Simple Pointers on starting an Urban Clothing Store

By: Jefferson John Babasa
Submitted: 2008-11-20 13:46:21
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Urban type clothing lines are among of the most in-demand kind of clothes around the world. This is primarily because of the influence of the hip hop culture in our society. Hip hop fashion complements the expressions and attitudes of hip hop culture in general. Hip hop fashion has changed significantly during its history, and today it is a prominent part of popular fashion as a whole across the world and for all ethnicities.

This kind of popularity has brought in new ways of making a profit. Because of its huge demand and popularity among the urban community across the world, some have thought of making huge profits on this demand, and among of those are celebrities.

Many hip hop artists and executives started their own fashion labels and clothing lines. Notable examples include Wu-Tang Clan for Wu-Wear, Russell Simmons for Phat Farm, Kimora Lee Simmons Baby Phat, sean john Combs for sean john clothing, Nelly for apple bottoms Jeans, Damon Dash and Jay-Z for rocawear, 50 Cent for G-Unit Clothing, Eminem for Shady Limited, 2Pac for makaveli and OutKast for OutKast Clothing. Other prominent hip hop fashion companies have included Karl Kani and FUBU, Ecko, Dickies, Girbaud, enyce, Famous Stars and Straps, Bape, LRG, Timberland Boots, akademiks, and gino green global.

Other than celebrities, business-minded people have also thought of making a profit by selling some of the most popular clothing lines stated above. Urban clothing shops and boutiques became very common on all parts of the world selling some of the most popular collections of clothing lines.

Many have started this kind of business, but with lack of experience, planning, and management skills, their businesses crumbled and left some of them bankrupted. In this line of business, planning and research are foremost the most important elements before anything else. So here are some tips on how to start an urban clothing line business properly and organized.

File-in the Necessary Paperwork

To avoid running into the law for any business violations or lack of business documents, clearing ones business paperwork firsthand could save a lot of time and money. Check with the local business bureau and find out if there is any business licensing requirements that should be completed before opening an urban clothing store. Business requirements such as permits, taxations documents and other paperwork should be arranged before opening a business. Also, for this kind of business, a business permits that allows selling high profile clothing lines such as enyce, akademiks, and gino green global should be carefully checked and cleared.

Establishing the type of business should also take place in this stage of planning. Determine if the business would run on a sole proprietorship or as a partnership. Planning this ahead would save a lot of money if an incident happens that shifting a business from a partnership to a sole proprietorship would only be the solution.

The Store’s Name

Naming the store is also as important as arranging its business documents. The name of the store should be related to the theme of the store. In this case is an urban clothing store. The name of the store should always be understandable, easily memorized, and unique such as the Streetzwear. When a passerby reads the name Streetzwear, the first thing that’ll come into their mind is a store that sells urban or street clothing lines. Streetzwear is also a name that can be easily remembered and spelled. A name that leaves an impression on those that reads it is the kind of name that can lead a business to its success.

Base of Operations

Much like any businesses that deals with commerce, an urban clothing store should be situated on a location where foot traffic is plentiful. The things that should be looked at when choosing a place to start an urban clothing store business should include:

• The population within the area.

• The buying capability of the population.

• Its accessibility.

• Its visibility.

• Its cost.

• The number of competition.

• The strength of competition.

Having knowledge of the population of people around the location is important for running a huge urban clothing store business. Lesser population may mean lesser foot traffic, and lesser foot traffic could mean lesser profit. Check with the local Census offices to learn of the number of population of the location.

The buying capability of the population should also be checked if the store is planning to sell some high profile clothing lines such as enyce, sean john, akademiks, or gino green global. Selling these collections on a poor district can leave an urban clothing store bankrupt. So choose an appropriate location where the majority of the population can easily afford these kinds of clothing lines.

Accessibility, visibility, and the cost of the land is the most important part of choosing a location. The location should be easily accessible by any type of vehicles or by foot. The location should also be visible. In fact, the most appropriate place that can really bring in foot traffic because of its visibility are malls. Malls are the perfect place to start an urban clothing store business since its capable of providing the right number of traffic a day, but when it comes to cost and competition, malls aren’t a reasonable choice.

The cost of the location is important in building a successful business of selling urban clothing lines. The cost should be easily covered by the profit that a business earns per day. If renting a place, better check if you are capable of paying its monthly due. If starting on a location from scratch, meaning building a store from scratch, make sure that there is an adequate amount of capital to cover all of it.

The number and strength of competition should also be carefully checked. One way of competing with resident stores on an area is to observe what they can provide and what they cannot provide. Take for instance a shop selling clothes from apple bottoms and house of dereon, but they lack on selling jeans from enyce, akademiks, and gino green global. This is a perfect opportunity for to take advantage on a competitor's weaknesses. If they can't provide clothes from enyce, akademiks, and gino green global, then the appropriate course of action is to target those kinds of clothing lines.

But it’s better to just stay off clear of those big retail clothing stores, especially those franchised stores because these establishments have already established a name on the streets.

Choice of Stock

Choosing the right stock is very important for building the success of an urban clothing store. Subscribe to magazines that feature urban clothing ads and photo spreads. Talking to people on the streets could yield some information on the hottest clothing collection. Observing what people wear and what brands they are wearing is also important. Here are is a list of the brands that people on the streets are currently wearing:

• Sean John and enyce by Sean “Diddy” Combs

• House of Dereon by Beyonce Knowles

• Akademiks

• Gino Green Global by Prince

• Phat Farm

• Baby Phat

• L.E.I

• Rocawear

• Makaveli

• G-Unit

• FUBU

In starting this kind of business, one should always possess the keen ability to sense what’s hot and what’s not in the world of fashion clothing, particularly on urban clothing lines. This kind of skill can prove to be very useful in choosing the right stock and the right collection of brands to sell. And one last thing, for a business to truly profit or to become successful, it should be taken as a hobby and not only as a way to gain profit. This way, you’ll be having fun while making a lot of profits. These lists of tips and guidelines are by not all means finished or complete. The world of business is an ever changing world which techniques and strategies change throughout the time to accommodate the needs of every business minded person.

Article source: Expert Articles