Opening a Small Business in Fashion: Hard Work, Great Payoff

By Joe Cooper
Fashion Design School Review Columnist

Starting a small business like a vintage clothing design store can be a difficult task. Earning a fashion degree and developing a good business sense can make all the difference.

A Real Life Example of Fashion Success

A unique fashion designer and vintage clothing store owner, Halle Balou’s path to a career in fashion was not exactly straight, as she told an Oregon publication. She left high school and nixed the idea of further education to pursue a career working with animals instead (reptiles are her favorite).

Finally she admitted to herself that fashion was her true love, and decided to enroll in a fashion degree program. And not just any fashion degree program—Balou headed to one of the most highly regarded fashion schools on the west coast. An associate’s degree in fashion later, she is now a business owner in Bend, OR, where she sells her original clothing designs.

Good Business Sense

While clothing design isn’t the only direction in which you can take a fashion degree, it is certainly an exciting one. It takes good business and fashion sense to open your own store, and profits generally don’t come quickly. BusinessKnowHow.com says that to be a successful small business owner, one must be “positive,” “patient,” and “persistent.”

Making a Living, Fashionable

For lovers of fashion, and especially those with a fashion degree, these qualities are what working in fashion are all about. Opening your own clothing store can be hard, but it can give you the chance to make your living designing clothing and working in fashion.

Sources

BusinessKnowHow.com
New West

About the Author

Joe Cooper writes fashion and design articles and edits medical literature. He holds a bachelor’s in American Literature from UCLA.

Posted on March 20, 2007 at 04:07 PM