Kailee McKenzie’s Substack

Kailee McKenzie’s Substack

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Kailee McKenzie’s Substack
Kailee McKenzie’s Substack
The Basics 02: Starting a Fashion Business

The Basics 02: Starting a Fashion Business

The design and sample-making process

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Kailee McKenzie
Oct 05, 2024
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Kailee McKenzie’s Substack
Kailee McKenzie’s Substack
The Basics 02: Starting a Fashion Business
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What you need to know that no one wants to share….

Some quick background on me - I’m Kailee and I have a portfolio career.

I’m a —

  • Designer + founder for sustainable fashion brand and circular marketplace, STAATSBALLETT, scaling DTC revenue to 7 figures

  • Freelancer + consultant for brands and individual clients

  • Content creator

  • A girl who is OBSESSED with aesthetics, business + logistics

I’m pivoting from my fashion brand business, STAATSBALLETT, to focus on new ventures after some unfortunate ownership struggles, but I’m happy to share some of my knowledge and resources I’ve learned along the way. Some was gained through fashion school and working for other brands, but most was picked up through my personal experience of building a business from scratch.

My previous venture: STAATSBALLETT

Experience is truly the best way to learn, especially when you’re working for your own brand. Every little decision can be detrimental and overwhelming, even moreso if you’re bootstrapping your funding yourself. I hope this guide can be used as a starting point.

While there is a TON of information online, not all of it is easy to find or up to date. I’m often asked for advice on how I started, and while I’m in no way an expert, I do have a ton of information to share!

I wish I would have had some sort of guide like this to refer to at the beginning.

SECTIONS:

Last month we discussed —

  • Start-up costs and the importance of research

  • Sourcing and minimums

  • Finding a factory

Today we’ll talk about —

  • The flow of design and sample-making

    One of my factories

    Later this month I’ll share —

  • The transition to production and steps of the process

  • Shooting your collection and presenting it

  • Designing a website and creating your store

  • Pricing and selling your product

  • Fulfilling orders

  • Resources

    THE FLOW OF DESIGN AND SAMPLE-MAKING

    These are the most basic steps for creating and prepping a garment for production..

    Inspiration sourcing
    1. Design​.

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