by Jess Shanahan

Created on: February 26, 2010

So, you’ve got your designs, have made them, photographed them and maybe sold a few to family and friends. Where do you go now with getting them out there to the general public?

- Events

 There are hundreds of events out there that can give you exposure from events designed to expose new designers to the Pure London buying event. Pure London is an event, which allows designers and wholesalers to showcase their products to buyers.

 Buying events are probably only for you if you have or can make large amounts of stock. If you only have the time to make one garment a week or less then the demand at one of these shows would be far too high.

- Websites

 There are various sites such at Etsy that allow you to sell handmade items. Etsy is good because you can make each item to order and take your time about it. Generally sales on Etsy can be slow and by making everything to order you limit yourself to how much you can make and then sell. It is also highly competitive and with most of the buyers hailing from the USA you might struggle with shipping if you are in the UK

 Fashion dedicated sites such as Republika give you a wider scope of what you can do with your garments. Republika is a UK based operation so UK sellers can have direct access to their target market. Similarly, if you are a US or foreign designer the site is perfect for selling your items to the UK

 These sites already have a high volume of traffic coming to them so the audience is there you just need to wow them. Think about which products you feature and your photography. Ask yourself: Do I stand out? And how can people find me?

- Wholesale

 You might want to go straight down the wholesale route if you can create enough items. I’d advise starting small, go to small independent boutiques that sell similar items. Meet with them and discuss them stocking your line. You can then discuss pricing, designing especially for them and quantities.

- Set up your own online boutique

 If you have the time and the money then this might be your best bet. Official sites like these tend to look brilliant and really impress. However, unlike selling your clothes through someone else you have to do all the marketing or you have to pay someone to do your marketing.

 You’ll need to have secure payment facilities for taking card payments. The easiest way to do this is through Paypal or Sage Pay. You’ll also need to keep the site up to date and make sure you keep adding new stock. It’s a lot more work to maintain your own site but if you can do it then the rewards will be great.

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