Small scale business in fashion industry

ronan1976

I am looking for a small scale business in fashion industry. My budgest is maximum 5k. Can anyone suggest any idea?

Fukuyama

I suggest reading up on Dov Charney of American Apparel.

He's not to everyone's tastes, but he's a business man that inspires me a lot more than the usual suits that head up Nike etc...

You could import - but there's not much fun in it and you'll never beat Pennys.

Are you a designer? Tailor?

If you make a decent, small wallet that holds a few credit cards and has a money clip, I'll buy one. On the condition that it's not an imported piece of Chinese junk.

Seriously. I'd part ways with 50 euro for a decent, Irish-made, minimalist wallet that will last. An embedded technology such as NFC blocker would be cool too.

Get on a plane to the UK and set up a bank account over there. Set up a Kickstarter and turn your 5K into 10K to procudce thousands of em and take over the world! Muahahahah

ronan1976

Do you think all expenses will be covered in my budget?

jimmii

What is it you actually want to do? Are you planning on sellings to the public yourself or sell to stockists? €5k really isn't much to start up with at all.

Fukuyama

ronan1976 wrote: »

Do you think all expenses will be covered in my budget?

No idea. You havn't given us much info on what kind of business you want to set up.

Will you be in the garden shed or renting a place?

I'm also no expert in the fashion industry (and have the dress sense to prove it) so take my advice with caution.

If we're talking you working along on, say, wallets. Then your output will be low. Combine that with your budget and you're talking a real small operation here. However, plenty of small business get profitable like this.

You should be aiming to create a small amount of high quality wallets (or whatever) that are

(1) unique
(2) theres a market for
(3) are of good quality

Then you can enter the high end of the market.

From the €4,000 - let's say you make 200 wallets. So your costs (materials mostly) would be €20 a wallet.

You then spend a grand marketing your wallet, distributing to a few online shops or selling them yourself at €40 (well, €39.99).

Income: €40x200 = €8,000
Less: Materials = (€4,000)
Marketing = (€1,000)
__________________________
Profit = €3,000

Don't spend your profits. Re-invest them. Rinse, repeat like 20 times.

Of course, I'm assuming you're a crafts person that can make high quality wallets.

Graham

What would you expect the retail price of the wallet to be if the wholesale is €39.99

wmpdd3

Minimum retail €80 plus VAT at 23%.

Graham

I suspected that was the ball park we were heading for, even at that you'd need to be churning out wallets fairly quickly to make it worthwhile.

ronan1976

Wallet is not a bad idea.. but to sell this I need a website. For a good quality website I may need spend another 2-3 k.

Peterdalkey

http://www.dalvey.com/shop-online/card-cases-money-clips & http://www.dalvey.com/shop-online/wallets-leather-goods

I dont think a website with a couple of designs of wallets is a business opportunity competing with high end operators as above links and cheap as chips stuff coming from all over the Third World

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=designer+leather+wallets&tag=googiehydra-21&index=aps&hvadid=32197909193&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18662797051306463919&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_9kp2hfmr35_b.

Graham

It would also be an incredible stroke of luck to find that the OP just happens to be a master leather craftsman capable of producing such high-end products.

jimmii

I have leather Calvin Klein wallets at €55 and people don't want to know! To sell wallets at €100 you are going to need to be in BT or somewhere similar where the price of them is pretty irrelevant.

Fukuyama

Nonsense.

A lot of people don't care what logo or brand their wallet is. There have been dozens of successful wallets that went viral and sold thousands because they had unique solutions that went beyond the basic wallet function.

OP - get creative. If you're hoping to turn a profit churning our boring, standard wallets - forget about it.

However, if you somehow make a wallet that holds cash, cards, earphones, sim cards, a few coins etc in a neat, ingenious way - you'll sell loads.

Do it differently or don't do it at all.

Of course, as another OP stated, you'll need crafting skills/equipement etc...

Furthermore, you don't need 2-3K for a decent website. Especially is you're selling just the one product. Set up a cheap Wordpress site with a store. There's tonnes of free/cheap themes that can be installed.

If you get a designer to do things like a logo and a few images you'll have a great looking website for a few hundred.

I get the impression a lot of this is new to you. So research, research, research. And when you find a company like your who did it all on a shoestring - emulate them, only do it better.

Peterdalkey

Listen to Dean0088.. to quote himself "I'm in my degree year of a business course ....."

Fukuyama

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Listen to Dean0088.. to quote himself "I'm in my degree year of a business course ....."

And?

My point is that if the OP gets creative, and is actually skilled in some sort of fashion/textile trade, he could create a decent product on a small scale.

Where as others seem to dismiss the idea by drawing a parallel to importing CK wallets and then being shocked to discover they can't move them.

Peterdalkey

The OP has given no indication that he is a talented designer or that he has any skills in leather craft or any other trade for that matter.
It would not make any commercial sense to go to market with a couple of wallet designs even if he had the requisite skills. That was the advice being given by some of the more seasoned and experienced business owners who posted.
Of course, in thoery, it would be possible but the reality is likely to end in tears.

jimmii

If its more than just a basic wallet then it could work for sure as you say something that is able to hold some of the things we all carry around these days would be very handy especially if its able to keep a pair of headphones from getting knotted too! Create something unique and interesting and people will hopefully like what you are doing! I have a range of wooden iPhone cases that are incredibly popular because they are different they are a lot more expensive than regular cases but people are happy to pay for something a little bit special. With the CK comparison I was really just suggesting that won't work do something new though and I think it will be appreciated.

Peterdalkey

Jimii, I am sure you are right, the problem for the OP is that he has not indicted that he has the skills/talents to exploit such an opportunity. I would suggest that the whole wallet thing is a red herring in this instance and that the OP was actually looking for a buy in - sell on type business in the fashion space. It is hard to know as he actually provided very little information, other than he wants to start a fashion related business with a small wedge!

jimmii

True but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt!

Peterdalkey

You are indeed a fine human being!

jimmii

Why thank you!

Fukuyama

Tbh, if he's thinking of importing clothes just to sell them on then I think he's destined to fail.

The only reason I honed in on the tailor/craftman side of things was because, with such a small amount of money, it's the only thing I see being plausible.

Surely most shops (even small ones) would be happy enough with their own suppliers? A €5,000 importing business couldn't offer competitive prices.

There's a few small women's shops around Dublin that I happen to pass by that do this. Seems like they're struggling.

And really, I just need a new wallet. :P

jimmii

Dean0088 wrote: »

And really, I just need a new wallet. :P

I have some CK wallets if you like. Only €60 for you!

I agree €5k just isn't anywhere near enough to get into the industry any other way really. Its a million miles away from being enough for a shop I guess you might get a stall on a market for that money and even then you probably wouldn't have much stock. It is enough to get you up and running designing though especially if you have a job and its not going to be your main source of income.

Fukuyama

jimmii wrote: »

I have some CK wallets if you like. Only €60 for you!

I agree €5k just isn't anywhere near enough to get into the industry any other way really. Its a million miles away from being enough for a shop I guess you might get a stall on a market for that money and even then you probably wouldn't have much stock. It is enough to get you up and running designing though especially if you have a job and its not going to be your main source of income.

Tbh - the OP seems to have abandoned the thread and likely his short lived dream of taking over the fashion industry. :P

A lot of men are demanding wallets that do more than their grandfathers did. We're carrying around so much stuff these days... I've seen great examples on Kickstarter and other small ecommerce sites that had great features and secured huge amounts of orders.

But unless the OP has something different to offer, the 5k isn't going to work very hard for him at all.

jimmii

Dean0088 wrote: »

But unless the OP has something different to offer, the Xk isn't going to work very hard for him at all.

This should be copy and pasted in every one of these threads!

ronan1976

What about the online silver jewellery business?

I have seen this...

http://www.gumtree.ie/cp-jewellery-watches-in-dublin/website-stock-and-all-items-to-start-a-business-536366331

Do you think this has any scope?

Fukuyama

ronan1976 wrote: »

What about the online silver jewellery business?

I have seen this...

http://www.gumtree.ie/cp-jewellery-watches-in-dublin/website-stock-and-all-items-to-start-a-business-536366331

Do you think this has any scope?

The person that started that website actually asked for advice on here a couple of years ago. I remember the website; but I can't find the thread. The website itself looks amateurish and reminds me of 2006 when website owners discovered Java and flash and went overboard. :P

Anyways, I think the fact that his website is for sale on Gumtree should be an indicator of its profitability. JUST LOOK AT ALL THEIR LOYAL CUSTOMERS!!!

Think of yourself as a customer - would you buy jewelry online? Or is it one of those trades that will remain rooted in retail?

I'll say it again: Unless you're offering something unique (a great idea, new way of delivering a service), hold onto your 5k or you'll be one of the hundreds of small Irish websites that die a whimpering death each year.

I think it's easy to get caught up in the misty eyed optimism of starting an online business. I certainly have. I write my ideas down and revisit them in a few week. Then I systematically pull them apart. 99 times out of a hundred I laugh my ass off about how crap my 'genius' idea was and thank my stars I didn't jump the gun.

Tbh, if you're looking for the world to give you an opportunity to 'invest' your 5K, you'll get one. There's thousands of ecommerce packages, 'turn key' businesses etc... out there that are churned off production lines for over eager people.

If you want to build something sustainable; do it yourself. It starts with a unique idea first and foremost.