Every time I write a post related to the fashion industry focusing on the business in particular as I did in “not selling your products?”, I get a lot of messages from people who would like to be in fashion but say that they know nothing about this industry. I have said this and will repeat it, fashion is a business and, in any kind of business, everything goes down to numbers, investment, management, marketing, and having the right team. I can only talk about the industry that I know and live for, but to have a successful brand, there are three main things that you need to know (and have) to be successful. The business mindset, the vision of making money to reinvest the money, and, most of all, you need to be realistic to your product.
Fashion is a business and when you put your creative vision and your ego aside, you can understand better how you can make your fashion dream come true and become a successful business owner. Not everyone had that business mindset and that is where the problem starts… I have seen a lot of clients coming to me because they are creative and they want to turn their creativity into fashion, but the bottom line, when we are talking about budget and investment, they get scared or they know nothing about it. That is when I see the potential long lifetime and the potential “not so long” life brands.
If you combine all three points, business mindset, the vision of making money to reinvest money and be realistic to your product, it is easy to see that all of these points are reflecting the business owner, the CEO, or CFO of the company. But you, as a creative designer who knows the garment you want and has the brand's vision, are you sure you are one of those people? Karl Lagerfeld, the biggest fashion name of the century, was not the CEO of his own company. He kept his tasks under his specialty, being creative!
Sometimes it is hard to admit, the creative people who want to open their brands are not the people to be in charge of the company’s money, marketing, and management. The designers tend to have a big affection for their collections, for obvious reasons lol (but for real), but sometimes they are not the best people to run their investment. The business mindset, the first point I mentioned, is the bravery and courage of becoming a business owner and a lot of designers have that, but the vision of making money to reinvest the money is not always something designers can see.
Creative minds are always speeding. There is no silence on their heads. When a designer comes to me with a collection that needs to be launched in a year, halfway through the process they are already thinking of the next four upcoming seasons. Little do they know that they will need to either get an investor or start selling first, so they can generate revenue to invest in the next season they already designed on their heads. Taking money out of your pocket for your first investment is normal. Taking money out of your pocket to keep investing instead of generating revenues and putting back into the business is the first sign of failure. Danielle Bernstein, one of my favorites and most successful influencers and business owners in NYC, openly mentioned in her book that for the first three seasons of her line of overalls she made no money. All revenue was reinvested in the business and she made her company a multi-millionaire worldwide brand.
It is also normal that designers will fight and defend their products till death. And they should! One of the reasons why I love my job is to be able to help designers and see their dream projects coming to life. This mentality of embracing your product with all your passion can be inspiring, I totally get it, but it can also be an issue when designers are trying to sell their cotton t-shirts for $500. Being realistic to the product can be a tough thing for designers, and that is one of the main reasons why big names, like Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, and Dolce & Gabbana, are not their CEOs. They are the brain of their brands, the name, and the creative directors. They are the reason why the brand exists, but not the only reason why the brand survives.
As dumb as this may sound, business is not rocket science! It is complicated, it is money, it is effort, and a never-ending learning process that constantly changes, especially nowadays with the unstable market. The main point I make clear with my clients is to focus on the money. Focus on your first investment and what will be your revenues for the next investment. It is hard to separate your ego from your business. When you are the designer it makes it even harder. But do not forget that in business there is no emotion, there are facts and strategies to make sure you will turn out to be successful.
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