We were lucky to catch up with Porshia Banks recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Porshia, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Being a fashion designer there are so many obstacles to overcome in order to make your brand profitable. There’s a lot of innate risk due to the existing model for independent designers, the current pace of the fashion cycle and other extraneous factors. Currently, you create a collection of samples, market the collection which can costs 10’s of thousands of dollars and hope that buyers/consumers purchase the collection in an appropriate quantity to be profitable. Aside from the model being risky the current pace of the fashion cycle has increased in speed so much it’s hard for brands to keep up and remain profitable. The biggest contributor to this acceleration is foreign brands entering the American markets by making profitability by the replication of designer’s garments, marketing materials and customers. As these brands become more present in the American marketplace it makes it really hard for brands and designers to charge fair prices for their garments. These brands use bots to scour the internet and social media for cool designs, photos and profitable independent brands. They replicate the designs with lower quality textiles and use workers that are paid only pennies. All while using the originators marketing material. This allows them to sell the faux garments for a sliver of the cost. In fashion it’s nearly impossible to protect intellectual property within the industry and in the court of law. A common saying in the industry is that there hasn’t been anything innovative created since the left shoe in 1854. Which is sort of true. It takes a lot of time, effort and exposure to create a truly protectable brand in the fashion industry. The foreign brands like these alter the expectation of costs. Buyers expect to receive a certain quality garment at the price of a garment created from carcinogenic textiles and unfairly paid laborers. Buyers are skeptical to pay the higher prices because they’re unaware of the practices of these companies. I and some other designers I know have experienced this firsthand. Currently, this is a barrier to profitability in the fashion industry.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Porshia Banks. I am a swimwear designer (Porshia by Porshia Banks) and a CEO of a women’s clothing boutique (Sweet Nothing’s Boutique). I have been in the industry for 8 years. I started my fashion business with my women’s clothing boutique in 2015 and launched my swimwear brand at Miami Swim Week in 2019. Sweet Nothing’s Boutique specializes in combining classics and trendwear in one place at an affordable price. We love to source pieces that will exude that timeless classic style while adding a touch of what’s trending. This allows our buyers to own and use the pieces for longer. It can become wasteful and expensive to chase trends even if we love them and no one wants to be simply classic all the time. We believe combining the two would be the ideal way to do both. Sweet Nothing’s Boutique offers women’s clothes, shoes, accessories and swimwear. The Porshia by Porshia Banks brand is inspired by the Dolls. That’s what I call my beach babes! This swimwear brand is designed to live their lives with them. We have resort vibes, beach looks, pool party pieces, boating and yachting pieces and athletic pieces. I strive to create pieces that can go through life with you. Pure feminity is the goal. We really want to embrace and illuminate feminine curves and features.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first started my business, I wanted to focus solely on merchandising and sourcing the garments from designers that I thought were talented and other cool brands. But I would notice there was holes in the collections. The party/cocktail look would be missing or there wouldn’t be a casual look or the entire plus lines would be black. So, I started to create pieces that I thought would complement the collections and kind of “fill the gaps”. I would post these looks on Instagram and I got invited to participate in NYFW. So, I created a collection, and it was received really well and I was invited to Miami Swim Week. Through that experience I learned that I really loved swimwear and other people loved my swimwear. It changed the course of my business and helped a lot with sales.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients for me has been social media. A lot of people are introduced to my brand through their friend’s social media accounts or from a business that we do business with accounts. It’s like a word of mouth through social media combo.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.sweetnothingsboutique.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/porshiabyporshiabanks
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sweetnothingsboutiquecle
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@welcometothedollhouse9104
• Other: https://www.porshiadesigns.com https://www.instagram.com/porshiabyporshiabanks