If you have a passion for fabrics and textiles then this is the post for you, we have the incredible Misha Kaura helping us to deliver some great tips on how you can turn your love of velvet, cotton, linen and wool into a business and launch yourself into this competitive industry. Misha built her business from the ground up, making mistakes and learning along the way, and this is why she is the perfect person to help you do exactly what she has done. Let’s get started then with some top tips on how to get into this industry.
Working Inside
If you don’t already have a position in a textiles company then this is going to be a great place for you to start where you can really learn how the industry works. The key before you launch a business is to have a full understand of how the industry operates and a position at any level will help you to do that.
Market Insights
You aren’t going to be able to launch a huge business offering every type of fabric and textile right away so it will be essential that you have a good understanding of the market early on. Look out for customer trends and areas to focus on so that you can be sure that your limited selection in the beginning will still be desirable.
Making Relationships With Sellers
The key to getting great deals on your raw materials will be strike up strong bonds and relationships with sellers. To do this you can visit trade shows, make cold calls and do whatever it takes to start speaking with sellers about what they can offer, what prices they have and what their logistical process is. The better relationships you have with these sellers the better chance you have of hitting the ground running when you launch.
Knowing Cash Flow
To build on the point about getting to know your market, you also need to have a solid plan of attack regarding your cash flow. There is little point in you investing a large amount of your capital in slow moving fabrics as this could restrict you from buying more of the hot sellers. Understand the importance of keeping the cash liquid and use that to plan your attack in terms of what fabrics you are going to buy in the beginning.
Think of Location
Getting the right location for your business isn’t easy so you’ll have to spend a lot of time on this if you want to break into the industry. A city center location may be great in terms of getting more customers in but your rent is going to b pretty high. An out of town location will be cheaper but you’ll have significantly less chance for customers coming in. Also consider the utilities you’ll need like water and good electrics for the machinery which you are going to use.
Do this hard work before you launch and you’ll have a much better chance of doing well once you have.
