Growing Your Fashion Label Basics: Design Studio vs. Freelancers
The Relative Merits of Using a Fashion Studio vs. Independent Fashion Designers
As an upcoming fashion label, you would want designs that are cutting-edge, attractive and can make a mark against established brands. Price is a factor and hence you need to ensure that your costs in designing and producing your collection are kept within your budget. One of the ways to do that effectively has been to outsource the designing work to freelance designers. With platforms like Elance and Freelancer, it is possible to find hundreds of freelance designers who will work with you to create your fashion collection at a fraction of the cost that an in-house full-fledged design team would require. And you will be able to interact with them directly, so getting your ideas across is simplified. You will also get more personalized attention from a freelancer.
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While you are likely to find a number of good designers on these platforms, identifying them can be a difficult task, involving contacting dozens of them and filtering the ones that you can get along with. At the same time, you have very little guarantee that the freelancer will deliver the work as per your timelines and specifications, since (s)he is usually a lone worker with no backup. Fledgling fashion labels on tight timelines can be stuck at the mercy of such freelancers.
So what is the solution? What you would ideally be looking for is a combination of the best parts of both sides. You would like the reassurance of a talented designer team that can be selected and deliver as per your design brief in a short time. At the same time, you would like to keep your costs low and have the assurance of an experienced professional handling the project. With virtual design platforms like fuel4Fashion, you can get both.
Fuel4Fashion is a Freelance Fashion Design Agency and Brand Consultancy that brings together talented design professionals from across the world, giving you a diverse talent pool from which you can choose who would work on your project. You get a chance to view their previous work, and have the assurance that a team of experienced professionals is managing the design process at an affordable cost. The additional advantage is that you get a variety of designs that you might not find in your local talent pool – African prints, bright Latin American colour combinations, and the style and cut of sophisticated European design houses become possible with this platform. You are assured of timely project completion, access to new ideas and efficient communication that ensures the outcome is as good as, if not better than what you visualized.
While working with both freelancers and agencies have their respective advantages and shortcomings, using a virtual design studio like Fuel4Fashion gives you the best of both. This will ensure that your fashion label will make a strong impact and yet you keep your creative costs within control.
Fuel4Fashion is a design, branding and technology consultancy for the fashion and apparel industry. We provide consulting and advisory services across design, business and IT processes to early stage and mid-sized apparel manufacturers and brands looking to grow their business with the help of smart sustainable management practices. Visit our website here and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for regular updates.