How I launched my brand.

Feedback on creating your own fashion brand (with little money)
Dear female readers,
(Yes, I just started Bridgerton, four seasons late.)

You often ask me how I got started. So I decided to share here, in this founder's journal, the behind-the-scenes story of creating my clothing brand.

If this can help even one of you to get started in fashion or create your own brand, then it's worth it.

Launching your own clothing brand with €5,000
We often hear that you need a lot of money to get into fashion. That's not true.

I launched the brand with €5,000. My savings, a real risk. No investors, no bank loan, and no financial support to get me started.

But looking back, I can tell you that sometimes you can start with less. With plans B, C, and D. By producing on a smaller scale. By testing before production. By operating on a pre-order basis. By maintaining a side business at the beginning.

There are a thousand ways to adapt the creation of a clothing brand to its reality.

I used that €5,000 for:

• register the trademark
• create the e-commerce website
• develop the first prototypes
• pay a deposit to the supplier
• organize a simple photoshoot
• launch initial clothing production

No office. No team. Just the essentials.

The support available for starting a business that I wasn't aware of
I didn't know that there was support available for starting a business: ACRE (exemption from social security contributions), interest-free loans, BPI (French Public Investment Bank), regional aid…

So I'm giving you the information today. Because a little more cash at the start means less pressure when you're creating your own fashion brand.

The 8 months before the site's opening: suppliers, production, and doubts
It took me 8 months between the time I decided to create the brand and the opening of the website.

Eight months spent searching for the right textile suppliers, making mistakes, starting over, trying to plan for everything, to secure everything. Eight months of creating and re-creating Excel spreadsheets to calculate production costs and forecast sales.

But if you wait until everything is perfectly reassuring on paper, I assure you: you will never take the plunge.

At some point, you have to accept that nothing will ever be completely secure. You have to dare despite the uncertainty.

When you create your brand: your friends and family won't always be your first customers
There is a reality that is rarely discussed in female entrepreneurship.

At first, you'll think your loved ones will be your first customers. They'll be there to support you, encourage you, and tell you:
« I will be your first customer Some will keep their word. But many will not, and they shouldn't be blamed for it.

A business, especially when launching your own clothing brand, is built with strangers. If you rely too heavily on family and friends to sell your first collection, you risk being disappointed.

It took a year and a half before they paid me a salary.
Then, it took me a year and a half before I could pay myself. The first year, everything I earned was reinvested in production, stock and brand development.

Two years after the launch, I was able to hire. That day, I felt that it was no longer just “my project”, but a real fashion business.

We often imagine that everything happens quickly. In reality, creating a clothing brand is done in stages. Through small victories.

My first clothing production: an essential lesson
My first production was a real lesson.

At the time, the workshop had imposed a minimum of 50 pieces per model. I couldn't really afford that, but I didn't dare say I could only make 25. I wanted to be taken seriously. I wanted to make " like the real brands ».

Result: too much stock, months to sell off the parts, promotions to recover cash.

Looking back, I've realized one essential thing when creating your own clothing brand: everything is negotiable. Minimum production runs, deadlines, payments. Your credibility isn't based on volume, but on your ability to sustain the business over time.

Why I chose to produce in France
Next time, I'll tell you all about my very first production. The one that was a complete disaster. The one where I almost gave up. It wasn't made in France.

And I will explain why, after this experience, I decided to produce in France. This choice profoundly transformed the brand and reinforced my vision of more responsible and sustainable production.

I hope you enjoyed it!