Money for a clothing line is initially your responsibility, with little exception. You have to fund your clothing line's start via your hard earned money or trade of services. Starting a new clothing line usually involves the costs of clothing garments, labels, shipping, promotion, web hosting, and print services. If you have planned well, you may even be able to pay for your trademark as well. You can be creative in how you fund your clothing line but there are usually few options.

Funding your clothing line by yourself is hard work. You will need to plan for upcoming seasons without looking for a return on current product to be most efficient. It takes time for your clothing line to build and you will probably end up spending more money than you make back the first 4 seasons / year. To save some money, some small brands will only release a spring / summer, and fall / winter line. This gives you about 4 months to save and sell between seasons.

As expressed in other sections of this clothing line help guide, you will definitely want to include the costs of promotions and marketing, which can run into the thousands for one year. Giving away samples, professional public relation services (press releases), and advertisements with popular publications will be costly. You will need to consistently pay each (aka flighted work) to get the best return from your money.

Once established, you have a few options to expand your clothing line. Angel Investors, celebrities, and pre-orders with store accounts are all ways of funding expansion.

Going backwards, taking pre-orders from store accounts is the riskiest way to expand your clothing line and I would not recommend it typically. It is sure to cross your mind when looking to expand but I assure you it's a lot harder than you will expect to manage that money properly. If you choose to go this way, put everything on paper and stick to that paperwork only to save money. If you come across an option that keeps some in your pocket, go for it, but do not spend against your clothing line expansion plans.

A second option, is celebrity backing. If you have celebrity contacts, a solid history, and a great expansion plan for your clothing line, you can always pitch the idea to a person with money and influence. If popular they already know their influence value and if a product is already successful on its own, the combination will only take the brand to global sales success. You will need to reinvent your marketing plan to utilize the celebrity's image in association with the brand, but this is an almost sure way to sell your clothing line to store accounts internationally.

A third and last idea for expansion is finding a financial backer or investor for your clothing line. Investors, sometimes termed angel investors, are always looking to let their money work for them but usually are very strict on what you must present to them for a plan. If your plan is not looking 100% lean/fit they will reject your proposal and you will be back at the drawing board. With an investor, your first appearance is everything so make sure you are giving your best shot. A full business plan should be presented with numbers everywhere, graphs, statistics, and history.

A method I've always though about but never tried was simply sending out a press release about your clothing line looking for investors to expand. As simple as that, I think it can help raise awareness of what you are trying to do in a good way but should be done before you actually need the funding so your options are open.

All of the above methods for raising capital for your clothing line have been used in fashion and found mmuch success. It does take a person with business savvy to land deals so do your research about laying the proper business plan.

Excerpt taken from Rodrick Rainey, fashion consultant, and Greg Greco, owner of Montage Clothing Inc.