Power Of 1?
You have designed a collection that you would like to get made, which consists of 6pc's, and you have calculated that to get the patterns, toiles and samples made (labour only) for each of these pcs's will cost approximately £2500. But you do not have the budget for that yet, and you are unsure of what to do...
Why Not Start With 1?
Think of some of the most recognisable brands on earth. How do you know who they are without seeing their label...
Burberry - known for their mackintosh and their distinctive check
Christian Louboutin - known for their red bottom shoes
The Cambridge Satchel Company - known for their satchels made in different colours
We know that these brands are huge and you're not expected you to be able to achieve this right away, but the idea of developing one good product is the message of this blog post.
If you are a start up and this will be your very first collection, 'The Power of 1' may apply more to you because you can test your market and get feedback after developing 1 product.
You could make a garment that has an interesting or unique feature to it, present it to your ideal customer and then see their response.
Starting with one enables you to save on cost and focus on developing a strong garment that can lead your following collection.
How Can I Start With Just 1 Garment?
The online fashion space is growing and there are now more outlets where you can gain brand awareness, which makes it much easier to start with and promote 1 garment.
With our ear to the ground we have heard designers talking about how they can only start a brand if they create a collection with at least 6pc's. We can understand why they would think this when whenever they see a new collection coming down the catwalk, it's never just 1 garment. It's usually around 40 looks with 1-3 garments for each look.
It should be understood that these are usually big brands that have a lot of resources, enabling them to do this.
It's important to note that a lot of brands do reproduce the same style, by using different colours and different fabrics.Thus increasing the visual representation of the brand, but not the style amount.
You Can Start With One, You Should Start With One.
The truth is, that it is really difficult to compete with big businesses highstreet, or high end. Purely because they have huge resources and infrastructure that most startups and small brands do not have.
However, the opportunity that small brands have is flexibility, you can develop your brand slowly over time and grow your following.
Another reason why you should start with 1pc is that you can use this opportunity to see how well you fit with your fashion studio/provider.
1 piece allows you to gauge your fashion providers work and working style.
It is just enough to see the development of the garment by not spending too much, whilst giving you a clearer idea of the fashion production side.
Are You Convinced Yet?
If by now we are not convincing you to start with 1pc and you are adamant that you must start with a 6pc collection. Well it is more than likely your fashion studio/provider will start with 1 style at a time.
They may do all the patterns first, then all the toiles and then all the samples instead of 1 at a time, but they point is they may start with 1, so why don't you?
Take Your Time.
A fashion brand usually takes a long time to build, you may have a full time job, building your brand when you can.
You may have heard of success stories of a brand that launched on the Monday and by the Friday they were a raging success, but for the majority of brands, it can take years.
Think about the brands that you know and are aware of, how long do you think that they were around for before you took any notice of them?
How many well established brands do you think there are that you have never heard of?
It just takes time. If you are serious about building a fashion brand, we want to reassure you that you can begin slowly, developing your aesthetic and signature.
And remember, everything starts with 1.
