Enterprise: Cauldron clothing final

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cauldron_clothing/?hl=en

Designs:

Script from the video: Bats, cats and rats, gothic style has become a huge part of modern day aesthetics, but beautiful as it may be, comfortable and practical and not common traits of the extravagant dresses and corsets. Hence the birth of the new-age goth, an individual who loves gothic design and simplicity, so the demand for graphic design tees which describe their personality in one picture have drastically increased. This is why I, Paige Bowater, have founded Cauldron clothing, a graphic design t-shirt company, specialising In designs for the niche market of new age goths on the go. To minimise costs I intend to keep the business a small and intimate venture, with myself designing, Damian Josebury photographing and outsourcing the printing aspect to a freelance printing service. This will also allow me to keep a closer eye on productivity. Advertisement will be mainly through Instagram as this platform not only has over 800 million users but is also free, therefore creating a high chance of products being seen as well as not making a dent in the profit margin. Distribution will be trialled through both Ebay and Etsy, as both have positives to the market, I am aiming for, however after a period, sales would be analysed thus allowing myself to focus on the site generating the most profit. My pieces will be similar to that of Killstar and restyle, however with a unique selling point. Affordability. I will undercut them by 10% or 20% in order to still gain profit but appealing to a larger market. Originality, Aesthetics, creativity, are what fuel my designs, stability and growth are what the business aims will be. Thankyou.

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/OmPaDrMyCVU

Final idea: My final idea is to create a clothing brand, where I use my graphics design skills to create Nu-goth designs. the company will be called Cauldron clothing (I have attached the logo at the top of this post).

My job role: I will be the graphics designer, which will benefit me in both designing the garments and advertising.

Other job roles: Photographer- Damian Josebury Printing- Freelancer

Values: The companies core values would be similar to my own: Aesthetics, creativity, originality, stability and growth.

My target audience: nu-goths: These are members of the gothic subculture, but instead of wearing stereotypical large dresses and corsets, they wear gothic design t-shirts which sum up their personalities comfortbaly.

USP: Affordability. I will create similar products to that of Re-Style and Killstar, at a lower price.

Advertisement and sales technique: Both of these will be mainly through social media. Instagram sports 800 million users, which means that there is a high chance of my products been seen by the necessary market. As well as a large bonus been that it costs nothing to have an account or to post. In my previous blog post I debated with using either Etsy, Ebay or Big Cartel to sell my products though after much debate I have settled on starting on Ebay, before later opening my own website. Ebay process 1 billion transactions every day (https://www.enterprisetech.com/2016/06/29/ebays-billion-daily-transactions-cooled-water/), accumulating $9.6 million in 2017 (https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ebay/financials), which was higher than both other sites, as well as only taking a 10% cut for selling fees. With this many users, it seems ridiculous to start initially with my own website as I could be missing out on over 1 billion users daily. Once I am fully established and recognisable as a brand then I will probably open my own site to cut out sellers fees.

Strengths: My designs are unique, and as I do not sell them to other companies, my platform will be the only way to own them. My t-shirts will be sold at a lower rate than that of my competitors but at the same level of quality. Finally my designs been made in Birmingham, which has a large population and in turn a large group of members of the gothic subculture, will allow me to keep postage costs to a minimum as I feel they will sell well locally.

Weaknesses: I currently have non funding. At the least I feel as though I will need around £1000 to get in basic stock amounts and print advertisements, so in order to begin I will need to gain the funds some how. Another issue I may face will be lack of reputation, especially seems though my competitors have dominated the alternative market for a number of years.

Opportunities: Both of my competitors have moved on to creating dresses and shoes etc, which leaves a gap in the market for my product. Also with the growth of online shopping, and sites like eBay providing printing services, there is no need to establish an actual workspace or shop which will keep my initial costs low.

Threats: Once again, a potential threat may be that Killstar and Re-Style create similar products with dilates the market pool. Another may be that due to only creating t-shirts people move over the companies that cover all of their needs.

Political: There are a few areas of the law which I could potentially have to consider but the main one would be copyright laws. Designs would have to be completely original as to not infringe on somebody else designs. Any designs which referenced either a band or television series would have to be fully researched based off the individual companies policies. The other political issue that may occur would be based off international selling. Due to Brexit not being finalised as of yet, the implications it could have on postage prices or distribution laws to the EU are still unknown, so I may have to start by initially selling in the UK then expanding if it makes financial sense once a final decision is made.

Economic: Again, the main element of economics which will need to be considered will be based around international sales in terms of Brexit. Locally it will be simply checking competitor prices and monitoring to ensure I have the best deals on the market.

Socio-cultural: Focusing on the UK, and even then initially the Birmingham goth community, I will need to be quite broad with my designs, then focus on elements associated to local trends.

Technological: Other than advertisement and selling, the main technological aspect of my enterprise is the actual t-shirt printing. To begin with I feel as though it is more cost effective to outsource this part of production to a company or freelancer rather than buying the equipment. However, is the business is a success I will definitely invest in one.