How to Start a Hoodie Line
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Ready to start your own line of hoodies? This article will break down how to get started. Designing hoodies is great target market because face it – everyone loves a great hoodie! Is there a such thing as having too many hoodies? Probably not at least in my book. There are so many ways to approach designing hoodies. We will touch on a few. Read on for how to start a hoodie line.
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Step 1 – Designing Your Hoodies
Designing your hoodies is truly fun. You can have hoodies with all-over prints (sublimation), hoodies with logos or phrases, hoodies with solid color fabrics and more. There are truly no boundaries when it comes to exercising your creative juices when designing your own hoodie line. The first thing you want to do is create a few design sketches so that you can show others. The purpose of showing other people your designs is it will help you hone in on your style. It will help you pick which are your strongest designs that you can move to make once you get to the manufacturing stage. Getting feedback will also help you save money so that you only produce your most viable designs.
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So how do you create your hoodie designs? It is recommended you go with a hoodie design software like Digital Fashion Pro. Using a fashion design software program is the way that most designers and clothing lines choose to do their hoodie designs. Clothing manufacturers will want you to provide them with professional sketches and artwork. The awesome thing about using clothing sketch programs is that you don’t have to know how to draw to use them. Another benefit is you can easily swap in fabric choices, prints, logos and design details. The designs below were created with Digital Fashion Pro Software. As a new designer it is important for you to create your own designs vs. hire a fashion designer. You should want to have your signature, time and sweat all over your designs at least in the beginning stages. It will help you out in the long run even when and if you do decide to hire other designers.
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You want to create designs that are fresh and innovative. You can create designs that capitalize on current trends or phrases. There are many hoodie designers that have catchy slogans on their hoodies. You want your designs to stand out. You want to have a meaning behind your hoodies and your brand that people will enjoy supporting.
These Hoodie Sketches Were Created With Digital Fashion Pro Software
Step 2 – Official Starting Your Leggings Company
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After you have created your designs you will want to official start your business. I always recommend first creating designs so that you can make sure that you become good at the number one aspect of having a fashion company. If you don’t have designs that people like then there is no point of starting your clothing line. If you don’t have the passion and dedication to get your designs off the ground then going forward with registering your fashion business is pointless. Through designing your leggings you either realized that you love your designs or realized that maybe designing isn’t for you. At this point you want to officially register your business with the proper government authorities, register your trademark, get a domain name for your clothing line – check out Godaddy (Ad). If you have a name in mind it is never too early to lock down your domain name. You also want to write a business plan for your hoodie line and marketing plan. Get help with setting up your hoodie line and designing it with the Line Start Toolkit.
Step 3 – Getting Your Hoodies Made
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Now you have your designs. You have your official hoodie business. The next step is bringing your designs to life. You have many options. If you want to go with printing your designs on blank hoodies that is an option. You can even get embroidery put on blanks. Creating your hoodie designs this way may be the most economical way of producing your hoodie line but it does not leave you too much freedom for customization. If you do decide this route – try to get blanks that do not have tags in them so that you can easily get a company to add your own tags. If you want to be perceived as a authentic fashion brand then company identification and branding is extremely important.
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You can also choose to manufacture your hoodies from the ground up. This is the way that most fashion brands operate. This method offers you the greatest amount of freedom. You get to really create unique designs where you put your stamp on every aspect of the garment. However, with this step is is necessary that you do your homework. You need to quickly make yourself an expert in construction, measurements and fabric analysis. This is not hard to do but you do want to put your research hat on. You want to go from just wearing your hoodie to laying it out on a table and looking at the nuts and bolts of that hoodie. When it comes to manufacturing your hoodie from scratch you want to have your garment measurements, regular hoodie sketch (front and back), technical hoodie sketch and related artwork. You also will want to have a Pantone Book for picking your colors. If you need to have a certain color then using the Pantone Guide will help you communicate your color choice to manufacturers for the dyeing process.
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You can also have a seamstress, sample-maker or apparel factory make your design. It is at this stage that you also want to look into tags, labels, hardware and packaging. All of these items will play a part in determining how much it will cost to produce your hoodies per unit. Once you have your per unit price you can then set your wholesale and retail price. You also want to check the quality of craftsmanship for your designs. You want to have fit models try your styles on to ensure proper fit. You want to photograph your styles with people wearing them and without.
Step 4 – Launching Your Hoodie Line
Now that you have completed your business plan and you have got samples and or production made it is time to sell your line. You want to set up a online retail website. You can set up a WordPress Site or go with a shopping cart software like 3DCART or Shopify. You can decide to do both a blog site and connect it to a shopping cart platform. You have many options. You want to set up a Paypal Account so operate as your credit card processing. They have free options that will not cost you monthly. You want to approach retailers. Additionally make sure you have a presence on social media. You want to get the word about your hoodie line in every way that you can. Sell, sell sell and re-order popular styles. Be sure you are keeping an eye on your profit margins. See full length article on starting a clothing company.
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Article by Michael Harper – Author, Fashion Entrepreneur, Fashion Designer
