Fallenheart  Clothing Company5 Spooner Drive

KillamarshSheffieldS21 1SH

0114251131907968190824

samblackburn1984@hotmail.comwww.fallenheartclothing.com

ContentsPage

1. Summary 32. Business overview 4

IntroductionCurrent positionCompetitive advantageGrowth plan

3. Business strategy 5TacticsStrategic issuesCore values

4. Marketing 6SWOT and critical success factorsMarket researchDistribution channelsStrategic alliancesE-commerce and technologyTactical promotion planMarketing budgetCredibility and risk reduction

5. Team and management structure 7Skills, experience, training and retentionAdvisorsManagement systems

6. Financial budgets and forecasts 8Profit and loss forecast

Cash flow forecastBalance sheet forecastCapital expenditure budgetBreak-even analysis1. Summary

(Enter your text here)

The summary is the last part of the plan that you write, but should be included at the beginning of the plan. This allows busy readers to quickly see what the plan is about without reading all the details.

Use the summary to highlight the key points of your plan. If you are using your plan to raise financing, the summary needs to make the reader (eg the bank manager or a potential investor) want to find out more and read the whole plan.

2. Business overview 

Introduction

Fallenheart Clothing Company was an idea first discussed in September 2009. The idea was founded by two friends, Stephanie McKenna and Samuel Blackburn with Daniel Boome as Chief Designer. After much discussion we decided to pursue our idea further and settled on naming our business and brand Fallenheart Clothing Company. From this moment on we have been planning the details of how to realise our idea and potential and make it a success.

The Name Fallenheart comes from a story every person goes through in their life about how we forget the ones we love the most, E.g a died friend, family member or someone you fell in love with. With Fallenheart we hope to give people something that they will be able to wear to remember those people they have forgotten and through this never forget the ones that we love the most.

We feel that the t-shirt and clothing markets are stagnated with many designs repetitive and boring. We feel that we can bring a fresh approach and put our own spin on the latest trends, producing designs that will not only make consumers one step ahead in the fashion market but also help consumers distinguish themselves from the pack.

We plan to be an incomer into a very competitive market but feel we have an edge by hand designing each t-shirt and printing it by hand whilst using 100% cotton fibres.

The side market that we are targeting is the rock/alternative market. Some would call this "Emo' but we want to get away from just using black as the natural colour people go for. We want to bring a fresh new out look into it.

Current position

So far we have currently bought the hosting and web rights for the name Fallenheart and have a website under construction in the name of www.fallenheartclothing.com. We have also place our first order of sample clothing for printing and testing and have all our designs n place ready for the printing process.

In the business lifecycle we feel that we are still very much in the introductory stage. We feel that we still have a long way to go before we are in the growth stage but know that we are nit that far away and have to be ready for when we go into that stage.

Our industry that we will be working in will be the clothing retail industry. In this we will be a newcomer into the market and their for not have a big market share. For the style we are going for we feel that the market is saturated with stale designs and feel that there is room for growth as more and more people are wanting to stand out from the pack to be an individual.

Competitive advantage

The main strengths of the competition that we face when entering the market is that there is a lot of choice for the consumer. With that choice there becomes a bit of a price war. We plan to attack this by offering fresh designs and quality t-shirts. The weakness tat we might find in our competition is that they will be sitting on their laurels and with us been fresh, vibrant and full of enthusiasm will be able to penetrate this weakness.

The way we feel we have a competitive edge over the existing competitors is that we are offering all 100% cotton threads and not cutting corners on the quality of the designs or t-shirts. We plan to be able to give the consumer what they have been begging for, which is something fresh, vibrant and innovative. The way we plan to stand out from the pact is to bring out a fully Organic line. With the state of the world as it is at the moment a lot more consumers are becoming more conscious of where they are buying and more importantly where the products are sourced and whether or not they have come for legitimate sources.

With having young energetic designers helping design the prints we feel that we are giving a chance for the younger generation to get noticed through the expression of art and culture.

We feel that our business plan has every chance for success. With the right designs, fabrics and advertising as well as drive and not resting on the laurels that many clothing companies have done we feel that one day we ill become a major player in the market, as well as giving other young designers a chance to shine where in some cases they would not be able to get noticed.

Growth plan

Our current goals are straight forward;

▪ To start trading by March 2010.▪ To have the sample t-shirts ready by 31 December 2009.▪ To have sold 120 t-shirts by March 2011.▪ To have sourced all our products by 30 November 2009.▪ To have set up all social networks by 30 November 2009.▪ To become known throughout the north by 2011.

We have set our self realistic targets and goals for the first year. We have not over stretched ourselves in giving ourselves unrealistic and unreachable targets that would set the business to fail. If we plan a head we plan not to fail. Once we have hit these goals and targets fresh goals and targets will be made so that we don't rest on our laurels and that we can continue to grow the company and able to earn money of it.

Our future goals are straight forward;

▪ To establish Fallenheart clothing as a major player in the clothing market.▪ To branch out in to different type of clothing such as;

- Socks.- Pants.- Jeans/trousers.- Trainers.- Shirts.

▪ To look into the possibility of opening a retail shop within a city and possibly a chain.

After a year more we would look to gaining a business loan of between £5000 and £10,000 to help grow the business to the next stage.3. Business strategyWith in the next year a lot of man hours will be focused into marketing, advertising and setting up the company so that it will be come a success in the long run. We plan to offer the best quality clothing with a sensible pricing structure with locally sourced equipment and using local business associates as much as possible to cut down on costs and to add a bit of individuality into the clothing.

In the next year our main strategy is not to get into debt and to attempt to brake evan by not over stretching ourselves. We have set ourselves realistic targets so that what we put in we will be able to cover with sales of the clothing we produce.

Within the next 3 - 5 years we want the clothing company to be paying for it self an to employed at least 2 full time workers to be able to compete with the main players in the clothing market, this will also enable us to keep it fresh and always moving forward which is something we are striving to do always.

We want to be able to be able to gain an excellent reputation and gain good friendships with bands so that our clothing will be on the lips of the youth of tomorrow.

Our main objectives in setting up the clothing range is to make money but also to be able to do something we enjoy and have a passion about. Also we want to be able to make money with a smile and to help the trends of the world.

We feel that in our business we will always have 5 main goals that we will always strive to achieve and always go to the next level. These goals are;

1. Always make the clothing profitable.2. Be one step ahead of the competition3. Be energetic and passionate about everything we do.4. Make sure we are always moving forward and not backwards.5. To build a a brand that is a proven trend setter.

Tactics

At the moment we are in limbo as we are just setting up and there is a lot of t's to cross and i's to dot. Once we have got the samples and printed them we will be ready to move forward. We are also awaiting the website build so until then we wont be able to turn over any money cos internet sales are where the products are going to be on sale from at the start.

To get to the next step we will have to cover these aspects;

▪ Order and print the samples.▪ Order the stickers for the advertising campaign.▪ Set up the social network sites.▪ Input more hours throughout the day.▪ Be more proactive and pushy with suppliers.

Strategic issues

External Threats

▪ Recession - The way that retail at the moment in time is low and that we will be a new comer into the market makes it harder for the company to set off.

▪ New comer in to the market - Not having a very strong reputation might damage sales at firstLack of advertising. - The way we advertise and where we advertise as we are a

new comer we would need to think about and possibly match other brands marketing strategy at first before we can implement our own.

▪ Quality o the t-shirts - Not to cut corners on quality for more revenue.▪ Competition - Not to make sure that we copy any other peoples designs and

that we are fresh and that we don't cave into competition.

External Opportunities

▪ Being a newcomer - Having no fear in what we are doing and beng energetic will give us a lift over the competition that we face.

▪ Investment - With the recession supposably on the way down gaining funding and investment will be come easier within the next 3-5 years.

▪ Property - With renting and buying property cheap at the moment an investment within a premises for printing storage and possibly a shop would be advantageous as the leases would be cheaper than in 3-5 years time.

Core values

The main core values that our business will run through are as follows;

▪ Always have fresh designs with quality clothing.▪ To help and promote local bands through advertising and sponsorship.▪ To always look forward to gain extra revenue.▪ To always strive to be better.▪ Never forget our roots and where we have come from.▪ To never change our beliefs about what we feel the clothing should be like.▪ Don't get stuck on our laurels.▪ To always take criticism seriously and to be able to move on from it positively.

4. Marketing

SWOT and critical success factors(Enter your text here)

Outline briefly your marketing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.What are therefore the critical success factors for your business?Market research(Enter your text here)

Explain what market research you’ve done and methods you use.Outline how ongoing market research is built into your daily business operations.What target market(s) has your market research (and trading experience) established.Explain how intimately you understand these markets (how close you keep to your customers) and how this feeds back into your business (improvements, product/service changes, etc).Distribution channels(Enter your text here)

Describe the current marketing reach of your business (local, national, international?) and how you reach customers (eg through distributors, using the Internet).In terms of your strategy, what new markets do you plan to access:In the next year?In the next 3-5 years?Describe how you plan to accomplish this.Strategic alliances(Enter your text here)

Explain what strategic alliances you have in place or are planning to increase your access to markets, leverage resources, etc.E-commerce and technology(Enter your text here)

Explain how you’re using e-commerce and technology in your business to lower costs, speed up business,

access new markets, build online sales, etc.Tactical promotion plan(Enter your text here)

Explain how you will promote your business to customers (eg advertising, exhibitions, PR).Marketing budget(Enter your text here)

Detail your marketing budget for the year. Explain how you will monitor it to manage and improve results.Credibility and risk reduction(Enter your text here)

Explain your tactics for increasing the credibility of your business and reducing the customer’s risk in doing business with you.5. Team and management structureSkills, experience, training and retention(Enter your text here)

Describe the skills, business track record and experience of yourself and key members of your team.Outline your team. Explain the key staff, their positions and key responsibilities.Briefly describe the incentives you’ve put in place (or are planning) to retain them and keep them motivated.Describe your staff training programme and its budget.If there are gaps in your team, or you need extra staff to fulfil your short and longer term strategies, outline the gaps here, and who you need to fill those gaps.Explain how new staff will be trained.Advisors(Enter your text here)

Describe your core team of advisors (lawyer, accountant, consultants, business mentor or ‘guru’ you can access for advice, etc).Management systems(Enter your text here)

Briefly outline the management structure of your business.Describe the business systems you have in place to manage efficiently. Do you have written operations manuals in place or house rules for staff (always wear name badges, etc)?What accounting software or systems do you use? How regularly can you produce financial reports and analyse key business ratios?Cover compliance issues too: how you prepare for and deal with payroll and employment issues, tax and VAT obligations, health & safety, etc.

6. Financial budgets and forecasts(Enter your text here)

Attach financial budgets and forecasts you are attaching to the business plan such as:Profit and loss forecastCash flow forecastBalance sheet forecastCapital expenditure budget

Break-even analysisProvide brief notes on each of these forecasts. It’s a good idea to produce Optimistic, Pessimistic and Realistic versions of the first three. If the cash flow forecasts pinpoint future cash flow difficulties, explain how you plan to deal with these challenges.

Business plan prepared November 2009 Page PAGE 8