13 Tips to Start a Clothing Line

I thought this would be a interesting post. Most of my friends are designers with hopes of developing their own clothing line someday. Well here are 13 tips from a few people who have done it and letting you know what NOT & what TO do in starting a line. I will post more at a later time. Read up:

1. Not performing a background check on stores before offering them consignment and they stiff you on the billed goods. This happen to my business in the first month!

2. Not having sufficient cash flow to fill re-orders of popular clothing styles and giving the retailer a bad impression of your clothing business, therefore jeopardizing the chance of a reorder next season. At one time I missed out on a $10,000 order…needless to say I was depressed.

3. Letting family members work for me! Big mistake they will run all over you if you let them

4. Using to much money on promotions and marketing just because you have it, then to later on find out about all kinds of free ways of reaching the masses without spending a penny with a little hard work. Sometimes its better to have less money starting out it will teach you to budget and once your properly financed you will appreciate it and balance the financial side of your clothing business much better

5. Not researching a manufacturer before using them for production

6. Spending so much time on designs, and promotions while forgetting about the importance of monitoring what you spend so that you can improve your profit margins$$$

7. I sold to the first store that came calling not the worst scenario, but in my case it wasn’t the best move. I was excited at the fact that a store wanted to sell my line without thinking if it was a fit for the market I was targeting

8. Creating a business plan from the beginning. This isn’t a must, but your day to day flow goes much better, because you have a better understanding of what must be performed in order to reach your ultimate goal. Plus investor wouldn’t take you serious without it…so why would anybody else?

9. Not acknowledging your competition

10. Walking into stores and not setting appointments before hand. Buyers hate that! It’s very unprofessional. Buyers want you on their schedule and because you’re a new company, plus you want their business they have the upper hand

11. Not setting goals for your company. This is a terrible mistake, because in order to grow/build a company you must know what your working toward. Its like your blueprint to success

12. Creating a online presence for your clothing line. Without a website your missing out on reaching an audience that you probably couldn’t sell too as a start up clothing company, because most of your accounts will probably be local. I know you don’t want to miss out on a potential sell?

13. Limiting your knowledge and potential by not asking experienced professionals for information, or not performing an act, because you have too much pride. When starting a business there will be plenty of days when you do stuff that you normally wouldn’t want to. You are just limiting your chance of building up to a great opportunity by being hard headed thinking inside the box instead of out.

Collin Thompson x CIPHER Footwear

Some of you may feel that the whole shoe game has been really slacking on design. Well I have felt the same for a while, people are just not as creative as they use to be anymore. With copied designs and colors companies are scarred to step out the “box.”
Well I found myself wrong when I met the founder of Cipher footwear, Collin Thompson a year ago here in Hong Kong. His designs are like no other! With attention to detail and structure Cipher is truly the next big thing!
CIPHER footwear is exclusively sold at Greyone x Soul Assassins in Los Angeles and Bodega in Boston. You can also check their website www.cipherism.com for more info and pics.
Here is a sneak peak at CIPHER’s Spring 2008 designs and im proud be among the first to bring you these pics.
May the Cipher be with you:

Adidas x Diesel Party

Talk about a serious Hong Kong party!!! Diesel and Adidas had a combined event at their two locations in Casway Bay on Wednesday night. Crazy thing was, as big as both venues were I still found myself face to face with strangers. It was SO packed it felt like I was stuck in a can of sardines lol. All good fun though...
Check the pics from the night:

At the end of every Adidas bed is a Model..

Matching game - You win, you get a crapy

disposable camera lol

Sam of Subcrew - aka DJ Be Careful

Some Chick DJ

Adidas side of the party

Diesel side of party!

24Hebs did their thing at the party. Rapping in Chinese don't sound bad at all! watch:

ALL ABOUT MJ

Jordan is doing it again!!! Complex.com is having a givaway of the new XX3 shoes to the person that can give the BEST caption to this picture. I’ve read some really funny ones! But that person could be you! Go to http://www.complex.com and put in a try. Who knows, you might be making the same expression someday!


Also check this video done by ESPN on the iconic Jordan series. The video features commentary from Spike Lee, Tinker Hatfield, Chris Paul and Barack Obama?? Ok, he’s definitely got my vote lol.

Spy or Die

This has to be the best little gadget for worried parents, stalkers, and suspicious lovers. So beware if you see this little guy around your house.
The Cell Phone Sim Card Spy is a quick way to snoop around in someones phone. Just sneakily stick the SIM in the USB reader, hook it to the computer and all your friends secrete life is exposed!
Like this world needs more drama....lol

PAT LEE - DC COMICS

Also this weekend was a live performance illustration by Pat Lee http://www.patleeproductions.com./ Mr. Lee is known for his artwork in the DC Comics. On Saturday he did a live tagging on one of Hong Kong Central building structures. Despite all the rain and people getting wet everyone stuck around for the two hour illustration. Check out www.alivenotdead.com/patlee for more info.