Sewing business ideas You don`t have to be an experienced seamstress or a tailor to make money on sewing. You need to be an entrepreneur first.
Start with attending business start-up seminars, visiting your local library and other business resource centers in your area.
Go to the craft and sewing related trade shows for some answers, even if you have to fly to get there. It`s worth the
time and money to do your research ahead than to be sorry later. Sewing business ideas: 1.Dressmaking Sewing for:- Dogs, cats, horses and other animals and pet grooming salons - making blankets, clothing, booties, capes, kerchiefs, ribbons or saddle making, special clothing for rodeos, fairs and making crafts to sell during those events - Dance, figure skating and gymnastics - group performing costumes, individual custom made outfits for ballet, belie dance, Irish, polka and more and selling crafts, dresses during the events itself, custom fabric and shoe dying - Municipal and government services: fire department, ambulance or security prison guards, military, border patrol, park rangers, wildlife or fishery officers - embroidering and installing new badges, monogramming individual names. Watch for bid announcements in your local newspaper or government, municipal websites. - Hospitals, doctors and dental offices, retirement residences, labs, chiropractors, naturopaths, massage therapists, optometrists, funeral homes or other institutions – repairing and altering uniforms, sewing gift bags with custom embroidery, cancer hats or shawls, visitor slip-on booties - People with special needs: custom making or small order specialty clothing, custom shoe making. - Maternity and babies - specialty clothing, monogrammed or embroidered blankets, crib deco, gifts and more - Transportation industry: ferries, airline, buses, trains and commercial curriers - uniform repairs and alterations, embroidering name tags, and sewing badges and emblems, making crafts and giveaway items. - Tourism industry, hotels, restaurants, resorts, ski hills, golf courses and gift shops - sewing and embroidering crafts, souvenirs, gift items. - Craft shows, fruit stands, candy stores – sewing and selling crafts, embroidering and silk screening localized gifts. - Theatre, historical societies and school plays – making costumes, providing alterations embellishing, restoring services. - Swimwear, lingerie and adult stores. - Owners of motorcycles, dirt bikes, skidoos, boats – making covers, making custom clothing, seats or other related accessories like belts, bags, providing embellishment and embroidery services, leather repairs and alterations. Sewing and embellishing for racing events, custom shoe making. - Schools, athletes – custom embroidery of crests, names, logos. - Societies, churches and other organizations – making special ceremonial clothing for priests, ministers, baby christening gowns and more. - Ethnic groups. - Photography industry, making screens, costumes, carrying cases and more. - Plus sizes or petites. -Grocery stores – sewing and embellishing environmental shopping bags. - Events, games,tournaments, shows, concerts - selling specific to event embroidered t-shirts, caps, bags and more. - Embroidery and silk screening companies – sewing custom-sized banners, creating and digitizing, sewing numbers or crests onto garments. - Beauty contests, pageants, fashion shows – custom dressmaking, embellishing, alteration services and selling crafts, purses, bags during the actual event, fashion and wardrobe and make-up consulting. - Owners of custom couches, travel trailers and yacht – making custom drapery, cushions, bedding and more. - Security companies and banks – sewing money deposit or transfer bags, repairing uniforms, embroidering and sewing crests. - Fitness industry, gyms – sewing i-pod, cell-phone holder bands, belts, bags or pouches, applying reflective tape on clothing for joggers. - Cruise ships and marine terminals – making gifts and crafts, sewing and repairing for the crew. - Beauty salons, spas – making capes, gift bags with special aroma supplies. - Outdoor sports and activities – embellished gift items for golf, ski resorts, making carrying cases for fishing and hunting or golfing equipment. - Trucking, logging, welding or oil and gas industry – sewing custom weather fronts, embellishing company logos, monogramming, repairing coveralls, applying reflective tape, making custom designed shirts, coats, welding hats, aprons and more. - Homes, vacation homes, offices – making custom draperies, cushions and other deco items for both indoors and outdoors, home deco consulting. - Factories – repairing uniforms, embroidering and applying crests, sewing aprons and specialty fireproof clothing, bags, filters, covers, screens and more. - Beekeepers – sewing protective clothing, gift items, if they own a gift shop as well. - Bridal stores – providing bridal and special occasion alterations, repairs, making custom embellished garment bags for storing gowns later, monogrammed crafts for bridal party giveaways. Making and selling or renting petticoats, capes. - Bridal parties – bridal dressmaking including bridesmaid dresses, custom bridal wear for alternative or ethnic weddings, pregnant brides or bridesmaids, sewing matching outfits for flower girls, ring bearer or pets, bridal wardrobe, hair and make-up consulting. - Man’s wear and tuxedo rental stores – hemming, custom tailoring, making ties to match a bride or a prom date and more. Equipment and skillsNow, you need to find the right equipment and acquire the right skills. Start with existing businesses, drive to other town or city if you have to. Meet with the owners, ask questions and see if they could train you. Apprenticing is the best way to go. Otherwise, join sewing forums online and start asking. Try these links:
www.100sewinglinks.com
Setting up your businessFirst, come up with a catchy name for your business. Have some alternatives in case it is already taken.
Stay away from vague names. It has to be simple, short and descriptive. If you are an artist, keep your name. Example
“Cathy’s crafty”. If you want to be taken seriously, using your name might not be a good idea. For example, name - Laura’s fabrics
for a country wide supplier might drive some customers away. - Local newspaper Write a business plan and we don`t mean a 20 page wreck your brain, hire a lawyer, an accountant and a business consultant plan. Though, it is a must, if you are planning to invest sufficient amount of money. For sewing part-time, a written plan that will outline a direction, basic concept of your business, start up costs, list of suppliers, schedule of events, advertizing strategies and so on should be sufficient. Make sure to comply with all the government and municipal laws. Keep good records, more so for yourself. Remember, you are starting a sewing business, not a sewing hobby. Some business resources:
- Chamber of commerce
www.startupbiz.com Suppliers Most of the suppliers and wholesale companies have their own websites where you can ask for a mail order catalogue.
We like suppliers who provide two or three quantity options instead of just one. Selling and pricingIf you are a service provider like an alteration shop or a repair shop, selling your service will be limited to a certain geographic area. Your best advertizing is your existing customers, friends and family, members of your club, church and co-workers. For example: If you are a bridal alteration shop, get to know all bridal store owners in surrounding area. Make sure to list yourself in yellow pages and other local and online directories. If you are planning to embroider and silk screen for car shows, compile a list of all car shows in the area and other destinations as far as you are willing to drive or fly. Visit as many shows as you can before proceeding with your business idea. If you are not an artist, hire one or buy premade artwork online. For your first show, bring several test designs embroidered or printed on several different garments. Be careful with quantities. Once you find out which one sells the best, work around that concept for different shows. If you are planning to sell crafts, events or tourist destinations are the best place. As we’ve mentioned before, that’s when people tend to buy things they would never buy under normal circumstances. You can sell your sewing and crafts online in addition to the ground business. You will have two options: creating your own website or selling through online selling sites. We prefer the second option as we like to spend more time creating our crafts than worrying about SEO’s, page ranking and costs associated with website developing and maintenance. Some of our favourite online stores are: www.ebay.ca As for the pricing, there’s no magic formula. Start with adding all expenses directly associated with making that particular craft.
That includes: cost of goods, other supplies like threads, needles, shipping and handling, energy consumed, selling fees. Add your
time and a certain profit margin. HAVE FUN AND GOOD LUCK! Sewing one o'one e-Classes |