Does anybody know how I might get started to open up my own clothing store?

Question

I would like to start my own clothing store and need to know how I would find place that would sell to a right now small but hopfully growning store like mine. My fieance ownes his own buisness and has said if I figure it all out he would give me money to start my own but I don't know how any advise is welcome. Please Help

Answer 1

Source your product first, and get that ready.. when you have a product line and supplier, try the market out by selling on places like Ebay or markets with no permanent address.. then if that works look at putting up a shop or leasing in an area that would support your product.. ask your existing customers too.

Answer 2

please decide first that what type of clothes you are going to sell, i mean categorise the product first. Then have a litle study on the scope of the product to be sold at your chosen place( city suburbun) then location is the vital element for selecting the shop place. after you decide on all then comes the estimation part which includes all financial and Permission parts.

Answer 3

i would contact your local SBA(small business administration)

You need to get your ideas wrote down and formed into a business plan. the SBA will help you with this.

Answer 4

I recommend that you start reading and learning more about how to start and operate a clothing store. Here are some articles that can help you

How to Start a Clothing Store http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,287057,00.html
Starting a Specialized Clothing Retailing Business http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol89/specialized.htm
Starting a Retail Clothing Store http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1102419629706&pagename=CBSC_SK%2Fdisplay&lang=en&c=GuideHowto

I suggest you start preparing your business plan. Even though you may not apply for loans from financial institutions, the process of business planning can help you think through your business. It can help you determine the costs involved, how to get suppliers to sell to you, how to market the store, expected profitability, etc.

Here are sample business plans for a clothing store that you can check out:

Retail Clothing http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/business-plans/Business-Plans-Volume-01/Retail-Clothing.html
Men's Clothing Retailer http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/business-plans/Business-Plans-Volume-04/Men-s-Clothing-Retailer.html
Special Needs Clothing Store http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/business-plans/Business-Plans-Volume-07/Special-Needs-Clothing-Store.html

Clothing retailing is a broad area; so the first step is to determine what type of clothing store you want to establish. According to NPD Fashionworld market research firm http://www.npd.com/dynamic/releases/press_060221.html the growth in the apparel industry was ushered by:

- Men’s apparel led the industry’s growth with an increase of five percent, reaching nearly $53 billion in 2005. Another big category winner, men’s tops - accounted for 38 percent of the men’s apparel market
- Sales in women’s apparel also grew, reaching $101 billion
- Children’s apparel sales grew two percent, to $27 billion.
- Women spent $2.6 billion on hats and scarves, driving an 11 percent increase in the category.
- Cozy pajamas and fluffy robes were all the rage last year as women’s sleepwear sales generated nearly $4 billion in 2005, a 10 percent increase in dollars from 2004.
- It was also a strong year for women’s intimate apparel, the $9.6 billion industry expanded by nearly 4 percent in 2005.

For detailed information, I suggest you check out the following books:

Start Your Own Clothing Store (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up) (Paperback) by Entrepreneur Press http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1891984314/104-9178108-5912741?v=glance&n=283155
Retail Business Kit for Dummies by Rick Segel http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076455381X/ref=pd_sim_b_1/104-9178108-5912741?ie=UTF8
Specialty Shop Retailing: How to Run Your Own Store Revised by Carol L. Schroeder http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471212644/ref=pd_bxgy_text_b/104-9178108-5912741?ie=UTF8

Sometimes you may want to have someone guide you as you start your business and help you with the right things to do. There are several places where you may be able to find a mentor:

- Government Mentoring Programs such as SBDCs, which works with community colleges and local business development councils to offer mentoring programs http://www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html ; or the Women's Network for Entrepreneurial Training http://www.sba.gov/womeninbusiness/wnet_roundtables.html
- Volunteer programs such as SCORE http://www.score.org which is composed of mostly retired executives and entrepreneurs
- Formal mentoring programs such as Athena Foundation http://www.athenafoundation.org/programs/globallinks.html , Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program http://www.helzbergmentoring.org/HEMP/ , or The Aspen Institute MicroMentor Program http://www.micromentor.org
- Professional organizations such as the National Women’s Business Council http://www.nwbc.gov/Mentoring/programs.html
Industry and trade associations
- Local business groups, such as the chamber of commerce
- Local chapters of business groups

There is so much to learn about starting a business that it is hard to put everything here. I suggest that you to check out the following websites and learn from their content:

Entrepreneur http://www.entrepreneur.com
Inc.com http://www.inc.com
SBA http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/

You may also want to check out the resources of the following associations:

Professional Apparel Association http://www.proapparel.com
American Apparel Producer’s Network http://www.usawear.org/
Worldwide Responsible Apparel Manufacture http://www.wrapapparel.org/
American Apparel and Footwear Association http://www.americanapparel.org/
National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers http://www.nafad.com/
Fashion Group International http://www.fgi.org
Apparel News http://www.apparelnews.net/

I recommend that you read Kathleen Fasanella's blog at http://fashion-incubator.com . She is the author of the book "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing" and her blog is full of answers to questions on how to start a clothing line