Behind the seams: 10 lessons on my journey to starting a kids fashion label

Just do it...I’m sure an original thought.

But truth be told, it was a conversation I had with a magnificent coach that really drilled this into me. Just do it, I had mulled over ideas for years, which route I wanted to go / collections I wanted to launch / getting my head around every part of the production process ... But, the truth is at some point you just need to get started. Things won’t be perfect from the beginning, but you will never get better without actually having something tangible to ‘get better at’.

I mulled over a lot, but the things I kept (and will continue to come back to) are my values, vision and mission. This has been incredibly helpful when making decisions, esp. when selecting what partners and contacts you are going to work with, the question I find myself coming back to - are they (or this idea) aligned to the same values as us?

You may not see it on the daily, but there are some lovely people in your network (who you may or may not know personally) who are willing to help you get off the ground. In my case, my day job before this was in digital marketing (what business did I have in starting a clothing line?)

Quite honestly, I didn’t even know what I didn’t know, so I reached out to a few indie brands on Instagram and asked to have a chat with them. One not only incredibly helpful but inspiring chat was with Sa from cub and pudding. The chat gave me an awesome place to start and a list of things I needed to educate myself on. There are also loads
of small business networks on Facebook, so find your community and start listening.
  

You'd be forgiven for thinking it was Charlie boy, but no my friend, not in this industry.

These are the technical specifications that are recorded on a document that takes your doodle on a sketch pad to reality. Any good factory won’t speak to you until you provide them (generally you should have them ready for when you reach out to them). Although with smaller factories. some do produce them for you – so it’s worth doing your research on what your factory will and won’t do. I outsourced mine to a great contact Lottie woods, they’re definitely an investment but should save you loads of time and back n forth and potentially money (if something unpleasant hits the fan).

Following a few conversations with people in the industry, I knew India was a fantastic option given the skilled workforce and the access they have to great quality materials – but WHERE ON EARTH DO YOU START!

I was looking for factories with ethical working conditions and focused on sustainable production practices (this is where having your values outlined from the offset comes in handy). I started by searching for reputable clothing companies who disclose their factories on their websites and made a short list (you can do this easily via ChatGPT for your industry), another friend of mine actually reached out to companies directly and asked them who they used (the worse they can do is not respond!) I reached out to a few great factories but was struggling meeting their MOQ requirements, so realised I could really do with some external help, so I made one of the best decisions on this journey and contacted Sara Collins where she guided me on sourcing the right factory that worked for our needs.

SOOO the million dollar Q baybeeee, what’s the industry standard? A lot of contacts told me it would be 100 units but in my research I found that it depended on the size of the factory and what you require. We work with two factories, one has a MOQ of ONE unit (but that def aint gunna be profitable) and the other doesn’t actually require a minimum sew quantity but a commitment to fabric yardage ... 🤔

Turns out it’s really difficult as a small brand to get certified organic cotton! As mentioned, a lot of factories agreed to sewing low minimum for us, but the difficult thing was finding factories where we could get access to lower yardage of certified fabric - so this is where I would focus your efforts (if certified fabric is important to your brand).

This is an easy one, add approx. 3-4 weeks extra to your launch timeline as something unexpected will happen. I know, I hear you, I didn't want to do it either.

The internet that is.

Find some inspiring / educational content to fill in the gaps. There is SO much advice out there (that’s free) so get stuck into it (a great time to listen is whilst you’re designing) some of my go-to's are:

• Zoe Hong – Fashion Designer, come teacher to the masses via YouTube. If you have ANY question, I bet one nickel and a frog that she’s got a video on it.
• The digital marketing podcast - so much of starting a fashion line is about your digital presence and these guys are so knowledgeable on SEO, website best practice, strategy, social content - the list is endless!
• Diary of a CEO Podcast - Imagine most people have heard of this one, but on those days where not everything has gone to plan, pick an inspiring story and dust off those dirty dungarees.
• Ben Heath – If you’re to the point of advertising he is a Meta and Google ads expert.
• Eric Andrews - So, this one is a little left field as he focuses on finance for tech starts (hear me out!) but LOADS of his content can be applied to e-commerce businesses so give him a shot.

There will probably be many times you think it’s all too hard, so get yourself some cheerleaders to keep you going. Shout out to my gorgeous gal pals, an incredible coach I had during the early days Jackie and unwavering support from my hubby.

So, there you have it, my 10 saucy tips, hope you found some useful bits in there and if you want to connect – drop us a line at hello@sunnyfolkclothing.com

Gene xx