Journal

Karen Yakymishen Karen Yakymishen

Read This Before You Start Your Fashion Brand

Starting a fashion brand is an exciting journey, but it can also feel overwhelming. With so many decisions to make—from sourcing sustainable materials to managing production—it’s easy to overlook crucial steps that can make or break your success. That’s where a consulting session comes in. By working with an expert, you’ll gain the clarity, tools, and strategies needed to build a brand that’s not only creative and authentic but also positioned for long-term growth. Here are 10 reasons why investing in a consulting session before launching your fashion brand is the smartest move you can make.

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Karen Yakymishen Karen Yakymishen

Weekly Guide to Starting Your Fashion Brand

Don’t underestimate the time it takes to take your vision, conceptualise it, create tech packs, find fabric manufacturers, source the materials, pitch your tech packs to manufacturers go through the sampling process, approvals, shipping, don’t forget you need brand labels and hang tags, maybe even other packaging products. I frequently have conversations with startups where they are wanting their products launched - LAUNCHED! - in 3 months from our initial call.

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fashion start up Karen Yakymishen fashion start up Karen Yakymishen

Brainstorming Your Concept

Join me as I walk you through taking your fashion brand ideas and taking them from concept to a launched product. This week we will brainstorm your ideas and put them down into a flow chart, a mind map, a bullet point list. We will conceptualise without being self conscious, no holds barred. Sign up to receive these weeks in an email, or follow along on my Youtube channel @frankydune.

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Blanks Karen Yakymishen Blanks Karen Yakymishen

Holiday Print-on-Demand Ideas

I know, forgive me, it is only mid-October, but as with all things fashion, being prepared for the season ahead is EVERYTHING. As a way to be on track for the holidays, now is the time to have your designs made and ready to go for your print-on-demand products.

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Manufacturing Karen Yakymishen Manufacturing Karen Yakymishen

Tiktokers Revealing Luxury Brand’s Manufacturers

Luxury fashion houses are known for their quality products, exquisite construction and inspiring styles. Understandably something every fashion brand aspires to produce and sell as well. Finding the right manufacturer doesn’t mean following what some random Tiktoker says based off of what they found on ImportYeti. Finding the right manufacturer means finding the right manufacturer for YOUR DESIGNS and for your brand’s core values.

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Karen Yakymishen Karen Yakymishen

Blank Apparel the New Fashion?

Print-on-demand, at-home embroidery, screen printing from the garage, drop shipping, creating designs in Canva and selling them on Etsy. Entering the fashion and design world has become SO MUCH EASIER.

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Karen Yakymishen Karen Yakymishen

Fabric Sourcing for Fashion Brands

The most asked questions I get in my DMs are “where can I find a supplier with ::enter any fabric quality here::” and “Where can I find a clothing manufacturer with low minimums?”

But truly, no matter where you start sourcing suppliers, you need to be MORE SPECIFIC in what type of fabric you are looking for.

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Fabric Sourcing, Manufacturing, Trade Fair, All Karen Yakymishen Fabric Sourcing, Manufacturing, Trade Fair, All Karen Yakymishen

Première Vision Trade Fair Paris

Première Vision is a three-day event and one of the largest trade fairs where brands can meet accessories, yarn and textile manufacturers, leather tanneries, print design artists, and garment manufacturers from all over the world. In this article, I’ve included seven attendee secrets aimed at helping you navigate this massive event and jumping a few queues.

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Fabric Sourcing, All, Trade Fair Karen Yakymishen Fabric Sourcing, All, Trade Fair Karen Yakymishen

Sourcing Sustainable Fabric When You’re a Small Brand

How does a small brand source sustainable fabric in a world where mass production is still the norm? Sourcing fabric on your own - regardless of your brand’s size - is time consuming and can feel overwhelming. We compiled our top 5 places for fashion brands to search for fabric suppliers when you are sourcing low MOQs.

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All Karen Yakymishen All Karen Yakymishen

Was It A Challenge?

Was it a challenge? It was. If you are putting your all into your fashion brand to make it a sustainable business, meaning a business that you can make enough to live on, do the same with building a community around you to help support, encourage, and lend an ear when you need. Because it will be a challenge.

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Fabric Sourcing, All Karen Yakymishen Fabric Sourcing, All Karen Yakymishen

Deadstock Fabric

Deadstock fabric is leftover fabric that comes in a variety of ranges, from natural fabrics like linen, to polyester lace. There are several different reasons why deadstock exists. When fabric is around unsold or unused for too long it is considered deadstock fabric. Errors can occur during the manufacturing process….

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How to Create a Vision Board

Are you making a vision board this year? Creating a vision board helps keep you focused and is a mindful process to plan out the year you want to achieve.

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Shop Local this Christmas

Avoid the stress of mall shopping and headache of ordering online by shopping at local Christmas markets. Support independent brands and small businesses.

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