Chic To Chic Turn style into sales with a clothing-design company.

Of course, there are the horror stories. Like the times NewYork-based swimwear designer Malia Mills and her business partner,Julia Stern, spent long nights mixing kettles of fabric dye inMills' studio apartment because they couldn't affordcolored cloth. Or the time a factory breakdown forced them toconstruct 100 bathing suits by hand in two days.

Let's not forget the rejection. At the start of her career,Mills, now 32, offered to work for a top designer for free and wasturned down.

And did we mention the money problems? Mills worked as awaitress while trying to get her business, Malia Mills Swim Wear,off the ground but wound up with $100,000 in personal debt anyway.She's still paying that off.

If tales like these don't scare you away--and you have atruly unique idea--you might be ready to start your ownfashion-design company. But don't expect it to be all martinisand feather boas, honey.

The fashion industry demands penance from its novices. Count onlong, stress-filled days; a battalion of competitors; and, at leastin the beginning, very little payback in an entrepreneur'sfavorite shade: green. In fact, starting a fashion-design firm fromscratch, with limited capital, is a lot like boot camp for yoursoul. Still, despite the many challenges--and sometimes because ofthem--a growing number of young entrepreneurs, equipped with littlemore than a sewing machine and a dream, are launching their ownfashion lines.

Find Your Fit

Barbara Bundy, vice president of education at the FashionInstitute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, confirms thatmany students like the idea of running their own companiesindependent of the chains established fashion houses impose. Beingthe boss promises the possibility of complete creative freedom andcontrol.

Those most likely to succeed in the fashion industry start withan idea that will appeal to a specialized or niche market.Mills' sassy bikinis, in flirty prints like cheetah, aredesigned to fit like lingerie and come in mix-and-match sizes sowomen can choose the top and bottom that fit. Twenty-two-year-oldElle Hamm of Irvine, California, designs and sells form-fittingsportswear with an athletic edge that can serve as daywear oreveningwear. And 28-year-old designer Mario "Maji"Melendez is gaining attention with his Latino-inspired men'sclothing, particularly his guayaberas, or traditionalMexican wedding shirts, which he adapts to American tastes.

"I've stumbled onto an interesting niche," saysMelendez, owner of Maji by Melendez, in CITY, California."Latinos make up a significant portion of the population,especially in Southern California, but this segment has beenlargely overlooked by designers and retailers. I hope to emerge asa leader in the design, production and distribution of clothinggeared toward this demographic as well as consumers who are lookingfor more unique attire with a little attitude."

Many of Bundy's students have gotten a toehold in costumedesign for the entertainment industry. Others have found theirniche custom designing clothes for individuals, a growing market,she says, because many people are tired of off-the-rack outfitsthat look alike.

Bundy strongly recommends young designers work for anestablished company before plunging in on their own. Mills followedthat advice. After graduating from Cornell University and a Parisdesign school, she took a job as design assistant with SanFrancisco-based Jessica McClintock. Her college chum, Julia Stern,a fashion reporter, was working on the Sports Illustratedswimsuit issue and remembered that Mills used to sew bikinis incollege. She called her old friend and suggested Mills--who grew upin Hawaii, where she practically lived in a bathing suit--send somesuits to the SI editor. Without hesitating, Mills whipped upsix suits, none of which made it into the magazine. But feelingthat she had found her true calling, she quit her job and moved toNew York City.

Alas, the Big Apple wasn't waiting breathlessly for thearrival of yet another young swimwear designer. Mills spent thenext eight months working as a waitress and hunting for a job as adesign assistant while researching the swimwear industry. In 1992,she decided to start a homebased swimwear business, funded with$20,000 from her parents, her boyfriend and credit cards.

During that time, she visited manufacturers, introducing herselfand her then-embryonic line. "I told them, `I'm too smallnow to use you, but someday I'll need you, and I want you toknow who I am when I call,' " Mills remembers."My philosophy is that the time to ask for help is when youdon't need it."

A year later, things started happening. Mills' creationsmade it into the coveted Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue,and her bikinis were featured in accompanying calendars and videos,where supermodel Kathy Ireland strutted in a Malia Millscharcoal-blue, long-sleeved bikini.

Soon after, Stern, now 30, joined as a partner, and the pairwere featured in TheNew York Times andHarper's Bazaar, along with other publications. Celebslike Hugh Hefner's wife bought suits, and so did plenty ofordinary women. Too cash-poor to buy space at top fashion tradeshows, where she could have gotten much more exposure, Mills renteda hotel room near the show sites and sent invitations to industryinsiders, asking them to drop in after the shows to see herswimwear. "Necessity is the mother of invention," saysMills of her strategy. "A few people stopped by. We sat by thefax for the next week, and slowly, orders came in."

That year, 1993, Bloomingdale's featured the suits in itsChristmas window, and Mills' profile went higher. Today thesuits are sold by catalog, on the Web (http://www.maliamills.com) and inthe new Malia Mills retail store in New York City. After many leanyears, Malia Mills Swim Wear is headed for the $1 million mark.

Shameless Promotions

Mario Melendez didn't apprentice as a designer with anestablished firm, although he did work as assistant productionmanager for a women's clothing label--a move that helped himmake the manufacturing connections he would need later. Having hisown design company "was all I talked and dreamed about,"says Meledenz, who compares being a designer with being a symphonyconductor who brings separate elements together to create aharmonious whole.

By age 18, he was making silk-screened shorts for friends in hisparents' garage. After serving in the Persian Gulf War andearning a bachelor's degree in political science, Melendez used$5,000 of his G.I. money to make the first 500 of his guayaberashirts from home. By night, he worked as a waiter to fund thebusiness; by day, he pitched the shirts to every store he couldfind. "I had no shame," he crows, "and itworked!"

His shirts, which come in a wide variety of styles and colors,are sold in 50 stores and on his Web site (http://www.maji-usa.com). In business for two years,he projects 1999 sales of $500,000. Maji by Melendez has beenfeatured in the Spanish version of People magazine and inregional publications. Like Mills, Melendez used ingenuity as wellas persistence to gain attention for his business. Along withparticipating in West Coast trade shows, he is co-sponsoring aLatin jazz concert and fashion show, with part of the proceedsgoing toward scholarships for fashion-design students.

She's only 22, but like Melendez, Elle Hamm--part-timerapper, full-time designer--already appreciates the power ofpersistence. Without any formal design background, she began herBeverly Hills-based company, Rudwear, with just the $40 sheinvested in fabric to sew hair scrunchies; two years later, hercompany earns $100,000.

Hamm began by selling the scrunchies to Los Angeles-area hoteland airport gift shops, then expanded into a simple line ofaccessories, which she tried to pitch to Nordstrom. The upscaledepartment chain initially wasn't interested, in part becauseof Hamm's inexperience in manufacturing. But with the help ofher father--who linked her up with a company willing to manufactureher accessories--and a self-made brochure copied at Kinko's,Hamm landed another meeting at Nordstrom, which agreed to carry herline of scarves and purses. They liked her work so much that whenshe later proposed her sports-inspired dresses to them, theybit.

Carmen Electra and Pamela Anderson Lee have worn Rudwearfashions, and Claudia Schiffer appears in a Rudwear piece in hernew movie "Desperate But Not Serious." Rudwear now hascome out with a line of jerseys for men. Some are simple; flashierversions decked with patent leather are intended forentertainers.

"I'm a competitive person," Hamm says, explainingher formula for success. "I get the inspiration for my designsfrom who I am."

Few young designers can expect a smooth ride. But, according toMills, the view from the top is worth the climb. "When youhave to struggle," she says, "you appreciate it more whenyou make it over the hurdle. Getting through it all makes the darkdays worthwhile."

Try it on

Resources to help you get started:

• The Apparel Strategist: Monthly newsletter that helpspeople run fashion-oriented businesses. $395 for 12 issues. Tosubscribe, write to P.O. Box 406 Fleetwood, PA 19522, call(610) 682-7495, or e-mail editor@apparelstrategist.com

• California Apparel: Weekly publication that focuses onthe California fashion industry. $58 for 52 issues. To subscribe,write to California Mart, 110 E. Ninth St., Ste. A-777, LosAngeles, CA 90079, call (213) 627-3737, or e-mail webmaster@apparelnews.net

• Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising: Providestraining and internships in the fashion industry. Campuses in LosAngeles, San Franciso, San Diego and Orange County, California.Call (800) 711-7175 or (213) 624-1202, or visit http://www.fidm.com

• Fashion Institute of Technology: This New York Citycollege offers degrees in art, design, business and technology.Call (212) 217-7999 or visit http://www.tk.com

• Fashion Net: Web site includes features, chat rooms,message boards, advice, links and job listings; http://www.fashionnet.com.

• Women's Wear Daily: The weekly fashion industrybible. $135 for 52 issues. To subscribe, call (800) 289-0273or visit http://www.wwd.com

Sew And Tell

Want to start your own fashion-design firm? Here's theexperts' best advice:

• Find a niche or a unique specialty.

• Get some formal education and/or real-life experience workingwith a designer.

• Create a realistic business plan.

• Make sure you have enough capital to keep going for oneyear.

• Keep overhead low by working from home, if you can.

• Get media attention by sending samples and press releases tomembers of the fashion press, industry movers and shakers, andcelebrities.

• Be prepared to meet many challenges.

• If you're not near Manhattan or Los Angeles, be willing tomove. A niche business outside these fashion hubs, such asdesigning cowboy boots in Texas, "could make a living,"says Joan Volpe at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New YorkCity, "but your chances of becoming nationally recognized andpicked up by the big chains aren't very good."

Pamela Rohland, a freelance writer in Bernville,Pennsylvania, can barely sew on a button, but she loveswell-designed clothes.

Contact Sources

Malia Mills Inc., (212)210-7328

Rudwear, (310)657-3032, rudwear@reachme.com