Thursday, November 13, 2008

Business Opportunities with Fabrics

If, for a couple of minutes, I take it for granted that you are genuinely interested in fabrics and want to do something with fabric or related to fabric- some activity that can generate income for you, then what are the options available with you?


Starting a fabric business: If you have interest, experience, formal education in textile technology or entrepreneurial skills- you can well consider to be a fabrics businessperson. But of what kind? Well you can be a fabrics manufacturer, fabrics trader, fabrics wholesaler or fabrics retailer. How you'll decide what you can be? For that, you'll have to assess your resources. If you don't have much capital to invest but have an excellent network in textile market, you can start with trading and gradually move up the ladder. If you can afford a good amount of capital and a retail store or a warehouse, you can be a retailer or a wholesaler respectively. But if you have enough money, you can get into fabrics manufacturing industry directly and produce fabrics! Whatever, you choose to be, you should take your business decisions only after taking fabrics industry overview.


Starting home based business of fabric art products: There are many crafts persons who have converted their hobbies into their home businesses. Fabric handbags, dolls, book covers, quilting, embroidered fabrics, or any other fabric art work - whatever is your passion- it can be converted into income-generating hobby. The first thing to consider is how much can you do the work yourself as initially you may not be able to outsource the work. You can start with simple designs and move onto more complicated ones as you improve your skills gradually. To take a class is also a good idea and a wise investment. Now comes the selection of fabrics. What fabrics will suit your craft item and from where can you source them will take a good amount of your time and energy. You can refer to some trade journals, magazines or online information about fabrics for crafts.


Starting a fashion business: If you are interested in fashion and are creative enough, you can opt for fashion design business also. If you feel like, you can be an expert by taking a course too. Whether you create fashion wears for selling through wholesalers or you run your own boutique, you will need a good source of fabric, either from local wholesaler or from companies listed in any online fabrics companies directory. You'll have to ensure certain things including reliability of the fabrics supplier, quantity available according to your requirement, fabrics varieties availability as it is concerned with the dynamic fashion industry, support services especially timely delivery of supplies and competitive pricing without compromising with the quality of fabrics.


One of the very important aspect is the strategy for marketing your products. If your target is the local market only, then you can go for selling through local shops, boutiques, trade fairs, flea markets, etc. However, if you want your business to go places then internet offers a multitude of options. You can set up your own website or can go for online global marketplace and sell your products through auction sites. Further, if your business has grown to such a level that these sites restrict your flight then you can opt for listing yourself in product directory of any textile B2B marketplace.

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