The fashion industry is among the biggest in the world today. Thanks to globalization, a single clothing brand can have stores in over a hundred countries worldwide. Globalization has also revolutionized the supply chain of fashion, driving down the expenses and time needed to produce a single piece of clothing.
This has led to the growth of fast fashion, which specializes in basic, affordable clothing. Fast fashion has become such a giant that franchises have been popping up all across the world.
Primarily characterized by a high turnover of clothing lines, many have — on the other hand — also associated fast fashion with large corporations and chains that place affordability above quality and design. Furthermore, the large number of fast-fashion chains have reduced the differentiation in products among them, making these brands almost interchangeable with each other.
Hence, those who wish to franchise a clothing store might be better off selecting lesser-known or local stores. While doing so might be a little bit riskier given that these do not carry the brand name and recognition of large fast-fashion chains, the rewards — both personal and financial — can prove to be more than worth it.
Here is why you should ditch fast fashion and go for a smaller clothing store to franchise instead:
Have a hand in what you sell
Aspiring fashion entrepreneurs and designers will no doubt want to add their own flavor and style to any clothing store that they operate. However, this is increasingly hard to do with fast fashion, as these brands already have the desired look for any branch that carries their name, and they would want this look to be uniform across all branches to preserve brand identity.
Smaller stores are likely to give you more freedom to pick the merchandise you would like to sell. This, you get to experience designing and putting together pieces first-hand, which is definitely going to be a good learning experience for you.
Promote originality and authenticity
As fast fashion brands become increasingly interchangeable with each other, differentiating, you’re a fast fashion branch could be a challenge. Furthermore, there will probably be limits on how you are allowed to design the store itself.
These are things that you need not worry about when franchising a smaller store. In fact, you will probably be encouraged to make the brand stand out in order to attract attention to the brand name and build its reputation. Hence, you will be able to learn how to manage a store better and come up with your own creative ideas regarding both merchandise and branding.
Contribute toward sustainability
With the demands of fast fashion entailing larger and larger volumes of clothing be produced each year, this necessitates an equally large amount of resources. Hence, the fashion industry has become a leading contributor to pollution, generating as much as 10 percent of carbon emissions and 20 percent of wastewater globally, all while an estimated one garbage truck’s worth of textiles is incinerated every second.
By choosing to sell quality and properly sourced clothing items, smaller stores do their part in contributing to sustainability initiatives. This helps build a solid brand image, as well as provide good quality clothes without negative environmental effects.
The fashion industry demands the highest amounts of creativity and determination you can give. These are things you can hone and develop while franchising an existing small store, before eventually branching out and starting your own brand. If you truly want to make it in fashion, this would be a good step to take.
