Feel like your fighting an uphill battle alone?
You're a visionary CEO, but you're trapped solving daily crises—managing cash flow, factory deadlines, and hiring.
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 over late containers and $1,000s wasted on bad production.
It's also the isolation. You feel misunderstood and know you can't survive on grit alone.
Forget surface-level marketing.
We provide the industry-specific, executive-level guidance you actually need.
​That is why I created The Board, your private advisory council. This membership gives emerging apparel CEOs the executive-level tools, network, and support to scale profitably.
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As a 25-year performance apparel COO, I’m now bringing the expertise I've used to guide countless founders directly 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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Your Part-Time COO Is Waiting
With 25+ years as a performance apparel brand leader, I founded The Business of Apparel to stop owners like you from making preventable, million-dollar mistakes.
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I created The Board to give you my team's 70+ years of collective 'in the trenches' experience, a high-level peer group, and an operational playbook—all at a fraction of the cost of a full-time COO.
What's Included in the Apparel Founder's Board?
12 Month Full Program Access
and Support
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$10,000 VALUE
​​Join this amazing, supportive community and gain access to our 24/7 forum for an entire year.
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Ask questions and get expert, individualized answers for your specific issue and your specific brand ANY TIME you need help.
Weekly LIVE Calls with Our Entire Team for 1:1 Help
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$8,000 VALUE
Learning along-side other ambitious fashion founders allows you to envision where your brand is going while collaborating and working through issues together in real time every single week.
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These calls are the hidden gem of The Board Membership.
Weekly Accountability Trackers
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$3,500 VALUE
Unlike so many other online mentorship and coaching programs, we give you the tools that you need to succeed.
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Learn the curriculum in 6 months, following our 2-hour-per-week plan (that's it!) and elevate your brand to easier profitability along the way!
Private Community Access to Executive -Level Advice
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$2,500 VALUE
If you've been searching for a partner who can give you the "insider's track" to growing and scaling your apparel brand's profitability, you just found it!
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Gain 70+ years of experience inside your company by accessing our entire team as your board of advisors.
Bespoke Feedback to Give You the Next Steps
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$3,500 VALUE
When you put your question into our group forum, we don't just give you some generic answer! Our entire team gets in there with their thoughts and Rachel loves to record screen share videos to make sure you get the exact advice that you need to move forward in confidence every day.
Industry Specific Templates and Tools
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$2,500 VALUE
Tired of checking out business coaching programs that don't know anything about the fashion and apparel industry?
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All of our templates, tools, diagrams and courses are curated just for you as a fashion founder. No more guessing how to make it work for you.
In-Person Event and Meet-Up Opportunities
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PRICELESS
Online mentorship and coaching programs can be the game-changer that you need for your brand.
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But when you get to meet up with your community and your coaches in person each year, transformations are inevitable!
Our Network Becomes Your Network
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PRICELESS
Looking for a new factory, fabric mill, trim supplier, product developer, pattern maker, or designer for your company?
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With our extensive careers came a vast network of key industry connections that you get to tap into as a member of our community.
Lifetime Access to Content Library and Upgrades
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PRICELESS
Courses and tools might mean something completely different to you a few years from now, compared to what you need to use them for today.
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Gain lifetime access to our tools, courses and ALL future upgrades we add to them to future-proof your company.
Special Member Only 25% Off Discounts
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PRICELESS
When you're ready to hire experts to help you build your products or create your next long-term strategy, you get access to our suite of services and products at a 25% discount.
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Work with the best for a fraction of the price just for being a member of The Board!
This program is easily worth more than $30,000 per year...
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:
82% of typical emerging apparel brands fail due to cashflow problems...
...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
$46
per month for 12 months
save 10% and pay $499 for a full year up front
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
$325
per month - cancel any time
save 10% and pay $3,499 for a full year up front
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
$1,855
per month for 12 months
join the board to become eligible!
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."
Want More Info?
Do you have questions about the Board that we didn't answer on this page? Here are some suggested next steps:
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!