Yes, fashion is a huge industry in the US, and you can make a ton of money in the market.
By just being a middleman, you're looking at margins in the 10% region. Enough to build a business, but not a game-changer.
If you target production and supply-chain problems, which are far harder, then you can build a business with margins north of 40%. Not only that, but because you've solved some seriously hard problems, you've driven the cost of competition up for the existing players, while adding yet another entry barrier for other startups.
That's the point of the article -- that today's fashion-focused startups are all going after small game, with nobody shooting for buffalo.
I don't think the people going in to fashion start ups are going in to them to make large profits. It seems to me they are motivated by wanting creative control over some product or line of products and this is just another way to go about doing that.
By just being a middleman, you're looking at margins in the 10% region. Enough to build a business, but not a game-changer.
If you target production and supply-chain problems, which are far harder, then you can build a business with margins north of 40%. Not only that, but because you've solved some seriously hard problems, you've driven the cost of competition up for the existing players, while adding yet another entry barrier for other startups.
That's the point of the article -- that today's fashion-focused startups are all going after small game, with nobody shooting for buffalo.