# Need some ideas for starting a clothing business



## kunalv (Aug 7, 2020)

Hello guys, it's been a dream of mine for a long time to start a business to sell clothing. I know there is a ton of competition and basically every idea has been done to death, but I still have hope.

Wanted to bounce some ideas off of you guys. For example, I am based in India and have managed to approach contract manufacturers for a lot of brands over here. These guys are selling export surplus, cancelled stock & mastercopies of some high-end brands with a MOQ of course.

I do not want to stock 100's of items in inventory and try to sell them online through Instagram or whatever. A lot of people are already doing that. Was wondering if anyone's got a slightly more innovative way of doing business for such an application?

Secondly, I LOVE t-shirts! I LOVE football. With football popularity at its peak over here in India, I was wondering if there are are some quirky football t-shirt companies in the UK or anywhere in the world I could possibly have a look at. I was planning on making some funny, quirky tees with prints based on sport or even other genres such as politics or something on environmental issues. I don't know yet.

Any advice or leads would be appreciated. Thanks!


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## TeedUp (Apr 22, 2020)

kunalv said:


> These guys are selling export surplus, cancelled stock & mastercopies of some high-end brands with a MOQ of course.


I'm not familiar with the term "mastercopies" in the context of apparel, what is that? Do you mean replicas?


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

TeedUp said:


> I'm not familiar with the term "mastercopies" in the context of apparel, what is that?


Mastercopies are what we call fakes or imitations .


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## TeedUp (Apr 22, 2020)

TABOB said:


> Mastercopies are what we call fakes or imitations .


So does that imply a legal knockoff, or an illegal counterfeit, or can it be either? Or when a designer comes out with a RTW version of their own haute couture piece (which, of course, is not a fake)?


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

kunalv said:


> I know there is a ton of competition and basically every idea has been done to death


I don't know much about India, but in western countries there is huge demand for "unique" items with character.




kunalv said:


> These guys are selling export surplus, cancelled stock & mastercopies of some high-end brands with a MOQ of course.


 Very hard to do this on your own, and all these will be classed as fakes in western countries. 





kunalv said:


> Was wondering if anyone's got a slightly more innovative way of doing business for such an application?


That's asking the gold hunter to tell you where the gold is. Combining quality + uniqueness + character is the method I use. Also most of what I produce is through partnerships and collaboration.





kunalv said:


> I was wondering if there are are some quirky football t-shirt companies in the UK or anywhere in the world I could possibly have a look at. I was planning on making some funny, quirky tees with prints based on sport or even other genres such as politics or something on environmental issues. I don't know yet.
> 
> Any advice or leads would be appreciated.


How about you leading by example? We'd love to see lists of designs by category.


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

TeedUp said:


> So does that imply a legal knockoff, or an illegal counterfeit, or can it be either? Or when a designer comes out with a RTW version of their own haute couture piece (which, of course, is not a fake)?


Haute couture is perfectly legal. Once you buy the genuine product, you own it and you can do whatever you want with it.

What kunalv is talking about is either cancelled orders or just unauthorized copies (aka fakes). 
Legally both are the same thing, as the brand will not recognize them as genuine. 
Now, big brands don't cancel orders for no reason, unless of course they go bankrupt, so my guess is that all of them are either defective or just fakes.


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## TeedUp (Apr 22, 2020)

TABOB said:


> Haute couture is perfectly legal. Once you buy the genuine product, you own it and you can do whatever you want with it.


Of course, haute couture is a designer original, custom made. My sentence at issue was in question of the mass market ready-to-wear (RTW) version of that original that original designer label will put into the retail channel (if that is a "mastercopy"? - a term I'm not personally familiar with in my years in apparel industry here in US).



TABOB said:


> What kunalv is talking about is either cancelled orders or just unauthorized copies (aka fakes).
> Legally both are the same thing, as the brand will not recognize them as genuine.


Although the original brand may not be happy with either a knock-off or counterfeit, there is a distinction between a legal knock off where another brand/manufacturer comes out with a similar style of another designer's original WITHOUT any trademark or copyright violation; as opposed to a fake that is a brand counterfeit, even including a fake brand label (a Rolex that is not a Rolex). 

Cancelled orders is another issue.


TABOB said:


> Now, big brands don't cancel orders for no reason, unless of course they go bankrupt, so my guess is that all of them are either defective or just fakes.


Retailers cancel orders with brands for many reasons, as well as just bad sales projections by brand for a style to produce, that result in over runs/overstock/surplus for the brands. How brands handle cancellations with their own contract manufacturers )which it seems you are talking about?) is a whole separate contractual issue.

I imagine these cancelled order issues are different in the t-shirt manufacturing business, where styles stick around for a long time, than in the regular fashion industry, where styles change every season.


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

TeedUp said:


> Although the original brand may not be happy with either a knock-off or counterfeit, there is a distinction between a legal knock off where another brand/manufacturer comes out with a similar style of another designer's original WITHOUT any trademark or copyright violation;


 Substantial similarity is a violation, but that's not the issue here.



TeedUp said:


> Retailers cancel orders with brands for many reasons, as well as just bad sales projections for a style, that result in over runs/overstock/surplus for the brands. How brands handle cancellations with their own contract manufacturers )which it seems you are talking about?) is a whole separate contractual issue.


These can be sold legally, but have to be defaced/de-branded first.


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## kunalv (Aug 7, 2020)

TeedUp said:


> I'm not familiar with the term "mastercopies" in the context of apparel, what is that? Do you mean replicas?


They are replicas but are identical to the original product, with the same fabric. These are not cheap imitations.

I honestly don't know why they make it in bulk, but they do.


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## kunalv (Aug 7, 2020)

TABOB said:


> I don't know much about India, but in western countries there is huge demand for "unique" items with character.
> 
> Very hard to do this on your own, and all these will be classed as fakes in western countries.
> 
> ...


Yes yes. People here love to buy something that's unique and now even more-so, people are slowly leaning towards sustainable fabric like Hemp for eg.

The cancelled stock or export surplus really aren't fake. Although I am aware that I need to strike out the label in order to legally sell them.

I was only interested in knowing if there are some business models you'll may have come across in the US or UK. Was looking for some inspiration, that's all!


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

kunalv said:


> They are replicas but are identical to the original product, with the same fabric. These are not cheap imitations.


Some brands do produce replicas of their premium product (like football jerseys) but these are genuine replicas.
Unauthorized replicas are illegal counterfeit products.





kunalv said:


> I was only interested in knowing if there are some business models you'll may have come across in the US or UK. Was looking for some inspiration, that's all!


Nobody is going to tell you their "business model" unless it's something obvious and very hard to replicate. As for inspiration, go for a walk around the shops. You'll get a much better perspective than what you see online. Also try to do partnerships... Ten people working together can do 100 times more than what you can do on your own.


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## LancerFlorida (Mar 20, 2018)

The right answer to your question requires more information.
#1. Who is your ideal customer? Everyone is the worst possible answer.
#2. What is the scale of the business you see? Only big runs or POD also?
#3. Is the deliverable all inclusive or are you limiting your startup to white or light only?

I would suggest crreating text and graphics that is CONTROVERSIAL.
What I mean is not to create hostility and diveision but engage in the conversation the ideal audience is already having already. You mention Sustainable....so "This is the only planet we have!" is the conversation they are having. However, this audience has one very big requiirement....they need assurance that the company they are giving their money to is Makng the world a better place." So create your 'Why' that makes them want to throw money at you. Ben and Jerry's is the classic example.

Last amazing factoid: Most of my business is B2B. NEarly 80% of all apparel is B2B. What I have discovered is most printers are so immersed IN their business they do not work ON their business. That means they are dinkering with printers and NOT selling to other businesses. GET OUT THERE. No one is selling them things from which they can make MONEY. Present your SOLUTION to their problem. 

Lastly, have a vision for your Why and the end product. HIRE marketing companies to create your web presence and traffic drivers. We are all tempted to dive into this "IN YOUR BUSINESS" activity when it should be hired out. Be the vision not the technician.


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## nlck (Jan 23, 2019)

LancerFlorida said:


> The right answer to your question requires more information.
> #1. Who is your ideal customer? Everyone is the worst possible answer.
> #2. What is the scale of the business you see? Only big runs or POD also?
> #3. Is the deliverable all inclusive or are you limiting your startup to white or light only?
> ...


Agree - Find a niche and succeed in that, then expand.


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