Plan, Price & Pitch : Mentoring Workshop for Aspiring Fashion Designers
- ALL AGES
Get ready to kickstart your fashion brand with our online workshop on planning, pricing, and pitching your brand to success in Paris!
Date and time
Location
Together
111 Rue Cardinet 75017 Paris FranceRefund Policy
About this event
Launch Your Fashion Brand: A Comprehensive Workshop for Aspiring Fashion Designers & Founders
Did you come to Paris to build your fashion empire? Are you ready to turn your fashion dreams into reality? Whether you’re a student, just starting out or preparing to take your brand to the next level, this hands-on workshop is designed specifically for you.
Join us for an immersive 2-day workshop, organised by Studio Vivaz and led by Mr. Varun Gupta, where we’ll guide you through the essential steps of launching a successful fashion brand (with a strong focus on European and specifically the French fashion industry). From the very first spark of your idea to the moment your collection hits the market, you’ll gain practical insights on:
- Sourcing & Production: How to find the right materials and trusted manufacturers without breaking your budget
- Financing & Budgeting: Understanding your startup costs, funding options
- Product Planning & Merchandising: Crafting a cohesive collection and building an appealing product range
- Brand Positioning & Marketing: Defining your unique identity and reaching your target audience through smart marketing tactics
- Sales & Distribution: Exploring sales channels, retail partnerships, and direct-to-consumer strategies
- Product Pricing and Positioning: Planning your brand launch, building momentum, and scaling sustainably
This workshop is perfect if you want to avoid common pitfalls and build your fashion brand on a solid foundation.
Price : 75 Euros General Admission
50 Euros for students with a valid Student ID proof.
Programme Details:
🔹 DAY 1: BRAND FOUNDATION AND PRODUCT STRATEGY
1. Introductions & Icebreaker (10:00 – 11:00)A lighthearted networking event around coffee and tea, where all the participants get together and get to know each other, in order to foray into the day's events as a group.
2. Thinking Like your Customer (11:00 – 1:00)
- Understanding your customer personas
- Gathering market data
- Building client personas
3. Collection Development and Testing the Market (1:00 – 2:00)
- Understand how a collection goes from idea to finished product.
- Learn each and every step included into designing and producing a collection.
- Strategies on testing the market and optimising the product-market fit.
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4. Competitor Analysis (3:00 – 4:00)
What to Cover:
- Direct vs indirect competitors
- Benchmarking pricing, size ranges, product offering, brand voice
- SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Activity:
- Break into small groups and analyze a real brand (e.g., Daily Paper, Rouje, or Zara)
- Present findings to the group
5. Brand Retention and Recall (4:00 – 5:00)What to Cover: Core Markers of Brand Identity How to define and differentiate your brand and it's aesthetic. Learn to introduce your brand story without hitting the snooze button.
- Understanding colour, shapes and other elements of visual communication
- Breaking down visual communication styles of our competitors
- Activity: Each participant works on their unique visual communication style and develops a coherent colour and font scheme for their brand DNA
Q&A (5:00 - 6:00)
Whether you dream of running a boutique label or an international fashion house, this is your starting point.
🔹 DAY 2: BUSINESS STARTEGY, MARKETING & GROWTH
6. Pricing Strategy vs Pricing Adjustments (10:00 – 11:00)
Objective: Understand how to price products to ensure profitability and competitiveness.
What to Cover:
- Cost of goods sold (COGS) vs retail price
- Markups: 2x, 2.5x, 3x standard in fashion
- Adjusting pricing for wholesale
- VAT, duties, and shipping fees
- Different Pricing techniques and how to choose the one adapted to your brand
- Price adjustments
Activity:
- Use a template to calculate ideal retail prices for 2-3 sample pieces
7. Financial Planning (11:00 – 1:00)
Objective: Introduce realistic financial modeling and funding options.
What to Cover:
- Startup costs (branding, prototyping, production, website, etc.)
- Company Registration and choice of structure
- Fixed vs variable costs
- Personal financing vs crowdfunding vs grants vs investors
- Cash flow basics
- Setting goals: 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year budget examples
Activity:
- Complete a simple one-year budget projection template
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8. Social Media & Content Strategy (2:00 – 3:00)
Objective: Content creation that builds community and drives sales.
What to Cover:
- Choosing platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest
- Content pillars: BTS, education, product, lifestyle, founder’s story
- Influencer seeding
- UGC (user-generated content) and community building
- Tools: Canva, CapCut, Inshot
Activity:
- Plan 1 week of content for their brand using a worksheet template
9. Combatting design theft and counterfeiting (Focus on French Law)(3:00 – 4:00)
What to Cover:
- How to safeguard your designs against potential theft or counterfeiting
- Strategies to avoid getting copied or having your intellectual property stolen
- Understanding your rights as a creator of creative assets
- What to do in case of an Intellectual Property Rights infringement
10. Mini Workshop: Your 6-Month Plan (4:00 – 5:00)
Objective: Participants leave with a tangible roadmap.
What to Cover:
- Month-by-month breakdown of goals: product, marketing, sales, growth
- Awareness → Interest → Desire → Action
- Building pre-launch buzz (waitlists, teaser content, countdowns)
- What to prioritize: Collection finalization, content creation, supplier management, preorders
- Soft vs hard launch
- Email marketing & landing pages
- Launch events, PR outreach
Activity:
- Fill out a “6-Month Business Map” worksheet with the mentor Q&A (5:00 - 6:00)
- This workshop is perfect for students, young professionals, fashion, enthusiasts, or experienced professionals, looking to change industries and launch their fashion brands. The content for this workshop has been specifically designed and tailored keeping in mind the challenges of first time brand owners and fashion creatives.This workshop Will be extremely helpful for creative in helping them think like a business owner and psychologically and operationally, prepare them to give birth to their fashion empire.You will leave with a concrete, ready-to-launch, go-to-market action plan with all the answers you need to finally take the leap of faith and give reality to your dreams.
ABOUT THE ORGANISER
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STUDIO VIVAZ
Studio Vivaz is a Paris-based atelier and design studio specializing in pattern-making and prototype development for emerging fashion brands. With over a decade of experience in the industry, they support young labels—particularly those within their first three years—by helping turn creative concepts into physical samples and production runs.(fr.fashionjobs.com).
They’re actively connected to the Paris fashion ecosystem, often collaborating with startup designers and independent brand owners, helping them bring their collection to the market at 1/3 the cost of a traditional design studio (fr.fashionjobs.com).
Studio Vivaz in Paris is focused specifically on the behind-the-scenes development needed to bring sartorial ideas to life for new or niche labels.
Varun Gupta – Fashion Designer & Technical Patternmaker | Paris, France
Varun Gupta is a fashion professional based in Paris, specializing in women's ready-to-wear and couture prototyping. With over 11 years of diverse industry experience, Varun founded his RTW brand called Margeamirage in 2019 and is also the founder of Studio Vivaz, an atelier which manges prototyping and production for emerging fashion brands.
A graduate of ESMOD Paris with a diploma in Fashion Design and Patternmaking, and holding a Master's in Marketing & Development from ESGCI Paris, Varun acquired his unique industry knowledge and know-how through multiple prestigious roles at brands such as Premierevision, Dolce&Gabbana, Balenciaga, Emanuel Ungaro among others and has gained significant knowledge in Retail Management, Wholesale management, Fashion Design, Pattern making, Product Pricing and Client Management.
Areas of Expertise
- Technical Patternmaking (Womenswear & Leather)
- Couture Prototyping & Fitting
- Fashion Showroom Operations
- Production Coordination & Supplier Liaison
- Bilingual Communications (FR/EN)
- Technical Specifications & PLM
Frequently asked questions
The event would last 2 days; Saturday and Sunday
The vent will be bilingual and will be adapted according to the audience preferances. All the mentors are bilingual and can easily switch between English and French for maximum understanding for the audience.
You can bring as many guests you wish. However, each guest needs to pay for their own ticket and bring their own individual QR code for entry.
The masterclass will take place at Together, Paris. The exact address will be shared with the registered people only, 2 weeks before the class, through email.
During the event, coffee, tea and light snacks are provided by the organiser. However there will not be any cooked or proper meal, due to lack of catering options and restrictions by Together.
In case you do not show up for the class or arrive late your seat will remain vacant and reserved for you. We WILL NOT give it to another participant. Your ticket is a multiple-entry ticket, valid for the entire 2 days of the workshop.
By the end of this workshop, you will leave with a concrete roadmap and ready to go action plan for launching your brand. You will have all the necessary information required to register manage plan, and bring your product to the market.
The exact parking and venue details will be confirmed 2 weeks before the event, only to the registered participants, through e-mail. However, usually, Parking for cars is NOT AVAILABLE at Together Paris. However Parking for only 2 wheelers including bicyles is free. To be on the safe side take metro
In order to be best prepared and benefit maximum from this class, it's best to come with at least a laptop or a tablet or other writing material. There Will be basic supplies available for everyone such as A4 size paper, pens, post-it, and pencils. Please preempt other supplies on your end.
The workshop will cover a lot of aspects on how to register and manage a brand. This would require us to give you a lot of factual and technical information. We will try to make this workshop as much fun, conversational and participative as possible.However do expect some note taking.
So that this workshop is beneficial, useful and enriching enough for everyone, the minimum number of participants is limited to 15 and maximum 30.
No, you do not have to be registered business in order to attend this workshop. This workshop has been designed keeping in mind the challenges and concerns of everyone who wants to launch a brand or is already in the process irrespective of whether you're a student or an existing brand owner.
You do not need to be an expert in the fashion industry in order to benefit from this workshop. This workshop and it's content has been specifically designed for absolute beginners who have little to no understanding of the fashion industry or how a brand is run in France.
Cancellation are possible however the registration fees WILL NOT be refunded. Since this workshop is being organised at Together and through Eventbrite, we have to incur registration and processing charges for each registration. Hence refunds are NOT POSSIBLE.