Last week marked the end of the Factory45 2019 program. One of this year’s graduates asked if she could write a guest post to share her experience with all of you. If you’re considering applying to Factory45 in 2020, you’ll want to read Amber’s post until the end.
Here she is:
Have you been wanting to create your own fashion collection, but you’re worried you don’t have any fashion experience?
That was me.
Are you wanting to take the plunge into fashion entrepreneurship but have no idea what a “muslin” is?
That was me too.
Are you seeing white space in the market and you know the exact solution to a problem?
That was also me.
I had no idea what a “pattern” even was.
But I developed a concept (that would later be Feel Good Swim) in the summer in 2018 when I realized I wanted to take my career a whole new direction – instead of working for someone else, I wanted to try becoming my own boss.
I didn’t have an idea of what I wanted to pursue right away; just an inkling of the direction I needed to go.
And finally, the swimwear idea hit me – I was putting on my last swimsuit of the year and hating every minute of it.
I’ve always struggled finding swimsuits that fit my curvier top shape – there’s not much out there.
So I decided that’s what I would build.
But I didn’t pursue the idea right away. I went back and forth with myself for a few months. I was plagued by my own limiting beliefs and negative self-talk.
“Who do you think you are?”
“You have ZERO experience in fashion, you can’t do this.”
“What would people think?”
“What if I fail?”
And finally, last December, I realized what I was doing to myself. I stopped thinking about the “what if,” ignored my lack of experience, and purchased a domain name. Mind you, I had never created a website before.
I researched like crazy. I googled every – little – thing.
And finally, I landed on the Factory45 website.
I read through all of the free content, saw that Shannon was focused on ethical and sustainable fashion, and knew it was the best thing for me.
It was a significant investment, but I had plenty of time to mull over the pros and cons (at that time, the program didn’t open up for a few more months). So I signed up for Shannon’s emails and continued my research.
In those months, I worked on my own — finishing my website, creating a social presence, blogging, trying to create a technical flat, more research…
And I realized I needed help.
I didn’t find any other programs as thorough as Factory45 and knew I had to move forward. It didn’t make sense for me to spin my wheels on my own anymore.
In addition, there was a ton of social proof from the members of the StartUp Fashion community (another amazingly helpful membership, by the way). There are quite a few Factory45 alums in the group that highly recommend Shannon’s program.
Here’s a taste of what Factory45 included:
- Demystification of the fashion industry
- Exact steps to create an actual garment and go into production
- Extensive databases of ethical suppliers, samplemakers, and manufacturers
- Email templates and tactics for outreach to ensure you’re sounding like an industry pro
- Guidance on how to establish yourself in the content and e-commerce spaces as well as how to launch to an audience ready to buy your product
- Strategy to fund your first production run
- And media outreach
I didn’t have any of this prior to the program.
And without it, I’m not sure if I’d have found my supplier or samplemaker by now. Finding the right manufacturer may have been even harder, especially when ethical practices and small minimums can be so rare.
There’s no “woo-woo” or fluff here. Every lesson is action-packed with how-tos, videos, interviews, and supplemental information. And if you need more help, Shannon is just an email away with a rapid response time.
As a business owner, it’s hard to do everything on your own. And I know that without Factory45, I’d be still trying to figure out what a “muslin” is.
So, what are the two foremost tips I can give you from one founder to the next?
First, don’t listen to your limiting beliefs – they aren’t real.
Second, of course, join Factory45 as soon as you can – you won’t regret it.
This is a guest post from Factory45’er Amber Rankin, founder of Feel Good Swim, and all thoughts are her own. To keep up with Amber’s journey of starting a swimwear company, you can subscribe here or follow her on Instagram here.
