Five things to help you carry on with your lingerie brand
I wanted to call this blog “five things to help you not to want to stab your eyes out when starting a lingerie brand” but thought it too long and too dramatic. But when you’re in the midst of starting a brand, it seems that when things go far slower than you want or go wrong, you start to think am I doing the right thing. So I thought I’d put together five things that helped me get through the harder times when I ran my lingerie label and the things that I still apply.
Starting your own business or label can be lonely and when it’s just you sorting out the day-to-day things it can feel like you’re the only one going through it.
READ SUCCESS STORIES
Reading other people’s stories of how they got to where they are can be inspiring especially if they’ve had set backs, and here is what you learn, everybody has. Mine came in my first year of launching, the factory I was using closed two weeks before my production was about to start, which meant they had all the fabrics and trims at the factory. I’d gone through all the fits and samples and photos of the product and because I was based in Belfast and the factory in England meant I had to do everything by the phone, which meant weeks of chasing and trying to get everything back, which I never did when they went under, they liquidated everything meaning everything in the factory was sold. I had re-start it all over - which took another year, what I took from this was to perfect my sewing to selling standard so I didn’t have to rely on a factory.
It helped to read how other people started their business, so I began to seek out the success stories of others and the problems they over came, not just in launching fashion labels but in every manner. I actual did this every Friday when I did my accounts.
Accept things may go ‘tits ups’ but know that you will find a solution.
BREAK DOWN EACH THING ON YOUR LIST
Sometimes it can be daunting to think or even see all the the things you need to do - because we often list projects rather than tasks, for example on your list may be find a factory for manufacturing however that may consist of, researching a factory, contacting them, asking them what they need to take in your lingerie thereby you may need a list of questions to ask etc. By breaking down each thing in your list you also begin to see what could be stopping you moving forward. Or if you’re seeing your lingerie yourself, you may have ‘make a bra’ on your list which if you broke it down into tasks would be, source fabric, draft a pattern, cut bra out, find trims, sew cups together, add elastic to cups etc. How do you know if you’ve got a list of projects or tasks? A task should take 10-20 minutes maximum 30 minutes.
KEEP YOUR JOB
If you have a job keep it, by having a job it’ll give you the security to pay the bills whilst you navigate through becoming a designer, also knowing you only have so many hours in the day makes you be creative with your working day. Commute to work - what can you do on that commute? I had part time jobs when I had Vanjo and knowing I had to get out the door at certain times meant that I didn’t or wouldn’t procrastinate as much.
ACCEPT WHERE YOU ARE
If you’ve tiny babies or children at home, you probably won’t be able to hit up all the fabric shops you want, so accept this and know you may have to shop off the internet. Or only be able to head out at certain times, make your collection work for you and don’t view what you can’t do as a disadvantage. Sometimes by having restrictions narrows down your options but helps you make decisions rather than having every option in front of yourself.
DREAM
What are your goals? Why are you doing this? Having a direction helps you to keep going if you hit setbacks. At the start of each season I use to have goals such as selling ‘x’ amount, being stocked in certain stores, being stocked abroad, getting repeat customers etc. By having a focus it allows you to plan of what you need to do in the day - for example if you’re dream is to have repeat customers so they spread the word then maybe a newsletter would work well to them but if your dram is to hit a certain shop then maybe sending them a look book to showcase your work would be a better use of your time. Whatever your dream have an action plan to follow through with it.
To read about other lingerie designers and how they kept going please see below:
