The Fashion Designer Survival Guide: Start and Run Your Own Fashion Business

“Mary Gehlhar’s third edition of her seminal Fashion Designer Survival Guide is the definitive how-to for navigating the fashion industry, post-pandemic. Mary’s trailblazing book illuminates and inspires. She is a fashion treasure and this new edition is a rare gem.” Tim Gunn

“The Fashion Designer Survival Guide is packed with essential knowledge and advice from industry experts and experienced designers to set you on the right path. These insights will give you the solid foundation to create a plan and make smart decisions…” Christian Siriano 

In this updated and expanded edition of The Fashion Designer Survival Guide, Mary Gehlhar, industry authority and consultant to hundreds of fashion design entrepreneurs, offers behind-the-scenes insight and essential information to launch and grow your own fashion label. You’ll hear from experts in social media, financing, and sales, along with advice from dozens of designers on solutions to their biggest challenges and their keys to success. A new section of full color photos from 25 independent designers bring the concepts to life.
 
In this must-have guide, Gehlhar reveals essential information on: 

• Creating a viable business plan
• Social media strategies to grow your customer base  
• Maximizing online sales to get your designs directly into customers’ closets
• Integrating sustainability in your sourcing and manufacturing
• Collaborating with influencers, stylists and brands to expand your audience 
• Landing the right financing for your type of business
• Establishing wholesale partnerships with the best retail stores
• Navigating the pitfalls of production both at home and abroad
   

Mary Gehlhar
New York, NY

Mary Gehlhar is a writer, curator, and consultant with expertise in fashion entrepreneurship. She served for 12 years as Fashion Director of Gen Art, where she worked closely with hundreds of emerging designers to start, operate, and grow design businesses. She has also served as part-time faculty at the Parsons School of Design in New York and lent her expertise to the Rising Star Award committee at Fashion Group International, the Pratt Institute Fashion Jury, and the Open Call panel for the Bravo show Project Runway. Mary has been interviewed by the New York Times, British Vogue, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and The Business of Fashion.

About the Publisher
In the 1930s, Manuel H. Barron opened a bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. 

People from the community asked Mr. Barron about books that might be available to help their children study for the New York State Regents exams. After realizing there wasn't anything available, Mr. Barron created his own study guides.

80 years later, Barron's has helped millions of people prepare for their next step.