If you are considering a career in fashion design, you’ve come to the right place. It is possible to earn decent money in a wide variety of home-based fashion businesses, and you don’t have to live in New York, Paris, or London.  All you need to do is learn fashion engineering in Laurel's Contemporary Fashion Education program! (At Philadelphia University the program is titled Industrial Fashion Methods (IFM). If you choose to design clothing, buyers for department stores and boutiques will consider your designs only if you can deliver the finished product. Whether you will make the product yourself, or hire someone to make it for you, you need to be knowledgeable – preferably with hands-on training – about how the product is made. Fashion design is labor intensive. Success involves both engineering and artistic abilities. This is hard work, but worth the effort! Begin by reading trade papers and attending clothing design trade shows to learn all you can about the industry and the future trends they are predicting. (Trade show schedules are listed in the trade papers.) You will need a business card to attend the trade shows, as entrance is almost always limited to business-to-business. Consider giving your business your name in the beginning so you can use your personal banking account for your business. Keep notes on everything you do to help you write your business plan. Decide who your market will be. Write a profile that describes your typical customer. Include her approximate height; and her bust, waist, and hip circumferences. Make a portable portfolio of about 10 to 20 clothing styles or ensembles that presents your design ideas for your market. Use clothing photos and illustrations cut from trade papers and magazine advertisements. Include your own illustrations if they are professional level. At the shows ask exhibitors about their businesses and how they got started. Show them your portfolio to get their reactions. Because styles change quickly, don’t worry about copyrights. If you have something in your portfolio that is unique and unusual, take it out before attending the show. Keep in mind that a vendor may contract with you or be willing to represent you at future shows. Ask exhibitors how they sell, what should be in a contract, and what problems they have had in the past. Find out how much it would cost to rent the smallest space possible, what rules apply, and what you would need to set up a booth. Take notes. The benefits of participating in a clothing design trade show, especially in NYC, far outweigh the costs. Volumes of people attend these shows, many flying in from all over the world. Buyers for markets you may never have known about will see your products, all within a three-day period. You MUST be well prepared. This is how you prepare:

Mary Ellen, IFM student, models her successful pant muslin from her first pant draft. This was the first time she had ever drafted a pattern.

Write your fashion design business plan. It can start as just a loose-leaf notebook of business ideas. Put in your research and ideas, including what type of clothing you would like to design and manufacture, and what market you think would buy that type of clothing. Include prices, addresses, etc.

Determine whether you would hire others to produce your design boards, draft the patterns, and sew the samples; or if you would prefer to do some or all of it yourself. Either way, you need to learn these skills. Take the needed classes; making sure your professor has done the work in the industry. Ask to audit a class before signing up. While there talk with students about the classes to make sure they are right for you. Tell your professor what you are planning to do so she can help you prepare. Allow two years to learn these skills. Once learned, time all procedures to help with pricing and with writing your business plan.

Now you are ready to prepare your trade show exhibit. Design and upgrade your line(s) of clothing by pulling together as many ideas as possible. Organize magazine advertisements, illustrations, and sketches into outfits. Take your time. Work until you have at least ten to twenty styles or outfits that you are happy with. Choose the very best five or six.

Next, do the math. Estimate the wholesale price for each garment by multiplying by three the cost of supplies needed to make the garment. Then multiply the wholesale price by two to determine the highest probable retail price. Compare your retail prices with those for similar clothing in the stores. Query people you consider typical of your intended market to learn whether that market likes the garment(s) and is willing to pay the retail price. Use your time studies to cost/estimate the total time to make each garment you are considering marketing. Eliminate styles that will not be profitable and are unlikely to sell. Add styles that are, so you again have five or six chosen styles.

Make design boards from foam board sold at art supply stores. Show a style or ensemble on each board. Swatch with fabric in two or three color ways. Then, if possible, arrange a meeting with a buyer from a local store that sells to customers typical of your chosen market. Ask her if she would give you an honest evaluation of your line of clothing. Take your resume and wear clothing you have made to show that you can make the clothing represented on your boards. Ask her questions you asked the exhibitors at the trade show. Be willing to take criticism. It can hurt, but in the long run you are more likely to be successful if you listen to her critique. If she finds you can take criticism, she may give you an order.

"Today clothing is often sold off the boards before any samples have ever been cut and sewn. This 20 by 30 inch concept board presents the designer's ideas for a line of denim clothing. She will discuss the ideas presented on the board with the buyer. Then the designer will make a new board to show the clothing the buyer wants to buy. No clothing will be cut and sewn until the buyer has approved the clothing shown on the final board."

If the anticipated workload looks high, research what manufacturer to contract with. Research all manufacturing procedures and costs. Allow for hidden expenses. Determine the break-even point and go over all finances. Most factories will not consider orders for less than 1000 garments of one style, although you might find a contractor who will consider manufacturing an order as small as 500. As a precaution, check their references and their status with the Better Business Bureau. For now, plan to keep all manufacturing in the USA. Going offshore is too problematic for a startup company. Likewise, during start up, because of potential export/import problems plan not to sell to buyers outside the USA.

If you prefer to keep your business small, plan to sell no more garments than you and/or your staff can produce. Determine that number BEFORE going to the show.

Finally, determine a full set of measurements for your sample size; determine the bust, waist, and hip circumferences for all sizes in your chosen size range. For help with this refer to the measurement charts in any mail order catalogue. Create a basic sloper (a basic shell pattern from which pattern styles are drafted) from the sample size measurements. Use your sloper to draft the patterns – in the sample size only – for the styles you plan to market. (Using a sloper to develop the patterns ensures that all garments in each size will fit your company’s established measurements [grade rule].) Keep the number of styles and sizes low, no more than five or six. At all stages of sample production ask yourself, Would I buy it? If the answer is Yes, continue. Make no more than two samples of each style. Time, as you cut and sew, to help with the final costing of each garment. Determine the turn-around time and add a week, so you can tell the buyer when her orders should arrive.

After you make the sample clothing, upgrade or make a new design board for each style or ensemble. Show the style or ensemble in two or three color ways; give the size range. Swatch with fabric and trims that will be sewn on the garments. List the wholesale and suggested retail prices on the back of each board.

Make sure you are well prepared for the show. You will need a contract and a purchase order listing the details of the agreement. Have your lawyer, or one of the many organizations that help new businesses at low or no fees, go over the contract before you go to the show. Consider putting a contingency in the contract stating that if there are not enough orders for a style to make a profit for your company, the buyer’s deposit money will be refunded. Check with your bank to learn if they would approve a loan if you get sufficient orders. Pack ahead of time to make sure you have everything you need. Arrive early. Set up long before the show opens. Stay at your booth. Have a knowledgeable helper and cell phones, if possible, so you can take a short break once in awhile. If a buyer is interested in any of your samples, don't promise more than you can realistically deliver by the due date. Get the buyer's signature on the order. Request that part of the order be paid up front (so you have money to buy the raw materials), with the balance due on delivery. Now you are on your way, in the fashion industry, with real customers!

Once the styles have sold, the patterns need to be graded and the garments cut and sewn. Because you have these skills, if the number of orders is small, you can do much of this work yourself. If the number is large, before giving a factory an order, have them produce several samples for you. Because you have taken the courses and are knowledgeable, you are capable of judging the quality of their work.

Follow up. Check that your customers are happy and that your employees and contractors are producing and delivering quality goods as promised.

Can you believe? In the IFM 6-course program and from its step-by-step, fully diagrammed textbooks you will learn all of the design room and business skills you need to do this. That is because, unlike most fashion design programs, the courses are multi-disciplined. You see, step-by-step, how what you are learning fits into the whole. There is also a course on business plan writing, and all courses emphasize bottom line and profitability. This program is a MUST for anyone interested in starting a home-based clothing design business! If you produce an excellent, affordable product, your business will succeed tremendously!

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