Read Tutorial One first, for a full understanding of Stages 1, 2, and 3 in establishing your business.
Who is this tutorial for?
- Budding knitwear and fashion designers
- Practising knitwear designers or fashion designers who which to expand their business or become self-employed
- Knitters or arts and crafts hobbyists who wish to transform their hobby into a business
- Anyone who wishes to set up or expand a creative business
Stage 4: Let's get personal
Where are my customers and what are their needs and wants?
USP 2
I introduced this term in Stage 1. USP stands for "unique selling proposition". The reason I have numbered this as USP number two is because you need to research two areas, your competitors' services and your potential customer base. At this point, you should focus on some key questions to start asking yourself when further developing your USP.
- Who are my customers?
- Where are my customers likely to be?
- Where are they buying similar products?
- Why should they purchase from me?
- How and where will they find me?
Potential Customer Markets
You can carry out market research, via business libraries and the internet, trade publications and trade associations. Consumers buy products for personal use: you need to know their age, gender, education, wealth, demographic, etc. and their lifestyle behaviours i.e., where do they buy?, what do they buy? etc. The online provider of handcrafted products, Etsy's, last survey of their customer base revealed:
- 96% female
- average 32 years old
- 82% live in the USA
- 63% well educated
- 17% students
- 49% majority in full-time work
- 23% full-time mothers
- 68% are occasional artists
- Average Housefold Income: $67,000
- Online Behaviours: They find Etsy through friends and blogs and visit Etsy for unique well-crafted products.
Business to Business (B2B)
For example, Etsy's business model relies heavily on creative businesses who produce unique handcrafted products and creative services and pay Etsy a commission to sell their products via a concession space on Etsy's website. At times, competitors can become potential customers or alliance partners in order to fill in gaps in your service provision or to share customer bases. As with consumers you would need to research certain details: who are my successful competitors doing business with? Who are my target business sectors; what are the sizes of these businesses in relation to my capacity to meet demand? What are the behaviours of these businesses. i.e., where and how do they like to buy?
Your main target groups could potentially be any of these options and more.
Consumers, including:
- fashion conscious consumers,
- fashion conscious consumers seeking hand produced garments,
- consumers who prefer natural fabrics,
- consumers seeking bespoke garments,
- customers wishing to have personal input into the design of a garment, consumers wishing to purchase patterns and produce their own garments,
- consumers who attend creative events and shows.
Businesses, including:
- owners of small/medium sized enterprises seeking to purchase wholesale garments,
- owners of small/medium enterprises seeking to purchase design services,
- specialist knitwear retailers of yarn and patterns,
- businesses who attend fashion/creative trade shows and craft fairs,
- publishers of knitting patterns,
- associations or groups who wish to run creative workshops or courses.
SWOT Analysis
This is an analysis of the potential: 1. Strengths 2. Weaknesses 3. Opportunities and 4.Threats that may affect the successful running of your business. This is a well-known analytical tool in which you list the S, W, O, and Ts in a table (four cells, two on top, two on the botton, in order numbered above) and use this as a basis for your test marketing. This article has a clear visual example and further explanation of how to create an effective SWOT analysis.
Test Marketing
At this stage, it would be a good idea to plan and carry out some test marketing of your products and services, in the relevant arenas you have researched, to get some idea of what people need and want. The independent designer fashion sector is a niche market. Within the UK clothing market, the independent designer fashion sector, is relatively healthy in comparison to the general super-branded high street equivalents. In setting up or developing your micro or small fashion knitwear brand, you are niche within a niche, which is an advantage within this current economic climate, as you a more able to adapt to changing markets if you manage your business strategically.
Once you have decided which technical tasks within your business activities will work best for you, phase in one or two strategically over a number of years. Keeping the overall key technical aspects of your business as simple as possible, will benefit you in the short and long term and reduce the risk of overextending capabilities and resources.
Stage 5: The business proposal
How do I create a brief blueprint outlining my SMART business proposal?
At this stage, in order to market your business proposal to potential stakeholders and get your business idea moving, you may find it easier and quicker to present your research within a simple, visually-based document of no more than around 6-12 pages. It may take anywhere between two to three months to research and create.
You would follow some aspects of the main subject areas of a traditional comprehensive business plan, which may look something like this:
- My Business Idea: who are you?, what products and services are you offering?, your USP1, etc.
- My Biography: what is your experience?, who or what are your influences and inspirations?
- The Key Technical Tasks and General Business Activities: should include overall action plan, text, pictures, illustrations, tables etc.
- The Key People/Stakeholders in the Business: text and tables
- My Key Markets and Customer Base: USP2, SWOT analysis, text, numerical data, pictures, tables etc.
- Financial Report: personal income/expenditure table, production and materials costs, cashflow and/or profit and loss 1-3 years
Utilising primarily, tables, bullet points, pictures, moodboards, illustrations, diagrams: flow charts, bar charts, and spreadsheets with brief amounts of text, you will present your data in a form that is visually appealing, readable and understandable to the reader in a short space of time.
Included in this would be a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed) list of aims and objectives set within a monthly action plan, presented in a table.
Once you have started or expanded your business, a fully detailed business plan may become a requirement and you can use your blueprint to develop this over a longer period of time, whilst running your business. Seek advice and help with this in the useful contact list below.
STAGE 6: Key sources of information
Why should I observe and adapt to changing trends in STEEP environments and what are these?
At every stage of your business you need to be aware of and keep a close eye on the STEEP (Sociological, Technological, Economical, Environmental and Political) environments which may affect your business at local, national and global levels. If you have this information at hand via your social and business networking groups, trade and business associations, online national and international news and various other sources, you will be able to see any potential threats and opportunities and adapt swiftly. Some of the useful contacts below maybe of help.
Useful Contacts
Please note: All contact details were checked and confirmed as correct at the time of publication and links are provided where possible.
Fashion and creative industry support networks, training and information for creative start-ups and businesses, for you to start with:
Knit-1: Swatch and machine knitting courses
Sources for financial support in the form of grants and loans:
Fair Finance: Microloans
Affordable knit CAD software:
Sweater Wizard and other Software Products
Wholesale and affordable yarn companies willing to work with smaller brands :
Manufacturers willing to work with smaller brands:
Chunki Chilli:Handmade based in China
Emb Designs: Hand Machine Frames, based in Scotland
Esk Valley Knitwear: Electronic Seiko Shiema Machines
Uk Fashion & Textile Association: Manufacturing Directory
Test marketing online:
Sonji Clayton - Dear Readers My name is Sonji Clayton, I am Creative Director of my fashion knitwear label, Eclectic Mix, which is based in the UK. I ...
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