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This is so far a two part series that you guys seem to be enjoying so I am going forth with the third article. Going With Your Gut Feeling If it Doesn’t Feel Right It Probably Isn’t.

Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.

Basically this article is going to touch on two of my experiences from working with stores and from different experiences within the industry from trusting people to taking advice from manufacturers and other resources.

When I look back and think about many of the mistakes I’ve made they were mostly careless or could have been avoided if it wasn’t for me being impatient or excited to see an idea come to light without really thinking it through and knowing what was really best for my clothing company.

I know many of you suffer from the same thing at least that is what my inbox tells me, because even after 700+ post on Dobizo and so many helpful moderators on the forum I still receive the same email saying ” Hi I’m xxxx and I want to start a clothing line can you tell me how?” or something along those lines. At first you would think they’re just lazy which some might be and want you to just sit down and write the ultimate plan for starting a clothing line and succeeding in the fashion industry, but in most cases after speaking with them through email I notice that it is just the same excitement that I had when I first began and was so eager to get started.

Of course most know that you need to learn the ropes first, but that’s boring you would rather get straight to creating samples, designing your line and seeing your garments right into the store. That is exactly where the Dobizo community comes in and I personally want to see everyone succeed, but the chances of that happening is slim to none. I know for a fact that I would in the beginning take whatever shortcut that seemed to get me ahead of the competition, but in the long run I realized that I missed a step here and forgot to prepare myself for this and pushed aside that all so I could get to the trade shows and working with the manufacturers and in all actuality most of us just aren’t prepared.

I remember working with a manufacturer and at first it seemed as if they had my company’s back and they wanted to see us succeed just as much as I did. I soon realized that it was more about increasing their bottom line. I was all for it because I felt as if they were schooling me and filling me in where I missed out. Me being a newbie to the industry didn’t want to second guess there judgment, because they were out to help me at least that was my opinion at the time.

As I told many of you I first started out producing a head wear line, which I wish I had of never stopped doing, but do to circumstances I had no choice. My first taste of success was when a store ordered forty of my hats just off of me walking into the store and introducing myself and showing the buyer some samples. I remember that weekend still and how I went home and made all forty of the hats designs by hand and told the retailer I would have them by Monday morning. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep that weekend and worked day and night to have them completed. I delivered the hats on that Monday and most of the stock sold out within two weeks. By that point I was looking for a manufacturer and happen to come by one we will just call them Manufacturer A.

Manufacturer A saw my product told me how much they loved it, but how they thought it could be better and easier production. This was over a span of months of me speaking with the owner and growing what I thought was a business relationship. They would give me suggestions and tell me why this company was not good for me and overseas production shouldn’t be an option…blah blah blah. Basically enough information for me to stick with them, but at the same time telling me that if I came by a better option they would approve and gladly send me on my way. At the same time they were building a wall between me and not shedding any positive light on any company I mentioned or thought could handle the processes that they didn’t have the resources to handle. Basically as someone mentioned in a comment they source everything and played the middleman and would up charge the end user. (My company) So of course…

This article is running a little long so I will break it into two parts.

Any of you have similar experiences in the industry? or can you relate to any of this so far.
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