As we noted in an earlier post, one of the most familiar teams in fashion is the designer and his business manager, such as Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. There are also design teams such as Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabanna. (Taking the role of the “suit” in that family business is CEO Alfonso Dolce, who is Domenico’s brother.) If it is essentially just two of you at first, little, if anything, may end up in writing, but as your business expands, that kind of relaxed approach will become impossible to maintain. If roles and, just as important, compensation, are not formalized, misunderstandings and disputes are likely to arise. The law being about nothing if not the prevention of disputes and their resolution, we always advocate the preventative approach: set things up to prevent troubles from the start, so that they don’t jump out at you from a bend down the road—and make doing business either unnecessarily difficult or completely impossible.
Start with the form of your organization. Although it is legally possible, to a point, for two or more people just to announce they are a business and to operate as an unorganized general partnership, that is rarely a sound approach. Every partner will immediately become, and remain, personally liable for everything the business does and for its financial problems—all of them, whoever among the team may have caused them. You can make things a bit easier for yourselves by putting it in writing, but what you put in writing is critical, and it makes sense to organize in a way that limits personal liability. Keep in mind that the word partner, which has a precise legal definition, is thrown around indiscriminately these days to mean any pairing, from companies doing business together to people in love. In a general partnership, however, the old-time definition of partner applies: a co-venturer who is personally on the hook, for whatever he or she is worth and then some, for whatever debts and other liabilities the business may incur.
To prevent that from happening, two generally preferable organizational structures are available for new businesses that intend to engage in designing, manufacturing, distributing or selling fashions or accessories: the corporation and the limited liability company. They are both roads that lead to the same good end: if the business is conducted properly, its owners generally are immunized from personal liability for the actions of the company. Which organization form works better for you is a question that your legal and tax advisors will help you resolve at the time of organization.
For both forms, however, there is an important doctrine of law that has to be considered, and its consequences need to be avoided: “piercing the corporate veil.” It is every bit as brutal as it sounds. The “veil” of limited liability is “pierced” and you end up personally liable for the debts of the business, legal judgments against it, and so on. The easiest way for that to happen is for a business owner to use the company as a “mere instrumentality” for himself or herself, for example, using the business’s checking account to pay for personal obligations or otherwise comingling business and personal funds. You say you would never do that? Good. Now look over your shoulder and ask if your co-venturer is as careful in the segregation of business from personal affairs as you are. If that is not the case, it may be a good time to get the company’s attorney involved and do a business practices compliance review.
We never said that getting along is easy to do.
Credit: Alan Behr
Photo Credit: Andypiper (Creative Commons)
