Customer Reviews

The Fashion Designer Survival Guide: An Insider's Look at Starting and Running Your Own Fashion Business

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mary Gehlhar's book is outstanding. It has depth and breath. I really enjoyed all the quotes and pearls of wisdom provided by so many lovely people in the apparel industry. This book covers everything - from concept and design to wholesale price points to retail product placement. This book shows you "the what" and "the how" like no other apparel industry book has.

What I especially enjoyed learning about was the legal information. Thank you Charles Klein for you saved me much heartache that comes with losing your intellectual property. Now I can work with investors wisely for you have banished the only fear I have and that is losing control of my intellectual property as I lose some corporate control due to investors' terms. This is what I read books for - to gain knowledge and insight from people who have done it before me, do it better than me, and write it down to share with us curious souls and thirsty minds.

The other aspect of this book I found to be stellar and not noted in any other fashion industry book (and I read them all) is what Mary Gehlhar says about patternmaking and samplemaking. She states both sides of the argument, doing it yourself and others doing it for you, articulately and succinctly. I applaud you Mary Gehlhar. You wrote a great book.

this book is jam-packed with excellent information for anyone interested in the fashion business. i read the 200 pg. book in a day and will keep it around for reference. it was easy to understand, brutally honest, and extremely useful in answering my many questions about who, what, when, where, how. i've already made a list of things to do and add to my business plan.

This book's price is right too!

By far, the most impressive, knowledgeable and useful guide to everything from the decision to start your own design business to handling the press, buyers and everything else.

It's not a book that sugarcoats the truth about how hard it is to succeed in this business and how few succeed at all. Even established designers who didn't lay the right foundations, had it come back to bite them. It starts you off in the right mindset and helps you learn from the mistakes and experiences of others, so that you don't waste time and money screwing up by yourself!

A must have book!

I really wish I had read this before I set up a fashion business; this is invaluable reading from somebody actually IN the industry.

With relevant information & quotes from designers, & other people in the industry, the reader is able to understand so much more on what is actually involved in setting-up/running a fashion business. The book is extremely easy to read & each chapter covers a relevant topic fairly concisely, enabling the reader to learn from others experiences; from costing through to actually selling, & will always be there for reference when needed.

We all have so many questions to ask when setting up/in a business & this book will probably answer most, if not all, & may actually save you from having to learn from your own mistakes...well most anyway! If you are looking at setting up a fashion business, then BUY this book & learn 'how' to do it better.

Thankyou Mary Gehlhar, from a young designer company who now realise they were right on some things, feel reassured on others, but who now have a vast amount of new knowledge to take it further...

This book is ideal for someone coming into the industry with little to no knowledge. It provides a lot of tips to help one avoid re-inventing the wheel.

Gehlhar's book avoids all of the pitfalls of many "how to" guides for small business owners, balancing the realities of a very tough industry with practical approaches to success. The hardest thing about being a small business owner is making the tough decisions on how to spend and evaluate that spending's value toword profitability. A true practical guide, she enumerates costs and suggests creative means for those that are cash strapped (i.e. most of us) to start and succeed in the industry. It should be a text book in any fashion class. I highly recommend it to anyone in a fashion related industry who is interested in information on the inner workings of the business.

Useful, definitely has information that you absolutely must know about the fashion industry. But it does not need to be purchased. Borrow it from the library--the book can be read in one sitting and offers general advice.

This book provides answers to unanswered questions and goes into subjects not covered in Fashion School. ;) I would sugest this book to any on in the fashion industry or still in school. It will help you grasp a better understanding of the when, why, and how things are done.

I am not a fashion designer, but when I bought this book, I was starting my own fashion business and this book was exactly what I needed to help me along. For someone just starting out in the fashion business, this book explains everything you need to know from what kind of company to set up, setting up a business plans and legal issues to production and PR. This is a great, well rounded guide that is easily set up so it is very easy to understand and read. This is a must have for anyone who wants to get into the business of fashion

I would recommend this book to anyone thinking about starting their own fashion design business. It answers any and all questions and best of all it provides resources that we all need (especially if we have no one to guide us). If you're a student of course you would have the resources provided to you by the school itself, but for someone who is doing this from natural talent and ideas, it's GREAT!!!