STARTING A MERCHANDISING OR CLOTHING BUSINESS

Phillip G. from Marion CI asked, “Bob, I want to start my own merchandising and clothing business. How do I find a graphic designer to make my designs, and how do I find a manufacturer for my products?” 

Overall I think Phillip is taking the right approach. Hiring a professional designer helps ensure you have a great product if you find the right designer!

Search the web for freelance graphic designers.

I found lots of websites for graphic designers, and producers of custom clothes and merchandise. Here are two that I’ve used with good success:  fiverr.com and upwork.com. Whatever site you use, make sure you check the ratings and reviews of the freelancers before you hire them, as some are better than others of course. They also have a wide variety of freelance professionals to choose from if you have other needs as well. 

I suggest when you’re ready to launch your business, to do a more detailed web search, as there are always new popular websites or platforms for doing these things.  Plus when you search you can check the customer ratings on any service you might use before investing time and money with them. 

Create products for your clothing business.

I know there are lots more of them, but many require you to order in advance the products you want to sell. I know of a company called Society 6 (www.society6.com) where you don’t have to order the products upfront, and they don’t have a minimum order size. My wife is an artist and graphic designer, and that’s the company she uses.  People can check out her designs, and have them made into a large number of things:  tee shirts, mugs, mouse pads, phone cases, pillows, blankets: you name it they can do it. 

The nice thing with Society6 is you don’t have to spend money to create an inventory of items to sell – they produce each piece as you order them. Society6 spends a lot of money on promotion, and you can use their free profile page they make for you to showcase your products and to link your customers to your products. The trouble is the artist/designer only gets maybe 5-10% of the sale on their website. You can make much more selling directly, but that requires you to invest in inventory and promotion. 

Market and consistently promote your products online.

In my opinion, producing the products is the easier part of launching a clothing or merchandising business. To make money you have to be very good at sales, marketing, and constant online promotion because that’s how most of your buyers will connect with you.

Good luck in achieving your dream!

Ask Bob is an advice column by Bob Pelshaw, formerly incarcerated citizen, successful entrepreneur, speaker, and author of the award winning Illegal to Legal: Business Success for the (Formerly) Incarcerated. (Book and workbook available on Amazon). Bob also provides content to Edovo, GTL, PayTel, and jails and prisons nationally.
Ask Bob answers questions about life, successful re-entry, starting a business and entrepreneurship, and most anything that adds value, except the column does not cover legal issues, sentencing matters, or case issues. To ask Bob a question, write to him at:  ASK BOB c/o Pelshaw Group, Inc.    PO Box 460671, Papillon, NE 68046