My journey into the UK fashion business at 16 years old Posted : Thursday 18th Novermber 2021
I lived with my parents mainly at Southend-on-sea and at Newton Aycliffe in the North East of England .
I hated the school in Newton Aycliffe; it was like a cattle market rush here rush there and I experienced bullying and name calling .A boy once referred to me as a "greasy ox" something to do with my mixed race hair which requires leave in conditioner .
Anyway I started home schooling; as part of my home education my parents procured a retired but ex-London Fashion House lady called Sue We got on and I had one to one training for around 2 years.
We started with something simple like a pencil case but in the end I could sew my own lined body warmer and other items like a pair of dungarees ; denim with African fabric.
My mother had great faith in my abilities but never saw me succeed since we lost her October 2021; she was only 46 years old My dad has taken up the reigns and is supporting me .
It's no problem for me to fabricate and I just started a new skill of crochet One problem is that I'm now at college 3 days a week and have assignments to do so time is limited.My dad has just submitted a Trade Mark protection for my logo and brand .
Taking into account limitation of time I'm thinking of some 100 percent fabricated garments and some white label with my brand on it .
One problem is going to be sales outlets; my dad has looked at Amazon fulfilment and that's where we hit our first problem; they don't allow account for under 18 year olds The Prince' Trust also said they can not support me either until i'm 18 So my dad is going to have to register and basically sell my brand for me .
Another problem is getting white label garments at a price that will cover the cost of Amazon Fulfilment and still leave a small profit
I've seen very good prices for garments from China but the cost to ship for China to the UK is prohibitive I will update this blog since the web is a CMS as time goes on If anybody out there is a manufacturer or garment white label supplier please use the contact form to leave your name and company name
Don't leave type in any web URL since dad has some sort of spam detector set up and he says most spammers always type in a URL to their stuff
or email to my Dad andy small snail andrinadesignstudio period com
UpdateDecember 3rd 2021
A bit of good news the Trade mark submission my dad made has been accepted we are now in opposition period Hopefully early next year I will be the owner of a Trade Protected brand and still be only 16
December 16 2021
Can now at least sell through one outlet Etsy Again they don' t give accounts to those under 18 so doing it via my Dad See my shop https//www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AndrinaBoutique
18 February 2022
AndrinaBoutique and it's logo are now an " an intellectual property" and a protected trademark via ipogovuk
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