Am I Dreaming?

Last year I entered a showcase Belk was having in search of designers from the south. 

I sort of entered it on a whim because it had been at least three years since I'd been completely focused on my handbag line. I created the vision and began building my brand while attending The Art Institute of Charlotte in 2005.

While establishing my line was always a dream of mine, the handbag business is very expensive and I still had to pay the bills.  In order to keep my creative juices flowing I
made sure to stay closely involved with fashion.  I took on a position as a Visual Merchandiser for Neiman Marcus, became a Store Manager for The Abercrombie & Fitch Brand and finally decided to manage my own online store Bellanca Boutique. This helped keep me motivated, in the back of my mind I knew that I would one day end up working on my brand Cristina Bijou bags again. I sent off six 8.5 x 11 images of my handbag designs along with all the other application requirements and put the showcase to the back of my mind to avoid becoming too anxious.

 When I got the news that I'd been chosen as a finalist in the showcase out of 300 plus applicants, I was speechless, but I was ready to jump right back into design mode and get the ball rolling. I knew that this was it,"It's game time." I had little over a month to produce a Spring collection for 2014 and prepare a ten minute presentation for twelve of Belk's senior executives. My level of excitement and nervousness went from five to thirty-five in a matter of minutes, all in the receipt of one single email from Belk Headquarters.

Here are some of the biggest misconceptions about having your own fashion brand.

1. If I work hard enough my brand will become successful.
You can work day in and day out on your brand but if you have a product that is not salable you will not succeed. Is this something that people want or need? Is it practical? Is it worth the money?

2. Once purchase orders start coming in I will become a millionaire.
Huge misconception, once you start getting purchase orders indeed you will feel great knowing that you have a product that is in demand. You now have a shot at becoming a successful brand. Now you must reinvest in your business. What are your plans for funding your next purchase order? How do you plan to continue to build your brand? There's always room to grow.

3.  As a designer and owner of my brand I'm free to design whatever I want.
This is only true to a certain degree.  If you plan to directly sell your product from your own website, store, or boutique then yes this is true. If you would like to take your brand to the next level into a large retailer you must collaborate with your merchandise team and collectively agree on which designs are sold, color stories, modifications, logo placement etc.  Buyers know what sells in their stores. It's very important that you take heed to their suggestions if you plan to be successful. You must also forecast the trends and pantone colors for the season during the design process to be sure that you are on target.

4. As long as I know how to sketch and have a great sense of style, I'm ready to start a fashion label.
Having a fashion label involves about 20% of the design process and 80% business management skill. There is so much that comes into play on the business side of things that it very quickly outweighs the design process. That's just the first step. Negotiating with manufacturers and suppliers, managing lead times, presentations with buyers, setting up and having an understanding of Electronic Data Interchange and GXS (business to business interchange) have a much larger part to do with the entire structure of the brand and these are just to name a few. Without tackling these aspects of the business you will never sell one item within a large retail store. Not one.

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