Starting up small boutiquey clothing business - think Mini Boden / Equine / Rural theme. . .

[Freyfreysmum]

Hello
I have recently left my job as a Comms Manager for a defence company and am now on maternity leave wohoo awaiting baby2. Over the next year I am doing an advanced web design course and also am keen to get into clothes making, even if on a very small scale.
My eventual aim is a little boutiquey style shop, mainly clothes for babies and young children, think rather Cath Kidston / Baby Gap / Mini Boden, with the name Made In Cornwall. I have a creative background and have lots of simple but (I think) lovely designs in mind. Theme will be coastal/rural/equine/animals/Cornwall and I have branding etc drafted including models, concepts, a website and a brochure. I will largely operate online initially and see what happens from there. Initially, until I gauge popularity lol everything will be handmade just by me, from my studio at home.

So, wondered what of the below course/s would be most appropriate, several seem to overlap. Initially obviously making clothes' seemed the obvious one but wondered what you think. Any other tips/suggestions etc welcome on courses or the idea in general. x

www.trurocollege.ac.uk/pt/index.php?ID=21 from my studio at home.

Do you have a similar business? Can you offer hints and tips re startup? I will be continuing various mkt research q's on here but wondered if you could help re above first. Thanks, FFM X

Made in Cornwall is a v good name - but keep it quiet for now or someone (local or otherwise) could nick it.

Good work on the visuals and look 'n' feel of the business, but at this stage you need to do the essential job of seeing if/how the numbers work for your business.

Start with a business plan (as available free in a couple of places on the magic interweb, see below.) While 'seeing what happens' sounds sensible when you start, that may not end up as trouble-free as it sounds - for instance, you won't get bank funding without a bus plan and your course fees may be higher etc.. If you think you will never ever need bank funding, well done to you, but bear in mind you should also be working out how much you can afford to lose if worst comes to worst (eg your first big customer doesn't pay for months.)

I've worked with a couple of boutique brands remarkably similar to the ones you're inspired by, and as those businesses made their way from tabletop to the King's Road cash - and cashflow - was always a key issue.

So I'd recommend a course in retail budgeting and online trading, for a start. And familiarise yourself with the law about retail clothing standards - children's clothes have to reach much higher garment safety standards than adults' do, for instance.

Your idea sounds lovely - the horses angle hasn't been exploited by Cath & Cabbages and their ilk so much. I think it would appeal to aspiring ladies/girls/tweens as well as the core bourgeois/foreign customer groups for this type of offer too.

Find a business plan on www.startupdonut.co.uk

Register your domain name as soon as you can.
You can put together a starter/cheap website yourself by using Mr Site (www.mrsite.com)
It enables you to have a retail store and you can set it up for approx £100, rather than the thousands a web developer would ask. Obviously once you get going and making money you can then go to a proper designer to get a nicer website done.

I went for some free business advice recently which really quite helpful.

It was through Business Link which is a government service and is free to start up businesses.

They gave me a voucher, sent through to my email, which I then forwarded on to a local business advice centre and went along for a session. It lasted for about two hours and I came away with a lot of paperwork! Lots of useful info on it though.

They gave me advice on the things I asked for and said when/if I need help again I can get another voucher.

Might be worth a look for you.

HTH

There are quite a lot of companies which are called "Made in . . . " around right now so I'm not sure about the name.

It sounds a lovely idea though. good luck and wishing you success.