FASHION LAUNCH INSIDER EDITION 2 - 31ST MARCH 2025

By Your Launch Architect, Jane McMillan

DESIGNING JUST ONE PRODUCT CAN ACHIEVE MORE CLARITY THAN A LARGE COLLECTION IF YOU'RE JUST STARTING YOUR FASHION BUSINESS

For years THE FASHION INDUSTRY GATEKEEPERS (buyers, editors and agents) said that more choice was better.... 

But does more choice equate to more sales?

Have you ever tried to buy a pair of blue denim jeans, only to be bamboozled by choice and left the shop empty handed— hot, sweaty and  mentally exhausted because you didn’t have the energy to try them all on!    

Sometimes choice is too much for our brains so we end up choosing nothing!  By offering less choice your customers don’t need to think, so actually buy more.

Look at cup cakes.  They were just another cake in the cake shop.    But when bakers started selling ONLY cupcakes demand went through the roof.  One baker in Dubai even sold golden cupcakes for $1,000!

This strategy isn't ...

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 an indie fashion designer wondering how long your business can keep going before you throw in the towel, then this is for you:

Lack of funds is understood to be the #1 reason for fashion businesses failing but that is part of a wider core reason.

We all have a specific threshold where if something gets too close to success, too expensive or too uncomfortable where we give up.

So, it’s not actually the lack of funds that is the REAL cause of the business failure. It is actually the business owners’ mindset.

It’s their fear of success, fear of not being able to get the funding to continue, their fear of having to struggle through or their unwillingness to make sacrifices and/or compromises to continue despite the lack of funds.

Successful business owners are tenacious and believe in themselves and their business idea longer than most people do.

It is the 1% who are willing to do what 99% of people won’t who get the success most people don’t.

Successful fashion designers hold on to t...

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...

If you’re a fashion designer who’s been burning yourself out working 14 hour days, falling asleep on the sewing machine to produce your fashion collection but you’re now wondering why nothing is selling.

If you’re feeling a bit defeated, wondering why no-one is buying and losing your motivation to continue with your dream business…

… then I bet you are doing one or more of these three things:

1️⃣You are designing a large collection that offers too much choice so you burn out your health and finances in the process and your customers are confused by the choice so end up choosing nothing.

2️⃣You didn’t edit your collection strategically in such a way that would increase sales yet reduce resources.

3️⃣You didn’t consider what your audience actually want and will be willing to pay for when editing your collection……. Or didn’t edit at all!

If you are doing one or more of these three things then you don’t want to miss my free workshop when I’ll show you the essential strategies every fashion desig...

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 ...

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...

If you’ve been THINKING about starting your fashion business for three months or more without taking any action it could be because you don’t want to waste time or money producing the wrong products.  

Perhaps you’re worried that all of your ideas, so far, might not be original enough to sell…..  and you want to create a really ORIGINAL brand that goes VIRAL!

Well I’m about to give you a method that’s going to help you find the best concept and most original product for your fashion business so that you can stop procrastinating and FINALLY get started!!!

You see the biggest mistake I see most designers making is that they think they have to create a huge range of designs and they don’t focus enough on any SPECIFIC original product that would best suit the personality, lifestyle, finances and resources of themselves and their customers.  Its a bit like throwing all your darts at a dart board blind-folded and just hoping that one will hit the bulls-eye!

Unless you have a ...