How to Open and Operate a Financially Successful Fashion Design Business: With Companion CD-ROM

Very thurough

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the How To Guide on how to open a fashion design business. I especially liked the hands-on approach taken by the author, starting off with a summary of the fashion business. I had a better understanding of different types of fabric, material, and how this is important when you focus on the design of clothing and planning what your company will design for consumers, and how this affects your costs to run and manage your product. The book was very comprehensive, and easy to follow. The book focused on showing an individual how to thrive successfully starting with how to write a business plan, acquire funds to start your business, and how to operate your business on a day to day basis, including but not limited to budgeting, marketing, keeping up with trends, and managing a clientele. The information was presented in a very easy to read format, with several checklists, case studies, and information that will prepare an individual to open their own fashion design business and maintain success.

The Fashion Design Entrepreneur's Handbook

How To Open and Operate a Financially Successful Fashion Design Business is for you if you are a fashion designer with perhaps a degree in Fashion Design, but without a business degree or experience running your own business. A start-up business is not for lightweights-a huge number of them fail every day-and this book offers the basic tools and information necessary to be a successful fashion design business owner. The author takes you step by step, in a no-nonsense and easy-to-understand way, through the process of preparing, opening, and running a fashion design business. The author really seems to understand fashion and what it takes in this particular industry to be successful. Along with great advice, info, and ideas, the book includes checklists, worksheets, charts, forms, sample agreements, sample evaluations, etc., that will be extremely valuable and useful to a new business owner. There is an entire chapter dedicated to writing a business plan. Case Studies throughout the book offer interesting snapshots of Design business reality. A sample quote from one: ¿Everyone wants to be Hank Williams, but no one wants to die. You have to pay your dues to put out good products.¿ This book is a detailed, comprehensive guide and resource and I definitely recommend it to fashion designers who aspire to go on their own, or to someone looking for a gift for a recent Fashion Design School graduate.

Great Book and CD

The creator of this book has captured from start to finish the very essence of starting a design business. She has covered every aspect of starting and maintaining a business complete with statistical information as well as comparison charts and case studies and has provided a very useful and informed view of what it take to compete in today business world. Not only does it include a business plan for start up businesses, it also includes a companion CD-rom.

Practical Guide

This book covers the process of planning and opening a business in the design industry from beginning (writing a complete business plan) to end (selling or closing your business should you want to move on to other things). The book begins with a short history of fashion from the turn of the century to the current day, then moves into things you should know before starting a fashion design business. It is quite thorough in terms important business considerations, such as selecting a business structure, writing a business plan, and raising startup capital. Where it really gets interesting, however, is in the chapters about developing a fashion focus, designing your line, manufacturing, marketing, etc. These are fashion-specific chapters that are full of the nitty-gritty of getting started in this industry. I recommend this book to anyone with a dream of opening their own fashion design business, as a reality check and companion through the process.

Excellent Guide

Janet Engle¿s manual on how to start a fashion design business is very informative and well-organized. Engle presents a complete guide of all the ins and outs of the fashion business, and also explains in detail how to start a business, design a clothing line, and keep your business going. There are a number of graphics and illustrations in the book to keep the reader interested and entertained. My favorite thing about Engle¿s book was the small Case Study boxes interspersed throughout the chapters. These short anecdotes tell the stories of successful fashion businesses and how they overcame a number of obstacles. The true-life stories serve to illustrate Engle¿s points and as well as provide the reader with examples of Engle¿s advice carried out in real life. Throughout her book, Engle provides a wealth of information regarding almost every aspect of the fashion business. Her tone is both informative and motivational, and the layout of the book is attractive and easy to read. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to open their own business, or simply learn more about the fashion industry.

Comprehensive Guide

'How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Fashion Design Business' presents a comprehensible, easy to follow guide towards setting up and operating the reader¿s fashion design business in a soup to nuts fashion. The book starts with a chapter that essentially shows a reader the basics of what the fashion business entails and gives the reader an idea of where to start and what to expect. It then follows into the different ways the business could be set up and what would be best for what the future business owner ¿ from idea to business set up to operations to, at the end, options for either selling or leaving the current business. Throughout the book there are various forms to aid in setup that could be used either as-is or as guidelines to creating the reader¿s own forms. All are also included on the enclosed CD, which also includes a pre-written editable business plan. While the book does not guarantee a 100% success story with regard to opening and operating the reader¿s own fashion design business, it does provide a clear and precise plan that goes a long way towards that success.

A reviewer

This book was excellent, like a double-degree in fashion and business management! I really liked how it explained both fashion principles such as colour, fabric, etc, as well as the marketing side of things such as defining your target consumers and knowing where your store should fit in the global fashion market. The instructions are so easy to read, and there are such helpful forms to help you really get started. It covers everything from setting up market stalls to organising wholesales, to online retailing! Absolutely necessary for anyone who is thinking or even dreaming about opening a fashion store of their own.

Makes Good Business Sense

In considering entering the fashion design industry, you are probably already aware of the influence fashion, particularly good fashion, has on culture and class, and the part it has played throughout history, but this book doesn¿t hesitate to remind you. But this is a good thing as wanting to be a fashion designer, and deciding to embark on it as a career by starting your own fashion design business, are two very different things and facing the daunting task of small business ownership, you can never have enough inspiration or motivation. Filled with pertinent and comprehensive business tips and advice, this book is much more than an inspiration to get started, it shows you exactly how, why, when and where, yet it should not be your only resource. While it appears as the ultimate how to guide, it also makes you think about every aspect of your design and business management skills, pointing you in the right direction as you realise you have only just begun your small business journey. Full of checklists, responsible advice and a logical flow of logical information, this book can help you define whether you will go into retail or wholesale fashion design, sportswear or eveningwear and while a lot of the information seems obvious, the logical advice allows you to order your thoughts and address issues you may have forgotten in your excitement, while the case studies teach the oldest lesson in the book ¿ learn from your mistakes, or better yet, learn from other peoples¿.

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