Social media experts speak on best practices for branding businesses on the net.

Social media may seem easy enough, but if you’re a start-up fashion brand trying to carve out a space for yourself in the digital sphere, you already know that the process can be challenging. It was those very challenges that a group of social media aficionados and tech-curious entrepreneurs convened at Pigment Cosmetics to discuss during the most recent FASHION+TECH SF.

Online branding best practices and the complexities of internet marketing were hot topics, as were product presos from gift bag swapping phone app Swagg, Abrot Bags, talkTECH Communications and brand ambassador company RAF9.

Ania and Farooq of Abrot bags

The evening was engaging and informative with speakers Brad Carrick of Solz Shoes, Sabrina Bruning of Internet Savant, Uduak Oduak of Ladybrille Magazine, Willo O’Brien of Willo Toons, and Vishal Kalia of RAF9, all of whom took part in the panel focused on topics such as “How do you build online influence?” and “How much time do you invest in managing your online community?”

Formerly known as Fashion Mash-Up, this workshop hosted and organized by San Francisco Fashion And Merchants Alliance’s Owen Geronimo concentrated on the business of fashion and its growing relationship with technology. Local entrepreneurs, fashion designers, bloggers, retailers, startups, and tech-lovers interested in networking, brainstorming and sharing new business ideas are just some of the people who attended the event.

Attendees get acquainted with other entrepreneurs during the networking hour

Experts spoke about their company’s histories with social media and discussed how they set up a strategy and got social media to work for them. A few highlights:

- Sabrina Bruning and Willo O’Brien had this suggestion for brands who want more online influence and followers: be proactive. If you want a response from someone, tweet at them first. Just make sure what you’re tweeting is relevant and not spammy.

- Another social media tip that’s easy and effective: if you see that someone you follow is going out to an event, tweet at them to have a good time or wish them good luck. A little kindness goes a long way, and can help your brand get noticed.

- In terms of online social marketing tools, Twitter and Facebook seemed to be the fan favorites amongst the workshoppers, though the merits of newer applications such as Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram for visual-heavy purposes were also noted by several panelists.

Designer Ben Raviv (left) and SF Indie Fashion's Alexandra Naughton having fun with the #fashiontechsf hashtag sign.

Photography courtesy of Alexandra Naughton (except last photo, courtesy of FASHION+TECHSF)

More San Francisco fashion and technology…

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Alexandra is a San Francisco writer with a passion for style and creativity. You can find her on Twitter @theTsaritsa

Mayor Ed Lee tours the Cayson Culinary Designs facility on Oct. 25 (image via flickr)

Who says San Francisco doesn’t care about style? Even the Mayor’s office is getting behind the local fashion industry with the launch of FashionSF, a new program that’s part of  the City’s Start Here, Grow Here, Stay Here economic development initiative.

Introduced on October 26 at longtime local manufacturer Cayson Culinary Designs in the Bayview by Mayor Ed Lee, District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen and local fashion industry executives, the program dedicates city staff and resources to supporting the growth and retention of apparel companies operating in San Francisco.

You don’t need us to tell you that San Francisco has a rich history in fashion and garment manufacturing. Along with major labels such as Levi’s and Gap, there are many smaller companies producing garments within city limits. (For more on that, check out our recent coverage of SJ Manufacturing, a SoMa-based company that works with many local start-up apparel lines.)

But while there are many fashion designers and manufacturing companies based in San Francisco, Mayor Lee thinks there could be far more:

“FashionSF brings together the private sector, educational institutions and the City to work towards a singular goal – to make San Francisco the preeminent location for fashion designer and apparel manufacturers,” said Mayor Lee in a statement. “I am committed to ensuring that apparel and design companies of all sizes can start, stay, grow and hire right here in San Francisco, driving job creation for all San Franciscans.”

So what does that all mean, practically speaking? The City will have a dedicated staff position to serve as a central point of contact to the fashion design and apparel manufacturing industry. A committee dubbed The Fashion Working Group and headed up by co-chairs Roger Kase of Isda & Co and Janet Lees of SFMade will guide and provide support for the initiative, while the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) will be collaborating with the Fashion Working Group to pinpoint key industry needs, challenges, opportunities, and develop a Fashion Action Plan to prioritize and address.

“These are exactly they types of businesses we want to attract, support and have grow here in San Francisco,” said Supervisor Malia Cohen in a press release. “These small manufactures hire local residents and invest in our local communities.”

More San Francisco fashion news…

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Alexandra is a San Francisco writer with a passion for style and creativity. You can find her on Twitter @theTsaritsa

When it comes to success in a creative field, there’s no question that ‘ole Edison’s one percent inspiration vs. 99 percent perspiration maxim applies. Hoping to wipe some of the sweat off designers’ furrowed brows is San Francisco-based startup Stitch Labs and its web-based platform for managing product lines, inventory and sales.

Launched by Brandon Levey (who earned his chops founding and growing Bay Area label Naked Cotton), Jake Gasaway and Michelle Laham earlier this year, the company has steadily attracted small apparel and accessories businesses looking to streamline the cumbersome processes involved in running their businesses.

In the past, small apparel companies mainly sold wholesale or in retail stores. Now, it’s not uncommon for a single designer to sell her creations in five or more different ways.

“They sell consignment, they sell wholesale, they have a web store, but they don’t just have a web store, they have an etsy shop,” says Gasaway.

And that’s to say nothing of selling at trunk shows, pop-up shops or other shopping events. Due out in the coming weeks, the company is also launching automated tools for managing and updating product in etsy shops – a boon for designers with numerous listings and steady sales.

For designers, the allure is clear: a practical way to manage multiple sales channels and automate what can easily become a cumbersome tangle of competing spreadsheets.

But for the rest of us? Why should the average consumer care? It’s actually quite simple for fans of independent fashion and design. Innovative, web-based, cost-effective tools for independent businesses mean more opportunity for emerging and small labels to compete – and, we’d hope, succeed – in the crowded fashion landscape.

It’s also only the latest example of fashion and technology colliding for a net positive in the Bay Area.

For more on Stitch Labs and its tools for designers, you can hear Brandon Levey speak Thursday during the free TechShop event Bazaar Bizarre SF Presents: Effective Apps to Manage Your Business.

For designers seeking an inside view of a successful local company's operations, Rickshaw Bagworks offers tours of its San Francisco factory throughout the year. Many local companies are opening up their production facilities to the public this month as part of SFMade Week. (Photo: Joseph Montana for Rickshaw Bagworks)

A notable number of new resources for San Francisco designers and fashion entrepreneurs has arrived on the scene just in time for summer. If you’ve been hoping to brush up on business skills, launch a new line or simply kickstart your motivation in the coming months, you’ll want to know about these new workshops, classes and programs.

Fashion Market SF: The new organization from fashion sales pro Karri Ann Frerichs and marketing expert Leslie Lum brings Bay Area designers a variety of resources, including a workshop series offering line evaluations in small groups of no more than 10. During events, designers will get advice on improving their lookbooks and line sheets, becoming market ready and building their brand through marketing and social media.

California College of the Arts: Designers looking to make their existing labels and businesses more sustainable will find a new offering in San Francisco this summer. The just-launched Fashion Sustainability Workshop Series and Certificate Program is aimed at professionals who want to make positive changes in their production and business models. The series includes discussions, lectures and hands-on projects to help participants develop new methods and solutions with real world applications.

SFMade Week Factory Tours: Because there’s nothing like seeing how it’s done in person, a series of factory tours from this local nonprofit is a must-do for anyone hoping to produce products within city limits. While some of the participants (such as Rickshaw Bagworks) offer tours throughout the year, others in the line-up (Lily Samii and Cayson Culinary, among them) rarely open their doors to the public. Even better, the tours are free and offer a chance to meet and speak to company founders.

Fashion Blogging 101: Coming up in June, SF Indie Fashion founder and editor Lorraine Sanders will lead a one-night session at the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. Aimed at designers and small business owners, the evening workshop will offer tips and strategies for building a fashion blog to promote your brand, as well as the many ways existing fashion blogs can help build your brand and business.

More San Francisco fashion news….

Keeping sustainability in fashion, local Bay Area design collective Residents Apparel Gallery (RAG) is expanding its Hayes Valley store, with the official re-opening this Friday. Featured everywhere from the New York Times to the Washington Post and numerous leading travel publications as a leading Bay Area provider of locally-designed and -produced clothing, RAG is doubling its space and increasing its capacity. What can we expect from the new RAG? Founder-curator Blakely Bass gave SF Indie Fashion the scoop:

What will distinguish your new, expanded space?

For the first time at RAG, we are able to carry more menswear, specifically menswear by Ghetto Goldilocks, more local womenswear such as Finch Design, and for the first time a small locally-made home decor and furniture section from En Route Studio.  We have used more recycled wood for our new sign in front of RAG. The new sign was painted for us by local artist duo SCUBA.

With this expansion, how will you continue your goal of trendsetting within a sustainable, community-based business model?

We will be able to accommodate more designers and wall artists from the community that before had less places to sell in in San Francisco and may now sell only nationally through craft sites such as Etsy or other non-local stores.  There is such a plenitude of local and forward, trendy talent in the Bay Area that you really don’t need to look elsewhere!

Why is RAG’s expansion significant now?

Having been open for over eight years, we are at the point where we have met many more local artists and designers and have become much more established and known. RAG was also getting too cramped, and we were not able to showcase designers’ wares and their company signage or biography displays as well as we can now. Also, we have a great staff of local designers and friends helping out at RAG and enabling us to make the transition into a bigger space much smoother.

Does your expansion indicate growing strength in the direction of sustainable design?

Unfortunately, we have watched three shops in San Francisco that carried local designers and artists close in the last couple months, so we hope to be become a place where customers can come to find many of these displaced designers. This will be much more easily accomplished with the extra 550 square-foot room we are expanding into. RAG will be a much more sought-after spot for local crafters and people thinking about getting into designing if we have the extra space to carry their wares and if RAG is able to gain more fans and exposure.

What can we expect from the opening party on Friday? Any fun surprises?

RAG will have drinks, home-made baked goods and a children’s play room!

Check out these pics of RAG’s current and expanded space:

RAG's current collective space

RAG's expanded space

New local furniture designs from En Route Studio

Residents Apparel Gallery on 541 Octavia Street in Hayes Valley

Photography courtesy of Kizza Chadiha.