Find orders for a knitwear factory. Business: sewing workshop in Yaroslavl

13.09.18 36 073 30

How friends make money by sewing clothes

Four entrepreneurs from Yaroslavl invested in an old sewing workshop 2.5 million rubles.

Victor Sikirin

talked to the owners of the sewing shop

Now clothing production brings them 400 thousand rubles a month.

How did you come up with the business idea?

Anton sold sports nutrition in the Murmansk region for two years, but the store brought little profit. In 2016, he added sportswear to the range, which he bought from suppliers. Profits increased, and Anton focused on clothing: it has more margins, and the business itself is easier to scale.

His friend Nastya agreed to help with the production of women's sportswear. Anton sold the sports nutrition store and moved from Monchegorsk closer to Moscow, to Yaroslavl. But developing and promoting a brand from scratch without our own production turned out to be difficult, expensive and unprofitable.

The brand of sportswear that the guys made was called Do, but it never became famous. Anton and Nastya are not going to resuscitate him

Then the entrepreneurs decided to sew clothes for corporate customers and quickly realized that there was a demand for it: brands, sports clubs and federations placed large orders for clothing with symbols.

The first clients were the same sports companies with which Anton collaborated when selling nutritional supplements. They ordered branded tracksuits, T-shirts and caps.

Nastya’s colleague, Dmitry, got involved in the case. The guys focused on finding clients, and still ordered sewing from contractors. Monthly turnover reached 500 thousand rubles, profit - up to 75-100 thousand.

After six months, the entrepreneurs realized that they did not want to depend on others. IN clothing industry Russia has a low production culture: contractors miss deadlines, do not monitor quality, confuse orders and do not value clients.

Anton, Dmitry and Nastya decided to open their own production. They called it Neith Group.

Search for investors

To start, it was necessary to find 1-2 million rubles. Potential investors first of all asked to see a business plan. To obtain financing, a business plan was ordered from a local company for 25 thousand rubles. The search for investment began in May 2017.

At first, entrepreneurs looked for money from friends, acquaintances of businessmen and their friends. Most refused, citing the fact that they did not understand anything about clothing business and therefore do not want to invest. Some at first agreed to give money, but then something always happened: either the account would be blocked, or a major deal would fall through, or people would simply change their minds.

Not finding investors among their friends, our heroes began looking for funding through funds and investor clubs. The guys were often asked for a business plan and key indicators for it, but most investors disappeared after that. Only a few made appointments.

Anton and Dmitry constantly went to Moscow for negotiations, but each time they ended in nothing: no one wanted to invest in production and the real sector, especially in the clothing industry, which few people understand. The guys were advised to launch a digital or cryptocurrency business: it is more understandable, promoted and attractive. In six months, entrepreneurs received more than two hundred refusals.

The most motivated refusal was from a group of investors who wanted to invest specifically in sewing. The guys were turned down because their visions of prospects were too different: investors dreamed of creating a large retail network, and our heroes were thinking of launching a medium-circulation production facility that would be able to quickly fulfill small and medium-sized retail orders. They simply didn’t think about anything bigger then. As a result, they were offered to return for funding in the future, when they grew up and aimed at large-scale production.

As a result, the entrepreneurs were able to borrow one million from friends and relatives, and raised another million through a new partner - a mutual friend Ekaterina. She sold her business and was ready to invest in new project. Now they had 2 million rubles, but still no premises.

Search for workshop premises

In July 2017, the owner of a sewing workshop in Yaroslavl approached the guys and offered to rent a 400 m² premises along with equipment and 20 employees. He brought the workshop to the brink of bankruptcy and owed workers wages for several months.

A week later, the entrepreneurs signed a long-term lease agreement for 5 years and paid for the first month. Now rent costs 90,000 rubles per month.

To sew clothes in Russia, you must have a Customs Union declaration. You cannot get it in Yaroslavl: there are no certification centers there. I had to go to Ivanovo, where entrepreneurs handed over samples of finished products to a special center and paid 20 thousand rubles. After 6 days they were given a certificate.

Workshop renovation and equipment purchase

To begin with, we decided to renovate the workshop: make new wiring, buy furniture, update equipment and optimize production. Repairs required 2.5 million rubles. The guys already had two million, and entrepreneurs took another 500 thousand from circulation.

Before renting out the workshop, the owner managed to buy high-quality, expensive equipment, but never set it up. The guys paid the master 50 thousand rubles for the setup.

2.5 million R

paid for repairs to the workshop

Entrepreneurs also launched a new direction - knitwear. Before this, the workshop only sewed textiles. I had to buy more equipment. Specialized machines for the production of knitwear were leased for 400 thousand rubles.

Some of the furniture in the workshop required replacement because the old one was already worn out. The guys bought new sewing tables, a cutting table and an intertable - this is a long conveyor table along which the product is transferred for various operations. It took 200 thousand rubles.

We also replaced two non-functioning sewer risers and replaced the electrical system on two floors of the workshop. Almost 400 thousand were spent on everything.

To transport small quantities of materials and products, we bought a new Lada-Largus for 450 thousand rubles. Large consignments are transported transport company.

RUB 550,000

set aside for salaries, purchase of materials and unforeseen expenses

We set aside 550,000 rubles for salaries, purchase of materials and unforeseen expenses.

Launch of the workshop in 2017 - 2.55 million rubles

New equipment

800,000 R

New furniture

200,000 R

Salaries of employees, payments to suppliers

RUB 550,000

Lada-Largus

RUR 450,000

410,000 R

First month of rent

90,000 R

Debugging old equipment

50,000 R

Employees

Along with the premises and equipment, the entrepreneurs received a team of 20 people: 13 seamstresses and tailors, 4 cutters, a handyman, a craftsman and a technologist. Only six months later, using the rental proceeds, the owner paid them back their wages.

The guys did not like the previous organization of work. They faced poor discipline, low qualifications and low productivity. People could be late for work, orders were fulfilled slowly, there was a lot of waste and leftover fabric. When a new production line was launched, employees had to be retrained so that they could work on modern equipment and perform complex operations.

Entrepreneurs have introduced new work standards, internal logistics rules, and efficiency requirements. Some employees resisted - they did not want to work on new equipment or rebuild work processes - so we had to part with them. Only half of the original team remained.

There are few qualified technologists and management personnel who are able to organize the entire process, and they are expensive. Raising specialists yourself is time-consuming and also expensive. Now the guys are negotiating with the production manager from Ivanovo about going to work for them.

Finding decent seamstresses and tailors is no easier. Young people don’t go into the profession because they have to work a lot with their hands, but they pay little. Middle- and middle-level people work in this field. pre-retirement age. It is difficult to motivate and retrain such employees.

The average salary of a seamstress before taxes is 25-30 thousand rubles, for a technologist and technician - 30-40 thousand. The salary differs in different months: it consists of a salary and piecework part, which depends on the number of orders and workload.

Products

Before the arrival of our heroes, the workshop produced only textiles - women's clothing for the budget mass market, which is sold in the markets for 300-1000 rubles. Working with such a segment is unprofitable: there is little money, you won’t earn a reputation this way, and big clients won’t come for it.

The entrepreneurs decided to change direction and launched a knitwear line, making it their only one. Knitwear stretches, it is elastic and soft - sweaters, T-shirts, tracksuits, sweaters or dresses are sewn from it. This is an easy segment to start with and a narrow specialization: the demand for it is greater than for textiles. Large and corporate clients like to order knitwear.

Production margin depends on volumes and technological process. Usually this is 20-40% of the cost of the product excluding taxes.

Suppliers

Entrepreneurs cooperate with three suppliers of Turkish knitwear - the entire Russian market. There is no one else to choose from; the quality of Russian suppliers is lower. If the client has his own raw materials, they work with them.

The two main problems when working with suppliers are fabric quality and availability. Each batch of fabric contains at least 5% defects: different tones, holes, missing threads. This cannot be avoided - these are production features. Therefore, such expenses are included in the cost.

there is a minimum amount of defective fabric in each batch. These expenses include the cost

There is not enough fabric in the warehouses of dealers in Moscow - it must be brought from Turkey. The fabric will not be delivered from Turkey to Yaroslavl less than a month in advance, so you have to order much in advance. The guys chose one supplier, since fabrics from different manufacturers differ in color shades, texture and quality.

Depending on the season and workload, fabrics, threads, accessories and raw materials cost from 800 thousand to 1.5 million rubles per month.

Clients

20 companies constantly cooperate with the workshop. They provide more than half of the orders.

The main clients are medium and large businesses from Moscow. For them, the company sews souvenirs, advertising and branded products, for example: T-shirts, sweatshirts or tracksuits.

Entrepreneurs have a non-disclosure agreement with most clients: they cannot show their products, indicate customers as clients or disclose information about the order. This happens because some of the customers are intermediaries who order products for a dozen other companies at once. If their customers know who the real manufacturer is, they can cut out the middlemen. But this will be unprofitable for entrepreneurs, because it is better to work with intermediaries who provide them with work than to lose large orders and work directly with only one client.

In the spring of 2018, the guys released a series of articles about building a business in the clothing industry and published them on the website. on social networks and Telegram. Having spent 20 thousand rubles on their promotion, they received feedback from a dozen start-up brands, some of which later became their clients.

Difficulties

The clothing industry in Russia is poorly developed: fabrics, dyes and accessories are imported from abroad. In Yaroslavl this is generally bad: there are no fabric dealers, all enterprises are designed to produce cheap mass-market goods.

At first, entrepreneurs took orders from everyone: small and large customers, intermediaries. They turned a blind eye to the timing, price, volume - just to receive the order and do it as quickly as possible. This approach cost the business dearly: in the spring the technologist failed to cope with the tasks and the workshop did not fulfill the agreements on time. Several clients left and profits dropped. It took two months to correct the situation.

I had to change my approach to work: do everything slowly, more efficiently and with larger customers. Nowadays, entrepreneurs try not to work with intermediaries: when the client is the final customer, it is easier to control quality. Therefore, entrepreneurs have focused on the more expensive and profitable corporate segment, for which they sew branded clothing and souvenirs.

Business is seasonal. The peak of orders for cheap mass market (textiles, T-shirts, sportswear) is winter and summer, for souvenirs - during the holidays. Branded clothing for corporate events order all year round. It is important to configure production capacity so as not to miss periods of increased load. Now entrepreneurs work only with the corporate segment - this smoothes out seasonality. In the first months there were downtimes at the enterprise, but since the fall of 2017 the workshop has been constantly busy.

Results and plans

Our heroes entered the business with a ready-made client base, but it was not enough for the workshop. We began to work in plus after 4 months - the pre-New Year's peak load helped.

Since the beginning of 2018, the workshop has been in the black all the time, profits are gradually growing. Monthly turnover is 2.5-4.5 million rubles, average profit is 300-400 thousand rubles per month for four people. Entrepreneurs invest another 100-200 thousand rubles from turnover every month into development: for workshop repairs and new equipment.

Our company provides custom tailoring services:

Sewing production"Koketka" is pleased to provide its production facilities for sewing clothing and textiles.

With us you can place almost any order - from simple to complex clothing. The production size allows us to take both small batches (from 50 pcs) and large wholesale (up to 1000 pcs). Our company is capable of sewing both standard clothing and designer models according to your sketches. If necessary, we will make patterns and develop a design, as well as packaging finished products according to the rules of trade.

The main advantages of our company:

Individual approach to each client

Design and production of corporate clothing taking into account the specific requirements of the Customer

We work both according to the Customer’s patterns and create our own

Clothing designer services

Fabric selection

Possibility of working on customer-supplied raw materials

Excellent quality

Reasonable prices

We do not disclose the Customer’s trade secrets (sketches, patterns, layouts, etc.)

We work on prepayment (current account)

High-quality tailoring of products, control of work at all stages

Availability of highly qualified specialists

Constant expansion and modernization of the production base

We offer:

Sewing shop and cutting shop services with modern industrial equipment, sewing machines JUKI, BROTHER, TUKZAR, YAMATA and high-quality WTO products on professional ironing equipment. Our sewing machines: straight stitches, 3-, 4-, 5-thread overlockers, flat stitches (cover stitch), hemming machine (blind stitch), two-needle machine, buttonhole machine, button machine. Cutting equipment. All this gives us the opportunity to quickly and efficiently fulfill orders for the production of clothing models of varying complexity, as well as textiles and knitwear. We are constantly improving and mastering new technologies to offer you new services.

The main work of ShP Koketka is sewing women's clothing wholesale: dress, skirt, trousers, blouse, top, jacket, shorts, women's shirt, etc. Dress and blouse assortment and suit assortment from different fabrics: silk, knitwear, polyester, viscose, stretch, chiffon, satin, suit fabrics, denim, etc.

We will fulfill orders for sewing wholesale (mass tailoring): women's clothing, children's clothing, teenage clothing, men's clothing, school uniforms, corporate clothing, staff uniforms, work clothes, uniforms, sportswear, medical clothing, sewing promo uniforms, promo clothing, textiles, knitwear, sewing bags and scarves and any other garments.

We can sew to order: shirts, blouses, tops, trousers, skirts, dresses, sweaters, T-shirts, T-shirts, shorts, vests, jackets, elegant and evening dresses, tunics, etc. In addition to clothing, we can wholesale any other textile or knitted products, we are waiting for your suggestions!

A professional staff of 30 employees ready to process your orders at any time - seamstresses, technologists, cutters, packers, ironers.

We will be glad to cooperate with you!

How I started looking for third-party orders

At one point in time, a wonderful idea came to my mind - to expand to other cities. If my products are in such demand in my city, then I take a batch of products, go to another city, there is a queue for my blouses and other women's clothing and I receive a lot of orders for my sewing production!!!

At that moment, I reasoned so naively, not imagining at that time all the nuances of selling products in a foreign city.

How not to start searching for orders for sewing production

What have I done?

I took a batch of the best-selling blouses in my city, loaded them into the car, got behind the wheel, and drove to another city. And there I had a meeting with seven or ten, I don’t remember exactly, owners of boutiques, shops, departments, department stores that sold women’s clothing, owners retail outlets on the market.

I offered these people products that were already selling well in my city. And he gave them quite favorable conditions.

I found out what conditions my competitors were working under and made my conditions much better. Naturally, I thought that everything would be fine and I would return home carrying a bag of money on my back :)

In fact, everything turned out exactly the opposite.

In fact, these seven or 10 times I was “bumped off” in various ways. Some are more polite, others almost in plain text. From my experience retail I’m used to being steadfast in the face of my first failures.

I take a batch of clothes, get into the car, and drive to another town. And there I repeat this process. And this went on for almost a month. Can you imagine?! For almost a month, intermittently, I traveled and offered my products to nearby towns.

The result is zero. Absolutely zero sales. I haven't sold a single product this month!!! Not to mention some batches of products, some volumes. Of course, this shocked me...

One of the secrets of receiving orders for sewing production

I wondered why this was happening. Why doesn’t anyone want to buy products that sell well in my city in other cities? I worked with wholesalers who know their city very well and offered good conditions. They refused me.

Every single one of them turned me down during that first month of sales!!!

I was in a daze. I was completely confused... I decided to temporarily abandon this idea of ​​​​selling my blouses in other cities as a failure. I continued to engage in my retail business, absolutely not understanding why this happened.

A case showed me a way out of the situation. Once I was in a store that sold groceries. An ordinary grocery store. I saw the sales agent come in confectionery. And before my eyes, he sold a batch of chocolate to a store that had a lot of other types of chocolate. Just mountains of chocolate!!!

The guy managed to bypass all the objections of the store manager, all the objections of the sellers and convince them that his chocolate was very profitable to buy. This was a real discovery for me. I was amazed at how this guy managed to do something that I hadn't been able to do in my field for a month. Naturally, I wanted to know the secret of this chocolate seller.

I waylaid him on the street and asked him to explain how he managed it. How does he manage to sell chocolate to a store that had products?
above the roof. And how does the work of a sales agent who knows how to bypass competitors and who knows how to convince his potential clients work?

This is what this young man said. He said that their company teaches sales techniques and negotiation techniques, techniques for circumventing client objections, and techniques for persuading clients. And these sales agents They do it quite professionally. I could observe one of the results myself in this grocery store.

What did I do next? I go to the company, negotiate with the director (of course not for free, I paid him some money) in order to spend several days with their best agent as an intern. I take a recorder, I take a pen and paper, and I write down all the moves.

In the evening I adapt it to my situation, to my products, to the sale of blouses and light clothing. And after these few days, which turned literally everything in my head upside down.

Next week I again take a batch of blouses, and go to the neighboring city, and go around in a second circle of the same people with whom I have already communicated. But I’m already starting to use sales and negotiation techniques.

And, lo and behold! After I started using sales and negotiation techniques, I closed three whole deals!!!

3 people immediately took part of the batch of my products, and one asked for even more than I had with me at that time.

This was a real discovery for me. This was a real revolution in sales and negotiation techniques. Since then, I realized that sales and promotion techniques decide a lot in the marketing of products.

That is why I asked business coach Dmitry Lukyanov to record a special audio training for garment workers on receiving orders for clothing production.

Hello dear readers.

The topic of making money by sewing excites the minds of amateur and professional tailors. Judging by the responses to the first publications, many were interested in the answer to the question: K ak

I suggest continuing the topic and looking for answers.

1. How and where to find clients to earn money by sewing - you are here.

So, if you decided to make money by sewing clothes or other things, thought through an action plan, found or purchased necessary equipment, devices, acquired a fighting spirit and decisively took a step forward, further...

You need to tell everyone about your decision!

Let's be more specific - what does this mean and does everyone need it?

It is not necessary to take it literally, but no one has canceled the rule of 6 handshakes. Read more about it below. In short, tell your friends and others about yourself.

It seems that telling Uncle Vasya the plumber about his sewing skills will lead nowhere.

But, there is always a possibility that while doing your direct duties, your neighbor will remember you when another client mentions in a conversation the desire to “sew something.”

Talk whenever possible, but don't overdo it.

Come up with a mini-presentation in a few words about what you can do and offer. It will serve you well in the future.

Attract attention with an unusual picture.

I will repeat the thought from the previous article: Most effective way progress in sewing - “Word of mouth”. You sew for a friend, she tells her friend, the circle of clients gradually increases.

There is one minus- Enough time may pass before the friend has a conversation with her friend.

Don't wait! Take action yourself.

Let's see what additional ways there are to tell about yourself - from well-known to unusual ones.

For those who like images, I've made a quick diagram in infographic form.

Important! There is no need to rush into all seriousness and try all the methods at once. Choose 2-3 that are comfortable for you, use them. Otherwise, there will not be enough time for sewing, and the idea of ​​making money will be in jeopardy

Assess your strengths and capabilities.

If you are not yet confident in your professional skills, sew for people who will not criticize you. On the contrary, they will support and help. Don't take on complex products, focus on simple things.

At the first stage, constructive criticism and encouraging words are important. Then, when the results are of high quality and you feel confident, move on to more strict clients and complex orders.

The main thing is to move, improve your qualifications, develop your communication skills and clients will definitely find you.

Let's sum it up

We looked at several current ways to find clients. Now you have the first idea of ​​what ak and where to find clients to earn money by sewing?

If you are serious, you will definitely succeed!

p/s For those who are seriously thinking about making money from sewing, I have prepared a selection useful resources and services for selling handmade works.

18 Runet services and 10 foreign sites. With a description of the conditions and links.

A valuable selection - a bonus to the Master Class on sewing a bag.

By the way, the bag can be an excellent gift. Holidays are ahead, think about it))

With best wishes, Elena Krasovskaya