The Fashion Designer Survival Guide, Revised and Expanded Edition: Start and Run Your Own Fashion Business

I will admit-- I chose this "how to start a fashion business" guide book over the other ones because it's more famous. And because of the Diane Von Furstenberg foreword, Tim Gunn review, and many little interviews with actual designers. Lets not forget the great price (w/ free shipping if $25 is spent).

This book is definitely a good read-- its full of practical information and great advice and real-world examples of situations designers go through (designers going bankrupt, exclusivity of certain production factories, problems with selling to certain stores, etc). Its a very "real" look at fashion from a well thought out point of view.

All that said, when I began to create my business plan this book was little help. I mean it certainly gave me a great summarized outline, but it lacks numbers. I just wish it had more number examples, you know more "averages". Like the average or sample amounts of material cost, production, and overhead cost for an emerging designers. How many pieces are recommended for a new designer and if they choose to sell to a store-- whats the average amount of pieces they sell the store and how many of each sizes (ie: 20 dresses? size 2(2) size 4(2) size 6(4) size 8(4) size 10(4) size 12(4))

I know averages can greatly differ, but I wish they would have made-up or created a fake fashion line, and created a very modified business plan with numbers, just as a sample. (That alone would have made this book perfect.)

It also needed more equations. The only equation was COGS. The book was great, but it seriously lacked numbers and tangibility. As in I was thinking this book would be a onestop shop, but it wasn't. This book gives you direction and an idea of how your mindset should be when creating a line and it gives you alot of pointers and warnings. Making this the perfect book for someone who isn't in the fashion industry. But as a person who's been to business school and studied at a fashion school I just expected a little more, I'm probably asking for too much, but what the hey- why not? lol.

I look at this book as a great complementary to a more detailed book. I haven't read these, but from what I can see in Amazon's "look inside" and from some of the reviews: "Fashion Unraveled", "Fashion for Profit", and "How to Setup and Run a Fashion Label" may be great compliments to this book. For my fashion marketing class I had to read "The Business of Fashion, Designing, Manufacturing and Marketing". That's a textbook and does offer great detail as well, but it comes at a much bigger pricetag. I just wish I kept it instead of giving it back after my class was over.

As a person in the industry I'll say that this book definitely solidified alot of my own thoughts and gave me many great tidbits that will be helpful and will come to mind as I'm creating my line. Just don't expect "numbers" and financial examples from this book. Just view it as a insiders guide to the business of fashion with accompanying examples and summaries of the experiences of other designers. Because of the low pricetag and solid examples I would definitely recommend purchasing it, but keep in mind that you will still need to find books and search the internet for number and business plan examples. (And, lets just say with all the junk out there its hard to find everything on the internet it takes soooooo much time digging through sites and sites and fake sites that lead you to sites that want you to pay hundreds just for a numerical overview of the women's retail market... oops sorry, I think I'm venting now, lol).

This book is great, I recommend buying it. But I suggest Mary Gehlhar make a revised version in a year or two that has numbers because if she did it would be like the Bible for starting a fashion line.

PS- This book really is like a wake-up call for people who just say to themselves "I want to start a clothing line", you know, people who aren't in the industry and just think it'll be this fun easy thing to do. It gives those type people ALOT of perspective. For someone who already has an idea for a line, is well-versed in fashion, and aware of the climate of the retail industry and fashion market this book has its shortcomings. But it is still helpful though, so thats why it's a useful book to have around.

This is a great book. If you want to know how the business really is, read this book. The only reason why I took off a star is because I was terrified after reading it. It briefly discouraged me from design because it seemed to focus on all of the pitfalls.

I can't believe how much I've gotten from this book so far, and I'm only up to chapter 5! She's written this for anyone interested in getting their design business going, no matter where a person is in the process, and I'm truly thankful.

Just was not what I expected, It seems like it was for high end designers. I just wanted to try on a smaller level.

Very good book, explaining the inside workings of the fashion design world to beginners. Lots of tips and first hand opinions and advice from people working in the industry. Only small downside for me was it is oriented in the US system and not everything applies worldwide but I don't think this could be avoided in any way. Definitely worth a read if you are trying to find your way in fashion design.

This book is by far the best book I've read. Really helpful step by step guide. I've learned so much from this book. The author also gives insight on the up's and down's of what it is like in the Industry. I highly recommend this book to Fashion Designers. A real, MUST HAVE!!!.

This book was a great bird's-eye view of the fashion world. It was extremely detailed and gave me insights into a variety of issues in the fashion world that my friends and I had never thought about before we started planning to begin our own business. It has excellent resources and some really hard-hitting advice for anyone who thinks that the fashion world is all about talent and creativity. They help, but a good business sense helps even more if you want to succeed, especially in today's economy. Highly recommended.

This was the first book I read as a person considering entering the fashion accessory arena. It was at just the right level and was very helpful to me. Am passing it along to my sister, my potential partner in the business. It will help us avoid major pitfalls and to ask the right question. Would recommend it.

Used fair quality

A must have book if you are in the fashion industry. Every designer or student must read it before staring to work or design your own company.