Fashion Designers Get Paid: Build Your Fashion Career On Your Own Terms

Dreaming of working in the fashion industry and making money?
Well, hold on tight because in this episode, we're diving deep into whether starting your own clothing line or freelancing as a fashion designer is more profitable. With personal experiences and insights from industry experts, you'll discover the surprising truth about which path will fill your pockets faster. Get ready to unlock the secrets of the fashion world and find out if your dream lies in launching a clothing brand or taking charge as a freelance fashion designer.

Resources Mentioned in this episode:
Sofia's Story: https://successfulfashiondesigner.com/fashion-brand-vs-freelancing/

Download my Freelance Price List just for fashion (it’s free!): sewheidi.com/price

Creators and Guests

Host
Heidi Weinberg {Sew Heidi}
Heidi (aka Sew Heidi) is a self-taught freelance fashion designer who built a six-figure business without a degree, portfolio, or industry connections. After years of burnout in the fashion industry, she went freelance—and never looked back. Now, she helps other designers ditch toxic jobs, land better clients, and build flexible careers they love. Through her podcast, courses, and resources, Heidi has helped thousands of designers take control of their fashion path and finally get paid what they’re worth.

What is Fashion Designers Get Paid: Build Your Fashion Career On Your Own Terms?

This is a show for burnt-out fashion designers (and TDs, PDs, patternmakers, textile designer and beyond) who want more flexibility in their career while still doing work they love.

You'll learn how to build a freelance fashion business, so you can do the work you love on your own terms. Freelancing in fashion is the only way to get freedom in your day (instead of being tied to a desk).

Whether you want to earn extra money on the side, fund your fashion brand, or replace your salary, the FDGP podcast will help you get there. Listen in for actionable tips and strategies to kickstart or grow your career as a freelance fashion designer, build your confidence, and create the life you want.

Hosted by $100k+ fashion freelancer Sew Heidi, the show features interviews and strategy sessions with successful freelance fashion designers from around the world who've ditched toxic fashion jobs and taken control of their own destinies. This is the only place to get REAL insights from REAL freelancers who have built REAL careers on their own terms. (Formerly the Successful Fashion Freelancer podcast.)

What is more profitable, starting a fashion brand or being

a freelance fashion designer? I've done both, and

I've interviewed hundreds of people who have done both. And the

answer in my head is super obvious, but I get asked

this question a lot. So I thought I'll talk about it here in the podcast.

In this episode, I'm gonna share the differences between starting your own clothing line and

freelancing in fashion. I will share which one is more

profitable. And Spoiler alert, this is not a close race. One

of them massively takes the cake. So if you wanna work for yourself

in fashion and make money, This will help you figure out

which fashion career to pursue. Let's get to it. If you want to work

for yourself in fashion and make money, There is

one way to do it. Now I know that having your own clothing line can

feel like a dream. You come up with some ideas, you get the

manufactured and you start selling. Like, really, how hard could it be? But

the truth is that if you want to actually make money, Starting a clothing

line is one of the least profitable things in fashion. In fact,

you will likely end up losing money, lots of

money. Here's the thing. Losing money was pretty much the

number one topic that fashion brand guests on my

podcast were bummed to admit. I have interviewed hundreds of

people, and a lot of them are fashion brand found fashion brand found fashion

brand found fashion brand found fashion brand founders,

and they said, I'm losing so much money. It is the

reality that a lot of fashion industry experts will not tell you.

And the opposite of this is that what a lot of people don't know is

that there's a much better way to work for yourself in fashion and make money.

Now if you've been around for a while or you've tuned in before, you know

that I'm probably talking about freelancing and fashion. And, no, I'm

not talking about permalancing where you work for 1 brand full time as

an exploited temp employee without benefits. That's kind of the worst.

I'm talking about real freelancing where you're in control of your

own business, you set your own schedule and rates, and you work

wherever and whenever you want. That is

how you work for yourself in fashion and make money. And I am

talking about upwards of $100,000 plus a

year while doing work that you love. Now I know this

because I have done both. I had my own fashion brand, and I

freelanced. And many of my students have had the same

exact experiences. One of my students, she's a graduate of my fast program.

Her name's Sophia. She shared her whole story on the SFF podcast.

We'll link to that episode in the show notes, but it essentially went like this.

Sophia spent 5 years building her lingerie brand.

Finally, in year 4, she was barely able to pay

herself minimum wage. That's a long time to work at something

before you're barely making minimum wage. So she decided to start

freelancing. And within 10 days of freelancing, she Had

her 1st paying client. A few months later, she was earning a

comfortable full time salary. Think about that. 5 years to

barely pay herself minimum wage with her own fashion brand,

yet only months to start earning a comfortable full time salary as a freelancer.

Okay? Now listen, I know it's not all about the money. Right? Money is a

very tangible, easy way to measure things. So let's look at from a high level

the pros and cons to starting a fashion brand versus

freelancing in fashion. So first, we'll go through the pros of starting a fashion brand

or a clothing line. First, You technically when you are your

own fashion brand owner, you have no boss and you are legitimately

100% working for yourself. Right? It does give you ultimate freedom in

some ways. You literally have no one to answer to. And in addition to

that, you have a 100% creative control. With your own clothing line,

You are the creative mastermind behind every single

aspect from design concepts to production and branding.

Your vision is intact, and you can fully express your

artistic talents. So those are some of the pros to starting a clothing line. Now

let's talk about some of the cons to starting a clothing line. First, It

takes a tremendous amount of time. Launching a clothing line is

a time consuming process, and it requires a lot of patience and

a lot of perseverance. From the initial

idea through manufacturing and distribution. It can take anywhere from 12

to 18 months or even longer just to bring 1 design

to market. K? So a lot of time to get started. Next,

it takes a lot of money to start a clothing line. It is

expensive AF. You will need to invest substantial capital into

sourcing materials, production, marketing, distribution, etcetera. The

total investment is looking like, 1,000, if not tens of

1,000 of dollars just to get off the ground. Now

we're looking at this. We're like, okay. Takes a lot of time. It takes a

lot of money. And I'm gonna give you the kicker here. Your chances of success

are extremely low. Now I don't have specific data on this, but I have

interviewed hundreds of people. I have been in the industry for 15 years.

I've talked to a lot of people. The chances of starting

a successful fashion brand is very, very low. Our industry is

extremely competitive and is very saturated with tons of people trying to start a brand.

It can be really difficult to stand out and gained recognition.

To compound all of this, profitability is really, really low. If

you are lucky enough to gain some momentum with sales, you can. It happens.

Right? You're still going to have to reinvest a significant portion of

that back into the business to sustain growth. It

can take years to become profitable if you ever even do.

And then beyond all of this, when you're running a fashion brand,

a clothing line, You have a tremendous amount of

business responsibilities. You're not only responsible for the creative aspects,

which is actually gonna be, like, 10 or 20% of the workload. You're

more responsible for customer service, marketing, sales,

promotion, product development, etcetera, and you're really looking at about

10 to 20% of your time on, like, the fun design stuff with

about 80, 90% of your time on the business side of things. Okay? So that

is the reality of starting a fashion brand. Again, I know this because I had

my own brand, and I know this because I have talked to and interviewed hundreds

of people in the fashion industry. So let's look at the opposite side of the

table, which is freelancing in fashion. The pros of freelancing in

fashion. First of all, it is quick to get started. Freelancing and fashion,

you can hit the ground running. I have people who've come to some of my

training events. I have people who've listened to the podcast or watched on YouTube,

and literally within a week or 2

have landed their 1st, 2nd, maybe even 3rd paying client.

You can get started, like, today. Alright? Beyond

that is minimal start up costs. Unlike starting a clothing brand,

which requires a lot of capital to get started, You might be

looking at an Adobe Illustrator subscription, which runs, like, $20.

Excel, you can get Excel for $7 a month, or maybe you can even

use Google Sheets to do it for free. You can begin

offering services for very, very little a month. We're looking at,

like, less than $30 a month. That is nothing compared to what it starts to

cost what it costs to start a clothing brand. And then all this, you can

get started fast. It doesn't cost a lot of money. And then 3rd, you have

a higher chance of success. Again, now I don't have data on this. Okay? So

this is a little bit of hearsay, a little bit of me going with my

gut, knowing what I know from my personal experience, from teaching

hundreds of fashion freelance fashion designers how to succeed, from

interviewing hundreds of people on the podcast and and on YouTube here.

You have a much higher chance of success as a freelance

fashion designer or TDPD, what have you, than launching a clothing line.

Okay? Beyond that, The profitability

is enormous. Okay? As a freelancer, the majority of the earnings

go right back into your pocket. Okay? You can charge

competitive rates. You can keep a very high percentage of the rates that

you're charging. Unlike a fashion brand, you're not continually reinvesting

that money back into the business. K? As you tend to grow

as a freelancer, You have the same software and the same overhead and

your profit just gets higher and higher. And then last, you're gonna be

really selective about your work work opportunities. Freelancing empowers you to

choose projects that you're most passionate about. You can align with

brand work with brands that align with your personal vision

and ethos, and you get to be very particular about the type of work that

you do. K? Now then, of course, there are some cons to freelancing

in fashion. Right? 1st is client expectations, and

I won't lie that in a way a freelance client can start to

feel a little bit like a boss. Right? So you need to

adapt and work creatively within the brand vision while delivering

the expected outcomes so you don't get

the freedom that you might get with your own fashion brand. You still are reporting

to someone. Right? You still have someone else that you're liable to. And you

also coming with that same type of idea of a little bit of a

boss situation. You do get somewhat limited creative control. Right?

You can choose the brands that you work with. You can choose the projects that

you work with, but you obviously still have to design

and build into that brand's requirements.

K? So listen. If your goal is to work for yourself in fashion

and make money. Freelancing is how you do

it. Okay? I know that starting a clothing line has the allure

of complete creative control and autonomy and

building out this brand that you will likely be very proud of.

I'm not here to tell you not to do it, but I'm here to tell

you to know what you're getting into from a

financial perspective, from a time investment perspective and

chances of success perspective. These are the realities.

Okay? By freelancing in fashion, you Get to work for yourself in

fashion. You get to make money. You get freedom in your day. You're not tied

to a desk, and you also get the financial rewards while doing

work that you love with brands that you're passionate about. So I would

love to help you to succeed. Keep listening to the podcast. Keep

watching here on YouTube. You got this. You're doing great.