HOW TO START UP A CLOTHING LINE (PART A)

Hey guys!
Let me just pour our my mind here, straight from my personal experience in the clothing business. I hope you will be able to learn a thing or two.

Just like every other business, clothing line business owner must have maximum passion for his business and ready to take risk that that will benefit his dream or vision. Apart from passion, you also need to determine your target audience, this is very important in fashion and style business because it is a very large fiend and having a clear idea of who you are in business for and who will buy your products matters a lot.

This might take a lot more information that i can imagine at the moment of writing this, but i can not wait to share my experience of my 12 years in the clothing business. So i try to write all i could now, it might have to extend or develop into a series, i don't know. But i know i am willing to share my experience so far with the aim of educating and enlightening someone, somewhere. 
These are 5 tips you should know when starting a clothing line business. Lets call this Part A.

5 Tips To Start Up Your Clothing Line Business

1. Passion.
2. Target audience.
3. Study the system in your industry.
4. Have a clear vision.
5. Start small, Think Big.

1. PASSION

Make sure you have passion for fashion and style.

When i was a little kid, i was very selective when it comes to fashion. I never liked native, ankara was not my thing and as for lace material, i hated it, and i still don't like it now that i am an adult, they always make me feel uncomfortable whenever i put them on. Although, now i can wear ankara if it is neatly and stylishly tailored.
I was always a fan of tshirts and jean, and shirts sometimes. I just like to keep it simple and urban. A friend of mine Ubong, recently told me that i was the kid all other kids look up to for the latest in fashion products around, that if it was trending, you will find me wearing it first. That was a revelation for me, i never knew people were noticing me back then while i was a kid. Not that i had the money but i had the knowledge of what i want to look like and i know how to get some real original designers at affordable prices at Yaba. 
I didn't have much clothes but the few i had were authentic, you would wish you had them. If i had not had as much passion for fashion and style naturally, i would not be in fashion business by now, i probably would be doing graphic design and printing and making loads of money too. Despite the difficult challenges i had encountered in my 12 years of my clothing line venture, i didn't give up the dream, i rather find a way to make those challenges motivate me.

2. CHOOSE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Know who you are in business for.

Target audience determination is a topic you will always have to ponder on at one point of your beginners stage as an entrepreneur.  There is always a huge list to choose from and if the entrepreneur is not careful and very thoughtful, he might allow a mix up, if he is a greedy person or if the entrepreneur is a strong personality type of person or a weak one, he may allow it cover his objective  detection of the right target audience.
When i was faced with this topic just some few years ago, after i have concluded on the vision and mission both for my personal life and for Quadoowear. This vision and mission realization determined how i had to go about marketing, system of operation and target audience. I realized that it is an educational mission, a lifestyle and a revolutionary one. Considering all these facts, the brand  had to be targeted at the youth, ages 20-40.
I could have also chosen target audiences such as children, underwear or strictly female product. But to me, it was not just about the products, i was thinking bigger than that, and that is empowering the people. Empowerment are always directed to the youth as they are the strength of a nation. And our nation Nigeria needs the youths to be involved in nation building and development, i was ready to dedicate myself to that service. My perception , value, believes and personality influenced that target audience decision, it was not influenced but the motives of money or personal gain.

3. STUDY THE FASHION INDUSTRY

Familiarize yourself with the system that operates in your in the fashion industry in Nigeria.

Take your time, know yourself, know exactly what you are up to and know the environment of the fashion industry, its demand and supply. Beware of what have been the history and development of fashion over the years and make predictions about the future. Where is the material coming from, imported or locally made? What style suites you most, ready-to-wear or made to specific orders from the customers?
All these are important information that will help you, it is best to learn first hand by spending time in the industry. You can always link-up with someone in the line of business before you to see if you can be of help to them. By helping or rendering your service for free, you will learn so much along the line in return.

4. HAVE A CLEAR VISION

See it and believe it, then others will follow suit with time.

Let your idea about the future be firmly understood. Anyone with no vision perishes, and anyone who stands for nothing falls for anything. Vision is what differentiates a leader from the rest of the people. Many situations will come your way, family and friends will doubt you instead of supporting you, don't blame them, its human nature, they only see through their perspective. You might do the same if you were in their shoes. The path of ones vision is a lonely path, be prepared to go alone.

5. START SMALL, THINK BIG

Little drops of water makes a mighty ocean.

Do not forsake the humble beginnings. If you have the resources to do 100, start fro 10 and grow. The process of growth is usually that which we downplay, we want to be smart and achieve our goals fast but it doesn't work like that. 
Respect the process. Pregnancy takes 9 months, a full day takes 24 hours, not negotiable. Start small and save yourself stress and unnecessary  risk. Starting up is usually a failure but following up is the success. If you start big and you fail, is too much pain for you and might be harder for you to try again.
You must think big, big enough that people think you are crazy. Start small, so small that people overlook the effort, but they will be surprised at the compound effect over a period of time.

PART B to be continued next week

Please keep in touch.

Written by: Alli Quadri Olalekan
CEO, Quadoowear