Start with a plan — even a short one
A business plan is not a document for investors; it is a test of whether your idea works on paper. Keep it to the essentials:
- Product and customer. Exactly what you are selling, and to whom — specifically enough that you could name ten real people who would buy it.
- Cost and price. What one unit costs to make, what you will sell it for, and the margin that leaves.
- Channel. How the product reaches the customer: your own e-commerce, marketplaces, boutiques, or wholesale.
- Cash. How much money the first cycle requires — production, freight, marketing — and where it comes from.
Write it down, sleep on it, and revise. The discipline matters more than the format.
Build a real cost sheet
A cost sheet lists every expense of one unit, before you price it. Undercosting is the quiet killer of young brands.
Direct costs
Fabric and trims consumed per unit, cut-and-sew or assembly labor, labeling, packaging, and inbound freight to your warehouse.
Landed extras
Duties, brokerage, and testing. If you import, your "landed cost" — not the factory quote — is the number that goes on the cost sheet.
Overhead per unit
Sample costs, tooling, website, photography, and marketing spread across the units of your first run. Small runs make this number brutally honest.
Target margin
Direct-to-consumer brands commonly plan for healthy gross margins to absorb returns and marketing; wholesale pricing must still leave you profit after the retailer's markup. Set your margin target before you set your price — our pricing guide works the full markup-vs-margin math with examples.
For reference material on production and sourcing, browse the manufacturing guides, and use the calculators in our free tools section to sanity-check your numbers.
Working capital: the timeline nobody draws
Fashion is a cash-flow business with a cruel calendar. You pay for samples, then production, then freight — months before a customer pays you. Draw a simple timeline: money out on top, money in below, month by month, for your first two production cycles. If the line goes negative, that is how much working capital you need (plus a cushion for the delays you did not plan).
Rules of thumb that save start-ups: keep the first run conservative, negotiate payment terms rather than price alone, and never spend inventory money on marketing tests you have not measured.
Protect the brand name
Your brand name may become your most valuable asset. Before you print labels:
- Search first. Check trademark databases — in the US, the USPTO's free trademark search — for similar marks on related goods — the ones that could confuse customers about who made the product — before falling in love with a name.
- Register what you use. A trademark registration in the classes covering your products is far cheaper than a rebrand after launch.
- Secure the domain and handles early — even before filing.
For the full process — shortlists, clearance searches, and filing — see our naming and protecting your brand guide. For step-by-step industry skills — from sourcing to selling — work through the How to Guides.
"Passion gets you started; the numbers keep you in business."