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...

The State of Fashion report by McKinsey & Company for 2025 paints a pretty clear picture of the challenges and opportunities ahead for small, independent and artisanal designers like you. 

With so much uncertainty I thought it’d be helpful to break down the key takeaways and how they might impact your work moving into 2025.

A Shift in Consumer Behaviour
First off, the market is still pretty tough. Consumers are still feeling the pinch and are more price-conscious than ever but this shift is NOT just about discount shopping—there’s more demand for value, which includes embracing things like resale, off-price, and, believe it or not, even dupes!!

As an independent designer, this could mean reconsidering your pricing strategy but much more importantly, and what I tell the designers in Fashion Entrepreneurs Academy, it’s about how you communicate the value of your work.

Regional Shifts

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...