3 Top Tips on Building a brand from MAHI Leather

Starting a business in the fashion sector can be a daunting prospect. For every success story there is a story of failure that looms. Here, the team at MAHI Leather share their top tips on building a brand that has a conscience…

1 To begin, you must begin

Too often people spend too long looking for the ‘perfect idea’. In truth, 99% of cases see that there is no perfect idea when establishing an initial business concept. The reality is that after you ‘begin,’ your preliminary idea will evolve as your skills grow and you learn about your market and perhaps more importantly, your target audience.

As the Chinese saying goes ‘cross the river by feeling the stones’.

The real challenge is in lasting the journey – you cannot make progress on your journey if you do not begin. It is also wise to always view a brand as beginning something new at some point. A brand should somewhat reinvent themselves, in a major or minor way at some point. Whether it be with a new product, strategy or launch.

2 You don’t have to reinvent the wheel

It’s easy to get caught up in the huge success stories that come from people inventing something completely new and have a whole market to themselves – Apple, Facebook – after all, these stories are far more compelling.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t strive for similar levels of success but setting out to do a better job in an established marketplace is a far less risky strategy.

Reinventing wheels is usually expensive and comes with higher levels of uncertainty.

An established marketplace still holds problems for consumers that need to be solved. A successful business will always solve a problem or present a product or service in a way that is unique to the industry and has a strong USP.

3 Embrace failure 

You will learn far more from failure than success.

The great thing about online business models is that they’re significantly cheaper to setup than conventional businesses. Make learning from failure part of your business model. Let it teach you how to reallocate your time and resources in the same way that a forest fire returns nutrients to the soil so that new stronger plants can grow.

About MAHI Leather

Taking its name from the Mahi River in India, MAHI Leather produce their bags in a family run workshop in Uttar Pradesh, a region famous for its leather tanneries and finishing expertise.  Each MAHI Leather product is also handmade to order.  This means, each piece can be personalised by the consumer.

In addition to their socially responsible and transparent approach to leather manufacturing, MAHI Leather are also using their profits to support UK based charity FRANK Water Projects by donating $1.50 from every bag sold. Since 2005, FRANK Water Projects have helped more than 300,000 people gain access to clean water, and every $1.50 donated is enough to provide necessary materials to test the water for a community of 250 people.

For more advice on setting up in fashion visit our Advice & Support page