S119. Finding your fabric supplier for your fashion brand with fabric agent Ciara Jennings

12/14/22 • 41 min

This weeks guest on The Commerce Club podcast is Ciara - she is an all round fabric whizz and joins me today to chat about sourcing fabrics for your small product business.

If you are starting a fashion brand it is highly likely you will need to source yourself some kind of fabric for your product, and this can feel like a minefield if this is something you have no experience in - and it’s likely that as a new business founder bringing your idea to life you’ve probably never done this before and it can feel super overwhelming.

Ciara has been working in the fabric sourcing industry for many years, she studied textile design, and has held fabric sourcing positions at UK high street giants including River Island & Coast and now runs her own fabric agency where she represents 8 fabric mills all over the world.

In this episode Ciara talks us through the fabric sourcing process, how to avoid hefty fabric MOQs and the common mistakes people make when they are sourcing their fabrics.

Ciara is also hosting some fabric sourcing and sustainability workshops in January 2023 - so keep a look out for these!

You can connect with Ciara here: https://www.ciarajenningstextiles.com/ and on instagram @ciara_jen_tex

About The Remote CEO Podcast:

This podcast is for freedom-seeking online entrepreneurs, offering practical, actionable advice to help you step up into your new role as CEO by building an online business that works for you - not one you work for.

Hosted by Sophie Biggerstaff, an online business mentor, e-commerce founder, mental health advocate, and full-time digital nomad. 🙋‍♀️

👆Want to start an online business? Take my quiz to help you get started

👆 Want to achieve more freedom in your life? Find out how you can make it happen in my free masterclass.

👆Need online business advice? Get my best business tips directly in your inbox by signing up to my newsletter

👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share to hear more conversations about starting and growing an online business.

🔗 Stay Connected:

📸 Follow me on Instagram

🎥 Follow me on TikTok

🗣️ Connect on LinkedIn

...

This weeks guest on The Commerce Club podcast is Ciara - she is an all round fabric whizz and joins me today to chat about sourcing fabrics for your small product business.

In this episode Ciara talks us through the fabric sourcing process, how to avoid hefty fabric MOQs and the common mistakes people make when they are sourcing their fabrics.

Ciara is also hosting some fabric sourcing and sustainability workshops in January 2023 - so keep a look out for these!

You can connect with Ciara here: https://www.ciarajenningstextiles.com/ and on instagram @ciara_jen_tex

About The Remote CEO Podcast:

Hosted by Sophie Biggerstaff, an online business mentor, e-commerce founder, mental health advocate, and full-time digital nomad. 🙋‍♀️

👆Want to start an online business? Take my quiz to help you get started

👆 Want to achieve more freedom in your life? Find out how you can make it happen in my free masterclass.

👆Need online business advice? Get my best business tips directly in your inbox by signing up to my newsletter

👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share to hear more conversations about starting and growing an online business.

🔗 Stay Connected:

📸 Follow me on Instagram

🎥 Follow me on TikTok

🗣️ Connect on LinkedIn

...

Previous Episode

S118. Running a social venture & managing poor mental health as a business founder with Tony O'Neil, founder Animalia Apparel

Animalia is a fightwear brand with a social heartbeart, founder Tony has been running the business from his hub in Glasgow for the past 6 years.

The business started off the back of Tonys career as a sports development youth worker where he recognized that there was a need for more support for the youth community in his local area.

Tony developed a range of fightwear, partnering with world class fighters which he sells through Animalia and reinvests profits in to activities for the community such as hillwalks, boardgame nights, socials and he even gets the community involved in designing product for the brand.

I met Tony during the pandemic when 4 years in to running the business he wanted to go back and apply some stronger foundations to the brand, we worked together to get the apparel side of the business in a position to grow.

Tony fell in to running this business and it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, especially when his mental health took a few dips along the way.

In this episode I chat to Tony about his mental health challenges and the importance of putting yourself first even when you’re a founder.

You can check out Animalia Apparel here: https://animaliaapparel.co.uk/shop and on instagram @animalia_apparel

About The Remote CEO Podcast:

Hosted by Sophie Biggerstaff, an online business mentor, e-commerce founder, mental health advocate, and full-time digital nomad. 🙋‍♀️

👆Want to start an online business? Take my quiz to help you get started

👆 Want to achieve more freedom in your life? Find out how you can make it happen in my free masterclass.

👆Need online business advice? Get my best business tips directly in your inbox by signing up to my newsletter

👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share to hear more conversations about starting and growing an online business.

🔗 Stay Connected:

📸 Follow me on Instagram

🎥 Follow me on TikTok

🗣️ Connect on LinkedIn

...

Next Episode

S120. 22 things I learnt about business in 2022

For me 2022 was my year to focus on me, this was not a year for me to focus on my business as I had been the past 2 years, but suprisingly from taking a step back I actually learnt SO MUCH. So here’s 22 things I learnt about business in 2022...

Breaks are healthy, feel like you need time off? Take it!
You need to expand yourself with other people that are doing what you want to do in order to feel like YOU CAN DO IT.
Everything comes down to your mindset and it needs to be neutral for you to really achieve what you want to achieve.
The energy you put in is what you’ll get back.
Don’t force anything - if you are constantly coming up against challenges when you try over and over to do the same thing and it still isn’t working, maybe it’s time to stop forcing something to work and pivot in to a new direction.
Trust your gut.
Community is key surround yourself with people who understand what you’re doing, support you, hold you accountable and you’ll find yourself in a constant thinktank.
There’s opportunity everywhere, be open to exploring opportunities across all walks of your life.
You should be running your business, not letting your business run you.
You can’t pour from an empty cup, when you feel like you are running on energy, take a step back to recharge before you pick up where you left off with a new set of eyes.
Sales can be passive, you just need to put the work in to set your business up to sell on automation.
Money is not the be all and end all, it’s even more fulfilling when your business has a wider purpose.
The environment you work from is super important to keep inspiring and motivating your ideas and productivity.
Business support is the best investment you will make - this year I’ve hired social media support, business coaches, branding designers - all people who have areas of expertise that I don’t so I can offload some of my work and also get a fresh perspective on my business.
If you don’t market, you won’t sell.
The things that scare you will be the things that you get the most out of!
Social media is not the be all and end of all of marketing - if it’s not your thing find something that is, like I have with my podcast The Commerce Club.
Collaborations are fun, myself & @clare_alex_consults are proof of this, check out our group coaching 6 months to launch pad