Archive for the ‘Business Talk’ Category

Decisions for S/S ’11

July 20th, 2010

As you read in my last post, I have decided to push my premiere line into S/S of 2011. I am currently rushing to source fabrics so I can receive them in plenty of time to plan. I don’t want to run into the same problems as I did before, when time was working against me.

Setup


I have narrowed my options down to ten fabrics and I’m crossing my fingers I’m not too affected by the increase of cotton prices.

Summer


My next step will be to finalize my accent fabrics and make sure I am incorporating key looks for the spring and summer seasons.

Pitti

Primary Colors

Color


I know it’s a long ways from now, but what are you looking forward to most for S/S ’11 that you didn’t see this year? Fabrics? Colors? Textures? Please leave your comments below, I would love to hear what you have to say!


-Katie

Comments: View Comments

Posted in: Business Talk, Fabric, Inspiration

Tags: , , ,

Back To Work!

July 18th, 2010

Sorry for the lack of posts! I have been extremely busy at work (Back to School season starts soon), working on Fifth&Brannan… oh, and vacationing :)

Beach

Fence Beach

beachWalk

Night


Because being a perfectionist is part of who I am, I have decided to push my line into S/S instead of rushing into F/W.  There are a few things I would like to tweak before I send the line to production. This was not my first choice, but I felt that releasing in July would have been a poor decision.

Now, with having changed the collection to S/S, I am going to have to source new fabrics. It’s a nice change to search for cotton twills and lighter weight fabrics, but I am running into MOQ (minimum order quantity) issues.  I have found that most twill suppliers require a 5,000-10,000 meter minimum.  Being a smaller company, this is a big problem.

MOQ

MOQ2

I have searched tirelessly for a good supplier of cotton twill. Because there are so many colors to choose from, I may have that working in my favor. Most suppliers will let you choose from a stock collection, which means much lesser minimums. Thankfully, I still have my shirting supplier locked in and I will be using them for my S/S collection.

Comments: View Comments

Posted in: Business Talk, Fabric, Travel

Tags: , , , ,

Searching For My Identity

May 28th, 2010

As a designer, especially a new designer, you want to have that special something about your brand. Something that everyone will identify with you. It’s not as easy as you may think to come up with that one detail or trademark. You have to realize that this is something that will stick with you forever, so you want to make sure you will love it forever.

The struggle that I’m having is trying to come up with a detail that hasn’t been done before. As soon as I think I have come up with a completely original idea, I will see it on the runway or, even worse, in stores.

Christian Louboutin Am I thinking too hard about this? What if I put something out there and I’m not aware it has already been done? These are things I think about constantly. If you look back on the hundreds of years in fashion, it seems like everything has been thought up.

That’s why, as a designer, you need to think outside of the box. However, you can’t forget about your customer. If you get too crazy, will you lose your customer’s interest? In my case, probably. I’m not going after the über trendy market, but I’m also not going after the overly conservative. I think the detail I’m looking for is discreet. A detail that only the wearer can appreciate.

Don’t you love when you go shopping and you see a shirt that catches your eye, maybe because of the pattern or silhouette, but the closer you get you realize there are all of these hidden details that you would have never noticed unless you took a closer look? That’s the feeling I want my customers to have when shopping Fifth&Brannan.

Now, if I could only figure out what that special something is…


Comments: View Comments

Posted in: Business Talk, Details, Inspiration

Tags: , , ,

The Not-So-Creative Side: Expenses

May 27th, 2010

Expenses


Having a budget when starting a line is tough enough… adding up all of your receipts and invoices is the worst. Trying to find an investor is even harder.

Being 21 years old, I don’t have a large savings, nor do I have a six-figure salary. However, I do have an “angel investor”. This person is very generous and has always supported me in everything I do… I like to call him Dad. I realize I’m very lucky to have someone so encouraging and willing to support me in any way possible. However when I came to him with the idea of starting my own line, he didn’t automatically pull out his checkbook; he wanted me to present him with a business plan. You heard me correctly, a real business plan. My dad wanted to know this wasn’t just any idea of mine, but a serious proposal. Everything I had gone to my very expensive college for was finally taking action, and about to get even more expensive.

In the meantime, I am trying to operate as close to my budget as I can. I am constantly running into unexpected expenses or services that cost more than originally planned. Because I work two jobs, plus run Fifth&Brannan, I need all the help I can get with little projects. I have a wonderful seamstress and pattern maker who help me out with projects when I don’t always have time to do them myself. However, hiring independent help can be expensive. Every little hour adds up and before you know it, you just paid more than you had hoped to.

This is where I have learned to save money by making time for little, tedious projects that I can do myself. Instead of paying my seamstress for two more hours to sew on buttons, I find time during my schedule to do it myself. Same goes for cutting fabric or testing out a pattern. You will often see me post pictures of cutting fabric or sewing samples, this is to keep me on track with my budget…it’s also a nice break from Illustrator and Photoshop :)

Take advantage of any and all help you can get, but don’t forget to be appreciative.


Comments: View Comments

Posted in: Business Talk, The Not-So-Creative Side

Tags:

The Not-So-Creative Side: Legal Documents

May 26th, 2010

po-box


I started this blog to let you all in on what I deal with on a daily basis. Building a clothing line from scratch is not easy. It’s more than having a great idea and putting it down on a piece of paper. You have to have a business plan, a budget, a financial supporter, etc. Over the course of this process, I will fill you in on what I face everyday when I am not designing. From legal documents to purchasing fabric, you will have a better understanding of what goes on behind the scenes of Fifth&Brannan.

This morning I obtained a P.O. Box so I could apply for my business license. I did not want to use my private home address for business matters, so this seemed like the best option. After doing the research, I realized I have a lot of work to do in order to get my line up and running…legally. A few of the documents I need to obtain are a wholesaler’s license, business license, and a contractor’s license. None of these are hard to come by, but they are time consuming.

Next on my list is to find out if any other company has my name, Fifth&Brannan. Even though I did my own research, there are formal ways of going about this. I will need to file a Fictitious Name Statement with the County Recorder-Clerk’s Office. Hopefully I’m in the clear…better safe than sorry!

I know all of this may seem boring, but it is key when starting your own line. You want to make sure you are legally covered before throwing yourself into this vicious industry. People are only out for themselves and won’t hesitate to bring you down if they have to.

Comments: View Comments

Posted in: Business Talk, The Not-So-Creative Side

Tags: , , ,

The Latest

@fifthandbrannan on Twitter