053 MARCH 2015121COMMENTS SO FARSHARE THIS STORYELOISE FUSSEMBED VIDEO
A lot of fashion designers dream of creating a brand that blows up and becomes really successful. But not too many can say they're already on the way at just 14 years of age. Lachlan makes t-shirts in his bedroom. And now, he's selling them internationally through his website. Eloise met him to find out what his secret is.
LOKI: Hey I'm Loki, I run an Adelaide based clothing line, I sell my gear across Australia and sometimes overseas.
It all started when he tried tie dying t-shirts with some mates. It was fun, and looked pretty cool too.
LOKI: I think we saw that people liked them and I saw it could be a good business to run, it was fun to make. So I thought yeah, I may as well go for it.
Loki's called his brand Size Seven Clothing Co.
LOKI: How I come up with the designs. I'll draw a concept and take it to a local artist and get them to redraw it so it looks professional and good, because I'm a terrible drawer, I can't draw anything if I tried.
Loki prints all the t-shirts himself using a technique called screen printing. Each t-shirt takes about three days to make.
LOKI: You've got to individually print or cure each shirt so the ink doesn't run off each shirt basically. So you have to spend a bit of time to make a good quality product.
He sells them through his website, and keeps people updated about his new designs on Facebook and Instagram. His t-shirts and hats became so popular they're now even being stocked in a shop. So far he's made 9 different designs, and he sells about 30 hats and shirts a week.
But designing these t-shirts was the easy part. Learning how to run a business, on the other hand, that was kinda hard.
LOKI: I spent a fair bit of time looking through Google and just You Tube videos to find the knowledge I needed to start it. It took probably two months, so it wasn't the easiest process to do. I had to find contacts so I could get designers to design for me. I had to work out how to set up social media accounts and properly manage them so it was professional. I had to learn how to make a website so I could sell my product.
He also had to be super organised, so he could balance his business with school work.
LOKI: I have a really easy website that I can process my orders. Nowadays you can get plenty of apps that help you manage things, and school work. I have a diary that I can use to write down things. I also use the calendar on my computer which helps me organise everything I'm doing.
So if this is something you'd like to do, what are Loki's tips?
LOKI: My advice is to be original, have a good quality product, make sure you learn the ins and outs of running businesses, and basically go your hardest.
So if you want to start your own business, there's no better time than now to get rolling