In this episode of the Apparel Entrepreneurship podcast, we talk about how and where to find inspiration for your designs and collection. How do you turn design inspiration into fashion collections? Why is it a good idea to have an inspiration for your designs and collection?

So how and where does it all start? How do designers know what to create? Inspiration is everywhere and we often hear this when designers are interviewed: where do you get your inspiration from? They most often answer from everywhere. But where is everywhere? In this episode, we give specific ideas for where to find inspiration and how to go about it.

You might have a trend sensitive business, or you may run a timeless brand. But you, at all times, have to know what's going on in the world, and know the trends and why things are the way they are. Because your brand is evolving with time, whether you like it or not, because that’s the nature of the game. And if you do know the trends it will be easier for you to run a business that is relevant, to increase your chances for more sales.

Inspiration isn’t only for the prints, or the details, it’s for everything. Starting with the products themselves, the silhouette and shapes, the materials choices, the colors and color story, the accessories chosen like buttons and trims and cords, all the way down to the finishing touches and styling of the garments.

Put on your headphones and join us for Design Inspiration 101.

The Apparel Entrepreneurship Membership Program: Join this week

Through working with clothing brands in the AE Membership Program, and through our consulting assignments, we see 5 major reasons why customers aren't buying from certain brands. Some of you have been running your brand for years and you now see a decline in sales. And many of you haven't launched your brands yet, and want to be better prepared for pitfalls that can be avoided before your launch.

In this episode we are bringing attention to why you aren't selling and what you can do about it.

Show notes at apparelentrepreneurship.com

This is a special episode about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. These are the two most significant online selling days of the year. 2018 the sales grew around 20% from the previous year in the US, taking the revenue to record levels.

Show notes at apparelentrepreneurship.com

In today's episode, we are talking about why you should have a blog, why it's useful, and blog topic tips for your fashion brand. A blog is important, no matter if you are just starting out or if you are running and established clothing brand.

When should you start?

How often should you post?

What should you talk about?

There are so many things you can talk about on your blog besides your products.

A common concern for new brands that don't have products yet is what they should post about. In many cases, they don't want to reveal too much information before the products are manufactured and ready to sell.

In this episode, you will get loads of tips on things you can talk about to connect with your customers.

So, bring out a pen and paper, put on your headphones, and join us for AEP029!

Learn more at apparelentrepreneurship.com

In this episode, we are talking about business partners, coaches, and mentors. Why is having a business partner such a good idea? What do you need to think of when picking a partner? We are discussing some crucial components to consider before partnering up with someone, so you don't make the same mistakes we have done and also seen other clothing brands make. Listen to this episode before choosing your partner, so it doesn't end up in disaster.

It's challenging to grow your business alone. But, maybe you don’t want a partner for some reason. Perhaps you want to own your business to 100%. We are also addressing alternatives to bringing on business partners, where you still can you grow your business.

Go for a walk, get on that bike, sit down on the bus, or whatever suits you. Put on your headphones and join us for AEP028!

Show  notes at apparelentrepreneurship.com

In this episode, we are discussing how you can design your business to suit your life, in opposition to the other way around. When we started our first business, we basically just mimicked the way our previous employers ran their businesses. But the traditional 9 to 5 setup didn't suit us, and our life situation changed along the way. So at one point, we sat down and actively planned how we wanted our life to look like. You don't have to run your brand as everyone else does. Design your own business.

In this episode of the Apparel Entrepreneurship Podcast, we give you 5 steps to how you can design your business to betters suit your life situation, your goals, and your preferences. Sit back and listen. It's time to take control of how you run your brand and business.

Show notes at apparelentrepreneurship.com

There is a lot of talk about the Millenials, but not as much about the consumer group that is going to be the biggest one in 2020. In this episode, we are talking about generation z. We discuss who they are, how they will behave, and what we can do to connect with them. Even if this is not your target customer group, you can learn a lot about this generation that is already controlling and influencing $800 billion in direct spendings! So bring out a pen and paper and prepare your brand for the future.

Find the show notes at ApparelEntrepreneurship.com

This episode is all about branding. We receive a lot of questions from the Apparel Entrepreneurship community, and many of these are related to branding. Branding is as vital as the actual products or garments. People don't just buy your products. They also buy into your brand.

Branding is the process of building a company image based on associations, feelings, lifestyle, and identity that's projected by a label.

Basically, what will people feel and think when they see or hear about your brand?

Here is why branding is so crucial for a brand and what it can do for your growth.

So in today's episode, we will answer some of the questions that are related to branding.

We will talk about how to pick a good brand name, packaging of your products, what to do when it's difficult to find a domain name, and also if it's better to get help from a manufacturer or freelancer when it comes to hangtags and labels.

Visit Apparel Entrepreneurship here to learn more about growing a clothing brand.

If you have listened to the 2 previous podcast episodes you know that we started a mini-series a couple of weeks ago about selling your clothing line. In the first part we talked about selling wholesale,  meaning the traditional way by selling through shops. You can listen to AEP022 here. Last week we continued the series with an episode about selling direct to consumer, either via your own webshop or your own retail store. You can listen to AEP023 here.

These two ways are the most popular strategies today when it comes to selling clothing lines. But are these the only ways? Of course not. So in this episode we are going to talk about some other ways to sell your collection. We will talk about ways like drop shipping, trunk shows, event fairs, pop-ups, agents, and distributors. So if you want to learn more about these different ways of selling, then bring out pen and paper, because as always we are going to get really tactical and you’ll want to note this down.

Find the show notes on apparelentrepreneurship.com.

In this episode we are again talking about sales. If you listened to last week's episode you know that we are doing a mini-training/series on sales. The last episode was focused on wholesale and the pros and cons and why it can still be relevant even for startups. So that was episode 22, if you haven’t listened to that yet, go back after this onebecause it might give you some great ideas and possibilities for your brand. And in today's episode, we are going to go through the pros and cons of selling direct to consumer.

So what does that mean?

What is the difference? Wholesale is selling to shops, be it online shops or brick and mortar shops and they sell your product to the end consumer.  DTC, Direct To Consumermeans you are selling your garments directly to your end customers without a third-party retailer, wholesaler, or other middlemen.

This can be done via your own online shop or via your own retail shop. When it comes to the brick and mortar shop, the difference to wholesale is that it’s your shop! You own it, you control it you do whatever you want with it. And you have a direct link to your end consumer.

So sit back and listen to this podcast episode about selling your clothing line DTC.