Fashion retail, like many types of business, is adapting to modern realities. Digitalization of shopping, changing the process of interaction with the client, slow shopping, as well as Instagram design are in fashion.

Soft Architecture studio has created a series of mobile modular furniture for clothing boutiques. The series includes an island rack on wheels Frame, similar to a small separate pavilion with clothes, multifunctional system Hair, which includes places for sitting and displaying clothes, as well as minimalist Racks hangers and separate seating blocks. The furniture is notable for the fact that it does not have a front or back, in fact always facing the buyer. All blocks have the same style and can be placed in combination with each other.


The Saint-Germain-des-Prés district was once the cultural center of Paris, home to many studios and bookstores, and poets and writers gathered in the cafe. But with the advent of digital technology, books disappeared. Therefore, the Sonia Rykiel boutique in Paris, named after the world famous couturier Sonia Rykiel, decided to create a design in a second-hand book style. Mannequins displaying fashionable clothing were displayed against a backdrop of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. 50 thousand volumes of modern authors and classics of French literature were displayed on the shelves, and to attract customers, rooms were created where you can read a book while enjoying a cup of coffee. The idea was implemented in other cities around the world, for example, a similar two-story store was later opened in Tokyo.




In the UK, in a town called St. Helens, in Lancashire, there is one old clothing store that has existed since the 80s of the 19th century. But progress is by no means alien to him: the O2 Business company supplied the store with interactive and modern digital equipment - smart stands with like meters, which make it possible to see which item of clothing received the most likes from users of the online store. Information is updated online, which can influence the buyer’s choice and, for example, force him not to postpone until later the purchase of a dress “liked” by everyone.


The Eight Inc brand, known for the production of football equipment, presented a rack that is positioned as a Superhero Closet, i.e. “superhero closet.” The idea was simple. All the various products developed by the company needed a decent presentation. This is how a hanging rack was created, which on one side displays equipment like armor or a Batman costume, and on the other side contains a collection of clothes to choose from. So that the buyer could vividly imagine himself in a set of heroic clothes, it was decided to abandon the traditional mannequin with a face.




Oak Labs has developed an alternative to traditional mirrors for clothing store fitting rooms. Mirrors called Oak Mirror are large interactive touch screens. With their help, buyers can perform many functions without the help of sellers. RFID technology will allow you to record all the items of clothing that the buyer brought with him to the fitting room. It will also help him request similar products in a different size and color, or find accessories or shoes that match his style. Additionally, the customer can adjust the fitting room lighting to see how the item will look in the dark or under club lights.


The Dylan hotel from Amsterdam offered its guests an unusual service Room Shopping Menu, which allows you to carry out fashion shopping without going into the clothing store itself. Clothes are delivered from the boutiques of the famous fashion district “9 Streets” directly to your hotel room. The service was created for those guests who do not want to crowd into boutiques with all their fuss with fittings and communication with sellers.


An unusual service offering a boutique call service was proposed by a startup called Closet S.O.S from Costa Rica. The idea is simple - wherever you are, upon pre-order, a van with clothes from the Forever 21 store will come to you and allow you to choose the desired outfit. To demonstrate how the service works, advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather made a video about a girl who unexpectedly meets another girl at a party wearing the same clothes as her.



IMD Communications Corporation has released a serial batch of robotic mannequins for clothing stores in South Korea. Mannequins know how to walk the catwalk and show off in glamorous outfits. All of them are dedicated to and named after three Hindu deities: Endrani, Dipani and Marian. Each of the three robotic mannequins has its own character and behavior style. One of the “goddesses” has the elegant silhouette of a 30-year-old woman, the second has the image of a creative and self-confident person, and the third has the qualities of an energetic and athletic girl.

A clothing boutique, Blushhh!, has opened in Kyiv, the space of which is decorated with neon lights and a light pastel palette in fashionable silver and Instagram pink tones Millennial Pink. According to the design of designer Katerina Zueva from the AKZ Architectura studio, the store’s halls create a vast space for a thoughtful selection of clothes. At the same time, different points of the room allow you to look at the interior in a new way, which is facilitated by the play of colors, the presence of mirrors and covering the walls with foil.




At the Design District Zagreb festival in Croatia, the architectural firm BIRO presented the concept store Garderoba, working in the slow-shopping format. Slow-shopping literally translates as “slow shopping”, but in fact - conscious shopping, which today are becoming a new trend in clothing retail. The store consists of huge fitting rooms made in a monochrome design with single-color coffee tables, benches and stools. Shoppers can take their time trying on clothes in consultation with a live stylist. Thanks to the flexible hanging system, merchandisers can present a collection in combination with a specific design.



21.03.2018

In this material:

How to open a sewing business, what is best to sew - these questions are asked by many aspiring entrepreneurs who are no strangers to sewing skills. Opening a business like this will interest people who love and know how to sew. If you don’t have any sewing skills, you can become a co-owner of a sewing shop and deal with purely organizational issues.

The clothing business is an unlimited space for the implementation of creative and design ideas. This type of activity is multifaceted; any direction can become a good source of income. For example, you can sew exclusive, designer clothes to order, create soft toys or small fabric souvenirs. If you don’t want to choose a direction of activity, you can open a sewing workshop for clothing repair. Such services are always in demand.

Search for target audience

When choosing sewing as a business, it is important to decide who exactly to work for. First, we need to monitor all organizations in the district that are involved in similar matters. The list of services offered must be varied in order to attract consumers. Of no small importance is the need of local residents for these services and their level of income. It is unlikely that residents of a small town will go to a designer clothing boutique; they will be more attracted to a small store or studio that repairs clothes and sews simple things.

To understand exactly where to start a sewing business, you need to draw up in advance small business plan. It is necessary to include the following sections: consumables, list potential clients, estimated income, specifics of the services offered, possible payback periods for the business. Typically this type entrepreneurial activity can be issued as individual entrepreneur. As practice shows, the name plays an important role in the clothing business. The client is attracted by a bright and memorable sign that stands out from the rest.

Possible costs

It is important from the very beginning to agree with suppliers of fabrics, threads and necessary accessories. This will help you save on consumables. As for equipment, it all depends on the size of the organization. If this is a home sewing business, then it is enough to have 1 sewing machine and an overlocker. As the enterprise grows and gains momentum, it will be necessary to purchase additional sewing equipment.

There must be a certain amount in stock cash for payment utilities, rent and salaries employees, if any.

To about sewing workshop or the studio found out how possible more people, you should order business cards and leaflets that you can simply hand out on the street. They will come to the rescue social media and advertising in newspapers. Regular customers are the main method of advertising that cannot be excluded. High-quality work, reasonable prices and friendly service will do the trick. Grateful clients will advertise you from the best side.

Several ideas for organizing a sewing business

Today, there are quite a few areas in the sewing business that may be of interest to consumers:

  1. Sewing clothes for pets is good idea for those who want to open a small workshop at home. In European countries similar business considered the most profitable. Today in our country this niche is not fully occupied, so there is still an opportunity to make money in this direction. The initial costs will be disproportionately less than what would be required to open a studio.
  2. The idea of ​​sewing ethnic clothes may seem unpromising and very specific at first glance, but it is precisely this that allows you to quickly find your client. This is explained by the fact that it is difficult to find similar clothes in regular stores, and there are many people who prefer ethnic style. They will be happy to order clothes from you. This business can be easily organized within your apartment without spending money on renting additional premises or purchasing expensive equipment. The process of tailoring ethnic clothes is creative except professional qualities You will also have to realize your design potential. To make your business successful and recognizable, you can run your own blog or advertise on social networks.
  3. Sewing slings for young mothers - current direction sewing business. Young active mothers who do not want to be tied to the house and strollers will be happy to order such a necessary item from you. You can master such a business both at home and in rented premises. Sewing a sling is not that difficult, you just need to be careful and have some imagination in choosing a design. Such a business from scratch will generate good income if you advertise your activities.

Some useful tips for those who want to organize a sewing business:

  1. You need to understand the sewing business in order to perform the entrusted work efficiently. A good place to start is to take a sewing course or talk to a person who understands this matter and has some experience.
  2. If you hire female workers, then the seamstresses must have certain level knowledge and experience.
  3. It is better to decide in advance on the specifics of the enterprise and its volume. This will help you avoid unnecessary purchases of equipment and supplies.
  4. It is necessary to draw up a business plan. It’s easier to write down the main aspects of running a business on paper so that you don’t get distracted by little things during your work.
  5. To avoid trouble, you need to register your business. This will require some financial costs and time, but this will ensure peace of mind.

Sewing business impossible without problematic situations. The most common of them:

  • lack of sales;
  • shortage labor force to process existing orders;
  • lack of experience among hired workers.

Before you do something like this, you should think everything through clearly. You should not take risks if you have no experience or skills in sewing. You must be passionate about your idea and have an irresistible desire to achieve success in the clothing business. This is the only way to achieve it good results and high profits.

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Women's clothing is always in demand. All representatives of the fair half want to look stunning, so they update their wardrobe quite often. You can make good money from this natural desire of women to be seductive if you open a store women's clothing from scratch. But in theory simple idea in practice, it leads to a dead end with the question: “Where to start?”

Stages of creating your own business

You shouldn’t assume: “I’m the only one so smart, so the boutique will immediately begin to bring in good profits.” It must be remembered that if a clothing store for women profitable view business, a newcomer here will have to face a high level of competition. But this is not an obstacle to starting your business from scratch and making it successful, ahead of your competitors. Why is it necessary:

  1. Conduct a market analysis within the city, settlement, an area where a women's clothing boutique is planned to open.
  2. Based on the analysis, create an assortment (this must be done before opening the store).
  3. Create a cost estimate, including an advertising campaign.
  4. Find staff, premises, buy equipment.
  5. Prepare documents, open an individual entrepreneur.

Now we need to consider each of the stages in more detail.

Qualitative analysis – 50% success

To the question: “Where to start a business?” an adequate answer would be: “From market analysis.” This is especially true if the business area involves a high level of competition, which will be the main feature of the women's clothing sales segment. Opening a store quickly without preparation means dooming yourself to losses. Opening a business is a serious step that requires maximum concentration, composure, and rationality.

The analysis should begin with determining the quantity, at least approximately, retail outlets who sell women's clothing. It’s best to go through them yourself and get acquainted with the assortment and pricing policy. It is necessary to keep control and monitor the opening of new women's clothing stores. Adopt the creative techniques of future competitors. Please note that price tags and display cases must be removed extremely carefully, otherwise problems with staff and security may arise.

In fact, a deep analysis of the assortment will help attract women and girls and make them regular customers. Everything here is extremely simple - clothes that are not available or are scarce in other stores will be in demand.

Attention! The deeper the analysis is carried out, the higher its effectiveness. This is painstaking work, which will subsequently give good results if taken seriously.

Many women's clothing stores, especially large ones, are trying to create a universal assortment for all age categories. The result is that the clothes presented are of little interest to customers. The reason is that despite the overall impressive selection, individual segments contain very few models. The focus must be on diversity within a relatively narrow specialization, for example, opening a plus size clothing boutique.

You might also want to think about opening a second-hand store. This type of business is no less profitable with the right approach.

Formation of assortment - pitfalls

Before opening a women's clothing store, you should decide on the assortment. But what to do if all the niches are already occupied by competitors and new clothing collections are only relevant for the first week or two? Don’t despair, panic or do absurd things:

  • try to order everything at once;
  • try to stand out from the crowd of stores by ordering expensive, extravagant models that will narrow the female consumer audience as much as possible;
  • work according to the template.

Attention! To open a women's clothing store from scratch and promote it, you need to look for your own individual style in your work. Everything is important here: knowledge of the laws of the market, psychology, ingenuity, ingenuity.

Knowing the pitfalls will be equally important. One of these is clothing aimed at youth, mainly in the following styles: sport, street, underground. The problem is that the youth audience is not so numerous, there are much more middle-aged shoppers. In addition, it should be remembered that online trading is actively developing and a certain part of the youth audience prefers purchasing clothes through the Internet, which reduces the purchasing potential of the audience. Therefore, the boutique loses customers even with a theoretical calculation. That is why opening a women's clothing store requires in-depth analysis.

How to start a clothing business?

The clothing sales business has long proven its profitability. Things have always been bought, and will be bought, no matter what kind of business it is: a business selling women's, men's or children's clothing. Many beginning entrepreneurs often face the question: “Which business format is better?”, “Where is it more profitable to start?” The questions are indeed not easy, because you can open a wholesale organization and become a supplier, you can open a standard retail store, or you can start with a simple online store. The choice is sufficient, so you need to analyze this issue “from and to” so that later it does not turn out that the choice made is a big mistake.

Clothing business formats

There are three business options for selling children's clothing, men's and women's.

  1. Wholesale.
  2. Retail through regular store.
  3. Selling through an online store.

Wholesale of clothing- This is a kind of store, the purpose of which is still the same: the sale of goods. Only target audience not customers, but retail stores. That is, the process is as follows: a wholesale store purchases goods in large quantities, becomes a supplier and begins to look for options for selling products. These options are retail stores. Thus, a small chain is formed: manufacturers from whom the wholesale company purchases, - a wholesale company from which retail stores purchase, - retail stores that sell their goods to customers.

Retail is a regular store, in this case specializing in clothing. The target audience is consumers. The main characteristics that are common to all retail stores are:

  1. sales area,
  2. level of customer service,
  3. number of product items,
  4. product placement technology.

These characteristics are at the same time distinctive and, thanks to them, stores have their own individuality.

Selling through an online store- a popular method today. It involves organizing and running a business online. Buyers can make purchases without leaving home. To do this, they just need to choose the appropriate item and pay for the goods either by card or using payment system. The main condition when organizing an online store is to make the purchasing process as comfortable as possible for customers, so that they want to return to shopping.

The process of opening a wholesale company

Opening a wholesale company, regardless of the type of clothing and target buyer (mono-brand or multi-brand store, stock, second-hand, boutique), has common components:

  1. detailed business plan for a wholesale warehouse;
  2. building;
  3. warehouse equipment;
  4. suppliers;
  5. employees (usually from 5 to 10 people);
  6. kit permitting documents.

The first thing you need to do is get acquainted with your competitors, collect maximum information on sales in a given region, and identify its dynamics. It wouldn't hurt to talk to dealers. Before opening a wholesale store, it is necessary to draw up as many detailed business plan, which will reflect all financial information.

Finding a location is not the most critical stage. When opening a wholesale company, a favorable or good location is not required at all, since retail stores will either come to pick up the goods themselves, or even provide all the work to the wholesale company. Therefore, the most important thing will be the optimal location. The building can be found ready-made or built under specific goals(depending on availability of funds). Before renting or purchasing a ready-made premises, you must make sure that it is suitable for a warehouse.

After the building is rented or purchased (built), you need to start arranging the premises: it is worth dividing it into sections (loading, unloading, receiving, packaging, storing goods). The equipment will also be needed, depending on the range, weight and dimensions.

The supplier selection stage is different for each type of store. If the target audience is stock stores, then you need to purchase clothes either from manufacturers or from stores that have stock. Second-hand stores are the most economical option (purchasing clothes is cheap, unlike others). Suppliers are companies that collect things. Multi- and mono-brand items, as well as expensive and luxury items for the boutique, are purchased directly from manufacturers.

A wholesale store will need employees.

  1. Boss.
  2. Additional employees, in the amount of 5-10 people.

To make things easier for retail stores, driveways need to be clear and convenient. A good option is a building on the outskirts of the city, where you can easily and without traffic jams.

Store opening process

Opening a store begins with drawing up a business plan for selling clothes. After this, registration begins (LLC or individual entrepreneur). Next is the most important stage – finding a location. It should be in passable place, where there is a large flow of people every day. It could be shopping mall or a free-standing store in the city center on a busy street. It all depends on the type of clothing being sold and its target audience.

The size of the room also varies depending on the type of clothing sold. For example, a second-hand store does not require a large premises. After the premises are rented, the search for suppliers, the purchase of equipment and the hiring of personnel begins.

Suppliers will mostly be wholesale companies. You can look for them either through friends or through advertisements on the Internet. Equipment also varies by store. If it’s a boutique, then everything should be expensive, but if it’s second-hand, then you won’t need much equipment and, in principle, they won’t pay attention to it.

Hiring staff is another crucial moment, since the profitability of a business (its profitability) depends on employees. And the last step is advertising. More details about the opening retail store(its stages, main advantages and disadvantages regarding each type of clothing) can be read in previous articles.

Opening an online store

The business of selling clothes online is as follows. The first is searching for suppliers. For an online store, it is very important to have quality products. You can create your own warehouse where clothes will be stored, or you can agree with the supplier that clothes will be picked up from his warehouse for each order. The second option is cheaper, regardless of the clothing, its quality and brand.

To open an online store, you need a website. For the site - hosting and domain, which can be found low prices. Hosting is paid monthly. You will also need to register legal entity(LLC or individual entrepreneur) so as not to have problems with the tax office.

It is important to provide payment and delivery methods; there must be a choice so that the buyer finds something suitable for himself.

When suppliers have been found, the website has been created, you need to attract buyers. To do this you need to start active promotion: contextual advertising, ordered from Google or Yandex. It will attract those who see it to the store this advertisement and will follow the link. There is another option - advertising in boxes. You can create your own affiliate program so that customers refer their friends and acquaintances and receive interest on their purchases.

Promotion is a means to form a base of regular customers. It is aimed at sales (20% of regular customers = 80% of sales). In order to retain customers, you need to hold constant promotions and discounts, give coupons and send messages with lucrative offers.

An online store has its pros and cons. Among the advantages, it is worth highlighting the simplicity and minimum costs, and the downside is that it’s unlikely to be achieved high income(of the three options, this one has the minimum profitability), unlike retail or wholesale stores. There is also a limitation on target audiences.

Any business selling clothing can make a profit. All this will happen only over different periods of time. The fastest payback period for a retail store.

And the simplest method of organization is an online store. A wholesale company, like an online store, is characterized by not such high costs. But profits in retail trade are also higher. Each business option has its positive and negative aspects. Therefore, each entrepreneur must make his own choice based on his experience, capabilities (financial, including) and desires.

One of the most popular ideas for women's business - opening your own clothing store. This type attractive because it does not require special equipment or complex legal registration. It does not need highly qualified personnel and special knowledge. At the same time, the sale of clothing is always in demand and brings consistently good profits, even with high competition. Let's figure out how a woman can open her own business - a clothing store.

We lied a little when we said that opening a clothing store does not require any special knowledge. You need to know the mechanism of retail trade, at least in theory. You will also need to understand fashion trends, know the basics of the laws of demand, merchandising, pricing and other specific trading factors. But the most important thing in this business is determining the concept of the store, choosing a sales mechanism and the price range of your product.

How to choose a store concept

In this case, the concept means, first of all, that you will sell clothing - the choice is great - children's, adult, women's, men's, underwear, sportswear, plus size clothing, hosiery, maternity clothing and other areas .

You also need to choose the price segment of your future store - from economy to premium. And it’s worth thinking about the type of store: multi-brand, stock, second-hand, boutique, franchise store.

Most promising directions in the clothing trade - children's and women's clothing. Despite the crisis in these segments, demand is stable. This is not surprising - children grow quickly and require large sizes of clothing, and women, despite financial adversity, always want to be beautiful and clothing is the main means. The only thing that is possible is that demand has moved to the economy and mid-price segment.

Own store or franchise store?

Having decided on your business idea - opening a clothing store from scratch, you need to choose a way to implement this idea. You can open own store under own brand or purchase a ready-made franchise.

Franchise store

The best and most affordable option for “newbies” - entrepreneurs without experience in this field. Franchise seller - franchisor- will be your guarantee of success. Since he is primarily interested in making sure that your store under his brand is successful and profitable. The financial stability and success of promoting the franchisor’s business in the market depends on this. Of course, he cannot do all the work for you and protect you from all risks, but thanks to him, following his recommendations, you can significantly reduce all emerging risks in your store.

It is worth noting that the franchisor, usually at his own expense: helps you find a suitable premises in your city, provides a free design project for this premises, trains your staff, provides an initial analysis and calculation of market profitability, provides ready-made advertising materials and marketing strategies promotion, completely undertakes wholesale deliveries of goods to your store and much more.

This approach allows you to reduce the costs of opening a clothing store, since you save on developing the design layout of the store, advertising materials, and staff training. You also don't waste time searching wholesale suppliers and delivery methods. The brand owner will provide you with best conditions on delivery and guarantees uninterrupted supply of goods.

Of course, when opening a store as a franchise, there are also several disadvantages - if you work under a ready-made brand, you cannot deviate from its rules, you also obey general policy enterprises and cannot implement something of your own.

Start-up cost of this business- from 500 thousand rubles, payback period - up to 2 years.

Own store under your own brand

Suitable for an entrepreneur with experience, which he, for example, gained working as a franchise store. Since in this approach all the risks, all searches for goods, suppliers and methods of implementation fall entirely on the businessman. However, if you open your own clothing store under your own brand and know all the intricacies of this business, the payback period and profit differ markedly from a franchise store. And they differ in better side. So, the payback period takes up to 1 year. And the profit is significantly higher due to the fact that you can always change the purchased assortment and the methods of its delivery, which allows you to spend less on purchases.

The cost of “starting” this business is from 1 million rubles.

Business plan for opening a clothing store

To open a store, you will need permission from the SES and territorial property management. If you are renting space for a store, you do not need permission from the fire inspectorate; the landlord is responsible for this.

After selecting the premises and obtaining all the necessary permits, if necessary, you need to carry out cosmetic repairs of the premises. If you are opening an independent store with your own brand in the middle or premium price segment, then you need to think about the original design of the premises and development trademark. Since this is what will “sell” your product in the first place, since your target audience is quite selective and chooses primarily not with their wallet, but by external perception.

If you decide to open a small store with everyday goods, then you will not need anything other than cosmetic repairs and a small sign.

While renovations are underway, it’s worth thinking about searching for suppliers of the selected product and brands, if you are not working under a franchise. After that, when the store is ready, the goods are laid out, and the staff is hired, you can launch advertising campaigns to promote your store.

Clothing store in relative figures

  • Rent of space - from 15 to 100 thousand rubles,
  • Repair, taking into account the design - from 50 to 500 thousand rubles,
  • Advertising material and brand development - from 10 to 300 thousand rubles,
  • Purchase and delivery of goods - 300 thousand rubles,
  • Equipment, legal support - up to 300 thousand rubles,
  • Salary fund - 150 thousand rubles.

In any case, no matter what choice you make - open your own store under your own brand or a “franchise” - clothing trading is a very profitable endeavor where everyone can realize themselves. Although we wrote at the beginning of the article that a clothing store is a women’s business, however, men also find their fulfillment in this business.