If you are talented with a needle and thread, then consider the three examples of custom apparel businesses that follow: wedding gowns, accessories, and headpieces; christening gowns and prom gowns; and clothing for people with special needs. If you want to get start the business of sewing services by presenting the different styles of apparels, you should know all kinds of fashionable trends and traditions of dressing and then present your latest variety of personalized apparel.

Start-Up Costs And Financing Sources

* Wedding gowns and accessories: $3,000-$ 10,000.
* Christening gowns and prom gowns: $2,000.
* Clothing for those with special needs: $3,000-$5,000, which includes advertising and protecting designs.
* Financing sources for all three: personal loans, lines of credit on cards, credit at fabric stores, small business loans.

Pricing Guidelines Wedding Gowns

* $20-$30 an hour depending on your location
* Charge according to the complexity and detail of the job and the fabrics used. You can charge more for an original design as opposed to one with a pattern. Accessories: compare prices at bridal shows and see how your work and designs compare. (Make sure the designs are your originals and not a copyrighted design.) Bridal veils and headpieces: $30 and more.

Christening Gowns

$65-$90 for a gown from a pattern, $ 100 for an original design

Prom Gowns

$90 and up

Special Needs Clothing

Clients include nursing mothers, people in wheelchairs, and women with mastectomies.
Per hour price = cost of materials + time + overhead percentage
See Sewing Resources for sewing business books that give recommendations on pricing for custom sewing.

Network with other clothing professionals in your area about pricing

Marketing And Advertising Methods And Tips Wedding Gowns, Accessories, Headpieces

* Encourage word-of-mouth referrals.
* Place ads in local newspapers' bridal sections or supplements.
* Attend bridals shows and craft shows at malls (for accessories).
* Leave your business cards and brochures at fabric shops.

Christening Gowns, Prom Gowns

* Encourage word-of-mouth referrals.
* Place ads in local newspapers.
* Post flyers or business cards on community and hospital bulletin boards.
* Place ads in school programs.
* Attend teen fashion shows.

Special Needs Clothing

* Send direct mailing to rehabilitation centers and support groups.
* Rent a booth at health fairs.
* Advertise in seniors' publications and nonprofit group newsletters.
* Send out press releases to newspapers and magazines.
* Attend fashion shows.

Essential Equipment (For All Three)

Industrial sewing machine, over lock machine to finish seams, serger, cutting table, sewing notions, a mannequin, storage for patterns, fabric, source of fine fabrics, design and reference sewing books.

Recommended Training, Experience, or Needed Skills
Wedding Gowns
* Apprentice at a bridal shop.
* Work in a fabric shop that has a wedding department to learn about fabrics and laces.
* Take workshops and courses.

Christening And Prom Gowns

* Read books on sewing for infants and children, take courses at fabric centers.
* Take dressmaking courses.

Special Needs Clothing

* Take courses on design and sewing at community colleges, vo-tech schools, or other schools of design.

Income Potential Wedding Gowns

Hundreds to thousands of dollars—network with other dressmakers and members of the Professional Association of Custom Clothiers.

Christening And Prom Gowns

$40-$80 per christening gown
For prom gowns, check with retailers for average prices and network with other dressmakers.

Special Needs Clothing

$25-$50 per garment, depending on time spent and materials used.

Type Of Business

An in-home business except if you go to a person's home for fittings.

Best Customers

The best customers are included newly-engaged women; new parents and grandparents; high school and college students; people with permanent or temporary physical disabilities in nursing homes, group homes, or institutions.

Helpful Tips

* In sewing wedding gowns, be able to work under pressure and to understand what the bride and/or mother-of-the-bride wants.
* With prom gowns, you have to be able to please both the young woman and the person who is buying it as far as taste, expense, etc. Keep up-to-date on the latest fashions.
* With christening gowns, embroider your name and date on the gown.
* With special needs clothing, talk with people who have disabilities to find out what kind of modifications to clothing would best suit them. Make the clothing comfortable, washable, and easy to put on and take off.

Variety Of Custom Apparel

Intimate apparel include the different kind of items of dressing e.g. bras, lingerie, panties, girdles, panty hose, romantic sleepwear, lovely and exotic apparel etc. American apparel offers the great quality product of various kinds of stylish clothing for the customers all over the world. Dog apparel is also presented in the countless designs and styles to please the pet lovers by producing such variety of apparel. Apparel customizer facilitates the customers to customize the clothing according to designs presented by the software application. Womens apparel is a biggest apparel industry to produce the variety of women's apparel according to the current fashions, creating an immense popularity.