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The Business of ApparelAuthor: Rachel Erickson
Go from overwhelmed apparel founder making costly trial-and-error decisions to a founder with the expert guidance, systems, and industry knowledge to scale profitably. Rachel Erickson brings her 20 years of expertise in the apparel manufacturing industry to The Business of Apparel podcast to inspire you to build your best brand yet. Each week, you'll hear from Rachel along with our industry experts who are shedding light on what is needed to build your own apparel line from scratch or to take your existing apparel brand to the next level and create sustainable and unstoppable growth. Most founders "wing it" through launch & production, but scaling requires professional processes. On the show you'll learn: Profit-First Scaling: Financial architecture that protects your margins Production Excellence: Mastering fit, quality control, and factory relationships Operational Systems: Industry SOPs so your business can run without you Strategic Guidance: Real-world advice from experts with decades of experience No BS. Just proven frameworks you need to grow your brand. Follow the show so you don't miss an episode! Learn more from Rachel at TheBusinessofApparel.com/masterclasses and connect with her on Instagram @BusinessofApparel Language: en Genres: Arts, Business, Careers, Fashion & Beauty Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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3 Lessons From The Business of Apparel That Will Change Your Brand
Thursday, 29 October, 2026
You can't force someone to love your favorite product, no matter how much time, money, and energy you've poured into creating it. As apparel founders, we have to be willing to look at the data, learn from what isn't working, and make tough decisions about what stays in our product line. I'm sharing three lessons I've learned over the last five years of running my business and working with apparel founders. I'm talking about why failing fast can actually help your business move forward, why you sometimes have to "kill your darlings," and why your focus should shift from constantly creating new products to testing different ways to sell the products you already know are good. 📝 Today We're Covering: Why failure and mistakes are an essential part of building an apparel business How to use data to identify your hero products and eliminate other products Why you sometimes need to let go of products you love How to test messaging instead of immediately changing your product Why launching a product is only the beginning of figuring out how to sell it The importance of focusing your efforts instead of constantly creating more products Growing an apparel brand takes patience, testing, and a willingness to listen to what the data is telling you. My hope is that you can learn from my mistakes and focus on finding what actually works for your brand! ➡️ Your Next Steps: Order my book The Business of Apparel here! Say Good-Bye to $20,000 Apparel Brand Mistakes here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/goodbye Join The Board here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/join ‼️ Don't Miss These Episodes: Wholesale 101: https://youtu.be/lpezH1YwCyE Use AI in Your Apparel Brand: https://youtu.be/Dn9tjPNmfaw Grow a 7-Figure Apparel Business: https://youtu.be/rpQYDyo5Rao 🤝 Meet Rachel: Rachel Erickson is a Fractional COO, Apparel Industry Consultant, and founder of Unmarked Street and The Business of Apparel. With 20+ years in technical design and product development leadership, she sat at the executive table of a $25M apparel line and helped scale it to $60M in one year. After decades working inside major fashion companies, she learned the truth behind billion-dollar brands, and it's not about chasing trends or pumping out endless products. It's about building clean processes, tightly edited assortments, and obsessively focused customer targeting. Rachel helps founders and CEOs of performance apparel brands: ✅ Build lean, profitable product lines ✅ Streamline operations for growth ✅ Replace overwhelm with executive clarity ✅ Create garments that fit bodies in motion Whether you're just hitting $1M in revenue or trying to break through the $10M ceiling, Rachel will join you as an embedded operations and product partner—running fittings, line plans, tech packs, and vendor communications so you can get back to leading. Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-erickson-pmp/ and visit her website at www.unmarkedstreet.com.
