If you're a small fashion brand looking to grow and achieve profitability, going direct-to-consumer through your own website is the way to go. This approach allows you to connect directly with a global audience and gives you complete control over your product, branding, pricing, image and more.

I was reading through some “Fashion Entrepreneurship” books recently and the advice they give is not correct (interestingly none of these books were written by anyone who actually ran a successful and profitable fashion brand…) There’s a lot of talk about, “building your distribution channel through channel partner groups and leading channel partners in their market segment that serve the targeted consumer”…blah blah blah. This makes my head hurt.

Today's technology empowers you to distribute your own products, just as I do on ruthiedavis.com. This direct method is the most effective way to foster, control and build your brand. Once your brand is established and recognized, you might consider selling through other retailers, but remember—they won't build your brand for you and they add a lot of risk, work and needed manpower. Having experienced distribution through many global retailers over the years, I've now chosen to exclusively sell on my own website and as a result, I am less stressed, happier and more profitable!