Do you feel like you're constantly fighting an uphill battle with your brand?
Running an apparel brand can feel like you're solving a new crisis every day. You're a visionary CEO, but you're also the head of design, a part-time CFO, a sourcing agent, and a marketing director.
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You know your product is incredible, but you're struggling with cash flow, your factory just missed another deadline, and you're not sure how to hire the right people to grow. You want to build a globally recognized brand, not just a small business that consumes your life.
And even worse...
It's the 2 a.m. anxiety about a late container. It's the thousands of dollars wasted on a bad production run or a marketing campaign that flopped.
Worst of all, it’s the isolation. You're surrounded by people who don't understand the unique pressures of the apparel industry. How many more seasons can you survive on grit alone before you burn out?
Most Fashion Mentors are just teaching you the surface-level basics of marketing and social media...
While you need industry-specific, executive-level guidance and support. That's what makes us different.
​That is why I created The Board—your private, annual advisory council. It's the only membership community designed specifically to give startup and emerging apparel CEOs the tools, network, and strategic support to scale profitably. Think of us as your executive "Board of Advisors."
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As a consultant for startup CEOs and a COO with over 25 years in the performance apparel industry, I've helped so many founders navigate this exact path. Now I'm bringing that expertise to you.
Michelle W.
Saved $50,000 in less than 60 days after learning our frameworks and implementing them in her business.
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"Joining this community is the best investment I've ever made."
Lien P.
​​"My favorite thing is being able to talk about the reality of what it is to start an apparel brand. There are REAL challenges and those are the things I value the most, because that's what I'm going to go through!"
Celeste R.
Launched her brand from zero in 9 months after starting to work with The Business of Apparel Team.
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"Working for years with other companies was getting me nowhere!"
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Hayley M.
"Absolutely 10/10 recommend. The value of the knowledge it contains and having a playbook of all the documents to get started has saved me so many hours of trial and error trying to figure things out alone."
The Business of Apparel Board Annual
Membership is for you if...
You are the founder, owner or CEO of a startup or emerging apparel brand.
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You are making revenue with your brand but feel "stuck" trying to scale to the next level.
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You are ready to implement proven systems for hiring, operations, and finance.
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You want a community of ambitious apparel-industry peers who get it and who will get YOU.
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The Board is NOT for you if you are looking for a magic bullet and aren't willing to implement the strategies.
Your Part-Time COO Is Waiting
For over 25 years, my entire team and I have lived and breathed the apparel industry—from the factory floor to the corporate executive suite as a COO and business leader for performance brands.
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In 2021, I founded Unmarked Street, a consultancy dedicated to helping apparel CEOs build products and businesses that last. I saw so many brilliant founders making the same preventable, million-dollar mistakes day in and day out.
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I created 'The Board' because I can't be a hands-on, full-time COO for everyone. This is your chance to get my team's 70+ years of collective, 'in the trenches' experience, a high-level peer group, and the operational playbook for your brand at a fraction of the cost of a full-time COO.
What's Included in the Apparel Founder's Board?
Your Dedicated, Executive-Level Board of Advisors
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What was once so far out of reach, is finally right here for you. Bring on a team with 70+ years of experience in the apparel industry to get you every answer you could possibly need to grow and scale your company. Meet with us every single week for an hour to get your specific questions answered and work on improvements at your company. Meet and connect with other like-minded, ambitious apparel brand founders to find a level of support unparalleled anywhere else.
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Your Gratified Growth Engine
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Feel empowered as a confident CEO as you work with us on improving your brand's standards, website optimization, social media presence and sales funnels. Learn how to love sales and marketing and feel grateful for every dollar coming in with a weekly "Monday Mentality" push from Rachel, herself.
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Your Path to Clarity and Streamlining
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S.E.E. clearly where your brand is going! With our proprietary framework, Standardize, Evaluate and then Elevate your brand to rise above your competitors. Learn the standards that 90% of apparel brands out there don't know. Our Core Curriculum reveals the secrets the industry is purposefully keeping from you.
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The Billion-Dollar Apparel Brand Owner's "Playbook"
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Develop a strategy and a clear business plan for your company that you can follow to profitability. We understand how challenging managing cashflow can be fore emerging apparel businesses. Achieve financial stability in your apparel business with our full Business Planning suite of tools and our Million-Dollar Line Planning Worksheet Template.
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Your Discounted Pinnacle Product Standard
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Get 25% off everything that we offer at The Business of Apparel and our "sister company" Unmarked Street. Want us to do some of the work for you? Let Product Development Masters help you create products, communicate with your factories and free up your time to be the true CEO of your company.
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Your Guide to "Collecting Snowflakes"
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The biggest companies in the world know how to hire the best of the best, which we call, "Collecting Snowflakes." Learn how to hire, fire, manage, lead and mentor a team as the badass CEO of your brand. Companies do not thrive under the solo-entrepreneurship model. Build up your ideal team to multiply your income instead of costing you money.
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We Want to be With You for Decades!
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Building an apparel brand is a long-term way to support your dream lifestyle, to support your family and to create generational wealth. Gain lifetime access to our curriculum suite when you pay for your first year with us, and tap into our services as you grow into the MILLIONS throughout the years with us.
Meet Your Board of Advisors
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Jessica K.
Our Lead Product Developer at Unmarked Street, Jessica brings an elite level of expertise to your product creation plans.
20 Years in Corporate Apparel
Elite PD Leadership
Rachel E.
CEO and Founder of The Business of Apparel, Rachel brings her leadership and entrepreneurial edge to your brand as lead coach here!
25 Years in Corporate Apparel
Certified PMP
Mary C.
Mary's primary role here is to ensure that YOU are happy with our services. Your Customer Solutions Manager, she is also an industry vet.
15 Years in Corporate Apparel
Masters in Sustainability
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Angela B.
A part-time coach here at The Business of Apparel, Angela brings Production Process expertise to round out the help that you'll need.
15 Years in Corporate Apparel
Production Expertise
A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO, RACHEL:
The typical start-up apparel brand fails in the first 2-3 years
...and it's not their fault.
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The fashion industry is actually known for keeping secrets, and it took me two decades to finally be in a position to sit at the executive tables and learn the insider methods to building a scalable brand.
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I found that to be ridiculous and am now out here sharing all of my knowledge with you, so you can learn everything I know in just a few short months.
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My favorite feedback from members is that they feel safe to bring their questions, issues and struggles to our group every week so they can overcome and build the companies of their dreams. I'm so confident the same will be true for you! So what are you waiting for?
xo
Rachel
Ana G.
"It feels really great to be a part of something with this team. There's definitely a sense of community and inclusion, which is something that you don't get very often working in the apparel industry!"
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Megan K.
"The foundation that [Rachel Erickson] has built around sharing and connecting others is incredibly inspiring. She's an incredible mentor - anyone would benefit from time spent with this team.”
Cass C.
Was searching for help with her Point of Sale system for 5 months with NO results.
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Joined The Board and had answers, how-to info and a plan within 24 hours of signing up!
Jeremy S.
"Being part of The Board feels like stepping into something electric — a space where momentum, purpose, and possibility collide. 🙌 Can’t wait to see what we all create together."
LOWEST PRICE
The Apparel Founder's Library Membership
The FULL Business of Apparel Digital Course
The Million Dollar Line Planning Essentials Training & Ready-For-You Worksheet
Target Customer Creation
and Refinement Masterclass
Library of Industry Spreadsheets,
Diagrams, Contracts & Email Templates
Special Member Discounts: 25% OFF
Everything We Offer!
New Video Tutorials Released Weekly
Business Planning Training Course
Key Financial Templates
$499
billed annually
comes out to just $42 per month - less than that coffee fix!
FULL ACCESS
The Apparel Founder's Board Membership
The FULL Business of Apparel Digital Course
The Million Dollar Line Planning Essentials Training & Ready-For-You Worksheet
Target Customer Creation
and Refinement Masterclass
Library of Industry Spreadsheets,
Diagrams, Contracts & Email Templates
Special Member Discounts: 25% OFF
Everything We Offer!
New Video Tutorials Released Weekly
Business Planning Training Course
Key Financial Templates
Lifetime Access to Courses, Templates
and Masterclasses
Weekly LIVE Calls with the Unmarked Street Team & Guest Speakers
$3,499
billed annually - save 10% when you pay up front
or pay $325 per month - cancel any time
elite membership
The Apparel Founder's
Inner Circle
The FULL Business of Apparel Digital Course
The Million Dollar Line Planning Essentials Training & Ready-For-You Worksheet
Target Customer Creation
and Refinement Masterclass
Library of Industry Spreadsheets,
Diagrams, Contracts & Email Templates
Special Member Discounts: 25% OFF
Everything We Offer!
New Video Tutorials Released Weekly
Business Planning Training Course
Key Financial Templates
Lifetime Access to Courses, Templates
and Masterclasses
Weekly LIVE Calls with the Unmarked Street Team & Guest Speakers
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Individualized 1:1 Calls with our CEO Rachel
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A Nominated 1:1 Support Coach
Additional Weekly Call with your Mastermind Cohort for the Highest Level of Collaboration
$20,000
billed annually - save 10% when you pay up front
or pay $1,855 per month for the full year
Erin O.
"I’ve built multiple companies, and I joined The Business of Apparel's Membership to connect with fellow apparel founders, share insights, and learn from others who are also building standout brands."
Blake C.
After searching for community, joined The Board to collaborate and share information.
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"I have been loving the courses so far. Excited to keep digging in and curious to learn more.”
Ryan H.
"It’s inspiring and motivating when you’re with a group where you can share ideas and support. You only benefit from other people being there. For me I prefer to have more people to have ideas to bounce off of."
Darrien J.
"I want to maximize resources and establish a framework and roadmap for my company. I believe joining The Board is the next right step, and you have expertise and connections in the areas I know I need."
faq:
I'm too busy running my brand, what is the time commitment?
We know how busy you are as a business owner! It's our goal to give you as much value and helpful information in just 2-3 hours per week to help you start growing and scaling your brand. You'll want to set aside 1 hour every Thursday morning from 9-10am PST / 12-1pm EST for Office Hours, 1 hour every week to review our curriculum and if you want to be an over-achiever, you can set aside a third hour each week to execute what you're learning and complete new tasks. That's it!
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It's a big investment. I need to spend on inventory, why this too?
A single bad factory order or one wrong hire can cost you 10x the price of this membership. The Board is an investment in not making those costly mistakes. It's the fastest path to ROI. When Rachel started Unmarked Street, she jumped into a $30,000 per year coaching program that helped her take the right steps and she made that money back with ease. The structure she learned in that program is what she's put into The Board at a fraction of the price.
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How is this different from other groups and masterminds?
This isn't a generic business group. It's 100% focused on the apparel industry. Our conversations are about supply chains, costing, DTC scaling, and retail partnerships—not coaching or info-products. You'll be in a room with a COO and peers who speak your language. This is also not a group or course that just teaches you how to do social media marketing. While that might be PART of what we teach inside The Board, just like it needs to be a PART of your business, we cover all the other aspects of building a real, profitable company, too.
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what kind of results can i realistically expect?
We are all about honesty, shared in kindness here at The Business of Apparel, so I'm not going to sugar-coat this for you. Building a global, profitable apparel company takes time. However, we have accountability trackers and suggested timelines to move you through our core curriculum in just six months. So in half a year, you'll learn executive-level processes that 90% of this industry doesn't EVER learn. During that time, you'll also be refining your budget with us so your cashflow levels out and you start working toward profitability. We will also be guiding you through marketing and sales improvements. We've had members save over $50,000 in less than 60 days inside our program, launch their brand from just an idea in less than 9 months and we've helped seasoned owners figure out how to clean up their back-end data in less than a week. Results do depend on YOU, but we move quickly with 70+ years of seeing it all!
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What if I can't make the live calls?
We record our Live Office Hours calls every week, and post them in the private community forum for you to access, watch and rewatch whenever it works best for you. Concerned that you won't get your questions answered if you're not in the calls? All you have to do is put your questions in the community's "Q&A" thread and we'll get back to you right away. You don't even need to wait for the next call! We're not going to leave you hanging just because you couldn't attend some calls.
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What if I make jewelry, footwear or accessories, not apparel?
Building a profitable product-based business has many of the same principles when it comes to building a business plan, line planning, financial planning and so much more. Many of the business principles, sales tactics and marketing strategies we teach are applicable for your category as well. HOWEVER, our network is mostly made up of apparel industry professionals. While we know a few people here and there in other categories, we cannot promise the same level of connections outside of our group if you're not in the apparel industry.
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Who else is in 'The Board'?
The Board is made up of apparel brand owners from all levels. We have owners who are working hard to leave their nursing jobs to run their brands full-time. We also have owners in our group who have been making and selling apparel since the '90s! The beauty of this group is the advice, collaboration, support and genuine care that each member gives to the others. Your experience could be the key that unlocks another member's big break which not only gives you the chance to learn from others, but also to pay forward the experience and work that you've already put into your brand. It brings us all so much joy.
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WHAT IF i JOIN AND REALIZE IT'S NOT THE RIGHT FIT?
Our monthly payment option for The Board can be cancelled at any time. So if you join for a few months and decide it's not the right fit for you, the option to cancel your subscription is always available to you. You will not gain lifetime access to the curriculum until you pay for a full year though, and it's our goal to make you so happy inside our membership, that you want to be with us for decades!
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how much access to rachel will i have? what is her support level?
Rachel personally runs our weekly 1-hour "Office Hours" calls every Thursday at noon EST. She is also in the Community Forum every single day, answering questions, posting videos and helping you get the exact answers that you need. Unlike other programs where the CEO is part of the up-front process and then disappears on you, Rachel is 100% committed and involved in this group. It is her passion to help you!
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how do i know which package is right for me and my business?
If you have questions about the different options (The Apparel Founder's Library, The Apparel Founder's Board or The Apparel Founder's Inner Circle), we encourage you to set up a totally FREE call with Mary, our Customer Solutions Manager. She can help you determine the best possible program for you at this stage of your business. CLICK HERE to get access to her schedule.
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can other members of my team get access as well?
If you have a co-founder or a partner that you'd like to include in our weekly calls, we're happy to invite them in for a small additional fee of just $47 per month or $505 if you are paying for the year in full, up-front. Otherwise, please feel free to use the same account login with your team so they can also access the courses, templates, tools, diagrams and more. We know how important it is for teams to have access to the same information, so we do encourage you to take advantage of this option!