Step 1: Plan

Deciding to start a clothing line (or any Black business) can be exciting. You dream of quitting your job and running your business empire like a mini mogul. New ideas are always exciting in the beginning, but without proper planning, these ideas can easily become dreams deferred. When you are getting started, avoid making the following common mistakes:

Mistake 1: Not Writing Your Plan Down. When it comes to goals and business plans, if its not written down, its not going to happen. Period. There are some schools of thought that discourage business plans as being unnecessary or unrealistic. I cannot disagree more. ALL of the most successful operations on the planet – from small corporations to large countries – plan relentlessly, revisit their plans often, and operate according to plan. Your operation should be no exception.

Mistake 2: Making Uneducated Guesses. How much will it take to start your clothing line? The answer will tell you how much you will need to raise. How much does it cost to produce one shirt, one tie, or one bracelet? The answer will tell you how much you should charge per unit. When is your clothing line projected to break even? The answer will tell you how long you can expect to work without making a profit. If you cant answer these questions, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Mistake 3: Being Obsessed with Tools. You dont need a new MacBook Pro, business planning software, leather organization binders, iPads, or apps to get organized. You might be tempted to pile up “tools” that you think will help you get more done, but doing so is an expensive distraction from doing the real work. Many of my ideas started on a piece of scratch paper, and were launched using a business plan written on a yellow notepad. Rather than spending thousands of dollars on new electronic devices and productivity tools, focus on getting a product to market and moving units. Buy the new laptop later.

Step 2: Get Funding

Getting your business properly funded is vital to your success. After you have completed a business plan, you should have some realistic numbers to base your fundraising efforts on.

Crowdfunding has proven itself to be a valuable source of funding for Black Businesses. Crowd funding or crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, or hyper funding) describes the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations.

Crowdfunding is not free money! Dont just throw up a profile and think people will support you only because you are a Black business. You will need to reward your investors with something of value for their contribution. When Tariq Nasheed used a popular crowdfunding website to produce and launch his film, Hidden Colors, backers that pledged $100 or more received a free DVD copy of the film and their name listed in the film’s “Special Thanks” credits. The result? Tariq was able to raise more than $25,000!

Also, you can increase your chances of success by producing a video (even if its just your face) explaining why you need funding, and by discussing your business plan. Obviously, you dont want to give away your trade secrets, but you will need to convince your investors that you know what you are doing, and have a solid plan in place to make it happen.

Cooperation – working together to achieve a mutually beneficial goal – has been the bedrock of Original values of the Earth since the beginning of time, and crowdfunding projects is a great way for us to demonstrate our commitment to other Black businesses.

Here are 3 crowdfunding sites that can help you get started:

Kickstarter
Crowdtilt
IndieGogo

If you have a crowdfunding campaign going already, leave a link in the comments section to give readers the opportunity to support you.

Step 3: Get Designs

Now that the hard work is done, its time to let your creativity fly! Your design is limited to your own creativity here. But even if you aren’t particularly creative, a good graphic designer can help turn a plain vision into a spectacular work of expression.

Here is a nice list of Black graphic designers that can help you create clothing patterns and artwork:

Step 4: Get Manufacturing and Distribution

Manufacturing and distribution can be another sticking point when creating your own clothing line. Fortunately, there are many companies online that make it easy to have your designs printed on material of your choice. For instance, Blank-Label is a build-a-shirt site that allows men to design their own dress shirt by selecting a fabric, style, collar and buttons.“Designed by you. Stitched by us,” is the company’s slogan.

In addition to Blank-Label, here are 3 places to have your clothing line manufactured:

Cong Ty Thanh Chuong Co., Ltd – Vietnamese Clothing Manufacturer
In Washington DC, Call (202)470-2665
sales@ellen-clothing-manufacturer.com

9 Mode Private Label Clothing Manufacturing
Alibaba – Also a great source for every wholesale good you can imagine. Direct from Chian factories.

Once you have your clothing line manufactured, you should get your pieces into local stores, barber shops, and boutiques as fast as possible. Most stores will not pay you upfront, but rather you will leave your pieces with the shop, return periodically to check inventory, and collect the difference from the shop owner. For example, say you leave 10 T-shirts priced at $20 with your barber shop. You come back in two weeks and only 4 shirts are left. You negotiated a 50-50 split with the shop owner, so the shop now owes you $60 for the 6 shirts sold. While you are waiting to check your inventories around town, its also a good idea to sell your goods online as well. Goods sold online will earn you smaller profits (since the cost of doing business online includes shipping), but you have access to a much larger pool of customers, which could mean more sales.

If you dont want to go through the trouble of setting up a website, here are 3 places to sell your clothing online:

Big Cartel: Over 200,000 clothing designers use Big Cartel. It’s free for a basic package, $30 for the full.
Sell on Amazon : Again, free to sell, but they do take a cut!
Etsy