Week 2

I spent this week doing whatever we needed to get our clothing company started. Which included

• Downloading Adobe Illustrator from a questionable source (free is free)
• Getting in contact with a few manufacturers overseas
• Sketching logos and designs
• Buying our domain (aseattire.com)
• Found someone to make our website and help me out with Adobe Illustrator
• Learned the basics about starting a clothing company by reading about a clothing company's business plan (http://www.bplans.com/clothing_retail_business_plan/company_summary_fc.php)

Adobe Illustrator

Although Mohammed will be handling more of the creative part of the company such as designs and the logo, I'll be finalizing them on the computer so that they look professional and presentable to a manufacturer. I started looking around youtube for different videos about Adobe Illustrator. Particularly the ones that talked about creating logos and clothing designs. I found a few short videos teaching about how to learn the basic tools needed to create logos and designs. Obviously as we progress through the project I will become much better with this program and will be able to produce higher quality work. 

One of the videos I found very helpful was the one above. It helped explain the basic things you could do to create a logo that looked as if it was made by a professional. This way we could create our own logo and dodge the prices that expensive logo designers charge. I also think that doing everything by ourself will help us to be independent and not depend on others to come through for us. But I do think it is important to network and know people who can help you out when you need it. 

Manufacturing

I found that there are many different manufacturers that I can get in touch with and each has their own benefits. I have gotten in touch with a few that I think are a good fit for us but I would like to keep my options open until we absolutely need to make a commitment which will likely be in the coming weeks.

Designs

Mohammed is primarily in charge of the creative side of the business because my artistic and creative ability is limited to stick figures. However, I will pass along some other news and information related to our designs. We are looking to make new and interesting designs based on many different cultures of the world. Here are some of the early designs that Mohammed has come up with if you have not already seen them on his blog.

Domain

This week I had also purchased our domain for a very good price thanks to a friend. Now that the website aseattire.com is in our sole possession for the next 364 days we will be able to set up our online store on the website. We have also thought about putting up an area on the website for news such as new designs coming and other things of that nature.

Finances

I will be keeping track of the finances and managing the finances of the business, I have read a few business plans and articles on doing this so that I will be careful with our money and not lose it all because that would slow things down immensely. I'm going to be using programs such as Excel to keep track of money, figure out margins and other business stuff like that. I'm also going to read some more books and articles on this subject because I want to learn as much as I can.