Podcast Ep. 29: Why Now is the Time to Start Your Sustainable Fashion Brand
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
Maybe you’ve had an idea for a clothing brand or an apparel product or an innovative accessory and you keep thinking the timing isn’t right. You’re dabbling in research, listening to podcasts like this one or Googling on your phone when you can’t fall asleep, but you haven’t taken any tangible action yet… well, in today’s episode, I’m going to help you get over that hump so you start making moves.
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, hello and welcome back to Season 2 of Start Your Sustainable Fashion Brand! I hope everyone had a great summer (or winter depending on which hemisphere you’re in!) and that you’re ready to jump into brand new episodes to help you launch a sustainable fashion brand, the right way from the start. Let’s go!
Do I have any procrastinators listening in today? Maybe you’ve had an idea for a clothing brand or an apparel product or an innovative accessory and you keep thinking the timing isn’t right. You’re dabbling in research, listening to podcasts like this one or Googling on your phone when you can’t fall asleep, but you haven’t taken any tangible action yet… well, in today’s episode, I’m going to help you get over that hump so you start making moves.
Here’s the thing: we’re all waiting for perfect timing. We’re waiting for the new job, the new house, the new baby, the new boost in our savings account… and yet, even if all of the stars aligned and each of those things happened, we’d still find an excuse. In a nutshell, this is how most humans work.
There are, however, the percentage of people who are action takers. I’m not talking about the people who go all-in on a hobby and abandon it a week later. I’m talking about the people who don’t operate under fear based thinking. (Because you know that’s what procrastination is, right? It’s actually just the avoidance of feeling uncomfortable.) In today’s economy (and really just general society) one of the most valuable assets a person can have is the ability to take action on an idea. Because the truth is, 99% of ideas never see the light of day. So just by starting to see an idea to completion already puts you ahead of the majority of people.
When we’re talking about sustainable fashion and launching your own brand, there’s even more reason to start taking action right now rather than waiting for the elusive “right time.”
- The first reason is this: (and it’s something people don’t typically realize) It can take, on average, between 1-2 years to successfully launch a fashion brand. The only entrepreneurs I’ve seen launch in 6 months or less were not working a full-time job, did not have kids or had a co-founder. Because the thing is: Even if you’re extremely disciplined and making all the right moves, your fashion startup depends on other people. And a lot of times you have to wait on those people – whether it’s fabric suppliers, patternmakers, samplemakers, your factory, a web designer, a graphic designer, the list goes on. I’m constantly telling people to start before they’re ready and this is why. Because it’s almost impossible to rush the process even if you wanted to. That’s all to say, you want to launch in two years? Great. Get started now.
- The second reason is: You need to give yourself plenty of time to build up an audience. I do a lot of podcast interviews for other people’s podcast and the hosts always love to ask me “What’s the #1 mistake you see fashion startups making?” And this is always my answer: They make the mistake of not building an audience months in advance of launching. Make no mistake, you are responsible for building an audience of customers that want what you’re selling. It’s an illusion to think you can just launch a Kickstarter campaign or create a Shopify website, then just run some Facebook ads and poof you’ll make a bunch of sales. The successful brands that I see launching through Factory45 every day are the ones who have invested months into building their email lists, social media followings and networks. Starting now allows you the runway and bandwidth to make sure you’ve built that audience before you’re ready to sell anything.
- And the third reason is this: Despite the doomsday headlines and news warning you of a recession, all of my research shows that sustainable fashion is only going to grow in case of an economic downturn. In an article titled “Will a Recession Stunt Sustainable Fashion?” The Business of Fashion reported that regardless of the economic climate, the pressure to operate more responsibly won’t go away. It also reported that a downturn could push consumers to adopt more responsible shopping habits, boosting the secondhand market and encouraging a ‘buy less, but better’ mindset. That right there, sounds to me like opportunity. If you’re already committed to launching your brand in a way that is sustainably and ethically made, then now is the time to find your place in the market.
If the past few years have shown us anything, it’s that we can massively benefit from both a creative outlet and a sense of community. It’s also shown us that working from home has its benefits, possibly buying us extra time in the day for outside projects.
Every day I meet aspiring entrepreneurs working in the corporate world but at the same time, desiring work they themselves can both control and be inspired by. Every day I meet moms with law degrees or MBAs, who suddenly have a lot more time in the day with their kids off at school. And then there are the recent fashion grads who always knew they wanted to start their own fashion business and see the value in going for it now rather than waiting for more experience or another degree.
Whoever you are, and whatever you’re doing now, just remember that if you have an idea or a dream to start your own fashion brand, we’re here to help you make it happen. Good things happen when you start before you’re ready – and every one of our Factory45 alumni can tell you the same.
If you’re excited to be one of them, you can book a free discovery call to talk to our Director of Enrollment about your business goals. Just go to factory45.co/apply – we’d love to talk to you.
Oh! And that reminds me… I’m offering a free workshop to teach you how to raise money for your fashion brand – without loans, without investors and without risking your own money. This is the exact system I’ve used to help brands all over the world launch with money in the bank. So if you don’t have $20,000 sitting around to put towards production of your clothing brand, make sure to join us. Registration is now open at https://factory45.co/sustainable-fashion-event
