Investing in samples or prototypes can be a huge financial commitment for a small fashion company, sometimes reaching upwards of $5,000. 

Before diving in, it’s crucial to validate your designs and ensure they resonate with your target audience. 

Here are 6 effective strategies to test and validate your designs without breaking the bank.

1.Social Media Feed: Share images of your designs on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest to showcase your products in various contexts.   

2.   Instagram Stories:  Use polls and questions in your stories to gather direct feedback, gauge interest and build anticipation among your audience.

3. Engage Your Audience: Ask open-ended questions to encourage your followers to share their thoughts on your designs and spark conversation so you can gauge what what might need tweaking.

4. Pre-Sell Limited Pieces: Once you’ve gathered feedback from your images the next step is to start pre-selling a limited number of pieces. This approach a...

If you are sitting at the same desk surrounded by the same people, doing the same boring job 8 hours a day 5 days a week and basically feeling soooo creatively repressed ….  

...but you’ve always dreamt of becoming a fashion designer….  Then isn’t it time you took charge of your life before it’s too late?

Most of us are indoctrinated to believe that getting a well paid secure professional 9 to 5 job with a big pay check is the right thing to do if you want happiness, self fulfilment and stability ….. and sometimes it’s just to please your family!

But is it worth denying what you really want?

When you are young you just do what you are told so it is natural to follow the path that your family want for you….   

...and when you are young you don’t yet have the life experience to realise that a big pay check can never make you happy.   So it is normal for us to unwittingly follow that path.

But if a 9 to 5 with a big pay check was enough to make you happy then the...

Why you DON'T want to be the most OUTSTANDING, conceptual fashion designer!

Most fashion designers think it's becoming really great at DESIGN that leads to fame and success but that is the most DELUSIONAL idea thats actually likely to keep you broke.

If you keep thinking success comes from putting 100% of your attention into being an outstanding designer you could actually just be working yourself into burn out with no sales or profit to show for your efforts.

If this is you your audience probably don’t even appreciate the quality and craftsmanship of your products so you are undercharging...

... and now you are running out of money,  wondering how to pay for your next collection and you’re tired of posting on social media every day when nothings selling!

If it was true that every conceptual, innovative design sold then EVERY  conceptual designer who JUST focused on design would be successful and we all know that is NOT what happens!! …

 ….   On the other hand w...

This is only the start of a major shift that will bring exciting opportunities for fashion designers to work independently on their passion and create a work/life balance doing what they love!    

Society has been set up in such a way that prevented people going after their dreams.  The large retail chains dominated the market for so long and most graduates gave up their dreams of having their own fashion brand to work for these companies instead.    I was one of them….. When I left college I initially worked as an employee, working all hours, underpaid and I felt as if I was stagnating in “designer jail” …. Yet I did it for five years before finding the courage to be my own boss. 

Working really long hours, as an employee, in an understaffed, pressurised environment actually gave me a chronic health condition, so it has been my mission ever since to prevent young designers experiencing the same.

Yes, I found the courage to take the leap of faith ….  But most people who ...

You are more than likely suffering from Overdesign Syndrome if you've been struggling to sell your products for more than three months, have trouble manufacturing a wide variety of products  and you’re running out of money.   

It could mean that you are failing to EDIT your collection succinctly enough.   You might be trying to get every single one of your great ideas noticed in just one collection and its confusing your audience.....   And we all know that a confused customer never buys!!...      Or maybe you're unsure what will sell so you give them everything….. but designing “everything” is keeping you broke!!

What you really need to do is FOCUS on a specific product range and strategically edit it to a final range of designs you know will sell and is as cost effective to produce as possible.

Have you ever wondered how brands like Prada, Loewe or Gucci can make 100 piece collections repeatedly several times a year, scaling into the millions?...

... Yes, I know t...

Most fashion designers, and this probably includes you, want their designs to be sold and in their customers wardrobes...

... They have lots of fabulous ideas and want to get noticed.   They want their talents to be recognised, to be in-demand and not have to worry about how they’ll finance the next collection.   They want lots of loyal customers who value their designs and will pay a fair price for them.

The problem is that most designers work flat out depriving themselves of sleep to produce their collections and when they attempt to launch get no sales so they waste time and money switching from design idea to design idea hoping that eventually they’ll land on a winning design that will make them “famous”!  

But that never happens.  They loose sight of the fact that it’s not just about any one particular product.   There is a lot more going on.    It's about the SYNERGY of designing and producing an original product and communicating its value to the right people at t...

In the fashion industry it’s common for new businesses to be financed solely by their owners and develop organically.   Bootstrapping is the term used to describe the challenge of financing your startup without relying on outside funding and instead relying only on existing resources such as personal savings, materials equipment and workspace.

It's what I recommend to clients and students going through the Fashion Entrepreneurs 3 X Launch Formula and in my experience that's what I recommend for most people unless of course you already have someone ready to invest and they are willing to wait a while to receive a return on their investment.

There are many reasons why I recommend this:

• If you obtain funding too early your investor might not be aware how long it can take a fashion business to become profitable and if they don’t see a return on their investment early on could pull out.  
• In the early stages you need some time and creative space to build your customer base an...

YOUR FASHION BUSINESS REQUIRES YOUR MIND BEFORE YOU GIVE IT YOUR MONEY!

Throwing a rich sauce over tough chewy chicken won’t improve the chicken…

…And it’s the same in your fashion biz.   Just throwing money at your business only MASKS the problems.

Instead, successful fashion designers plan strategically with a launch formula.   They know the best areas to spend money that will move their business forward.

Look, I get why you might think that you need a huge investment.  In the past you had to produce large 40 piece collections for wholesale buyers to take you seriously.  You also had to pay for large studio & showroom space….

...But what most people don’t realise is that TIMES HAVE CHANGED allowing you to start a fashion business with just a small budget.  In fact waiting to find that huge investment or backer could be preventing you from taking action and getting started!

In the Twenty Twenties you can work from a small space with some of your team working remotely.   You c...