Interested in starting a clothing company?

Jonathon Kruse is here to help. He has multiple clothing lines and a blog fully dedicated to how to start a clothing company. This interview with Kruse is a quick lesson for starting a clothing company.

If I wanted to start a clothing company today, what would I have to do?

Find artists at Emptees.com, print some shirts at Storenvy.com, and have a lot of time on your hands. I run the blog how to start a clothing company and the whole site is dedicated to this question.

Where does someone start when they are looking for a manufacturer?

Ask around. I pretty much only go by word of mouth. Storenvy.com has some amazing printing and great prices I would suggest using them.

What does it take to have a successful clothing brand?

Like in any business you just have to push through the bad times. When you are making money it’s easy. It’s those dark times it’s hard to get by.

Besides that constantly rethink your plan and learn from others.

How do you drive traffic and buyers to your site?

I do a little bit of everything. Band sponsorship, SEO, blogging, getting other sites to blog about me, sales, social networking, going to craft shows, getting into stores. The last two actually help out a lot with your online traffic. I was working on a website for Paint the Stars and they get most of their traffic from people that have seen their brand in stores and check them out online. Word of mouth is the best advertising you can get. If you can get people talking about you, that’s half the battle.

What are some mistakes you have made along your journey? What have you learned from them?

The biggest is probably printing too many shirts in the beginning. I printed my shark week shirt on 100 shirts and the quality was junk. I resent everything one time before because it was unreadable and even the second time it wasn’t great. What I advise to everyone out there is print the minimums. Yeah you get price cuts for more shirts but it’s not worth it. Just get a small amount and learn from your mistakes. You’ll find out what sells and use the capital you saved for something better.

What is the biggest project you are working on right now?

I think Shred is going to be pretty huge. We are in stores in three different continents and are talking with some big stores right now. I am really stoked about that.

Here are some of the designs from the metal clothing company Shred:

Learn more about how to start a clothing company on Jonathon’s Blog.

This is one of the best basic guides out there to starting a business.  The NY Times is responsible for it.  They do a great job of explaining the making of a business plan, proving your idea, raising money, and legal issues.  If you are truly interested in starting a business and want to go somewhere with your idea, start here.

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“NeedInstructions.com is the world’s most popular place to find clear instructions on how to do just about everything, as well as help you obtain missing instructions and manuals.”  This is how Christopher Evans, the Founder and CEO, breaks down his site.

All of NeedInstructions information has been uploaded by their members.  They have many categories for users to choose from.  You can find anything from a 1999 Ford Explorer Owner’s Guide to a How To on safely bathing a cat!  We highly recommend the business section, which consists of some great How To’s.  One are we look forward to seeing more of is How To’s on web design.  Web Design is definitely a hot topic and individuals are always looking for some helpful How To’s.  NeedInstructions is rapidly growing and has immense potential.  Christopher Evans is on a mission and his experience and persistence is driving him closer each day.

We were fortunate enough to interview Christopher Evans.  He sounds off about his background, motivation, future, the lowdown on NeedInstructions! Thanks for taking the time to do this Christopher.

Can you begin by telling us about your background? Where you are from, age, college education, etc.

Pretty much you can say I am from everywhere. Growing up I was an Army brat and traveled around the world, so I never really had a set to place to call home. Currently, I am 27 years old, holding a MBA in Accounting/Finance from Regis University and a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from SUNY Farmingdale.

I have extensive management, ecommerce, and technical consulting experience. I have held many technical & management responsibilities. I worked for many big firms such as JPMorgan&Chase, Marsh & McLennan, Accenture, and IBM. My experience in ecommerce stems from over two years of strategy consulting in the consultant world. In addition to my ecommerce background, I have 4 years of experience in data warehousing and data modeling.

When did you begin to develop your idea for NeedInstructions.com? What motivated you to pursue making NeedInstructions.com a reality?

I had the idea for NeedInstructions.com in 2006. I got the idea for the site after a particularly frustrating experience when purchasing a large product that had to be assembled. After purchasing the product I found out there where no instructions included. While not finding any instructions on the product I decided to visit the company’s web-site to see if I could find the instruction I needed to assemble the product. After spending an hour searching the company’s web-site and the World Wide Web without finding anything, the idea of NeedInstructions.com came to me.

Did you receive any help in making the site? What steps did you have to take?

Originally when I first started to create NeedInstructions.com, I was trying to do everything myself, such as the coding, design, and business. Whatever it was, you name it, I was doing it myself. After a while I realized I couldn’t do everything on my own, and I needed help. I figured it was in my best interest and NeedInstructions.com’s to hire a development team to create the site for me while I focus on more of the business aspect.

Initially when I decided it was time to hire an outside firm to help with the development of the site, I already had the basic design and usability of the site. So it made my job a lot easier hiring a web development team to help me bring NeedInstructions.com to life.

Where do you want to take NeedInstructions.com? What do you see in its future?

I want NeedInstructions.com to be the number one site for instructions, manuals, and how to’s around the world. I would like to see NeedInstructions.com partner with many big companies such as Sony, GE, Maytag, and Ikea so that NeedInstructions.com can store and offer their instructions, manuals, and user guides to the public, so that these companies can focus more on there products and leave the instructions to NeedInstructions.com.

Are there any ventures you plan on pursuing after Need Instructions LLC?

As of now, my main focus is to continue keep the public aware of NeedInstructions.com.

How has your life changed since you started the site?

I’m working a lot more. Beginning a startup you will come to realize your day starts off at 8 am and doesn’t end till no later then 1 am or in until the job is done.

What inspires you? What do you recommend to fellow entrepreneurs?

I would have to say that my wife inspires me to succeed. Family is very important in any initiative one takes. Without my wife’s support and love, I don’t believe I would be as far as I am today.

My recommendation to any entrepreneur would to be always be humble and never think you’re above anyone. What I mean by this, is just because you’re a CEO or the boss of your own company you should continue to treat people how you would want to be treated. As they say, “Happy employees generate better returns,” I hold that statement to be true. I also recommend entrepreneurs to constantly network with others. Networking is very important to jump starting any business. And lastly, always double and triple check everything. No job is too big or too small for a CEO or business owner to check over.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of your work life?

Besides from creating my own how to’s on NeedInstructions.com, I love to cook and to spend time with my wife.

Do you have any experiences, advice, or anything else that you would like to share?

Whatever you do in life always give it your all. I know so many people that have started their own business or website and wouldn’t put there all into it and then come to find out down the line it failed and they don’t know why. Starting up a business or website is never easy. You should know this will take up a lot of your time. Also know and understand your target base and users. Lastly, it is always important do your research before initiating anything.

Awesome interview Christopher!  We all wish you the best of luck.

This was definitely very inspiring with a lot of great advice.
Enjoy this entrepreneurs and really take it all in.