How To Get Your Fashion Collection to Market Short Course
Course description
Course overview
How to identify the best route to market for your new brand. Led by an industry expert, this course will explore the many routes you can take to deliver your fashion line to your customers, increase your sales and develop your brand. In the past 15 years, the way makers reach their consumers has changed radically and vice versa. Core elements such as making a product and selling it remain constant.
However, the traditional selling models of wholesale/retail and suppliers reaching customers via retail specialists (online or in stores) have become more blurred. Brands now need to go and engage their customers rather than expecting them just to walk into a retail store and buy.
Should you be selling your fashion collection direct to consumer via your own website/ store, or via e-tailers, retail and independent stores, or via a combination of these channels?
How should you present your collection for your chosen channels and what are the communication tools that you will need to drive your collection's success?
How do you identify, reach and build your customer base in today's market?
If you dream of having a successful fashion business, come along and get some useful and practical advice from someone who has done it, then learn to apply this to your business.
Who this course is for
This program is perfect for students with an existing collection or those looking to create one for wholesale or online sales, aiming to expand their customer base. It also offers guidance for launching a store or website, with tailored feedback for existing collections and advice for those just starting.
Key information
Topics covered
- Your product is the epicentre of your business/future business. We will cover various issues you may face regarding your manufacturing base, such as suppliers, timelines and deliveries
- Approaching buyers, agents and distributors: pros and cons, and how much they take from your margin
- Multichannel retailing: making it work for your brand and sales
- Selling directly on marketplaces: advantages and disadvantages
- Financial tools: having cash flow plans in place to deal successfully with larger buyers
- The legal stuff: trademarks, terms and conditions of business
- Cutting through the fluff: managing social media, press and PR to your advantage
- We will cover key terminology that any designer/brand owner should be aware of
- Concessions: large stores often offer concessions rather than buying in the brand. We look at how this works
- We will also look at non-seasonal cycles whereby the designer may work outside the traditional buying seasons manufacturing to meet consumer demand
- You'll learn about various ways to reach the 'not so obvious' buyers and how to respond to 'unknown' buyers who contact you directly
Learning outcomes
- Understand the importance of storytelling in attracting the correct audience and customers for their brand
- Understand the best channels for their brand: direct to consumer/ own retail store/ department store/ independent store
- Clearly and confidently pitch their brand to both buyers and customers
- Fully understand the market position of their brand, based on pricing and styling
- Confidently price their products based on market expectations as well as factory costs
- Understand how retail partners, agents and showrooms work in terms of margins and costs
- Draft critical paths and linesheets
- Digital badge and certificate of attendance.
Materials
- A notepad and pen
- Line sheets, look books, and samples of your collection if you have any of these available
- Laptop or tablet
Tutor
Joanna Bell
With 20 years of successful fashion sales and brand management for Michael Kors, Lulu Guinness and Temperley amongst others, Joanna Bell recognises the importance of offering solid commercial insight at the beginning of a brand's journey. She set up the Bell Style consultancy in 2017 to give younger brands the strategic sales service that larger brands can afford. She now wants to bring this knowledge to a wider audience.
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