THE LESSONS I’M LEARNING DAILY GROWING MY FASHION BRAND AND HOW I PLAN TO UPGRADE MY CONTENT CREATION SPACE

Hey lovelies ❤️
It's your favorite girl @debbie-ese 😍
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I have mentioned in several of my previous posts that I have been focusing more on creating stunning dresses for both walk-in and online customers. This move is part of my effort to expand my business into the ready-to-wear aspect of fashion business. And while it had been a great journey since I started a couple of months back; I won't sugarcoat it and make it loom like it has all been smooth and easg combining it with custom/bespoke orders.

From my little experience, the ready-to-wear business keeps my workspace constantly buzzing with activities because we do mass production and there is always cutting of fabrics, sewing, packaging and so on, most especially when there are no custom orders. Unlike bespoke fashion where you have to wait for orders to come in before you work, ready-to-wear keeps you on your toes to meet up with demands of your online or walk-in customers.

One of the good sides of ready-to-wear business is that income can flow in quickly especially when you do a good marketing with social media promotions, word of mouth marketing to to family, friends, neighbours, and so on. It is easy to make income through ready-to-wear though it is only when there is sales. Well, what happens when there is no sales?

The above question has always been my fear that didn't make me start the ready-to-wear business years back. If your pieces don't sell as expected maybe for some weeks or months it automatically means that your investments (capital) gets tied down. The cost of purchasing fabrics, accessories and labour is locked in those dresses sitting pretty in your shelves. But I'm grateful that I haven't had to experience this and I feel like it is because I key into making trendy outfits and also I have good friends and customers who patronise my business.

This is quite different when you are doing strictly custom/bespoke business where your customers often provide the fabrics or provide you with the money to purchase the fabrics and accessories, and also pay you in full or upfront for your service. This means in this case there is absolutely no financial implications on your end as the fashion deisgner. Ready-to-wear business requires you to invest first and hope for returns through advertising your products to people who can patronise you. It can be disturbing if you don't get to make sales as you expected.

Having said all that, the toughest part of running a ready-to-wear line that I have been faced with is creating content for social media. I genuinely respect all the business owners out there that create and post contents every single day. It is not as easy as it looks. First, you have to get the right angles and lighting to editing and posting. It is a full-time job on it's own. I use to think it is a simple process of taking pictures and posting until I had to do it consistently.

In the same vein, in a bid to improve the quality of my photos and videos I intend to work on the area where I create content in my house by painting the space, maybe add some wallpaper and a digital signage which will carry my logo. I understand the effect of a good background in showcasing ones products and I'm saving up to make that happen pretty soon.

The pictures attached to this post were taken a few weeks ago when I created content for a new collection. I'm elated that I have sold most of them already and I will be working on a new set of deisgns soon.

The expansion of my business by including ready-to-wear has made me think out of the box on so many times and it has made me more creative and professional in my business. Whether on sewing or creating contents, I'm always looking forward to it all.

Thanks for reading and see you in my next one.

ABOUT ME

Just a quick reminder:

The text and photos on this blog was created by me, unless I state otherwise.

The cover images are designed using Canva with strict adherence to elements that are licenced for use under their terms.

Photographs are taken with my Samsung Galaxy A52 - 64MP Camera and other amazing features that absolutely capture the moment in high quality.

Lastly, do not use any of my content either text or image without asking me for authorisation. In other words, unauthorised used of my content is highly prohibited.