Hey people,
I'm really excited about writing this episode on the topic HOW TO START AND RUN A CLOTHING LINE SUCCESSFULLY, i hope you all are following, learning and enjoying the posts. Incase you missed the earlier episodes, here is a link to the first episode that talks about The Preparation Stage it borders on creating a solid business plan, making the business official, and clearing the air on what you want to achieve with your business. And the second post Placing Your Clothing Business Foot On The Perfect Ground was even more educating and interesting. It opens our mind on how to properly brand clothing business.
Therefore, today's episode promises to be more fun and revealing!
We are gonna learn about the main deal!
MAKING THAT FABULOUS CLOTHING DESIGN AND BRINGING IT TO LIFE
For many people, this is the fun part, but for the "always serious people", its the time for main work. It majorly involves making all your sketches and deciding which ones will be in the first collection. Picking the best fabrics that suits your designs and finally sewing and producing your clothings. One advice i will give is to pay adequate attention to details and learn all the terminologies, names and other new things that may appear or sound like jargons to you. That being said, now im gonna explain in details exactly what i'm talking;
1. sketch out your designs
You don't need a degree from Harvard or cambridge to be able to sketch, although it may be as hard as rocket science to some people. But it is simple, if you have the design in your head just sketch your ideas on a paper as best as you can, or you can simply lure an artsy friend with free food and drinks so he/she could draw for you. Haha, pretty clever huh? Well, if your alluring doesnt work, you can go on sites like pinterest to get pictures relating to your idea then you can explain your idea to your manufacturer, surely they will understand.
Now your design has been created, you should create a pattern of your product. This is the blueprint of your clothing which will be used by manufacturers for mass production of your designs.
2. Find the perfect fabric
This can be a tricky one, if you get the fabrics wrong, you get everything messed up. The fabrics you choose goes a long way in determining the quality of your products.
For a simple T-shirt line, combed cotton is the best, but for other types of wears like hoodies, sweatshirts and jackets, you may want something thicker and durable. The prices also varies in respect to quality, so you may want to go for the best price according to your budget.
AFRICAN FABRICS
Now, let me use this medium to promote African fabrics; African fabrics, to me are the best! They are colourful and beautiful. Every African fabric has a story and legacy behind it. In Africa, we have Ankara fabrics , Kente fabrics , Adire (tie and dye) and so many more. These fabrics are of great quality and can go well with any type of design and wears, that is why 
Awesome African fabrics pinterest
Now, let's get back to our topic. After getting your perfect fabrics, what next ?
3. Searching carefully for the perfect manufacturer
Here in Nigeria, we have so many garment manufacturing companies. You may decide to take your designs to a seemstress if your budget is low, or you may also use garment manufacturers overseas if you want to produce in large quantities because the costs of production are lower.
However, it is wise to ask for the turnaround time and how fast you can get samples sent to you (they should provide samples before your designs are finalized for production).
But if you are priviledged to know how to sew, its is a great advantage, you may be able to create your patterns and prototypes by yourself.
For printing your designs or logo on T-shirts, you should make the size specifications of the design (how big it should be), the type of shirt you want to print on, and the quality of what you want to be very clear to the manufacturer.
Also, it will be wise to make consultations with experts at sewing apparels, ask question and seek mentoring.
There we go! We have come to the end of this episode. Hope you have learnt a thing or two? Now that you can produce your design, what is the next step? Obviously, you want to sell your products and make profit, so our next episode we be titled SELLING THAT AMAZING CLOTHINGS AND MAKING PROFIT.
Yaayy!! Excited? Then stay tuned
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