Fashion Investors, Finding A Perftect Match

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Fashion Inc.

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Now You Can Dress Anna Fashion Breakfast

Dec 6 2007 8:50AM EST

Caitlin Liu's profile of Philip Lim's business partner Wen Zhou on Portfolio.com, is the perfect example of how to find an investor. Zhou came to Lim with not just money (she put up $750,000) but a wealth of experience and contacts in the textile business. These contacts enabled Lim to make designer-quality prices at a fraction of the cost. Because she was young (Portfolio.com doesn't give her age), she had an intuition about what the market lacked -- affordable, well-made clothes. But her youth didn't make her succumb to temptation. She famously rejected offers for 3.1 Philip Lim to be carried by Bergdorf Goodman in fear that they wouldn't be able to fulfill the orders, or that if the orders were canceled, they'd be forced out of business.

For anyone looking at investing in a fashion brand, it's a good lesson. If you know nothing about the business, your first step should be making sure you're investing enough so that you can hire someone like Zhou.

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