If you’re a fashion designer, your years of hard work have finally paid off by being able to open your own brick-and-mortar fashion boutique. Being able to see creations that were essentially random thoughts in your head become real articles of clothing to sell is truly a dream come true. But even in your bliss of opening your store, you have to quickly get back to the reality of your dream and one of the major concerns you’ll face is buying all the equipment that’s necessary for opening. The worst thing that could happen would be to only have a couple of days before your grand opening and realize you don’t have one of the most essential components.
Now, in opening your clothing boutique, your store’s overall decor theme needs to match the type of clothing you’re selling. For example, if your clothing line is on the higher end of the spectrum, then your store’s decor needs to be upscale. Your store’s decor is definitely an important component to take into consideration, being that it’s one of the contributing factors to your customers’ overall shopping experience, but it’s also a component that you don’t necessarily need to worry about until later on in your launch process… there are definitely other factors you need to consider that are of greater importance than the aesthetics of it all. Some of those other important factors include:
- Determining if you’re going to have an online store and if you are, how to properly pack and ship your apparel
- Storefront signage
- Marketing strategies to promote your business
- How many employees to hire, if any at all
Those are just a few things out of a long list of items needed to successfully open your store but in the grand scheme of things, there are a few essential items that you need in your boutique that truly says your boutique is a clothing boutique… without these essentials, your store will just look like an office space with clothes sitting around. If you’re planning on opening your own fashion boutique and need help making a checklist of essentials, grab your pen and paper and take notes. Here are the essentials you need for the launch of your fashion boutique.
Clothing Display Units
In your boutique, you’re going to need clothing racks, shelves, and tables to properly display your clothing and apparel. These display units come in the form of the standard metal clothing racks and the ornate glass clothing racks. One of the most popular types you see in clothing stores are the floor-mounted gondola racks. These are great for hanging various article of clothing but you also have display tables which are great for stacking folded articles with various sizes for people to look through.
Hang Tags
Your hang tags are one of the most important pieces to your boutique. Your hang tags are what represent your brand so this is something that needs to be on every single piece of clothing and accessories in your boutique. Hang tags are necessary whether it’s your own fashion designs or if you’re reselling fashion brands. The great thing about hang tags is that they can be whatever you want them to be, so since you’re launching your fashion boutique, it would be in your best interest to invest in custom-made hang tags.
Hangers
You may not believe it but your hanger selection really says a lot about you and your boutique, according to bneato.com. Typically, the word boutique is representative of upscale clothing so if you’re opening a clothing boutique, you will not want to hang your clothing on wire hangers… it’s just not the image you want to portray. Lots of boutiques have hangers covered in suede or they have wooden hangers.
You also have the standard plastic hangers as well but even with plastic hangers, there’s a level of quality with those hanger types. There are the durable plastic hangers with swivel hooks that typically have size markers on them and then there are the breakable plastic hangers… the breakable plastic hangers and wire hangers are not appropriate for your boutique but then again, you have to do what’s in your budget.
Mirrors
Mirrors are essential for any clothing boutique and ideally, you’ll want to have full-body mirrors so that your customers will be able to see the full effect of the clothing. You’ll want to strategically place your mirrors in areas of your boutique with great lighting and if you have fitting rooms, then you definitely want to have full-body mirrors in or close to the dressing rooms.
Mannequins
Mannequins aren’t a necessity but they sure would make a great addition to your boutique. They give customers an idea of how to put certain pieces together and what they actually look like put together. It gives customers an idea of an outfit would look like on a human body because let’s face it, there are certain articles of clothing that just don’t look appealing on hangers… it’s not until it’s seen on until you see the beauty in that article of clothing. And that applies to whether the clothes are on a wooden hanger or a suede one!
