Im starting my own line and would greatly appreciate advice on starting up. i already have a name,a manufacturer,and tags,hangtags makers. But i just want advice on making everything copyrighted,getting into stores,etc...

Thanks for your time

You should probably contact your City Hall for information regarding copyrighting. To get into stores, you should try just walking in and starting by speaking with managers.

thanks for your reply i spoke with a rep. in copyrighting and was told that i actually need a trademark not copyright. Only thing i would need copyrighted is my website. But i plan within the week to go to City Hall as get everything done properly to ensure the safety of my line. So thanks again for your advice, Kaye

City Hall is not going to help here. Trademark is also Federal Law, not municipal (which is the only thing that city hall deals with).

You would NOT trademark your designs. You were right the first time. Designs are copyrighted. Copyright law applys the day the designs are completed and published. Making clothes based on a design is considered publishing the design.

You will want to trademark your BRAND, not your designs. Trademarking is really easy. Lets say your brand is Sleek. Just print up your tags as:

Sleek TM

Now you are trademarked. Again, there is NO NEED to go and register your trademark with the government until somebody starts infringing on your trademark. For a small business to do so is a waste of MONEY!!!

BUT you SHOULD do a search on the name you intend to use as your Trademark and see if you are infringing on anybody else's Trademark. You will also need to check the Trademark registry every couple of years and make sure nobody tries to register your Trademark. You can search trademarks for free here:

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=klrfld.1.1

When you become successful and you have money to burn THEN register your trademark. When a small business is just starting out you want to keep expenses like this to a bare minimum.

Ok, I read about the trademark, but what If u dont register it and someone takes it, how would you prove it to be yours first.

after u have the manager what are u suppose to say to get him to use your designs or logo? is it possible to get sponsored by somone? and how would u do that?

Can someone please help me!
I design and make my own clothing and accessories and I don't know how to begin my business.
thank you for your time in advance.
robin

With respect to copyrighting, copyright law does not require registration to apply. If you designed it then its copyrighted.

Do you plan to manufacture in the USA or overseas? What kind of clothes? High fashion or just everyday clothes?

I might be able to help you out in the manufacturing end of things. I have a great idea for a clothing manufacturing. Perhaps we could talk. Send me an email.

Thanks for your reply. My line to start will with just simple but sheek tops. Sort of urban high fashion. The company im using is USA based. i wanna take great pride in knowing that my clothes are made in my country and that the workers are paid well with benefits,etc. Which is why i am choosing to work with the company i have choose. Please email/reply back with any info and/or question you may have thanks again,Kaye

Just a note about USA based shops. Check them out. Where in the USA is their actual assembly shop? Guam, NYC, San Francisco? The shops in Guam are nearly 100% frauds, tricking young Chinese girls into taking a trip "to the USA" only to end up in near slave-like conditions working 12 hour shifts on USA territory.

Conditions in NY and SF can be just as bad. I know from personal experience representing two girls who were ripped off by their employer, another guy running a shop that was run under sweat shop conditions. We won the judgment but the guy ended up moving out of state and we never did collect.

It is best if you actually visit the shop while your clothes are being made. If you can't visit ask the assembler for some reference accounts that you can talk with. Ask people if they have actually visited the shops and seen their clothes in production.

I run across "Made In USA" clothes in China all the timme. Many less reputable assemblers will end up shipping orders for low end shirts to China and then do final QC in the USA. If you are new to the industry then just beware.

Hey just wanted to stop by and thank you Charlie for all your advice. I did check with a referral and the manufactures are good clean working people. I still do plan to visit for myself though. Also i still do plan to legalize all my trademarks, copyrights,etc. it just make me feel more secure about what im doing. The money doesnt matter.

Thanks again, Kaye

I am interested in starting my own clothing label, and I don't have a lot of cash off hand. I am interested in just starting out with infant/toddler clothing that is manufactured plain. Meaning not embroidered. I noticed you say you run across them alot in China. Can you give me the names of some manufacturers or suppliers I may use that don't have a minimum. Until I see how successful this is, I only need to purchase some items now and hope it will build Contact me via e-mail with your response.

I'm also here for the same reasons i have just had it with scamming ebooks and fee based websites can you email me ?

Hey copyrighting is a very unkown idea.

Anyone can say that they're piece is copyrighted and hope that no one steals it. BUT unless you file it with the government no case will stand in court.

Just thought I'd put in my 2cents

Good Luck
-Phillip

Phillip et al:

First off, you wouldn't go and check with your city hall about copyright law. They would no NOTHING about it. Copyright law is Federal Law (even mentioned in the constitution!).

In the United States there is no requirement that you file the copyright in order for it to be protected, and to do so would be a waste of money.

If you do discover that somebody is copying your designs you can always file the copyright later, claiming the date on which you first produced the design as your copyright, and then go to court.

The burden is then on the defendant you are suing to prove that your copyright date on the application is invalid, which will be impossible for them to do.

The question is, will you be able to catch the person immitating your product? They can make some small changes, especially to a design as simple as a shirt, and you will be out of luck.

An alternate route is to file a design patent, but this is usually not done with clothing designs and again is probably a waste of money.

In all likelyhood your designs are not going to end up being copied. Its better to trust on people's good will rather than paying some lawyer to protect you against a threat that likely does not exist.

And that advice is coming from a lawyer!

Go to funkylala.com, the owner of this site gives courses on starting a line. They give great info. Also I have bought a couple books about it, go to amazon.com, its called how to start a clothing line. Hope this helps.

Hello KAYE
I would like to know what US based company do u use to manufacture your clothes(I also want to make sure its done in MY COUNTRY)..If possible if i can get their name,website,phone number maybe.
I would really appreciate your help..
Thank you in advance.

Hi Charlie,
I'm interested in starting my own clothing line. In the process of getting tags printed, would like to know if your manufacturing end could cover everything in a one-stop shop deal.

where can i order tags for my clothing from?

hello i would like to ask for some advice for staring my clothing and handbag line. what's the first things i should do ?

thanks
amanda

How do i get my designs in store how easy is it to get a manufactor that won't coast me alot

What is your plan for getting your clothing line out there? I don't mean to be rude but it is not as easy as build a website and they will come.

A couple of suggestions - if you live near a clothing mart (Dallas, NY, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, San Franciso are the big ones. Las Vegas also has one) think about having a booth at one of these. People who own clothing boutiques come to these a couple of times a year and place orders for items you have - usually a season in advance. For example the clothing mart is held in the summer for ordering fall and winter lines. Sometimes you can sell current season items.

ANother idea is to get a mailing list of small clothing boutiques who have been in business at least 3 years. If they are within driving distance actually drive there to show off your clothes. (I have this happen 2 or 3 times a year - people stopping by my store to show me their items. Sometimes I purchase especially if it is unique and a good for my type of customers). If you don't live near any then do a mailing with a postcard with your website. You can expect a 2 to 5 % return on the postcard mailing.

If you want to start small try going to boutiques in your area and offer your items on consignment. This is a win win for both of you. THey get fresh items without up front money and you get to gage what is going to go well and what isn't. I would only do this though with boutiques that are near where you live so that you can be assured of getting your money when an items sells (have them sign a contract).

Feel free to ask any questions.
Sara
www.namebrandscheap.com
sjd314@yahoo.com

Hi Sara thanks for your reply. To answer your question yes i do have a plan. A huge one actually. I have many stores in my city as well as cities in the states and oversea interested in my work. I have family that has alot of connects as well as myself. The only reason i posted for info on this site is to get other opinions cause you never know what or who you might run into.Again i thank you for your reply, Kaye

I too am starting a clothing company and I was told by a friend that if I trademark my company's logo, every time i put the logo on a shirt or hat or any other piece of clothing, the designs on that shirt are automatically copyrighted. How true is this?

If you are in the USA or Canada and you want to trademark your logo put TM next to the logo. You are done. Your logo has been trademarked. Run your business and wait until you make some money before you go and spend the cash to register the Trademark. When you do register the Trademark you can use the date that you first started actually using the Trademark as your registration date.

One caveat, if you wait longer than three years to Trademark your logo somebody else might succeed in creating a similar logo after you create your logo and registering it and you won't be able to cancel their registration. So it is better to register your logo during the first few years you are in business.

Another caveat, your logo might be similar to some other not-so-popular but registered logo. When you go to register your log the registration might get denied because of similarity. So it is good to do a search on your logo before you start using it, but it is not required.

If you want to copyright something add the text

Copyright © 2005 Company Name

Where 'Company Name' is the name of your company. You are done. If somebody copies your design then go and register your trademark using the date you produced the design and go and sue their pants off!

One final caveat. This is USA law. Intellectual property law in Europe does NOT work the same way for trademarks, so if you are going to do international business you might look into registering your trademark in the USA and then all over the world. But please, wait until you have made a little money and gained some recognition before you go and make the lawyers rich.

Charlie, Esq.

>I too am starting a clothing company and I was told by a friend
>that if I trademark my company's logo, every time i put the logo
>on a shirt or hat or any other piece of clothing, the designs on
>that shirt are automatically copyrighted.
>How true is this?

Kenny:

When I talked about the protection from Copyright law I was referring more to the designs of the clothing. If you are screen printing a design on a shirt then make sure to add "© 2005 Company Name" somewhere into the design.

If you are just printing a slogan on a shirt you are better off to use a Trademark, providing the slogan is unique enough to be Trademarked.

For example "Life is a Beach" obviously can NOT be trademarked, but you CAN Copyright the design, fonts and art work used in the printing. On the other hand, "Life is a Billboard" might be able to be trademarked, but you should do a search first. A quick search on Google returns only 22 results, so if you want to Trademark it you might still have a chance!

You can Copyright a Trademark. Put the TM symbol in the upper right hand corner and "© 2005 Company Name" at the bottom. You are protecting two different things: the TM protects your slogan; the © protects the art work used in the depiction of your slogan.

Putting a Trademarked logo on some design has no effect on the copyright of the design. Copyrights are automatic in the USA and most of the West. You are not required to print "© 2005 Company Name" on the clothing, but adding that extra little bit of text costs you nothing and provides you with extra protection in countries that don't provide automatic copyright (where your product might most likely be copied).

Kaye / Wendell: Feel free to contact me at charliep {άτ} gmail · com. I'd enjoy exchanging ideas with you outside the forum.

Hi Kaye,

I, too, would like to start a clothing line--very different idea from yours. Could you give me some leads on how to find a manufacturer? Is yours willing to take on more? Could you forward me the information?

Thanks,
Robin

Wanting to start a clothing line as well, but lost as far as how to go about doing things the right way. I am looking for a manufacturer to produce t-shirts for me and also put the tags into the shirt. do you have any advice to offer me?

>Wanting to start a clothing line as
>well, but lost as far as
>how to go about doing things
>the right way. I am looking
>for a manufacturer to produce t-shirts
>for me and also put the
>tags into the shirt. do you
>have any advice to offer me?
>

I guess we are all in the same boat. Here is my website: www.inaamsalik.bravehost.com I design hip hop logos also and are looking for a clothes manufacture to take my artwork for royalty fees.

I have dealt with two companies that I like for quality clothing labels. One I use for the graphics/brandname because of the quality and the other I use for the care instructions because it is cheaper as it's only text.

Best quality Design: ClothingLabels4U.com
Best text/price: SterlingNameTape.com

You can also buy special inkjet papers that are transfer-type stock and design your own label, and iron it in wherever you want. A lot of people (including me) don't like tags and usually cut them out. I think Hanes is doing this now, but with high quality presses.

Good luck.

>I have dealt with two companies that
>I like for quality clothing labels.
> One I use for the
>graphics/brandname because of the quality and
>the other I use for the
>care instructions because it is cheaper
>as it's only text.

>Best quality Design: ClothingLabels4U.comBest text/price: SterlingNameTape.com
>
Hello Becky, thanks but those companies I can't use do you know of any that will buy my artwork to put on their clothes line and sell them to urban retail stores like Walmart etc.?
>You can also buy special inkjet papers
>that are transfer-type stock and design
>your own label, and iron it
>in wherever you want.
>A lot of people (including me)
>don't like tags and usually cut
>them out. I think Hanes
>is doing this now, but with
>high quality presses.

>Good luck.

From what I know of the fashion market, you need to network with a fashion marketing agency. Breaking into merchandising without a lot of knowledge could be expensive for you, so you should do some research - it wouldn't hurt to call Wal Mart's headquarters to see what their process is. Some companies, like Wal Mart work like grocery stores - companies that produce things to sell must pay to have their items displayed - the more visable their product is, the more expensive it is.

Good luck!

Hello,

I'm an aspiring fashion designer with lots of ideas and sketches, but having trouble finding manufacturers to produce my designs and also include labels. If you could offer any advice it would be greatly appreciated. How costly is it to start with a manufacturer vs going through a wholesaler. I want to start with t-shirts.

Thanks

anyone looking for a manufacturer for tshirts or labels email me danyu177@hotmail.com we can discuss some options.

Hello
I know you posted a long time ago, but I was wondering what
manufactor and tag company you were using.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your time
Col

Hello
I know you posted a long time ago, but I was wondering what
manufactor and tag company you were using.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your time
Col