Fancy winning a copy of Design Create Sell - a guide to starting and running a fashion business?

We're super excited about the launch of our new Twitter competition.

3 lucky winners will receive a copy of  Design Create Sell - a guide to starting up and running a fashion business.

All you have to do is retweet this message:-

We've got 3 copies of Design Create Sell to give away. RT #fashionbook & follow to win. Who doesn't want help with their fashion biz?? 

This essential guide, written by Alison Lewy, fashion industry expert and founder of fashion business accelerator Fashion Angel, will give readers an overview of the fashion industry and what makes it tick. It will guide them through the issues they need to think about before they start and take them through the key steps involved in setting up a new business.

Readers will learn how to conduct the research needed for their business plan and get practical guidance on building their brand, getting their product made, marketing & PR and how and where to sell products. This comprehensive book will inspire fashion lovers to turn their dream into a reality!

Can't Wait? You can order the book now from the Fashion Angel Shop

Competition Terms & Conditions

●     Fashion Angel is solely responsible for all aspects of the competition

●     Participants must follow @FashionAngel1 and use the #fashionbook so we can  DM the winners

●     Entries close: 23.59 on Monday November 12th 2012

●     Open to UKresidents only

●     No cash alternative. Prizes are non-transferable

●     Only one entry per person

●     Entrant’s data is covered by UKdata protection laws

●     The winner will be announced on the FA homepage and through its social media networks.

●     Entrants acknowledge that by entering the competition they are authoring Fashion Angel to contact them with relevant information.

●     Entrants’ data will not be passed to third parties.

●     Fashion Angel reserves the right to withdraw, change or cancel the competition at any time.

Diary of a Fashion Start up - Part 1

We are pleased to host a new series of guest blogs from Meeka Harrison-Topham who's blog my fashion start up chronicles the issues faced by an aspiring fashion business entrepreneur.


Business plan 101

Putting pen to paper and churning out a 15 page document mapping out the backbone of your business can be an excruciating task, despite the wealth of resources and guides at our finger tips via the web. To help me along the way, I decided a bit of interactive focus wouldn’t go amiss, so last Thursday I found myself biking over to Tottenham Court Road to attend a workshop run by Alison Lewy of Fashion Angel, entitled “how to write a business plan”, aimed at fashion design businesses.

While these kinds of workshops inevitably put forward the same guidelines and tips contained in business guide books which you can get for a fraction of the price, the money spent was well worth it  – as the interactive style workshop ensures that you come away with better presentation skills, a clearer idea of the strengths and weaknesses of your idea, and maybe a fruitful contact or two found through networking.

Here are some key points I took away with me from the workshop:

• A business plan is essential to provide a clear structure for your business, as well as to create momentum and keep you along the right path.
• Research is key, and will form the most labour intensive part of the process, from looking at your market segment, ideal customer, competitive field, price points, to targeted boutiques.
• Financial forecasts can be brutal tasks, but are vital in order to draw all the aspects of the plan together in numerical form, and of course ensure that you make money!
• Business plans evolve – they are not static, so keep on adding to it as your business grows and changes

The workshop put a useful amount of emphasis and time on how to put together financial forecasts, and to monitor cash flows – no doubt both the dreaded nemesis of any designer! So all in all a productive morning, and very useful to meet Alison, who has just written a book called “Design, Create, Sell”, offering advice on cracking the hard nut of the fashion industry, which I’m sure is vital reading…

FASHION ANGEL FOUNDER ALISON LEWY LAUNCHES NEW BOOK “DESIGN CREATE SELL”

FASHION ANGEL FOUNDER ALISON LEWY LAUNCHES NEW BOOK

“DESIGN CREATE SELL”

a guide to starting and running a successful fashion business

We are pleased to announce that Alison Lewy, experienced designer and founder of fashion business accelerator Fashion Angel, has released a brand new book  Design Create Sell, an essential guide to this fascinating industry which will give readers an overview of how it works and what makes it tick.

As demand for British fashion soars and the number of designers setting up fashion labels increases every year, Alison gives readers everything they need to start their own successful fashion business.

Produced by Brightword Publishing in partnership with Country Living Magazine, this book will guide readers through the issues they need to think about before they start and take them through the key steps involved in setting up a new business. Readers will learn how to conduct the research needed for their business plan and get practical guidance on building their brand, getting their product made, marketing & PR and how and where to sell products.

Alison welcomed the opportunity to write the book and support aspiring fashion businesses in this way:

“Setting up a new business is difficult and the fashion business model is unique and has its own challenges. I wanted to draw on my background of running a fashion brand, and experience of working with and mentoring designers , to produce a practical step by step guide to help fashion labels start, develop and grow their businesses.”

The book is being published as a celebration of the success of London Fashion Week  to support the designers that contribute to an  industry that contributes over £21 billion to the UK economy.*

With consumers in the UK spending over £30 billion each year on clothing, shoes and accessories, and with 33% of people saying they try to buy British when they can, now is the perfect time to turn that passion into a successful business!**

This comprehensive book will inspire designers to turn their dream into a reality!

*The Value of the UK Industry, The British Fashion Council / **Make It British

DESIGN CREATE SELL by Alison Lewy
Published 30th September 2012 by Brightword Publishing,

ISBN: 9781908003348, Paperback/eBook, RRP: £12.99/£5
Available from the Fashion Angel Shop and in all good bookshops