Gaining Entry into the Business World with Fashionpreneurship

By: Nidhi Yadav, Founder, AKS Clothing

With a good sense of trend forecasting, designing, and prints, Nidhi believes in exploring the opportunities in the fashion world.

Striking a fashion statement isn’t that tough as it is to curate the styling options that satisfy the requirements and help them reach the best of lifestyle standards. But what it seems to be tough is the job handled day-in & day out by adroit professionals of the fashion designing industry. While the career is not an easy nut to crack, still millions of youths get attracted to the employment opportunities in the sector due to the glamour factor linked to it. Whether one chooses to get employed or is stepping into the sector with an entrepreneurial idea, they all need to make sure that their journey ahead is well balanced with the elements of cool designs, smart strategies, rapidly changing trends and demanding nature of the audience because of the varied scope of options available with them.

As said before, the designing profession involves many challenges, but those entering the sector with real passion and putting-in their true efforts made in the righteous direction are successful to lead. Along with the aforementioned proficiencies, the business heads will also need to get well versed with managerial skills, customer relation building & maintaining and have the splendid business acumen to exquisitely lead their business in the world of fashion designing. Only the theoretical knowledge isn’t enough to hold and run the business here you also need to know the ground realities identify the problems that lie there and deal with them accordingly. No fashion ideologies and theories are able to beat the real life experience earned by an individual.

If one possesses bright and unique ideas and are ready to put-in real and genuine efforts for the same, then there is nothing to restrict the individuals from succeeding. The entrepreneurial experience with the fashion industry involves dealing with tasks that are much more diversified than it appears from the outside. Other than the creative aspects and managerial responsibilities of the job the entrepreneur needs to have a caliber to upfront the money constraints,resource restrictions, warehousing and logistics problems and deal with them accordingly. Unlike others fashion is a fast-paced industry changing rapidly and to get success here, the entrepreneurs need to keep their business agile and adjust with the relevant changes and new developments. The more quickly one learns to adapt to the changes, the more becomes their chance of pacing ahead in the competition. No brand becomes a Gucci and Vero Moda in a day, the success is achieved steadily with time. Here is a guide to the distinct stages of business evolution that the fashionpreneurs need to understand closely and preserve a success path in the heavily
 

Stages of Business Evolution in Fashion Designing Arena
1. Early Traction with Unique Conceptions: Getting started-off is the crucial most stage every decision is made after several rounds of calculations & judgments. The challenges here account defining and maintaining the brand’s image managing the dealers and suppliers, sourcing retail channels and identifying the first sign of acceptance in the desired markets. Achievement doesn’t occur in an instant. The business needs strong determination to grow and develop. There will be inconceivable circumstances and rigid situations but never give-up and think of quitting. Instead have a strong assurance to tackle hindrances and turn your fashion fantasies into adorable realities for the masses.

2. Pacing Ahead in the Competition: Scaling-up the business in this extremely competitive sector is quite a challenge. The industry is quite diverse and holds a huge variety of options to explore. Instead of messing-up with many the idea is to focus only on a few and give them your perfect shot. This will require experience and excellent knowledge about the production, distribution, and management of resources. The vision of a brand greatly characterizes its identity. So make sure it effectively communicates the brand’s message amongst the masses.

3.Crisis Management: No business is free from a crisis; every organization faces a time when the things go unplanned. The entrepreneurs need to prepare their businesses for any such unplanned circumstances. Always remember failures make you learn from your mistakes and then boosts you up to lead on the path of prosperity. Along with strengthening-up other functions of the organization, it is also required to power-up the capabilities of a business pivot in all the work channels ranging from product selection to distribution, pricing to selling and communication to customer handling. On an overall scale, pivoting is an essential feature that secures the business and paves way for its growth and development.

4. Values & Motivation: Every successful business is made through strong ethical and cultural foundations. More than the creative aspects of the business, it is their core values and motivation for their employees who help them to succeed. Do remember, business is a group effort. Hence, make sure that the values that prevail in your organization are for the well being of all the stakeholders; employees, managers, investors, and even the customers.