CASE STUDY

Context: An original idea of scarves with a unique leather clasp known under the Polish brand Favillier, which came arose from own needs while parenting.

Description: The challenge to branding can be a cost issue, it was creating the costing that was the challenge when it came to Favillier. This is because the calculation of the price of a product is not only made up of the price of the material, the cost of the seamstress and own margin, but also a few additional very important details which were personally omitted in the cost estimate and which resulted in the fact that, despite the huge number of monthly orders, the overload of work, the lack of a day off, late nights and overtime, Emilia Favilli, the brand owner, actually worked for free and the company ended up making a loss. Probably the biggest problem then and now is the fact that in Poland the subject of imposed margins in the textile business is still a taboo subject, and it is very difficult to find out how such a real calculation should look like and what you should pay attention to when determining the price of a product. This is why many young entrepreneurs skip the costing or business plan stage altogether, driven by over-enthusiasm in their vision of owning their own brand, or simply create a business plan based on miscalculated costs and pricing their product by feel.  It is for these reasons that more than 85% of start-ups fail in the first two years of business.[1].

Lesson learnt: To avoid disappointment and the unnecessary costs of launching a misguided product – it would be most sensible to do a little background research. The creative side of running a fashion business is only 5% of everything else involved in running your own brand. Because as well as coming up with your ideal product, you still have to produce it, promote it, sell it, ship it and deal with the tax authorities.

[1] Favillier, Polish brand  https://favillier.blog/2018/07/27/wlasna-marka-odziezowa-jako-kobiecy-pomysl-na-biznes/