A Business Plan For Starting A Clothing Business

Starting a clothing business starts with a business plan that knocks their socks off -- very fashionable socks, of course.  In fact, your biggest advantage is you -- your style, your street savvy.

The Clothing Store Business Plan Just For You

Start Up Right Now - Clothing -- The Business Plan to get your ducks in a row.  Inventory your skills, your needs for your new business.  Run the numbers.  Target your market.  This is the one just for you -- scratch it up, mess it up, make it YOUR business. Step #1 in starting a clothing business!

You probably already know that retail clothing stores have the highest failure rate of any business.  There is a very good reason for this:  Most clothing store owners know Fashion, but few of them know Business.  Use this workbook as your personal tool.  Discover what you really do know, and what you need to work on.  Determine what skills you can contract out to someone else, and which ones are so critical to your business that you need to possess them.  These are not easy questions.  Take some time now to really study your responses; it is very costly to find out later that you missed something.

Starting a clothing business really requires a mass of skills, from finance to inventory to lease negotiation to employee management.  And, just to make it a bit worse, most retail clothing stores are located in malls with brutal opening hours.

Where To Get The Skills For Starting A Clothing Business

OK.  You've taken an inventory of your personal skills.  What next in starting a clothing business?

Fill in the missing gaps.  Every single one of them.  Here are some suggestions:

Community College Courses.  Few retail clothing businesses require heavy duty finance, but you do need a basic knowledge of P/L, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow.  Same with marketing.  You are not marketing a Fortune 500 company; you are marketing what is likely a single location.  So learn about marketing to your local buyers.  These are essential skills in starting a clothing business, so go to learn, not to earn grades.

Apprenticeship.  Need a brush up on management skills?  Find a non-competing retail store that you respect and offer yourself as an apprentice -- you will work for nothing (or nearly so) and in return you want to learn.

Build Your Own Website.  You absolutely won't have time to learn about websites after you are up and running, so do it before hand.  Unless you have money to burn, don't hire someone to do for you -- you will end up paying and paying, month after month after month, when it is something you can probably do yourself.

Financing When Starting A Clothing Store

The Clothing Store Business Plan-- Present your banker with a wham bang business plan, one that shows off your business. Workbook, financials and business plan template are all included, as well as sample business plans for your review.

Here is where the girdle really gets tight.  Impressing a banker is no small accomplishment, especially when starting a clothing business.  It takes guts, and it takes knowing you've got a really strong business that you can present to the bank.  Starting a clothing business is often more about Money than Style.  But if you've gotten this far, you can handle it.

As far as a banker is concerned, starting a clothing business isn't a whole lot different than starting a beauty salon or starting an architecture design company or even a cement business.  They all need a certain level of information.  You are lucky -- your presentation can be pretty snazzy.  Yes, include pics of your product line.  Yes, show how the store will be laid out.  Yes, brag about the exclusive distribution you will have on some of your lines.

But also demonstrate your business skills and your background in the business world.  If you have previously started a successful business, it will really help you when starting a clothing business.

Include a preview of your marketing, your ads, your website.  Clearly demonstrate that you have a strong Plan A, and a solid Plan B, and maybe even a Plan C.

The same techniques can be used, no matter what type of clothing store you are starting or financing, including

• clothes stores
• womens clothing stores
• cheap online clothing stores
• cheap clothing stores
• juniors clothing stores
• junior clothing store
• best online clothing store
• baby clothing stores
• baby clothes store
• girls clothing stores
• womens clothing stores
• urban clothing stores
• online clothing store
• vintage clothing stores
• kids clothing stores
• plus size clothing stores
• mens clothing stores
• toddler clothing stores
• Japanese clothing stores
• boys clothing stores
• Western clothes
• childrens clothing stores
• hip hop clothing stores
• indie clothing stores
• sports clothing stores
• girl clothing stores
• hipster clothing stores
• discount clothing stores online
• fashion clothing stores online
• baby clothing store
• trendy clothing stores
• used clothing stores
• tween clothing stores
• jewelry stores
• accessory stores
• handmade clothing stores
• shoe stores
• handbag stores

... and lots more!

Starting a clothing business is not easy.  But you will likely find it very rewarding, both personally and financially.  We wish you every success!