While many new fashion entrepreneurs spend their time trying to get well-known retailers to carry their designs, they often overlook the advantages of online clothing selling for themselves. There are a lot of online clothing selling retailers, and it’s tempting to want to use the power of their brand to propel your own business. The same is true of brick-and-mortar retail stores. Of course, the best way to be successful is to offer your designs in as many ways as possible. So, instead of just relying on these locations and online fashion stores to move your merchandise, consider setting up your own retail web site.
There are plenty of reasons to sell your own designs, rather than only depending on the online fashion stores; but there are two major ones you should consider. First, it takes very little time to set up a web site and begin selling your designs. With a small amount of work on your part, you can either create your own site or have one built for you. In as little as a few hours, you could have a site set up to do online clothing selling. Compare this to the process required to get your clothes carried by a major retailer. It takes time to find the right company, to set up meetings with its buyers, and to get contracts and processes in place. This is all time that you are not selling your designs. While you should still pursue this angle, you may find that it is helpful to set up your own site to do some online clothing selling during the search for a retailer.
The other big reason to sell your own designs is a financial one. When the brick-and-mortar and online fashion stores sell your merchandise, they are going to take a large percentage of the sale price. If you do your own online clothing selling, you do not have to share the profit with anyone. You can then use that money to grow your business instead of someone else’s. One of the biggest mistakes that new designers and fashion labels make is to ignore the importance of having their own site.
It’s true that you may not sell as many pieces as you would through a bigger retailer, but you could potentially make just as much or more money while selling less. Not only that, but consumers are most likely to look for new designs directly on the clothing line’s web site rather than through the online fashion stores. Additionally, a retail store is only going to carry some of your designs. By creating your own space online, you can showcase even more merchandise and sell more designs than is possible when you only offer clothing through the retailers. Your site is your opportunity to share your entire collection, not just the pieces that were picked up by others.
Getting your line sold by a bigger retailer is certainly not a bad goal. However, it’s not always the most important—or even most appropriate focus. Make your web site your number one goal, and then you will be in a better position to start marketing your clothing line to other types of retailers. Your site should be up and running as soon as word starts to spread about your collection. The moment prospective customers hear about it, you want to be sure they have a way to see it, buy it or even just register their names on your newsletter for later contact if your line hasn’t came out yet. If you have a great name for a clothing line, the first thing you should do is get a domain name for it. Make sure you keep this article in mind when you get ready to launch your own clothing line. Also, for less than $10 you can get from using the link below from godaddy.com. If you need to check out whether someone has a trademark for it first - read this article on how to start a clothing line first.
