Starting a Clothing Company.

Well, I've decided that i'll be sailing away on a sea of fabric! As awesome as Mexico sounded, this just felt better. I've been known to adventure around a bit, so I'm sure it will happen soon enough.

                                                  50s style White Circle Skirt Dress


As I said in my last post, i've dabbled a little bit in trying to sell my dresses to people, but often got bogged down in the INSANE amount of things I didn't even know I had to do. And i'm not even starting out that big, im starting with the patterns i've made already and the fabric i have already. Trying to keep my overhead real low, and busting my ass. I've figured that if i can sell 10 dresses a month, i've got my bills covered. Probably won't be into that swing until next month, but working towards it. Luckily I was saving up for a trip to Europe, so I had some money stashed to get started.

I checked out a bunch of books from the library about doing this. How to Sell Your Crafts Online by Derrick Sutton is exactly what i was looking for. Written for the web savvy person who learns quickly it points out things you should know, to get the audience you are looking for. Mysteries Revealed! I like it so much, I've checked it out twice and will probably purchase it.

Don't even bother checking out The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin. Really useless, unless you are a total novice to even thinking about selling your stuff.

Other half decent books: The Starting an Etsy Business dummies guide and How to Make Money using Etsy.

Also, my parents and Chris helped chip in for half of a good digital camera. THANKS! I LOVE YALL!!!

Also, because I haven't really run accross any other super beginner checklists, here is mine. I wanted to look at other people's just to see how they organized, but no luck. 
Here's my plan:

- [-] STARTING CLOTHING BUSINESS - GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT MY DRESSES
    - [+] Business Supplies Needed
        - [+] Internet
        - [+] Printer/Scanner - 80
        - [+] Digital Camera - 500
    - [-] Samples
        - [-] Source Materials
            - [ ] Make Screens
                - [ ] Images Designed
                    - [ ] Transparencies Printed
                - [ ] Screenprinting
                    - [ ] Get Ink
                    - [ ] Make Screens
                        - [ ] Design Labels
                            - [ ] Label Screen
        * [ ] Make All Dresses in size medium
    - [ ] Manufacturing
        - [ ] Patterns
            - [ ] Make patterns
            - [ ] Sizes S, M, L
        - [ ] Fabrics
            - [ ] Source
                - [ ] Order
                    - [ ] Make Samples
                        - [ ] Medium size
        - [ ] Dying
            - [ ] purchase dyes, dye bucket, dye tools
    - [ ] Sales
        - [ ] Come up with a Name
            - [ ] Relatable to theme of my clothes
        - [ ] Online
            - [ ] Etsy
                - [ ] Listings
                    - [ ] wording for each garment, turn around times,
                          sizing, etc.
                    - [ ] Pictures
                        - [ ] Models
            - [ ] Website
            * [ ] Blog
        - [ ] In Stores
            - [ ] Take Items to Bon Castor
            - [ ] Talk to uptown shops

Seems overwhelming, especially when i'm not even doing the thing that I really want to do, first off. As i already said in my last post was all organic, sustainable,  but i will build to it. Thanks to a two hour converstion with my mom where she convinced me to just use the fabric i have, and make what i've already patterned and designed.  Make em and put em up online, start the marketing stuff and also just bike on down to Bon Castor.

The problem is, I haven't even figured out a name yet. Really. REALLY!!! There are so many things it seems overwhelming, but i am taking the plunge and making it happen.

                                                                   The Wrap Dress