Fashion
How do you fund the first collection of a clothing brand?
Take preorders for two or three pieces, let backers pick their size, and order exactly what they chose. The goal covers samples, minimums and postage.
Short answer
Start with two or three pieces, not a full collection, and sell them as preorders. Backers choose their size when they pledge, so you order exactly the sizes they picked instead of guessing. Set a goal that covers patterns, samples, the factory's minimum per colour, labels, photos and postage. If the goal is met you claim the funds and place the order; if not, every backer takes their pledge back and no unsold stock is left in your room.
Key facts
- Each reward is a piece of the collection, paid now and shipped when it's made.
- Up to 5 reward tiers: a single piece, a bundle, a founder edition.
- No company, no ID and no approval queue to start. Writing and previewing costs nothing.
- All or nothing: pledges wait in escrow until the deadline.
- Each pledge pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99.
What does a first collection cost to make?
More than the price per piece the factory quotes. A first run carries costs that a reorder never will:
- Design: patterns and grading them into every size.
- Samples: often more than one round, until the fit is right.
- Fabric: mills may sell a minimum length per colour.
- The minimum order: factories set a smallest run per style and per colour.
- Trims and labels: the brand label, the care label, swing tags. Check the labelling rules on fibre content and care where you sell.
- Printing or embroidery: screens or digitising, paid once per design.
- Photos of the samples, on people, for the campaign.
- Mailers, postage and the cost of swapping a wrong size.
- Fees, taken from each pledge.
How big should the goal be?
The cost of the smallest run the factory accepts, plus everything around it. Fewer pieces in fewer colours keep it in reach.
For example, a sweatshirt and a tee in one colour each: patterns and samples $1,200, 150 sweatshirts at $20 each $3,000, 200 tees at $8 each $1,600, labels and printing $800, photos $500, mailers and postage for about 250 orders $1,250, and a buffer of $650. That is $9,000 before fees. With the sweatshirt at $60 and the tee at $30, and backers averaging $45, about 210 backers fill a goal of $9,500. The goal planner adds the fees.
What rewards work for a clothing brand?
The clothes first, then a place in the brand's beginning:
- One piece, in the size the backer picks.
- A bundle: the sweatshirt and the tee together, for less than both.
- Founder edition: a numbered label or a colour only the first run gets.
- Your name printed inside, on the lining or the neck tape.
- A tote bag or a cap from the leftover fabric.
- Stickers and a postcard, the cheapest level for people who just want to help.
- A vote on the next colour or the next piece.
- A place at the photo shoot, for the biggest backers.
Price each level to cover the piece, the mailer and the postage. The reward tier planner shows what each one leaves you.
When should you launch, and who will back it?
When the final samples are made and photographed on real people. Backers buy fit and fabric with their eyes, so a sketch is hard to back.
Wear the samples, let friends wear them, and post the making of the collection for weeks before launch. Collect emails from everyone who asks where to buy. A share reward of up to 18.5% of each pledge pays whoever shares the link, which suits clothes: people share what they will wear. The pitch outline builder helps you write the story.
How do you deliver on time, in the right sizes?
Promise a month, with weeks of room, and check every piece before it ships. Late delivery is the main risk of any preorder campaign, and with clothes a wrong size disappoints just as much.
- Get the production and shipping times in writing, then add a few weeks.
- Put a size guide with measurements in the campaign, so backers choose well.
- Order a few spare pieces in the most popular sizes for swaps.
- Check quality on arrival: seams, print, labels, colour.
- Post an update at each step: fabric in, sewing, printing, packed, posted.
What does CoFunders cost for a clothing campaign?
Writing and previewing the campaign is free. Opening it costs $5 on the free plan. Each pledge pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99, and the share reward you set comes out of the pledge too. The smallest pledge is $10, and backers pay by card or in USDC.
The percentage fee on a pledge follows the plan of the account making it. It's taken when the pledge is made, so it isn't returned if the campaign misses its goal. Paid plans aren't on sale today, so the published fee is the free plan's fee.
Check the VAT and tax on what you raise: running a campaign lists what to look at.
What if the collection doesn't reach the goal?
If the goal isn't met by the deadline, you take your pledge back from escrow with one tap, and nobody has to approve it. What comes back is the amount held for you: your pledge minus the fees taken when you backed (the platform fee, the flat fee, any tip and any share reward the campaign pays).
You never pay for a run nobody ordered, and you learn which piece people wanted before you spend on it.
How do you start?
- Make the final samples and get a quote at the factory's minimum.
- Sign up in the app with email or Google.
- Write the story with photos on people, a size guide, the goal, the deadline and the rewards.
- Preview it, set the share reward and publish.
- Wear it on launch day, and post an update every week until the last parcel ships.
How to write a crowdfunding pitch, from the free course, helps with the story. Everything you can fund has a guide for each kind of project, and every other question is in the answers.