Mona Moth

For two weeks now I got a job, which will grant me to save up more. While it is difficult to work on brand and designs while maintaining a full time shop, it does open doors to have more money flowing in. If this goes well I will be able to pay a professional fabric printing service and the stand money of a big convention where I can debut. Plus extras such as professional packaging, paying for an e-commerce website and other artistic goodies such as pins and posters.

I have made accounts on some social media sites. Though they still need to be linked together and dressed up properly. I’ve been working on a logo as soon as that is done it can be used as profile picture everywhere. I’m also working on a test photoshoot (to see how the model and I work together and for practice since I’m a bit rusty) and working out the brand building and story aspect (I’ll do another post about it when it’s done). For now I have:

Tumblr: Obviously, this is the main site

Facebook: I have made a profile on Facebook. For now I will use it to add people I work with. This is easier since I would get distracted by other friends on my personal account. Plus it keeps business and private seperate.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monamoth/There is nothing to see yet but it’s there!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MothMonaI have made it but still not sure what I would do with it. Probably link up with Tumblr or Instagram.

Youtube: I have made a youtube account so I can make my own playlists to listen to while working :)

As said in the post ‘budget’, a separate post to talk about social media to consider which ones to join. I’m only one person and I don’t want to waste too much time on updating online. I did a quick research on google about the social media sites I currently know and how they can be used for the business. In the future I might join more when needed. I might also already claim some names but not fully use it yet.

Tumblr: Obviously, this was my first site to go. It is very easy to maintain a blog on here and has many pros like the ability to use both text as picture and video based posts. It also has an already big amount of users I can easily interact with.

Facebook: Very big number of users, very hard to reach. Instead of a page I could create an account and add friends, but I wouldn’t be online constantly (chatting would be very distracting, it would defeat the purpose of ‘not wasting too much time online’). Aside that, facebook often has bugs since they constantly try to update stuff. On the other hand Facebook is great to keep up with events. Will think about this one.

Instagram: Pictures pictures pictures, instagram is definitely photo based. While it might seem obvious to join instagram immediately (after all, I have to show off my creations, right?) I have to realize I might not have enough content to fill an instagram account. The only things I have now are a few try-out designs, a half finished logo and a scribbled down business plan nowhere near ready. But since I’m pretty sure I’ll be using instagram I will probably already set up an account.

Twitter: Don’t think I’ll be going for Twitter. A mostly text based platform isn’t really that interesting to me right now. Twitter is mostly meant to share news quickly. It could be used for pictures, but then I have the same problem as with Instagram: I don’t have much material to share right now. So if I’d have to choose between Twitter or Instagram… Will probably claim a name but not do anything with it yet (just to be sure) and maybe I can also link Insta to Twitter (downside is double content)… I’ll have to work this idea out some more.

Youtube: Will be used to make playlists that I can listen to while working. Probably not much else at the moment. In the far future it could be used for behind the scenes content or showing how I draw.

Snapchat: My old phone can’t handle Snapchat at the moment. So I’ll be looking into this when I own a phone that can actually run it. But I’ll probably stick with Instagram since that is also phone-based.

When I said I wanted to create a clothing line from scratch. First thing in everyone’s mind (including mine) is probably “Nice, and what’s the budget?”

There is no budget. When I say I’m starting from scratch I really mean from scratch.

I may have some nice fabrics left from my fashion school life and of course I can continue to work in the factory to earn some coins. I have lots of artsy friends that might help me out where I cannot. But right now I have not checked my fabrics, not set a budget and not contacted any of my friends yet. It’s all part of the journey after all.

With that out of the way, I did some research online. (I also read books but all of those I found in the library seem to assume you have thousands of dollars to spare for your project) A professional brand is obviously way out of reach, but I don’t want to handle it as an amateur either. (I found a pretty good article here, which explains the differences between amateur, indie and professional. I would put myself in indie) So the plan is to save money where it won’t damage the quality of the brand too much.

My ideas are:

Use of free online platforms Maybe setting up a site or a blog isn’t that expensive. But I have found that many little things that ‘aren’t that expensive’ together is still a very big bite in your budget. I have decided on tumblr as my first startup website due to the possibility of text-pictures and the already large chump of artistic people present. (But I’ll be making another blog on online media)

Free promotion Paid promotion will reach faster and is definitely better, but for now the only option I have is to try and build up a small fanbase with free promotion. When time comes I can put in some extra money in this department.

Use of art Think prints on clothing, logo, promotional materials. I consider myself a decent artist (not the greatest but also not the worst). I have knowledge in Concept Art, Graphic Design and Fashion Illustration. So for now, the cheapest option is to do all this myself. Another reason it might be the best idea is that Mona Moth is still developing, drawing it yourself might give me a better idea where I want to go with it.

Quality of clothing Is something I’m going to compensate as little as possible on. The quality of the clothing is very important. This is the only category I won’t be a cheapstake on. Since this is the actual product being sold.

Branding Bags, tags, boxing... all that extra (but important) stuff that dresses up your brand. I will be looking at each subject seperately and try to find cheaper substitutes without sacrificing too much quality (For example making the tags myself)

I am Mona Moth

And I am going to create a clothing line.

That is the short explanation for this blog, for those of you who don’t have time to read. Oh, you’re still here? Then it’s time for the long version:

After having overworked myself in just a month’s time, unsure which direction to take after graduation, I came up with the name Mona Moth. I must say that working 12+ hours helping your parents with the construction of their house and having way too much time with sorting carrots at a factory does make you think about what you truly want in life. What would I want to put all my energy into, instead?

That’s when I decided to create my own clothingline.

And I decided to share my journey with all of you.

Now, don’t think I’m going in completely blind. I have a degree in comic making, concept art and fashion. I can do photography and have the basics down of accounting. I am prepared to keep working at the factory if it means to get the budget needed (at least then I would be working with a purpose in mind) and lastly, I googled a lot of stuff. But aside all that? No clue what I am doing. And this is exactly the reason why I decided to put all this in a blog.

In here you will be able to read all the troubles, ideas, process, victories and struggles. You will either see me fail or thrive, but I think we will both learn a lot from this experience.