Business

Five Things You Need to Start a Sewing Business

Published

6 years ago

June 1, 2020

If sewing has been your passionate hobby for years, and people are constantly telling you that you are so good at it you should start your own business, then maybe it’s time you stop dreaming about it and take the leap into small business ownership!

But once the decision is made, there are some things that you need to do to get started on the right foot—or maybe, you could say, get started on the right presser foot!

The First Step Toward The Big Opening of Your Business

Make a plan. Before you begin, it’s important to map out an entire plan of action. This will give you a step by step plan to follow so that you can check off goals you meet as you go.

First, choose your specialty, and decide on your target market. Do you want to focus on alterations and repairs? Custom sewing jobs? Designing? Creating women’s wear or children’s clothing? Do you want to be a custom bridal shop? Bridal shops are almost always immediately profitable. Brides enjoy being able to collaborate with a great seamstress in order to design their dream dress and have it be one of a kind. Having a single success with your first bridal party can get your business off to a booming start.

Decide how much money you will need upfront in order to get started, and then estimate your ongoing costs. Estimate how long it will be before you should begin breaking even on your expenses and income.

The Second Step Toward Your New Business

Decide how you will make money. The most common way that sewing businesses make money is in alterations. This can be for everyday clothing, but for the most part the big business will be alterations for formal events such as weddings and proms. Money can also be made by custom designing clothing. You will have to decide if you want to focus on one area of sewing, or several areas. Do you want to alter wedding and bridesmaid gowns? Or are you willing to design and make wedding and bridesmaid gowns? Is custom baby and children clothing your passion?

The cost of materials and the amount of time necessary for each project will have to be estimated in order for you to set a price that will cover both and encourage a profit. A small sewing business with a single employee can make anywhere from $20,000 per year to $60,000 or more. If you exceed $60,000, you could consider adding an employee and growing your business enough to make a great deal more.

Profit increasing plans can include such additions to your business as adding a quilting club, or sewing classes.

The Third Step Toward Your Successful Sewing Business

Choose a location. Most startup sewing businesses begin in the owner’s home. Once profits are established, you could consider renting a space. Spaces close to a laundromat or specialty clothing shops such as those for formal wear are ideal.

To start your business in your own home, you will need a dedicated space that can be made to look professional. A spare bedroom, or enclosed porch works well. In rural areas, a climate-controlled shed, barn, or garage may also be suitable. You will need plenty of room for tables, equipment, shelves and racks for fabrics, and possibly a dressing area for clients to try on items or be measured for alterations.

The Fourth Step Toward Super Successful Sewing

Gather your equipment. You will need a very good, dependable sewing machine. If you already have one that works well for you and you are comfortable with, it may be all you need to get going. However, if you are expecting a booming business, or when your small business grows, you should consider a commercial—or industrial—sewing machine. These are very heavy-duty machines that can run for long periods of time and function highly efficiently and rarely need maintenance.

You will require a large supply of needles and pins, and that means in nearly every size and variety. Keeping these on hand will save time-consuming trips to the store to get the ones you need for different projects.

You will need a good serger for cutting and surging seams on tailored pants, dresses, and other items. A serger prevents fraying, which is essential when dealing with clientele.

You will need a great clothing steamer, an iron, and an ironing board. Nothing looks less professional than delivering wrinkled items to a customer.

Your new business will require a wide range of cutting tools, including scissors, cutting wheels, and rotary cutters to allow you to cut multiples of the same items in stacks to save time.

Rulers and measuring devices are also critical. A measuring board can be beneficial for sewing business owners.

Basic business supplies such a paper, pens, business cards, staplers, etc. will all have to be on hand and ready before you begin your business.

The Fifth Step Toward Successful Sewing

Advertise! Putting up flyers in places like laundromats, dry cleaners, and fabric shops is extremely helpful. Further, you should have a logo designed and be sure to mark your flyers and business cards with the same logo. You could consider getting your business off to a booming start by adding a coupon deal to your first flyers.

A website is also critical. Having a website designed and set up, with relevant information on your flyers and business cards, allows people to get all of the information they need about your business quickly and easily.

Place ads in local newspapers and get involved in community projects so people know your name and can start recommending you to friends. This is the best way to spread awareness of your business through word of mouth. Some ideas are helping to alter costumes for local school or church plays and getting involved in costumes for your local community theater.

Once you’ve gotten these five critical steps checked off of your list, your brand-new sewing business should be up and running!\. The sewing machine will be whirring away and your brand new customers will soon be ringing your bell and setting up appointments. And you can finally live your dream! Chances are that you’ve always loved sewing, and nothing thrills a sewing enthusiast more than new projects. With your own sewing business, you no longer have to try to tame your desire to sew because you can indulge in your passion for profit!

Business

Inside the $4.3B Quarter: What’s Fueling Black Banx’s Record Revenues

Published

4 days ago

January 16, 2026

Matthew Wiles

Every quarter brings fresh headlines in fintech, but few make the kind of impact achieved by Black Banx in Q2 2025. The Toronto-based global digital banking group, founded by Michael Gastauer, reported an extraordinary USD 4.3 billion in revenue and a record USD 1.6 billion in pre-tax profit, while improving its cost-to-income ratio to 63%.

These results not only highlight the company’s operational efficiency but also mark a pivotal moment in its journey from challenger to global leader. The big question is: what’s fueling such impressive financial performance?

Customer Growth as the Core Driver

One of the clearest engines of revenue growth is Black Banx’s expanding customer base. By Q2 2025, the platform had reached 84 million clients worldwide, up from 69 million at the end of 2024. This 15 million net gain in six months demonstrates both the attractiveness of its services and the scalability of its model.

Unlike traditional banks, which rely heavily on branch expansion, Black Banx leverages digital-first onboarding that allows customers to open accounts within minutes using just a smartphone. This approach is especially effective in regions underserved by legacy institutions, where access to affordable financial tools is in high demand.

More customers don’t just mean higher transaction volumes—they generate a compounding effect where network size, brand trust, and service adoption reinforce one another.

Real-Time Payments and Cross-Border Solutions

A major contributor to Q2 revenues is the platform’s real-time payments infrastructure. Black Banx enables instant cross-border transfers across its 28 supported fiat currencies and multiple cryptocurrencies, helping both individuals and businesses bypass the traditional bottlenecks of international banking.

For freelancers, SMEs, and multinational clients, this means faster liquidity, reduced foreign exchange costs, and simplified global operations. The demand for real-time financial services is growing rapidly—Juniper Research projects global real-time payments turnover to hit USD 58 trillion by 2028—and Black Banx is strategically positioned to capture a significant share of this market.

Crypto Integration as a Revenue Stream

Another key revenue driver is crypto integration. While many traditional institutions remain hesitant, Black Banx embraced digital assets early and has built infrastructure to support Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Lightning Network. In Q2 2025, 20% of all transactions on the platform were crypto-based, reflecting strong customer appetite for hybrid banking services that bridge fiat and digital assets.

Revenue comes not only from transaction fees but also from value-added services like crypto-to-fiat conversion, staking yields (4–12% APY), and blockchain-enabled payments. For customers in markets with unstable currencies, these services act as a financial lifeline, further expanding the platform’s relevance.

AI-Powered Efficiency and Risk Management

Record revenues would be less impressive if costs ballooned at the same rate. But Black Banx has proven adept at balancing growth with efficiency. Its cost-to-income ratio improved to 63% in Q2, down from 69% a year earlier, thanks to heavy reliance on AI-powered automation.

AI now drives fraud detection, compliance, and customer onboarding—areas where traditional banks often struggle with cost inefficiencies. By automating these processes, Black Banx can process millions of transactions securely while maintaining profitability at scale. This level of efficiency is rare in fintech, where high growth often comes at the expense of margins.

Regional Expansion and Untapped Markets

Geography also plays a role in fueling revenues. Much of the Q2 growth came from Africa, South Asia, and Latin America—regions where demand for mobile-first banking continues to soar. In 2024 alone, Black Banx reported a 32% increase in SME clients from the Middle East and Africa, signaling the strength of its positioning in underserved markets.

By extending services to populations previously excluded from formal banking—migrant workers, rural communities, and small businesses—Black Banx taps into vast pools of latent demand. The strategy proves that financial inclusion and profitability are not mutually exclusive but mutually reinforcing.

Diversified Revenue Streams

Another factor behind Q2’s record revenues is Black Banx’s diversified business model. Income is not tied to a single service but spread across multiple streams, including:

Transaction fees from cross-border transfers and payments.
Crypto trading and exchange services.
Premium account features for high-net-worth clients.
Corporate services for SMEs and international businesses.

This diversification insulates the company against volatility in any single segment, creating stable revenue growth even in shifting market conditions.

Michael Gastauer’s Strategic Blueprint

Behind these results is Michael Gastauer’s long-term strategy: scale aggressively but with efficiency, innovation, and inclusion at the core. His vision has always been to create a borderless financial ecosystem, and Q2 2025’s performance is evidence that this vision is not only achievable but sustainable.

By balancing mass-market accessibility with premium features, and by blending fiat with digital assets, Gastauer has positioned Black Banx as a category-defining player in global finance.

The Road Ahead: Toward 100 Million Clients

Looking forward, the company’s goal of reaching 100 million customers by the end of 2025 will likely be the next catalyst for revenue growth. More customers mean more transactions, more data insights, and more opportunities to refine and expand its service offering.

If current momentum holds, the USD 4.3 billion quarterly revenue milestone could be just the beginning of an even larger growth story. The challenge will be ensuring systems scale securely while maintaining trust in an environment where privacy and compliance are paramount.

A Record That Signals More to Come

Black Banx’s Q2 2025 performance—USD 4.3 billion in revenue, USD 1.6 billion in pre-tax profit, 84 million clients worldwide, and a lean 63% cost-to-income ratio—is more than a financial milestone. It is a signal of how the future of banking is being rewritten by platforms that are borderless, crypto-inclusive, and data-driven.

What fueled this record-breaking quarter is not one innovation but a combination of strategies—scalable onboarding, real-time payments, crypto integration, AI efficiency, and expansion into underserved regions. Together, they form a model that doesn’t just challenge traditional banking but actively builds the foundation for global dominance.

For Black Banx, the road ahead is clear: the $4.3 billion quarter is not an endpoint but a launchpad for even greater scale and profitability.