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7 Steps to Make Your Sustainable Fashion Business Official

January 05, 2022

After the production process that you’ve gone through to create your garments, now is the time to sit and grow your brand. Your market research will of course come in handy. Certifications will also help stamp your name as a sustainable fashion brand. But know that as early as now, growing a brand from a blank surface is different from conceptualizing and drawing designs. It’s more creativity in the production process but in this phase, you would be needing your business acumen and marketing gut to determine the profitability of your designs. Here are steps that will make your business official.
1. Create brand guidelines and a logo.
A catchy brand name is very important because this is what people will identify your brand with forever. It should be unique and describe what your brand is. The goal is to catch the second look of consumers without making them confused about what your brand could offer. There’s no need to rush this step because it’s very crucial to the success of your brand. Moreover, you also have to check if the name you thought of does not yet exist in the fashion industry. So when finally you have a name, take time to trademark it and assume ownership. Your brand must also have a distinct look to stand out. Again, don’t rush in designing your logo. It may be minimalist but should still be aligned with your brand’s overall aesthetic. It’s a brilliant idea to hire professional services and make sure you clearly communicate to them what you want. After the brand name and logo design, you have to set design guidelines. This will standardize all your marketing boards that would be using the same font style and color palette. It will associate your brand with a certain look that clients and partners must remember.
2. Register your business.
If you are serious about your business, don’t skip the necessary paperwork. It will definitely save you lots of time and also build your brand’s credibility. There are four structures that you could list your business under. These are sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability corporation (LLC), and C-Corp. Check with the IRS if your business needs an Employer Identification Number (EIN). This will act as your business’ Social Security number for tax filing and other important documents. If you are a sole proprietorship or a partnership that is operating under a name, not on your birth certificate, look into filing a DBA (“doing business as” name). Check off all the necessary federal registration requirements in your area because registration varies from state to state.
3. Build and develop your platform.
You are lucky because, in this day and age, all you need is the Internet to set up shop. The very first step you should do is to buy your own domain. Check if the domain of your business name is available to use for your site. GO to GoDaddy.com or domain.com to check if you could still use it. The former charges $2.99 a month for the first year and $7.99 after. Then, you have to determine the design of your site in line with the brand design guidelines. You would also allot a team or person for the management of the site as well as dedicate trusty servers for it not to lag. If you know how to code, then save yourself some money and do it yourself. However, determine if this is a good use of your time because management and coding will surely take hours to set up and even manage every day. The rule of thumb is to make the site easy to the eyes, quick to navigate and has a reliable customer service bot.
4. Open business bank accounts.
Open separate bank accounts for your personal savings and business capital and earnings. Having a separate bank account will make it easy to monitor the growth of your business. Use this professional account to accept payments, pay people their salary and buy materials for your brand.
5. Market your brand.
Publishing a post about your brand launch is easy but growing your account is a different story. The market is saturated at the moment and which makes the competition tight for small businesses. Brand recall definitely matters in the world of fashion and only the smartest and the toughest survive. Diversify and don’t put all your marketing eggs in one basket. Go for paid advertising (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Sponsored Ads); send your products to content creators; patronize your brand and wear your clothes yourself, suggesting ways on how to style them. Packaging is also a big part of marketing with sustainable advocates and entrepreneurs being conscious of the package that accounts for a big amount of waste. Stick with your ethos as a sustainable brand and reduce plastic consumption as much as you can. Use reusable and/or biodegradable materials for your packaging. Honeycomb wrappers could replace the usual bubble wrap. When delivering your items to your customers, consider batch delivery to lessen your carbon footprint.
6. Manage inventory.
Fast fashion brands overproduce all the time so keep your inventory at a minimum. If there is overstock, upcycle instead of mindlessly throwing away the non-moving inventory. Know which products sell like hotcakes and which don’t. Once you know this statistic, produce accordingly.
Setting Up the Work Area at Home
Use an all-around desk for conceptualization, production, and marketing. FlexiMounts has the perfect product to do just that.
Manual Height Adjustable Work Bench WB102
This new work bench offer is height adjustable and all-purpose. The workbench is made of solid rubberwood surface and a steel frame with a maximum load capacity of 500 pounds, comfortably carrying your sewing machine, laptop, and other business essentials. It’s spacious with 47.2" x 23.6" x 1" dimensions while the height can be adjusted from 29.5” to 44.1”. With a wide range, this multipurpose desk lets anyone sit or stand comfortably while finishing a collection or thinking of a campaign for your brand. It makes use of a crank handle to manually adjust the height that allows for easier lifting of the desk, even when the load is heavy and full. It also means you won’t need extra tools or an electrical outlet just to adjust the height of the table.