A report based on The ins and outs of the fashion industry

Report on The ins and outs of the fashion industry

Submitted To: Mr. Md. Tarikul Islam Assistant Professor and Course Teacher, Business Communication (FNB 107) Submitted By: Name Student ID K. M. Sakib Nadisha Ahmed MohsiNihadMossabbirOrnab Shafaet Ara - Moon Tabasum Al Rashid 605 591 619 2253 2255

B.B.A Program (Batch:02)

Dhaka, Bangladesh 29th September, 2011

Department Of Finance & Banking

Jahangirnagar University

Letter of Transmittal
September 29th, 2011 Mr. Md. Tarikul Islam Course teacher Business Communication Department of Finance & Banking Jahangirnagar University Savar, Dhaka Subject: Submission of report on The ins and outs of the fashion industry. Dear Sir, Here is our report on The ins and outs of the fashion industry that you have assigned us to submit as a partial requirement for the course Business Communication In writing this report we have gone through Internet, journals and newspapers for the relevant information of the assigned topic. Please contact with us for any further information at your convenient time. Sincerely yours,

. Nadisha Ahmed Student ID: 591

. K.M. Sakib Student ID: 605

............................ ... Shafaet Ara - Moon Student ID: 2253

MohsiNihadMosabbirOrnab Student ID: 613

Tabasum Al Rashid Student ID:2255

DECLARATION
We hereby declare that this report is based on the results found by ourselves during our research and our research about Dutch Bangla. This term paper neither in whole nor in part, previously submitted for any degree.

Signature of Author:

. Nadisha Ahmed Student ID: 591

. K.M. Sakib Student ID: 605

............................ ... Shafaet Ara - Moon Student ID: 2253

MohsiNihadMosabbirOrnab Student ID: 613

Tabasum Al Rashid Student ID:2255

Acknowledgement
All the praise is for Allah, the most merciful and beneficent, who blesses us with the knowledge, gave me the courage and allowed me to accomplish this task.
As our assigned topic was to prepare a report onThe ins and outs of the fashion

industryfor our course F&B 107of BBA program, we went through many websites ,
newspapers, journals and articles to complete our report and its really a great opportunity for us to acquire valuable knowledge for this interesting subject. At the very beginning, we want to express our profound gratitude to our respected course teacher Mr. Md. Tarikul Islam, to provide us with such a nice opportunity to prepare this kind of a report on Marketing Management. We would also like to take this opportunity to express our wholehearted gratitude to our fellow friends who offered encouragement, information, inspiration and assistance during the course of preparing this report. This report suffers from many shortcomings, nevertheless we have exerted our best efforts in preparing this report. we seek excuse for the errors that might have occurred in spite of our best effort.

So lastly, we would again like to express our heartfelt thanks to our course teacher for providing the theoretical knowledge and valuable guidelines related to recruitment process.

Table Of Contents
Serial no. Topic Page no.

abstract

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION:
The large fashion industry is booming and there is a place for anyone who has talent that can be exploited. However, while there is a place for everyone and various niches that are waiting to be adopted by entrepreneurs, there are various aspects of developing a profitable business model and sustaining it. There are many talented new entrants to the fashion industry who fail to sustain their fashion business even when they are one of the most innovative and talented designers that are to be found. This is mainly because of the fact that many creative and talented new designers fail to recognize the fact that the success of a fashion business depends not only on creativity and innovation but also on entrepreneurship and a sound business model. A proper business model and finance are perhaps the most common factors that plague emerging designers. Even though the fashion business is unique in its own respect, the business model needs to be sustainable, like in the case of any other business. In the fashion industry, it is the conceptualized idea that sells. The focus is to hatch exciting ideas, create special products and designs that enthuse. But all this needs to be done keeping in mind the dynamics of demand and supply and what really excites the customer.

1.1 History of Fashion Industry:

The history of fashion or fashion design can be traced back to the starting of the nineteenth century when the dress designs were inspired from the dresses worn in the royal courts. Ultimately, this resulted in opening of a fashion house in the city of Paris, which is considered as the fashion capital of the world by Charles Frederick Worth, who is deemed as the first ever fashion designer in the entire fashion history. People were highly influenced by Charles Frederick Worths fashion sense and admired his designs. They labeled the designs as the designs of the House Of Worth. As a result of this, the fashion and the designer became synonymous with a specific brand. Paul Poi Ret was also an important designer in the history of fashion who also did a great job and contributed towards the evolution of fashion. He invented a new form of fashion that involved blending of the classical style, aesthetic dressing with the fashion in Paris. To name a few other designers who earned a name for themselves for their contribution to fashion origin were Patou, Vionnet, Fortuny, Lanvin and Chanel.

1.2 The First Sewing Machine:

In 1829, Thimmonier invented wooden chain-stitch machine and became the first contributor of the new revolution of sewing machine. In 1859 Isaac Singer became the first person to produce the garments on the mass level.

Source: http://en.sewingmachine.com/hug-your-sewing-machine-today-30761/

Earlier sewing machines were being used to stitch military uniform but were later used to form the gents garments. In 1921 electrically powered sewing machine came in to existence and the revolution began of manufacturing of clothes on the mass level. In the last two decades of 19th century the separation of women fashion revolution came in the existence due to new style of blouse and skirts.

1.2 Retailing:
After the industrial revolution, sales had decreased to a considerable amount. The custom of retailing had begun in late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Specialty and departmental stores got installed in great numbers. Two Americans founded the first departmental store in 1826 in New York City.

1.3 Changes due to Communication, Leisure and Industry:

The increasing popularity of sports and new types of emerging games made popular the latest sports wear and a new segment of fashion had been evolved. In this era swimming costumes and pants for both men and women were developed.

The industrial revolution also helped in developing the fashion industry. New technologies and invention of new fibers and threads boosted the garment industry. These became the causes of boosting the fashion industry.

1.4 20th century:

During the entire twentieth century, the city of Paris remained the title of being the fashion capital of the world, along with open aping of the French designs by countries like US and Britain After the World War in the fashion history, there emerged many other countries as being the fashion hubs and this resulted in Paris left as only the influential factor. Later on in this history of fashion, well known fashion designers such as Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren came into existence and crafted a niche for themselves. Today, fashion is classified into two main categories- the haute couture which is meant for individual customers and the ready-to-wear collection, also known as prt wear, which is meant for the masses. The early couturiers saw big opportunities in the dress making and designing and it caught up and turned to be a big enterprise, with different people and artisans taking different roles as merchandisers, tailors, and dress designers. Back in 1868, a trade association was being organized by some pioneers of the fashion world in Paris. Other European states soon followed and as such FRANCE became the leading country of the Fashion industry. As time passed, Fashion became the status symbol; the middle class society became richer and had the capacity of spending more money, and slowly got established as an unorganized industry. It became symbolic of the show off. By the time it was 18th century, fashion had equally grasped the attention of both genders. With the growth of textile industry the great fashion world and courtiers underwent a sea change and started existing as separate and autonomous industry.

Chapter 2: EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON FASHION INDUSTRY

2.0 World War-I: Effect on fashion and garment industry:

Before World War I, people in West liked to wear body fitted suit. For this they used to have their personal tailor or the dress designer. There were huge differences in mens and womens dress. Once world war began in 1914, huge numbers of the males died in the war and yet more were wounded. Sometimes women had to take the official charges; she used to begin wearing official dress like males. Women pants and shirts have mostly evolved during this period. Women enjoyed greater liberty at that time. The male dominating society had assumed that women could also handle the world. Women finally got their authority of voting in America in 1920. The fashion was also affected by their liberation. At the same time and in France leadership in fashion industry was catching up. The designers were designing regularly new sort of garments. Paul Poiret, Gabriel Chanel, Madeleine Vionnnet and Jean Patou were the early trend setters. Chic pants for women; bias cut body skimming dress and flappers were the darlings. Their styles were copied for the public on all levels. The copying of style eventually reduced the individual preferences of the person and the trend of ready-made garments had been started then. The production of ready-made garments took place at mass level, the consumption of this production worried the manufacturers, and the number of retail shop started increasing very rapidly. Specialty stores had been open for high-fashion trendy costumes while general customers; chain stores were being open in big cities at low price. As the purchasing power of masses increased, the numbers of retail shop also witnessed an increase.

2.1 World Wars Implications on fashion:

The results of First World War were horrible. It broke the economic backbone of many small countries. Huge amount of man power, money power and friendly relation among countries had been demolished. In America, the business reached towards its end. People had little money to buy anything. The habit of credit also ruined the public. They were in great debt. So frustrations were high and reflected in the mood of people. At the same time Hollywood was going through its golden period. People soon followed the trail and started following the stars. This is how fashion depicted by Hollywood got spread out. Hollywood became a trend setter.

Chapter 3: FASHION AS BUSINESS

3.0 Fashion as business:

The concept of fashion as business has really been becoming popular at a fast pace. There is no doubt that the world of fashion and modeling, especially during the last decade or so has been transformed into a big industry of its own. The business of fashion ranging from small to bulk creations of various fashionable products has brought together enormous possibility and opportunities of making big money. A fashion business house or an independent owner of a fashion business can earn millions by working hard and exploring markets all around the world to market their products. The emergence of fashion as big business has already witnessed the foray of various big business houses in the world of fashion. Moreover, it is still attracting various numbers of business tycoons and companies to invest in the modeling and fashion industry. These companies foresee fashion as business, which initially starts with a clothing line to name or label some of their products as high fashion items. After initially covering the outfit brand soon, most of the business houses start to include every possible product of utilities needed for everyday life like jewelry, pendants, watches, glasses, shoes, wallets, perfumes and hairstyles. Large scale marketing strategy and availability of various modeling and fashion products have really changed the customers' sense of selection and exposure and another factor which gave a boost to the concept of fashion as business is provided by the comparatively high buying power of the customer. Fashion as big business is a profitable venture if run and managed using proper planning and a robust strategy. In order to succeed there is another important factor which is the ability to stay ahead with the fashion updates and launching newest latest trends in the world of fashion

3.1 Steps Required To Start A Fashion Business:

Deciding Target Market: The first step is to think of an idea and decide the consumer that you are planning to target. This is likely to dictate the manner in which you proceed with almost all other aspects of your fashion business. The fabrics you chose, the manufacturers you hire, the colors you popularize, the fashion houses and retailers that you tie up with are all likely to be decided based on overall basic concept and the target consumer. For instance, if you are targeting the wedding niche, then you are targeting young males and females who are looking at buying themselves a wedding dress. Accessories, bridesmaids dresses and bouquets can then be line extension once you have established yourself.

On the other hand, if you are looking at positioning yourself as a green fashion label, then you will look at collaborating with other environmentally friendly fashion houses. Creating Products: Once you have decided the target consumer and the concept, it is time then to create the actual product and designs. This involves creativity, viewing collections of various designers and exploring research ideas. Fashion design is a continuous process that requires developing at least five to six collections a year. The moment one line is complete the next one has to start developing in your mind for your label to move on to the next season. Following Up With Trends: Trends are extremely important in the fashion industry. It is one industry where you cannot relax and sit on your laurels of the past. The success of fashion business necessitates keeping abreast with what the consumer is buying. Information to this effect flows in from several sourcesmanufacturers representatives, fabric producers and from professional online trend services that sell information regarding expected trends in the coming season. Keeping yourself in the loop may require you to be part of online forums and blogs so that you are aware of what really is being talked about as the next best thing and be prepared for it. Cost and Quality Management: Controlling cost and maintaining quality are critical to the success of a fashion business, as any other business. For this purpose a workable business model should be developed because without good financial planning any business is likely to fail. Boring as it may seem in comparison to apparel design; bookkeeping is important and helps you keep track of finances as well as material that you may send to a contract manufacturer. Barring a few large companies who prefer in house production, fashion business is largely based on contract manufacturing. A contract manufacturer takes the cut material and sews the garment. Some large companies even ship cut material to overseas contractors to save costs. Maintaining a balance between quality and costs is extremely important as you begin to grow and expand..

3.2 Manufacturing Works:

Contract manufacturing works on the basis of one operator sewing in one piece. That means one operator sews only collars while the other, only sleeves

and one sews all the pieces together to produce the finished product. In a modular method a group of operators sew the entire garment. This ensures better quality of the end product. Fashion business that lays emphasis on quality should opt for the garments to be sewn completely by one operator.

Chapter 4: SEGMENTATION OF FASHION INDUSTRY

4.1 Fashion Industry Segments:

1. Primary market industry segment that includes businesses that grow and produce the raw materials that becomes fashion apparel or accessories. 2. Secondary market the industry segment that includes businesses that transform the raw materials into fashion in the merchandise production phase. Both markets serve as a link to the retail world.

3. Tertiary market the industry segment that includes retail businesses such as stores. People who work in the segments must have knowledge of the other segments of the industry. Example: Creator of fabrics must understand how fabrics will translate into finished garments.

4.1.1 Primary Market: A key role in the development of fashion. Phase involves technical research, planning, and complex production processes. Must be aware of current consumer needs and fashion trends. Production schedule is ahead other than other segments Generate the products used in the production of the final products.

4.1.2 Secondary Market: Produce garments by transforming textiles to the finished product, or wearing apparel. Producers are responsible for designing, producing, and selling the goods to retailers. Interrelated and Interdependent. Main types are: manufacturers, wholesalers, contractors, product development teams.

Manufacturers: Handle all operations such as: buying the fabric, designing or buying designs, making garments, selling and delivering the finished garments.

Wholesalers: Similar to manufacturers, but do not make the clothing. Design staff that produces the designs. Purchase textiles or other raw materials necessary for the designs and then plan the cutting of the materials. Coordinate the selling and delivery processes. Many of the top fashion design companies are classified as wholesalers.

Contractors: May be responsible for many aspects of production from sewing and sometimes cutting to the delivery of goods. May produce designs for merchandise that carries a stores label, or private label.

Product Development Teams: Teams that; Design Merchandise Outsource work to contractors in the United States or outside of the country.

4.1.3 Tertiary Market: Also known as the retail industry Retailing the selling of products to customers. Retail operations distribute directly to the consumers who buy and/ or use the products. (link between consumer and manufacturer). Direct their purchasing and marketing efforts to their target customers needs and desires.

Tertiary Markets: Department stores Variety stores Off-price stores Warehouse stores Outlet stores Non-store retailers

Support Industries: Businesses do not always have their own in-house advertising departments, accounting departments May help lower operations costs and allow fashion companies to focus on fashion.

4.2 Types of Fashion Business:

Three types of business organizations: Sole proprietorship Partnership corporation

4.2.1. Sole Proprietorship: The most common form of business A business owned and operated by one person One of the oldest forms of business ownership Not controlled by federal government regulations; the business does not exist apart from the owner. Risks owner takes responsibility for all assets owned. Personally liable for the company. Taxes business profit is taxed as personal income tax at a rate less than the rate imposed on corporations. Pros and Cons the freedom to operate.

4.2.2. Partnership: A business created through a legal agreement between two or more people who are jointly responsibility for success or failure of the business. Taxes has fewer regulations than a corporation and each partner is taxed separately on individual tax returns. Personal liability each partner is personally liable for debts of the partnership.

4.2.3 Corporation: A business that is chartered by a state and legally operates apart from the owner or owners. Charter a legal document that grants certain rights and privileges to the company by the state. The number one retail corporation in the world?

Stocks and Shareholders a corporation has the right to issue stock. Prospective shareholders transfer money, property, or both, for the corporation's capital stock. Taxes profit is taxed to both the corporation and to the shareholders when the profit is distributed as dividends.

Chapter 5: PRODUCTION PROCESS

5.0 Production process flow:

Production Process Flow refers to the process for converting fabric in designer wear garments follows. The below mentioned sequence: Design: The initial process starts from the designing phase. Various patterns:Of clothing and the fashions in vogue, which also relate to the tastes of the concerned clientele, are designed. This is done by the contracted designer as he/she will provide the basic designs of which the fabric will be converted into the designer wear garment. On average, a designer is supposed to provide 40 designs per month or 100-120 designs per season i.e. three months. From these designs, approximately 50% of the designs are selected for further development of clothes. Pattern Making/Cutting: Based on the designs selected, patterns for cutting are developed and based on these patterns Fabric is cut, embroided, block printed, and processed accordingly. Stitching: The cutting is then followed by stitching, which can either be done by the in-house stitching unit or by outsourcing it. Labels are also attached to the apparels in this process. Finishing: The final phase is that of finishing, in which the garment will be checked for quality control and will cleaned (if required) for final presentation at the outlet. The garments will also be tagged for identification of sizes, prices, addresses, handling instructions, etc. Presentation/Market: Once the designer wear garment is ready after going through the above-mentioned process, it is presented at the outlet/shop for sale to the clientele.

4.0.1: The fashion merchandize range:

Basic Products : generally sold throughout the year Seasonal Products: shelf life of 12-25 weeks Short-Season Products: shelf life of 6-10 weeks or less

4.0.2 The marketing mix:

Product Place

Price Promotion People Process Physical Evidence

4.0.3 KEY SUCCESS FACTORS:

There are a number of factors, which contribute towards the success of a project. In case of the project of Boutique, some of the Key Success Factors are as follows: Proper care while producing dresses should be adopted Proper Inventory management i.e. keeping minimum inventory as per past sales trends. The dress designs should be according to the emerging trends and fashions. Designing of dresses according to the consumer tastes/preferences gathered through consumer surveys. The location of the outlet should be properly selected and attractively decorated so as to target the clientele effectively. The customer satisfaction should be given due importance, because it is the customer satisfaction, which can increase the sales. Hence, excellent customer service should be provided.

4.0.4 Threats for the Business:

Competitive Structure of the market: The market of the boutiques is highly competitive; therefore if the entrepreneur is not well responsive to the tastes and response of the clientele as well as the fashions in vogue he/she may not be able to capitalize the opportunity properly. . Do not partner with a competing store. Pilferage in the designs:The designs which a designer produces can be sold by the staff even before that design is launched and that can pose serious threat to the business because in the fashion industry it is the uniqueness of the design which matters. Selection of the wrong venue: Selection of the wrong venue can be a major hurdle in achieving the desired business objectives.

Selection of the wrong design: If the designs are not selected according to the tastes of the clientele then it can be detrimental for the business, so the clientele taste should be properly tracked. Tax: Improper documentation of the sales receipt record may lead to problems with Tax department

4.1 RAW MATERIAL:

The raw-material required for such sort of projects, would be as follows: Fabric: The fabric, which is the basic raw material requirement for a boutique and a major component of the cost, can be obtained from wholesale markets or from markets specializing in designer cloth at Faisalabad, Karachi, and Lahore. Accessories: Accessories such as buttons, laces, zippers, elastics, threads, needles, embroidery threads, glasses, etc. will be procured from the local market at competitive rates.

Labels,tags and packaging: Labels and tags can be obtained on order, as these serve as an identity for the boutique and are useful for promotion.

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4.1

Marketing plan:

The marketing of boutique follows the conventional marketing pattern which is dependent on selection of venue of the outlet/s and the product mix (designs and sizes), as well as the promotional strategy. Furthermore, the boutique owner has to marketing techniques like: Usage of print media: Printing of posters and pamphlets as well as displaying it and distributing it at proper places Advertisement in print media: Newspapers and fashion magazines, etc.

Usage of electronic media: Projection of the boutique in fashion programs, advertisement on television, and provision of dresses to various television plays and films. Event arrangement: Fashion shows and photo-shoots.

Usage of e-commerce: Launching of website and advertising on web. Word-of-Mouth: Let your friends and family do the raving for you and the word will get out and you will start gaining a business reputation for offering this that or the other thing.

Radio: Call the advertising department for an appointment. They show you what they offer. You get to hear your business name advertised on the radio.

Chapter 6: BUYERS MEDIA & ADVERTISING

6.0 THE FASHION MERCHANDISE RANGE:

Basic Products : generally sold throughout the year Seasonal Products: shelf life of 12-25 weeks Short-Season Products: shelf life of 6-10 weeks or less

6.1 ABOUT THE BUYERS:

The fashion press is interested in the designer not the salesman. The buyers are interested in sales made in store not the salesman or woman who presented the collection to them. Buyers can be very protective over designers and brands that they stock and understandably so. In a world which appears dominated by mainstream commercial fashion on the high street, away from the high street independent boutiques rule and fashion buyers within these stores have high expectations.

They operate in a world of their own, all are forever busy, some are lovely, polite and genuine, and others are not. This is not a dog eat dog world, but can, and often is, one where claws are sometimes in and sometimes out. Success lies both in the products and the presentation, orders are not guaranteed so remember, some buyers will and some buyers wont place orders with you for a myriad of reasons. The actual skill in taking orders lies in our art of persuasion and the strategies we employ to get the desired results.

Buyers the world over tend to make similar decisions when deciding which fashion collections to stock in a given season. Their choice of collection will always differ greatly, depending upon personal preference, customer type and location, however when choosing which labels they plan to view for the season, they base their decisions on a number of factors. Every season, fashion buyers receive an unparalleled amount of information pre season from every designer and brand seeking to get in front of them. Clearly their choices can be influenced by press coverage and marketing as well as discoveries they have made themselves, whilst a lot of information received is discarded simply due to presentation or more importantly, the lack of.

6.2

Media in fashion:
fashion journalism has emerged as a significant part of the fashion business. With fashion emerging as a big industry in its own respect, there have been so many factors that have strong influence on this industry and fashion media is among them.

Media in fashion has an important role to play because of the fact that

Moreover, like any other filed there is much more awareness in people regarding the editorial critique and commentary which appear in fashion magazines, newspapers on television, internet through fashion websites, social networks and in fashion blogs. People get to read honest reviews about fashion trends and much more. It is one of the reasons which have made fashion industry understanding the role of media in fashion. During the starting of the 20th century, the presence of media in fashion began to increase gradually. The magazines dedicated to fashion and fashion runways began to feature images of different fashion creations and became even more influential on people than in the past. The role of media in fashion was clearly visible from the fact that in big cities across the globe these magazines were selling like hot cake and left a profound effect on public clothing taste. One of the most famous and influential mediums of fashion media was the Vogue magazine, which got founded in the US in 1892. It is still one of the longest-running and at the same time one of the most successful fashion magazines with a loyal fan following. Over time there have developed so many other channels through which the presence of media in fashion is clearly seen. There are thousands of fashion websites that combine the merge traditional editorial writing with usergenerated content. Fashion media presents people with the all kind of information regarding fashion and there are many people who follow what fashion media says. This clearly shows that the role of media in fashion industry is of great importance because it is quite an influencing medium with greater reach.

6.3 CREATING A BRAND:

Building a brand is expanding your company from the products that made it fabulous and successful. You engage your loyal customers and appeal to your target market and translate the quality and integrity you are known for into other products. Many of todays popular & iconic fashion brands thatstarted selling their fashion & accessory merchandise on market stalls aspire to having their products sold through premier retailers and some succeeded where others failed

6.4 Operating a fashion house:

These are the requirements to open and to operate a fashion house: Identity: You would need to name your clothing company and design your logo. This would become your brand in a while, your own identity as a clothing company. In order to design an appropriate logo and brand name you need to decide what you want to sell. Your specialization would also help you find your niche which is so important for your success Niche: Decide what you want to sell. Women s clothes, men s, children s, beach wear, sports wear, casual wear, evening wear, etc. You need to choose what you want to sell so you could work out the rest of your plan on cloth store. This decision would put you in touch with your customers and this is the first step towards building your market.

Marketing: The whole world is your market. Whether you are a boutique in the real world or in the virtual world, your market would set the working parameters for your business. Once you have zeroed on what segment you are planning to target, you would be able find out what the fashion trends for that segment are and which particular area you can excel at. This ability to focus is imperative if you plan to succeed.

Business Plan: This is your blue print. Without this you would not be able to move too far. You need to write down everything right from scratch. A business plan would involve both time and money budgets. You need to work out your business policies such as working hours, return rules,

stocking, inventory, selling rules, and so on. You would also need to work out here your advertising and marketing plan as well as employee details. Your expansion plans, use of profit, investment and partnership policies. Start Up Costs: Find out the minimum you would need that is the recurring monthly costs (plan for the first year 12 months), the goods costs (plan for the first three months stock) and operation costs (plan for the whole year). Add 10% for unforeseen expenses which by the way would be much more than you would expect and the sum you get is what you need in hand before your launch your business.

Location you have two choices here (i) the virtual world or the Net and (ii) the real world. It is not necessary that you choose only one. You could have both and this would be simply great for you if you know what you are doing. Location in the real world would depend on two major factors (i) your ability to pay for it and (ii) the visibility of that location to the target segment you plan to focus on. Suppliers you need to have a couple or so of good and reputed suppliers before you are even considered as existing in the business. When you are completely new this is pretty hard. However, you could try the snowball effect with the help of recommendations from established sellers in the cloth business.

Market and advertise: You need to create demand for the goods you are planning to sell and draw the attention of your target segment to it. There has to be a hunger created for the type of products you are promoting even before they are available. If your shop is in the real world, use traditional and creative style of advertising billboards, television ads, radio and newspapers. You could also use the Internet for advertising even if your shop would not yet have a presence in the real world. In case your shop is being set on the Internet, use BUM Marketing tactics to put it up on the search engines result pages and create your base. This is initial hard work but the rewards are mind blowing. Personal Inspiration: You would have to have a source of inspiration; and inspiration here does not mean a mascot or a motivation point. Rather it means the guiding force for your business information about trends, market and networking

 Fashion sales is perhaps one of the most under represented & unspoken about areas within fashion, yet without sales everything else becomes redundant. A beautiful collection will remain a beautiful collection of samples if no orders are secured. A catwalk, a photo shoot, a PR campaign without retailers stocking the merchandise becomes meaningless. You need to find a niche where you can excel. Only then you could advertise and attract your customers. Without a niche you would not be able to lead and without something that differentiates you form the rest of the crowd, you could never create an impact in the mind of your customers. No impact, no customers, no business.

yourcustomers need to know about you and initially, when you are new and the ad campaigns have not build you up into a giant yet, they need to see you. Hence, location is as important as the capital or your niche. A bad location can kill your business within no time; just as a good location could boost it. Whether you are launching your clothes shop on the Net or in the real world location is a very important point. you would need a number of permits to start your boutique and clothing shop electrical permits, business permits, wholesale permits, and what not. Check out with a professional law firm to ascertain what the exact dictates of the law of the land are in your region.

6.5 Advertisements in Fashion Business:

Fashion advertising is a branch within the advertising field which focuses on creating promotions for the fashion industry. Some of the most famous advertising campaigns in history have been campaigns for major fashion houses. Fashion advertising includes advertisements for garments, purses, shoes, and similar products of fashion houses, along with high end perfumes. The goal of fashion advertising is to connect potential customers with the brand. As with other brands, fashion ads promote a lifestyle just as much as the product, teaching consumers to associate a particular brand with a specific lifestyle and social class. The tone and content of ads may vary, depending on which market the company is trying to target, ranging from very wealthy individuals to people with less disposable income who could still be a valuable customer base.

In short fashion advertisement includes fashion designing, fashion business, fashion marketing.

6.5.1 Use of Technology in Fashion Business:

Developments in technology have allowed the fashion industry to expand to new and unique product lines. The most significant trend in the industry is the development of smart fabrics that leverage nanotechnology. Clothing is also increasingly multifunctional; for instance, companies have been working towards integrating cell phones, mp3 players and other devices commonly found in a handbag to slide into sleeves or jacket.

6.5.2 Trends & Emerging Issues:

For Macro Trends: The next decades will see the gradual convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive technologies. Typical results will be materials with different tensile, thermal and optical properties, integration of IT into fabrics, and linkage of our bodies to the network for medical and communication purposes, via clothing or skin-wearables. Smart fabrics will expand the qualities and characteristics of clothing, for instance, anti-odor properties can be added to fabric. Globalization has led to outsourcing, particularly in the textile industry. Companies are increasingly managing global supply chains, making them sensitive to international politics and natural events, like weather patterns and disasters. For Market Trends: Clothing and retail companies are increasingly offering customized clothing and involving the customer in the design process. Customers can custom-design a pair of Nike ID sneakers; Lands End has an online program to allow users to create personalized clothing. Fashion designers are spreading into new online markets: several hundred clothing designers sell digital fashions for avatars in the virtual world Second Life. New fabrics are being developed to provide power generation using solar power, electromagnetic, thermal and mechanical means.

Chapter 7: RISKS

7.1 Fashion Risks:

Risk the possibility that a loss can occur as the result of a business decision or activity. Risk management a strategy to offset business risks; a systematic process of managing an organizations risk exposure to safety, environmental factors, and the law.

7.2 Types of Risks:

Three types of risks: Economic Risks risks that occur from changes in overall business conditions. Human risks risks caused by human mistakes as well as by the unpredictability of customers, employees, or the work environment. Natural risks risks that result from natural causes such as the weather.

7.3 Other Risks:

Pure risks risks that occur when there is a possibility of a loss, but no chance to gain from the event. Speculative risks that occur when gains or losses are possible.

Controllable risks that can be prevented or reduced in frequency Uncontrollable risks events that a fashion business cannot prevent from occurring, such as weather. Insurable risk pure risks that could exist for a large number of businesses, including those for which the probability and amount of loss is predictable. Uninsurable risks risks that occur when the chances of risk cannot be predicted or when the amount of loss cannot be estimated.

Chapter 8: Creative Marketing Strategies for the Fashion Industry

Creative Marketing Strategies for the Fashion Industry:

The fashion industry is a popular and competitive industry. With so much competition, it's imperative that clothing designers, jewelry designers, shoe designers and even boutique owners find creative ways to market their brands. In order to do this, fashion brands must keep the potential customer's prospective in mind from the product development stage to the product evaluation stage. 1. Goals: Regardless of your niche in the fashion industry, before you start brainstorming creative marketing strategies, it's important to analyze your market and come up with a couple of measurable goals you'd like to achieve with your marketing efforts. As a boutique owner, your goal may be to create a campaign that attracts more visitors to the store to bring in higher sales each month. As a fashion or jewelry designer, your goal may be to introduce your new fall line and receive at least ten initial orders. 2. Networking: One of the most time-tested and inexpensive ways to creatively market products in the fashion industry is through word-ofmouth. If you're not personally speaking to your customers, be sure that you have brand ambassadors who can communicate effectively with your customers about your products. These brand ambassadors should be people who actually wear your items and will share their positive experiences with your brand. 3. Look Book: A look book is an essential piece to a creative marketing strategy for anyone in the fashion industry. A book filled with glossy photographs provides editors, potential buyers and even potential customers with an idea of what you can create. Work with a photographer who understands fashion photography and consider hiring a stylist for the shoot. Be sure that your look book includes information about you, how your brand got started, your direction and your contact information. 4. Fashion Blogs: People are frequently introduced to brands by friends and family, but they often venture online to do their research and look for reviews from other customers. A big part of the online community includes blogs and social networks. In many instances, bloggers are also tweeting about the topics they discuss on their blogs. Because of this, it's beneficial to establish strong, mutually beneficial relationships with local and national fashion bloggers and websites as a part of your creative marketing strategy. Develop interesting angles, as they are inundated with requests from up-and-coming designers daily. Send a professional pitch and your look book. If you need help locating bloggers and websites or determining what to send, contact a public relations professional for assistance

5. Fashion Showcase: Consider hosting a small gathering of 30 to 50 people to debut your line or boutique to key people in the fashion industry. Invite bloggers, editors, buyers and potential high-profile clients. This is a creative way to network and personally introduce your brand through your own vision. During the event, allow time for a small fashion show, and also display items throughout the room. You can use your look book as inspiration and tie elements of it into your event.

Chapter

Entrepreneurship in Fashion Business:

Fashion entrepreneurship is about combining design, business and manufacturing knowledge. Some things can be outsourced or brought in but some things are critical for the fashion entrepreneur or the management team. These are the three categorized capabilities that are required for entrepreneurial qualities in a fashion business: 1. Ability to develop a new symbolic language, a style that is experienced as distinctive, consistent and new. 2. Ability to manage the process of communication on which fashion depends. 3. Ability to understand and manage strategic, marketing and branding issues for the fledging firm.

Customer-focused Fashion Retailers

The customer is King. That certainly is the case as many retailers are focusing more on the market and the consumer needs rather than being brand and product focused. High, medium and low-end fashion retailers are presenting customers with collections which are more and more interesting designer collaborations and mixture of high- and low-end designs. Retailers are finding newer ways for consumers to experience their products. The idea is to bring customers to the stores and provide them with a unique shopping experience. The unique shopping experience involves more entertainment to the customer for having a good time rather than being just a status/lifestyle symbol. The fashion retailers are also educating the customer by providing more information about products. Customers can even know how the products are made and why they cost what they do. A few retailers have displays/signage with product explanations.

Popularity Portion for Fashion Business:

The following pie chart leads us to some idea how much popular fashion businesses are to be chosen as a source of income around the world market of business.

Source:https://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~dwharder/TechnicalPresentations/VisualAids/Charts Graphs/PieCharts/

Chapter: ENDING

CONCLUSION: The fashion industry is unique, artistic, profit driven and at the same time very demanding. In this industry one person can make a big difference and there is always room for more. The first two years are critical for the success of a fashion business. Without help it may become difficult for new designers to survive in fashion industry. Success in the fashion business is as easy or as difficult as success in any other industry. Irrespective of the industry that you are entering, it is essential that you understand the unique characteristics of the trade and the industry before you take the plunge completely and sink in the investment. However, the good news is that www.StartingaClothingLine.com offers a complete agenda of what you need to know before and after starting your own fashion business line and this includes fashion design, fashion design products like design software, branding, marketing and positioning a fashion label, contacting retailers and getting your line in the outlets, supplier contacts and step by step guidance that ensures success in the fashion industry.

LITERATURE REVIEW PART: The report, produced by Forum for the Future and Levi Strauss & Co., describes how fashion companies can be successful by becoming sustainable. For the fashion industry to be sustainable economically, it must be sustainable socially and environmentally too. These provocative scenarios challenge all of us to look beyond the short term and use our collective power to work to create the kind of positive world wed like to see in 2025. John Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co.

Companies need to be seeding innovation and new ideas now in order to thrive in a resource constrained world. We need thought-provoking research like Fashion Futures to help us collaborate and advocate for the right future solutions around the most important issues on sustainability" Hannah Jones, Vice President, Sustainable Business and Innovation, Nike Inc.

A CUSTOMER DRIVEN OPERATION: It is a customer driven operation. The process starts with the customer (customer needs and use situations) and ends with the customer (the customers level of satisfaction).(Walters, 1999)