Fashion Emergency: How To Find Inexpensive Models and More
In the past few months we’ve been getting a lot of questions from you on different aspects of the fashion business, and always with a sense of urgency. So instead of answering you one by one, we decided to let the entire fashion creators community benefit from the questions and answers, and publish a selection here each week. You ask, the SOF team of experts answers. Enjoy.
Q: I’m shooting my first real look book, and I need it to look gorgeous, but I don’t have a huge budget. Is there any way I could get inexpensive models from agencies?
A: Nothing in fashion is free, even when you are getting things for cheaper than full price, there’s always a reason. For models there could be a few reasons to take on a job other than the pay; it could be creating beautiful images they can use for their portfolio, or positioning themselves in a way that is slightly different than what they’ve done in the past – a very commercial model might want an edgier photo shoot and visa-versa.
So, in order to get a model for a discounted cost or for pure trade, i.e. in exchange for product, you should:
- Contact the agency in a time they’re not busy i.e. fashion weeks
- Ask them who are the “fresh faces” that can use some great portfolio shoots
- Play up the artistic qualities of your shoot, having a great photographer or stylist helps
- Downplay any commercial uses of the shoot – never mention advertising
Note that even if an agency allows you to book a model for trade, you still might have to pay the agency itself a fee, so make sure to discuss this on the phone.
Q: I’m designing a non-profit scarf line made in Afghanistan, and wanted to ask what are the standard sizes for fall scarves?
A: There are no standard sizes. So what we recommend you do, is shop a few of the stores you would want to sell to, look at the sizes of the scarves they carry, and then you either match the shapes and sizes OR see what’s missing. Both are good strategies!
Q: I have a really amazing idea for an accessory, and I made a prototype, but I’m afraid to show it to anyone, especially stores, because I’m afraid I’ll get knocked off. How can I protect myself?
A: Well, first of all there are not a lot of ways for you to protect your designs. There is no way to trademark or patent a design, and the overall sense in the industry is that as long as you change three things, you are safe from law suit, i.e. color, and two small design details are enough to protect the copier from any kind of law suit.
Important note: you can and should trademark / copyright your logo and name.
That being said, any kind of success you have as a designer will bring on copy cats. Your true test as a creative person, a designer and a business owner, would be not to come up with one great design, but to come up with multiple ones, season after season, always staying one step ahead of your competition.
So go ahead, show your design to stores, buyers, friends and anyone else who’s opinion you’d want, knowing that if the response if positive, you can use it as a building block for a long career in design.
Good luck!
The SOF team
Have a Fashion Emergency? Don’t hesitate, write to the SOF team, and we will answer select questions here on the SOF blog once a week. Please send questions to support@senseofashion.com and write Fashion Emergency in the subject line.
OR – You can just leave your question as a comment to this post
Looking forward to reading your questions
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