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I noticed many people have found my site from searching for the phrase wholesale vs retail. So I decided to dedicate an article toward ways of improving your wholesale and retail divisions, plus how you can make it more effective toward your overall business.

The main objective of starting any business is making money on the product that you sell. So ultimately your business success is in the hands of the consumer who purchase your product. If they support your business and return time after time your clothing business may enjoy longevity and with the fashion industry that is definitely out of the norm.

I noticed a trend from some of the clothing lines on the Clothing Company One Hit Wonders list. Enyce, Mecca, Drunknmunky, Phat Farm, and even the mighty Tommy Hilfiger are all clothing lines that sold out and were acquired by a larger company. They also lost a great deal of their market share after expanding their product line and distribution.

All these companies at one time had a strong hold in the market place (some stronger than others). Most of them were ran by owners that had an understanding of the lifestyles that their target customer had, because at one time most of them lived it. Once they were bought out by investors or by companies that just acquire companies and add them to their portfolio (Increasing their share of each apparel market). (Kellwood,Tarrant Apparel Group) If you can remember Kellwood bought out ($140 million with performance incentives) Phat Fashions which includes the Baby Phat clothing brand and Phat Farm. Both headed by Russell Simmons and Kimora Lee Simmons. Liz Claiborne acquired Enyce in February 2004 for $114 million in a cash transaction.

Getting an investor may sound like it is just what you need remember this article, but beware you could end up losing it all in the end.

Many fashion designers make looking for an investor their number one priority when starting their own clothing line. In all reality most clothing companies will not find an investor in the beginning stages no matter how creative your fashion design skills are…so don’t hold your breath.

For the most part investors want your business and not your ideas so getting an investor without a money making business or at least breaking even is not going to happen. There are some that defeat the odds, but it is usually financed by family, friends, or distant relative.

Once you do get to the point where investors are interested make sure their future interests for your clothing business at least include you in it , and are similar to yours interest. Many investors are interested in getting an Roi (return on their investment) over, over, and over again, plus an exit strategy. So if your business plan doesn’t show where they can make their money back and a strategic exit plan for them don’t approach them and make yourself look like a fashion business minor!

If your clothing label is not an already recognizable brand name the chances of attracting an investor are slim to none…more like none.

Most investors want to find a clothing business with an already established brand name or the people behind the company have industry experience or well connected. Take for example Tony Shellman one of the founders of Enyce Clothing Company just launched his new clothing line Parish Nation. He was an already established entrepreneur and designer, so attracting an investor wasn’t a problem.

I don’t want to say it’s impossible to receive an investment at an early stage of development, but it will most likely be worth your time to look elsewhere. Some of the places you could look for a money are:

• Immediate family members…make sure your investing in the clothing label also, no one is going to invest if you haven’t showed any effort or belief
• Relatives ask some of your rich relatives for some money, but be prepared to treat them just like any other investor. Present a business plan with a detailed exit plan for the investor.

Financing a clothing business is difficult and not very attractive too investors or banks due to the nature of the business and its consumers. (most seem not to be loyal customers for long) There are other solutions to financing your apparel line Micro loans-which are loans made by micro-lenders which help fund emerging companies with small loans. The maximum for a loan is $35,000 and the average being borrowed is $10,500. For more info check out SBA for microloans and other alternatives to traditional financing options.

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Line Of Credit:

A line of credit can be obtained at most banks with different interest rates, but unlike a traditional loan it offers more flexibility. The difference being you could have a let?s say a $20,000 line of credit; you can borrow $2,000 or $5,000 by writing a check. You only use as much as u want when u want and pay interest only on the amount you actually borrow. If you never use any you, you never owe any! Many successful apparel lines have used lines of credit from Five Four to urban giants like Fubu.

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Well it wasn?t actually a million, but it would?ve increased sales revenue for the year by a great amount. I thought I could share a personal business experience with you guys since this is the apparel blog and you could learn from my mistakes.

When starting out as entrepreneur in the fashion world your own eagerness can lead u to make mistakes when you really already know what?s the best solution. Starting an apparel line can be fun and stressful at times, but let me tell you excepting large orders from any retailer may seem like it will help u profit, but if you can?t really afford too deliver then you should leave the offer on the table.

Determining the price of your garments will vary pending you have the answer too a couple of questions.

What market is your clothing retailing in? (street wear, bridal wear, maternity wear) etc. ( this will help you with the question below and also where should your price points begin at.

Who are your competitors? Urban wear (Ecko) designer wear (Gucci) or juniors (Baby Phat) just for an example. (You want to have a competitive price not too high or low depending on your competition)
Retailers price points? You cannot meet with a retailer who sells shirts in the $24-$32 range when your shirts wholesale is $30-36 (meaning a retail of $60-$72). It would just be a waste of time for the both of you
What is your profit margin? Basically how much do you want too profit off of each garment sold at wholesale. If you want to make 50% back of what u paid and end up with less or 100% and break even (meaning not losing or gaining any money on a sale) or cost & sales are equal or u want 150% return on your cost which will leave u with a profit.

Money-Saving tips (FREE-Publicity!)

I receive a ton of emails from the days when I was running and starting my first line on how can I promote my clothing line and get the brand ?out there? with a small amount of money. Well today I?m going to go over some ways to promote and gain attention too your brand with little to NO money! Read this article and afterwards do not waste anymore time Execute.

First off free publicity one of the many ways to gain attention too your clothing line. It?s real simple and best of all its pretty much free or of little cost to you. There are many ways to gain publicity first lets go over a few ways. When running a clothing line theirs no better way to connect to your customer than being featured in his/her favorite magazine. No we?re not talking about spending thousands of dollars for an ad in a magazine, but instead being featured in the style section! I know you?ve seen it in men?s/women magazines were they highlight the hot summer fashions or the must have for the winter. Yes this is free its just a matter of having connections or just giving away free shirts too a magazine which is way better than paying for ad space which can be very expensive for a small apparel company. This connects with the customer on a more personal basis because you?re the top pick of their favorite teen/fashion magazine and believe it or not music, publications, and EVERYDAY life influences what is being worn by EVERYDAY people.