My Name is Ashana Green, I’m a fashion designer and I’ve decided to go into personal designing – making bespoke pieces made to order. What I’m currently looking for and seeking is studio space, and a small team to build the company and make things happen.
When I was selling my ready-made garments almost every single one of my customers had asked, “oh, could you customise this?” or “Could I have that instead next time maybe? A majority of the time they told me what they wanted, so I thought it makes sense if instead of describing my business as a design company where I order in bulk, and do samples, I’d do one off, original pieces and sell those.
With all my customers I have a really good personal relationship and I think with the space, it would be even batter because of the fact that they can come down and they can feel comfortable and cosy and it would make them want to come back again.
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I’ve been thinking about running a business for about 4 years now. I went into fashion when I started uni. I happened to attend a fashion show and that’s where they asked me to showcase my first collection and I just started making clothes. It didn’t even make sense. I didn’t even use any patterns! It was just really stupid but it still worked. After that, I was like “Oh My Gosh! I want to do my own fashion show!” And it all basically triggered from there. I went into doing my own fashion shows at uni and I started making money off of it, I made 1200 from my first fashion show and 1600 from my second fashion show and I was like, yeah, I can get used to this!
What I’m hoping for and aiming for is to have an established personal designing company with loads of workers, just creating different styles for the customers, and where the clients can actually have 1-1’s with the personal designers. I see it as a massive factory, or warehouse, with a whole load of personal designers and graphics, and pattern cutters and seamstress’ and ok I’m pushing it a bit, but yeah!
What is the best thing about starting your own business?
The best thing, I couldn’t really say now because it’s like I’m still on-going, I’m still going through the hard work process, but I know, I feel really positive, and I feel like the best is yet to come.
What are some of the struggles you’ve faced?
Some of my struggles is not knowing exactly what I want to do, so, I keep on chopping and changing. Also from previously already having a studio, the problems that I’ve come across is my promotion of the business as well as organisation and putting things in order.
If you could have any enterprise related super power what would it be?
To just think of something and it just happens, because I have so many different ideas, if I could just click my fingers and make one or two happen that would be really good!