8 Little-Known Facts About fashion entrepreneurship: Insights from Zahiyya of Cover Me Chic and Region Design Agency

Zahiyya

Fashion is research. The research never stops. You got to be up on trends. You got to know what the color of the year is. You got to know what the color of the month is. You got to know what’s in style. You got to know what’s coming in style.

Zahiyya

Welcome to the Designers, Plans and Coffee Podcast, where we discuss how to succeed as a designer while staying true to yourself, finding peace in the process, and making money doing what we love. Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Naima

I have to show everybody I’m representing for the Black Barbies today. Yeah, I see that.

Zahiyya

Inclusivity.

Naima

We can’t jump on the Barbie phase without… What was her name? Kristi, Black Barbies. I have a girl, Black Barbie. That was the group. With the Afro? Yes, her name was Kristi. Exactly, I had that one. Shout out to Kristi. Today, we are going to talk to the third member of our trio, Zahiyya, about Cover Me She and the Region design agency. So how did you start and how did you break those two brainchilds into two brands?

Zahiyya

Okay, so I have multiple businesses. I’ve gone through different iterations of businesses, but these two are what I’m doing now and what I’m passionate about. So the first one, which is cover me chic, is basically the brainchild of me growing up Muslim and having to wear modest clothes and not being able to find stuff in the store. Not just modest clothes, but clothes that fit my body. I was making clothes at one point, which was back in high school and in college, and that was like a custom-made thing. I’m not doing that anymore. Great. We understand.

Naima

I think we have all quit the custom-made business.

Zahiyya

Exactly. It’s a lot of patience and people don’t want to pay. I did make all of my sisters their wedding dresses, so that was my gift to them. So basically what cover me chic is women who have a modest esthetic and it shows them how to not necessarily dress modestly, but support them in dressing. So it’s like a pattern, membership. And then for people who want to take it to a next level in the business, of course, for that and go through different business models so that it’s the profitable and how to get it online. It’s three iterations of how I became. That’s Cover Me chic.

Naima

If I wanted to become a member, what are my benefits of being a member of Cover Me chic?

Zahiyya

Basically, you get a pattern a month. We are in the beginning phases of it, so you can sign up for it now, and people who sign up before a certain date get a discounted price because we haven’t launched yet. Basically, you’re going to get a pattern a month. There’s a Q&A a month. Basically, if you have any questions about putting the pattern together, any sewing questions, any design questions, any type of anything regarding the industry, that’s when you will ask those questions. There’s textile design, but I developed textile design. I have a whole history of that, is design, how to design a garment that fix your body, how to sew. Then there’s a community of people who love doing the same thing. We have different perks and all of that stuff in it, but that’s the core of what the membership is about.

Naima

I know the basic, but I really want to start sewing my own clothes. What is the degree of difficulty in, say, the majority of the patterns I’ll get? Do they range from beginner to advanced? Are they all beginner to intermediate?

Zahiyya

I would try to look at these different levels of patterns. I would say the beginner saw it can do everything. It’s just the embellishments on them that more advanced sawers would do it. That’s based on my experience in the industry. I spend most of my time taking high-end items and making them simple so that the people that I work for can afford to sell it. Basically keeping the same design esthetic and minimizing it so that it still looks good, but it’s not as complicated as if you want to put a wealth pocket instead of a patch pocket, something like that. In that, you will know the difference. If you take the course or you’re in a membership, it explains the difference between pockets and way it’s sewn and all of that other stuff. But basically, the basic pattern would be for beginners. Embellishment and the options to the pattern are for the more advanced people who want to add a bellow’s pocket or a flap or a zip or something like that. So it’s levels for everything. Because I mean, my thing is I’m not a beginner. Right. I understand that some things are more complicated to accomplish and you still want the same look.

Zahiyya

So you will still have the same look without all of the details that an advanced would add.

LaTisha

I love that because they can customize it and create for their own style.

Zahiyya

That’s what the design comes in, because my background is a designer at heart. Everything that I’ve learned around it is basically to create your own look. I can’t stand looking like everybody else. It’s the goal. I think all of us agree with that.

Naima

That’s why we get along so well. We all had our own unique style when we first met, and we were just drawn to each other.

Zahiyya

Exactly. Yes. I mean, granted, you guys take a little bit more risk than I do. It’s funny because I always stand out, I wrap my head or whatever, but if we all three were in the room, they would draw to you guys first because they’re like, Oh, okay. It’s the color, it’s the feathers.

Naima

It’s the gold. It’s the pink, fur, coat. It’s who we are. I might have one of leopard print boot and the polka dot dress. You just never know.

LaTisha

Exactly. Even right now I’m sitting here and I have on a secret plan to serve. This skirt is one of the items I worked on with Brand love lab, but it’s sold at Macy’s. It’s a Macy’s line on 34th, Missy in plus size.

Zahiyya

That’s what she does.

Naima

It’s what we do.

Zahiyya

The thing is, you couldn’t catch me that secret.

Naima

Oh, my God. It’s a horror.

Zahiyya

No pink.

Naima

I think I’m a faint.

LaTisha

We can do a wide leg pan in sequence?

Zahiyya

No? Yes.

Naima

And then it’ll match the gold boots.

Zahiyya

That’s all you, man. All right.

Naima

Next episode, I will bring the gold boots into the room with me because you have to experience them. By the time I wear the gold boots, I will take a picture so I can show you guys how crazy my outfits can get.

Zahiyya

And then Tish will bring the furcoat.

Naima

Yes, we will discuss our our eclectic styles in one of these episodes. It’s coming.

LaTisha

There are times, I will say, even though I am very colorful, I do like a lot of the designs, the modest designs, because they’re very trendy and they’re fun.

Naima

They’re fun. Then once you get the hang of sewing, you can take your modest design and you can make it into what you want. If you want to cinch the waist, you can cinch the waist. But you create that base for those of us who might want to add a little bit of extra weight or you just want to be modest.

Zahiyya

But you know what? Modest is relative because there’s people that say that I’m not modest because sometimes I wear short sleeves and a lower neckline or whatever. So there’s always levels to it. So you can basically take the basic design and change it to way that you want it. You can make it longer, you can make it shorter, you can put buttons on it. It depends on what you decide your modesty is, but it’s the baseline so that you can create whatever you need to create.

Naima

Tell us what Region design agency does.

Zahiyya

So Region design agency is for more of a corporate clients, people who have established businesses. I cater towards Men’s and Boy’s Active Wear because I’ve been doing that for the last 18 years. Basically, I cater to more established brands. I do a lot of private label. They would come to me and they need a collection done. I can do a collection. I do tech packs, I do textiles, graphics. The business model is basically you pay a monthly fee and you get as many designs as you want one at a time. We have different offers. You can pay monthly, you can pay quarterly, or you can pay semi-annually. We offer all types of support to support your active business. I’ve done other things, but I specialize in men’s and boys active.

Naima

Why men’s and boys? What drew you to that men’s and boys genre?

Zahiyya

I always was doing women’s wear because I liked dressing myself and I was doing sewing. But it started in college because I did a men’s wear collection in college, and I actually won for that.

LaTisha

Yeah, I remember.

Zahiyya

The collection. That’s where it started because then my first job in the industry was actually doing boys. Then it just went to boys to men gradually. I’ve gotten really good at it, and I think I have a good esthetic for it because I’m not girly. Hence the sequins and the pink.

Naima

You’re saying we’re girly. With six Barbies on my shirt, did I?

Zahiyya

I’m saying even when my daughters were born, I did not buy them anything pink just on GP because it’s just like, no, we’re not.

Naima

Doing it. I agree with that. I don’t think that girls necessarily have to wear pink. I would put them in color. I did. Color, lavender. Oh, for.

LaTisha

Heaven’s sake. I can’t argue with that. Lavender is one of my favorite colors, so yeah.

Zahiyya

I mean, granted, now they’re teenagers, they wear black. But I mean, that’s not me.

Naima

I wonder why. Why?

Zahiyya

They have their own minds. They wear other things left in black. I do wear color occasionally.

Naima

White is not a color.

Zahiyya

Blue is, and it.

Naima

Has something- I see no blue.

Zahiyya

Okay, see, you have to get closer to the… You see that?

Naima

It’s blue. Not one spec. We are challenging you to wear something other than black or white.

LaTisha

Or camouflage.

Zahiyya

See, now you’re just going crazy right now.

Naima

It’s for one episode.

Zahiyya

Okay, I’ll see what I got.

LaTisha

She going to pull out then in March. Getting back to the design agency. Are people able to come to the website and ask you for consultations to schedule?

Zahiyya

Do like a 15-20 minute consult to make sure that I’m the right fit for your company. Some people have a different way of working and different expectations, and it’s just to make sure that we agree on how to move forward. It’s a free consult, about 20 minutes, and you can book it online. From there, you can book monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually.

LaTisha

Also have examples of your work so people can actually see.

Zahiyya

Yeah, on regionaldesignagency. Com, there’s examples of stuff that I’ve done. I do sketch. I do colorways and trend and all of that stuff. Also on Cover Me chic, you can see some of the stuff that I’ve done. I have a lookbook. It’s not necessarily the patterns, but it’s just some of my previous work. When the patterns come out and I’m still getting everything together and it will be live soon, so just sign up and you’ll be notified when everything is live.

Naima

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to just A, be a designer in general, or B, do more of the technical and brand-building side.

Zahiyya

Of fashion? Everybody is a designer, but I mean, it’s because everybody wears clothes. But I think the difference is when you make this a profession, you have to be very mindful of who you’re serving. Say, for instance, just for a region design agency, I specifically said men’s and boys active. And in that there’s high level, there’s luxury, then mid level, then there’s discount. So who are you designing for? Make sure you design within those parameters. So you can’t put five pockets on a short that’s going to be sold at Walmart. You know what I’m saying? You can.

Naima

But your materials are going to be very different.

Zahiyya

You’re going to have to source the fabric and make sure that it fits into the price point so that you can actually make a profit. I think you have to understand garden construction, you have to understand proportions, you have to understand pattern making. You have to understand color theory because you just can’t put all colors together. You have to understand the balance. Color wheel. Actually, designers do a lot of research in what the customer needs and what they’re interested in and cater to the customer. Whatever customer you’re designing for, you have to design for them so that they’re buy your clothes. And that’s what differentiates a designer who just buys clothes and designer who designs for someone. And how do you do that is a lot of research.

Naima

It is very different from designing for yourself. I make a whole bunch of things I would never wear because it’s just not my esthetic, but I know who my audience is. Exactly. I know what my audience is going to love. When I’m designing things for me, I know what I like, and I know what mine is going to look like. But when I’m designing for them, I have in mind what they want to look like.

Zahiyya

That goes from fabric to textiles to trims, sizing, what Tish does, the specs, and all of that.

Naima

Because I will say, although they make things in every size, everybody can’t wear everything. I applaud people who wear things that they should not be in, but I also want to help them. Because I think that we could take the style that they want, but we could get them something that fits their body in that same style. It’s not going to be the same on you as it is on a size two. Let’s be realistic.

Zahiyya

And you have to take that into consideration because people buy stuff and it’s so ill-fitting that it doesn’t complement your body.

Naima

And then they want one of us to fix it.

Zahiyya

Yeah, ultimately. Asideand custom clothing, alterations, I think, is worse.

Naima

I would never in my life do alterations.

LaTisha

It’s a million dollar industry.

Zahiyya

But it’s a lot.

Naima

It’s so specialized.

LaTisha

I’ve done it. It’s a lot.

Zahiyya

There’s different things you can do in the fashion industry. I’m a designer, Tisha is a tech designer, Naima does everything. But my thing is there’s so many different avenues that you can go in the fashion industry. You don’t have to be a designer. You have to be tech.

Naima

At one point, I really thought that I was going to be a costume designer. In’t mean that had been the dream in my head. But my first time working backstage, I was like, No, this ain’t it. I gravitated and I found out that I really like the process of taking these textiles and bringing them to life. Somebody asked me one time, How do you know what to make? I was like, The fabric tells me. It tells me what it wants to be. The fashion is bigger than buying and making clothes. It’s a gazillion dollar industry, and there’s a niche and there’s a spot for everybody.

Zahiyya

You’re saying, and everybody doesn’t have to be a designer, but if you want to, you just really have to know who your customer is and you design for your customer.

LaTisha

In my product development courses, I actually teach how to give them, let’s say, a problem. Let’s sayI think one of the problems was for plus sizes. I said, Okay, so now you all have to design a line for plus sizes. However, I need for you to decide who your customer is. Everybody had to pick different customers, and then they had to prove to me that the customer who they claimed was correct. For an example, they said their customer was 28 years old, she had finished college and they were developing a luxury line. I was like, Okay, she’s 28. She has a degree. Where does she live? Oh, she lives here in DC. Okay, so who she live with? Is she married? Do she have kids? What exactly does she do for a living? How much does she make? She makes $56,000.

Zahiyya

Oh, my God. And you’re designing a.

LaTisha

Luxury brand. And you’re designing a luxury brand. So you’re saying this is your customer.

Zahiyya

Exactly. How much are you paying?

LaTisha

The way.

Naima

You’re paying. No, I’m going to tell you, mortgages are cheaper than renting in DC. Yes, it is. Trust me, I’ve done research. Dc prices are like New York prices. You could rent a box for $3,500 a month and you’re going to have three roommates in that box if you’re 28 years old and making $56,000.

Zahiyya

Exactly.

LaTisha

I’m just like, okay, 56. So she’s really making maybe what, 30?

Naima

Probably making 48.

Zahiyya

Forty-two?

Naima

In the 40s.

Zahiyya

We’re not doing math right now, so no judgment.

Naima

All right. No judgment. This is a judgment free podcast.

LaTisha

No judgment. But is she married? Yeah, shes married. Does her husband work? What does he do? Do they have kids? Right. Yeah, they marry and they have kids. Oh, so they have kids. How old is the kid? Oh, a toddler. Perfect.

Naima

Daycare.

Zahiyya

I’m going to let the audience answer the question. Things can you point out that is wrong with this picture?

Naima

Please leave the comments. It’s almost like the.

Zahiyya

Windows walled up. Will this person be successful in their business if they continue on this road? Okay, sorry to cut you, Tish.

LaTisha

Go ahead. Of course, designer, and it’s like, Okay, so then who’s your competitor? Because this is a plus size. I’m like, First of all, plus size and the designer? Please tell me who? Who’s your competitor. Like, Oh, Christian Ciriano. How much of those dresses?

Zahiyya

What do they start at?

Naima

That’s after you make them out of these luxury fabrics.

LaTisha

Right. So when I began to just explain to them, first of all, the only way you could have possibly worked this out, if she was 28, she was not married. She lived at home with her parents. And she.

Naima

Waited tables in the evening after her full-time job.

LaTisha

Yes.

Zahiyya

She.

LaTisha

Has a toddler. She has a toddler, which means you do not want.

Zahiyya

Any luxury items that’s not washable.

Naima

We’ve been getting into the luxury textiles. She has to pay for daycare in a major urban city. They didn’t even say the suburbs. They said she lives in DC. I live in DC. Let me tell you something.

LaTisha

When I began to tell them, Okay, she’s married. So does the husband work? Yeah. How is this feasible? And then when they actually looked at, Oh, okay, well, yeah, maybe you need to go back and reconsider who your customer is. Who is this woman?

Naima

I mean, it’s good to create that fantasy, it’s just not realistic.

LaTisha

Right. Like, this person is not going to shop in your stores. You also need to take into consideration what part of the country is this customer in, because your colors and your colorways should change based on where this customer lives.

Zahiyya

You have to say where your stuff is being sold, because if it’s in urban areas or not just urban, but major cities, the population there take more risk with their clothing than someone in the middle of the country. With the social media and all that stuff, it’s gotten better. On average, people in major cities like New York, Tokyo, L. A, Hong Kong, those places are more fashion-forward than the places in the middle of the United States.

Naima

They’re not going to go to a steel town and sell a silk shirt.

Zahiyya

That’s one of the things I take into consideration, especially with Regent Design Agency. It’s like, who are your customers? Who do you sell to? Because then I can say, okay, I can engage. Okay. So basically this is the type of fabric you have to use that has to stay below this price point. These are how much trims I can use because it has to stay below this price point. And basically, what are your margins? I mean, how much do you want to sell it for and how much are you making? Because otherwise you can’t design into something and have production made and still turn a profit. I have to take all of that into consideration before I even put a pen to paper.

Naima

I’m not sure which one of you said it, but one of you made a really good point. Fashion is research. The research never stops. You got to be up on trends. You got to know what the color of the year is. You got to know what the color of the month is. You got to know what’s in style. You got to know what’s coming in style. You have to know what season we’re in.

Zahiyya

It’s not even the current trends, it’s the trends for next year. We always work at least a year ahead of not two. You have to be aware of what’s going on and try to predict or work towards what’s going to come based on what’s happening now. Of course, they have trend services and stuff like that that helps you along this-.

Naima

But they cost money. Even in DC right now. It’s a 100 degrees. It is a 100 degrees in September, right? I tell people all the time, DC has two seasons. We have winter and we have summer. You are not going to sell codes in September for back to school in DC because we’re still trying to figure out why is it so hot. I got in my car yesterday after work, and my car said 117 degrees.

LaTisha

Actually, when you were talking about knowing your price point, I specifically remember sitting in what we would call a line presentation or preview to review all of the styles within a specific line. But we’re also going over to look at what designs are too expensive. How can we make this cheaper? Then the designers are holding on to their babies because they made this design. They love it. Here I am, the tech person. It’s great, but we’re going to have to remove that zip from the pocket because it’s.

Naima

Two dollars. We just made a jumpsuit at my job. We wanted to do a nice exposed zip and it’s going to be fabulous and it’s going to be a wide zip and it’s something they’ve never done before until we saw the whole sale price that was two dollars a zip. We’re like, if we go down one size and these zip or teeth, it takes the price from 203 to 87 cents. We’re going down the size. But those are things that you have to be aware of. It also goes back to I love what I make for me. I would never sell some of the coats that I make for me. Because if I put a vinyl sleeve on my jacket, that’s $29 a yard just for the.

Zahiyya

Sleeves, right? Yeah, just for the sleeves.

Naima

Just for the sleeves. I’m putting a metal zip in there. That’s $7 wholesale. Jacket zippers are $7 wholesale. Some people sell that to somebody the same way I would sell maybe a wrap skirt.

Zahiyya

Exactly. I mean, just what I was saying earlier, when I do the consults for Region design agency, those are the questions that I ask because it’s just like, okay, do I know this market? Can I support you in this market? And can we succeed doing this? Because it’s based on who you sell to, what’s the budget and what’s the margins and all of that stuff. And then I can design into that with the trims and specs and all of the other stuff. So it’s a lot of information gathering before you start to put the design together. And to Tisha’s point, it’s been times where I had to take off zippers, but it has to go into a price point. It looks good, but if it can’t sell, it doesn’t mean anything.

Naima

I’ve even had to go so far as to shortening a garment just to save on fabric.

Zahiyya

And that’s what specs coming. Because if you notice nowadays, a lot of the clothing doesn’t fit the same as it did five years ago because all the specs are smaller. They’re cutting back on fabric usage. To save a quick buck, they made the spec one inch smaller so they can grade everything and still hit the margin.

Naima

It can still fit on that 45-inch wide fabric.

LaTisha

Exactly. That is all for now. We will see you all again later. Once again, this is Designer, Plants, and Coffees. I’m LaTisha Winston of Keeping you in Stitches with Zahiyya of Cover Me chic and Region Design Agency and Naima Dozer of Fearless Threads. See you later. Bye.

8 Little-Known Facts About fashion entrepreneurship: Insights from Zahiyya of Cover Me Chic and Region Design Agency

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