Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #239243 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Synopsis
The national retail apparel business has grown to a $172 billion per year industry, and the employment rate for designers is expected to outpace that of all other occupations through the year 2008. The "Fashion Designer Survival Guide" is a must-have for the thousands of talented designers who want to see their dream of creating an independent fashion line become a reality. Mary Gehlhar, author, industry authority, and consultant to hundreds of designers (including newcomers Alicia Bell, Keanan Duffty, and Milly), gives readers behind-the-scenes advice and essential business information on creating and sustaining a successful career as an independent designer.The "Fashion Designer Survival Guide" provides the necessary tools to get a fashion line or label up and moving on the right track, including: start-up costs and financing; legal issues; business plans; public relations and sales; marketing and manufacturing; and distribution - trade, trunk, and runway shows. This book also provides case studies from independent designers at different stages of their careers, including tough letdowns and exciting successes.

Young designers weigh-in on topics important to them when they were starting out, while several top name designers offer personal perspectives on a single question, providing a window to their world and a variety of answers. Designers are bursting with creativity but often fall flat going into business as an independent. The "Fashion Designer Survival Guide" provides designers with the one thing design school didn't-intelligent and successful business practices.

Customer Reviews

You will learn something from this book!
I really wish I had read this before I set up a fashion business; this is invaluable reading from somebody actually IN the industry.
With relevant information & quotes from other designers, & people in the industry, the reader is able to understand what is involved in setting-up/running a fashion business. The book is extremely easy to read & each chapter covers a relevant topic fairly concisely, enabling the reader to learn so much from others experiences; from costing through to actually selling.
We all have so many questions to ask when setting up/in a new business & this book will probably answer most, if not all, & may actually save you from having to learn from your own mistakes...well most anyway!
If you are looking at setting up a fashion business, then I highly recommend reading this book but be aware that this was written for an American audience, & so some things will not be correct for the UK, ie: $'s instead of £'s.
Thankyou Mary Gehlhar, from a young designer company who now realise they were right on some things, feel reassured on others, but who now have a vast amount of new knowledge to take it further...

exciting reading with valuable info
When I started reading this book, I could not stop. Some well known information like business plan writing is very well presented, easy, interesting to read and is viewed from the fashion point of view. I loved the comments and note by famous designers and artists. I think it's a great reading and a valuable handbook.

mandatory for fashion business
as a CFO of a fashion business since some months ago I was looking for a book which could give me the knowledge of this world where we have not 365 days to adjust our business ( if we not plan well one season we miss at once 6 months of work ... or more ). Very simple to understand for someone who is not a designer, like me, but, most important, very simple to understand by the designer that wants to know the business side of his creative activity. If it was possible to oblige a designer to read a fashion business book I advised this one.