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Members run the best up-and-coming brands in the world, with different business models, positioning, & categories.
Some are luxury brands, some are commercial brands. Some are technology & sustainability-driven brands. Some focus on menswear some on womanswear. Some offer one category, and some offer entire collections. However, all our members seek belonging, support, and connection with a selective group of their peers.
Meet Your Community Facilitator
BFB Founder
Esteban Julian
Esteban is the founder of fashion education company BFB, and founder of fashion distributor Overpass International.
As a seasoned professional in the fashion industry, he is passionate about using his experience and network to educate and facilitate a new path to success and fulfillment for established, and up-and-coming fashion entrepreneurs.
Our Community.
Every applicant is interviewed, vetted, and researched before they’re accepted.
Our members are put into 1 of 3 categories:
- Members with brands between $10,000 to $100,000 in sales per year.
- Members with brands between $100,000 to 1 million in sales per year.
- Members with brands doing 1 million USD and beyond in sales per year.
Growing a fashion brand is hard.
We make it easier.
About our communities.
BFB was started on the experience of Esteban Julian - an entrepreneur who faced the common challenges of the fashion industry.
In 2014, when Esteban was starting his first brand, he realized how difficult it was to succeed in this industry without the right access to education and fashion networks. Therefore, he created BFB so that fashion entrepreneurs can learn the questions with hard-to-find answers, and connect with the peers that they will succeed with.
It’s no coincidence that all successful fashion entrepreneurs succeeded together with a peer group of fellow fashion entrepreneurs. This group advice, support, and connection sharing is invaluable.
So, we decided to create these groups. Members have access to a tribe of entrepreneurs who are going through the same things as you.
Weekly/Monthly Core Groups
A group of 10 to 20 founders with an executive facilitator, who leads weekly video call discussions where advice and critical feedback is shared to help accelerate your brand's growth.
Digital Community
Access to a digital and highly engaged community of fashion founders all over the world who provide helpful advice & share their networks of manufacturers, vendors, agents, agencies, consultants, freelancers, and key industry players.
24/7 Support
Members have access to a private WhatsApp group where they can ask questions, and receive personalized feedback from the group facilitator and other members 24/7.
Speakers & Masterclasses
We know how important it is to have access to the best and brightest. So, we host unique online workshops with top fashion leaders and executives across a variety of topics so that you can ask questions and get personalized feedback directly from the best people & most qualified people in the fashion industry.
Features
Fashion Founder's Only
Mentor Led Core Groups
Core Groups Include Peers Outside Local Regions
Incredibly Engaged Community
Database of Recommended Vendors, Manufacturers, Freelancers, and more...
Library of Recorded Digital Events & Masterclasses
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What are the BFB Communities?They are exclusive membership communities designed for fashion founders. Their core purpose centers around cultivating a founder-focused peer network for ongoing knowledge and network-sharing amongst peers.
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What are the requirements to join the BFB communities?You must be a fashion entrepreneur or at least an aspiring fashion entrepreneur. Those are our bare minimum requirements. We also evaluate your background and past experience, your current brand, traction, positioning, prices, and categories. We favor fashion founders who we think have something unique and that are going to be generous and collaborative members of the communities.
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How do I apply and what is the vetting process?Anyone can feel free to apply through this page. If you’ve been referred by a current BFB member, please remember to list their name as your application will moved to the front of the line. Becoming a BFB member involves a three-step process: First, we ask you to fill out a minimum criteria application, which should take five minutes. If we’re excited about the possibility of your membership and feel like we can place you successfully into a core group, we’ll reach out to fast-track your application. At this step, we ask you to fill out a pre-interview questionnaire, which should take less than 10 minutes. Last but not least, you’ll schedule a 30-minute interview with our membership team, where we can learn more about you and you can learn more about BFB!
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Is it true that BFB has limited community memberships?Our number one priority is maintaining the quality and integrity of the communities and the expertise of its members. For that reason, we’ve decided to create a chapter-based system that allows the community to grow in the best ways and yet also stay intimate in the best way possible. We can elaborate more during your interview if you have further questions.
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Who will be in my group core meetings?If you are invited to become a BFB member and accept our invitation, our membership and curation team will begin the process of forming your core group. We evaluate you first on your brands size, positioning and business model, and second by your traction (revenue, growth rates, profits), and then seek to group you with founders who are similar enough to make your experience highly relevant, but different enough so you can learn and be challenged by them. Depending on when you join, it could be several months or just a few weeks before you receive your core group assignment.
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Tell me more about the core group meetings?Core group meetings are on zoom and are typically 60 to 120 minutes each. There are roughly 4 meetings per month; with flexibility of course around summer months and December. Each meeting is planned, organized and streamlined by an executive facilitator skilled in coaching and connecting. The core group meetings are structured enough so that you always know what’s on the agenda and what is expected of one another, but with enough flexibility to allow for the highest-value conversation to emerge. The core group is our secret ingredient, so we’d be happy to share more with you when you interview with our membership team.
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What are the core values of the BFB communities?We’re glad you asked. We have four C.O.R.E. values: Confidentiality: Everything that is discussed within the communities is completely confidential, and members have to sign a privacy pledge in order to gain access to the community. We treat this very seriously. Openness: We ask that you come to Hampton with a lot of transparency and a lot of excitement to be open, honest, and vulnerable. We call it speed to vulnerability. Respect: Treat everyone how you would like to be treated. It’s that simple. Effort: Give more than you take, and be ready to show up - with your whole self - on time.
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Who is already in the community?Obviously we can’t divulge everyone in our community, but we can answer more questions should you be in the interview round of the application process.
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What type of fashion leaders and executives host the monthly masterclasses?Our monthly masterclasses are taught by highly renowned fashion entrepreneurs and executives. We analyse what the most common challenges our members are facing, and we find the most qualified and relevant people to present live masterclasses and Q&A sessions to help them solve those challenges. We can share specific examples on our 30-minute interview call.
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How are the BFB communities different from other fashion communities?This is what makes our BFB community different from other fashion communities: - Its entirely focused on starting and growing fashion brands - Made up of fashion entrepreneurs only - Digitally native members. Connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime - Coach led core groups - Incredibly Engaged Whatsapp Community - Peer-Based Knowledge Sharing - Monthly masterclasses - Database of Recommended Vendors, Manufacturers, Freelancers, and more - Library of Recorded Digital Events and Masterclasses