Learned From a Career in Fashion
Stamatina is a designer who finally gave up on her fashion career dream, and wanted to share her fashion career lessons. Now, I don’t want to start this episode with a negative tone. Or make you feel like you too will have to give up on your fashion dream. But I wanted to bring Stamatina […]
SFD031: Behind the Scenes of an $87k Kickstarter Launch
Sarah Coronado takes us behind the scenes of her $87,000 Kickstarter campaign. Learn first hand how to launch a fashion brand on Kickstarter including how to prepare for your campaign, what to do to make sure it’s successful, and how to keep up momentum after it ends. With no fashion background, experience or contacts, Sarah […]
