Everything you need to know about starting a clothing business
Starting a clothing brand or company is a great career option for someone who loves fashion. Now, it's easier than ever to make money by selling your products online. You can sell clothing in many ways, from finding wholesalers and collaborators to offering great products to excited customers. What you need to do to start your own clothing business.
How to start a clothing Brand or company in nine easy steps:
Fashion is a huge industry, with a multitude of brands and styles. You should identify and focus on your niche. You can then create a line of products that will resonate with your target audience and help build a strong brand. As tempting as it might be to try and be all things to all people, the best brands are those that have a niche they stick to.
Below are some examples of clothing brands operating in niches that have been highly successful:
Wrangler (casual)
Puma (athletic)
H&M (trendy)
Ralph Lauren (classic)
Playing to your strengths is the key to picking a niche. You can spend most of the time you have designing and building pieces if you are a good seamster. If you are a visual designer, you can create artwork that you can print on T-shirts and other clothing items.
1.Know Your Audience
It's crucial to identify your ideal client early on. Fashion makes it easier to establish your business and more difficult at the same. You can imagine the people who will wear your clothing, but also where and how you can reach them (in brick and mortar stores or online).
Consider these questions when choosing your audience.
What are they?
Which clothing brands do they prefer?
Do they have a particular brand that they are loyal to?
Where are they shopping?
How many times do they shop?
Does anyone care about trends?
What is the price of their products?
What factors influence their purchasing decisions?
Answering these questions will help you better understand your target audience. You can then strategically develop your brand and create products that they will want. Distribute products in a way they are easily discovered by those who will purchase them.
2. Create a Marketing Plan
The next step after defining your niche is to create a marketing strategy. It doesn't need to be comprehensive, even though it may sound like a lot. You do have to specify which channels you will use to sell the products you are selling, including direct sales, Amazon, Etsy and boutiques, as well how you intend to market your business to get sales.
These are the essentials for creating a marketing plan for your business:
Markets and Competition
Distribution channels
Marketing strategy
Advertising and marketing channels such as PPC and social media
Marketing budget
A marketing plan is a guide that will help you decide how to market your clothing line. It will also determine how you distribute your products and how you advertise, all of which will affect your sales. Find out how to create a marketing strategy.
3. Create brand assets and name your brand
It's time to pick a name for your business if you haven't done so already. Clothing company names are incredibly diverse. For example, Under Armor, ASOS, Banana Republic, L.L. Bean, American Apparel TopShop, Brooks Brothers Dickies, Deus Ex Machina Vardagen Life is Good or Salt Life. Your clothing business can have any name you choose.
Below are some tips for naming your clothing company:
Check that the word is easy to say and spell
Select a memorable or catchy name
Translate it into other languages
See if the domain name is available, for example yourbusinessname.com
After you've chosen a name for your business, select a slogan, if desired, and a color scheme. Then, create your logo. Canva is a drag-and drop design tool with dozens of ready-made logos that you can customize. You can also get a professionally designed logo for as low as $5 through Fiverr.
4. Register Your Business
The next step after choosing your brand name and creating your brand assets is to register with your state. Even for new clothing companies, this is an important step. You will need to have an Employer Identification Number in order to accept payment for your products. To get an EIN you must register as a company. It also allows you to work with retail stores and get wholesale prices.
Your state will determine the process for registering your company. You will need to register your business with your state Secretary of State. The cost of registering a Limited Liability Corporation is usually around $100, but it can range from $40 to over $250. Learn more about an LLC and how to create one if you are not sure if it is the right choice for you.
5. Source and Design Your Products
You probably already know what you want to do in terms of design and sourcing. If you are still unsure or want to explore new ideas, here are three ways that can help:
Wholesalers: Buy wholesale products
Create your own designs and have them produced
Create and sew your own
Whichever you decide to go with will, of course, depend on the way you intend to sell your product. If you plan to curate clothing collections to sell online (directly via your website, or Amazon), you can opt to buy products from dropshippers or wholesalers. It's a great option to reduce your upfront costs, especially if you dropship products. It also means that your products may not be as unique, and you might need to do more marketing.
6. Price Your Products
Two key factors are important when it comes to pricing fashion products. The cost of goods (COGS), which includes labor costs and materials, is the first factor to consider. Second, you need to determine the niche that you want your product to fit into. The average clothing line, for example, uses a strategy called keystone markup, which doubles the cost of production to calculate the price. It can be as high as 5X depending on the niche you are in, like high-end fashion brands.
Include these key costs when you price your product:
Materials cost
Time
Marketing
Packaging
Shipping
Your products should be priced appropriately if you are aiming to become a luxury brand. Products that take a lot more time, attention and care to create should be priced higher.
A clothing company that focuses on volume may have lower priced items. To encourage consumers to purchase more, you can add flash sales and deals to the mix.
7. Distribute Your Products
Clothing retailers have many distribution options, including selling their products directly on their website, selling through third-party websites such as Amazon or Etsy, selling in stores, selling via local retailers, and selling at national big-box retailers. It's best to sell and distribute your product through multiple channels to maximize exposure and sales.
You still need a website, even if you don't plan to sell your products online or directly. It helps you build your brand, and it allows retailers to see your lookbooks and product catalogs. Check out how to create a website, or the best ecommerce platforms to help you easily build an online store to sell directly to your customers.
You should own a website no matter how you intend to sell your products.
You can reduce your workload by using Etsy, or another highly ranked platform for e-commerce. You can spend more time designing clothes if you don't have to troubleshoot a website.
8. Promote Your Clothing Brand
You must market your clothing brand to reach your target audience. You can market your clothing business in many ways, but you should choose the marketing channels that will reach your target audience. Be where your customers are.
Here is a list of some of the most common marketing strategies and channels for clothing brands.
Organic Social Media Marketing, such as Pinterest
Paid advertising on social media, including Facebook Ads and Youtube Ads
Paid search advertising, such as Google Ads
Forums like Reddit
Content marketing
Influencer marketing
Paid placements
Banner ads such as Google AdSense
Ecommerce ads such as Amazon Ads or Etsy Ads
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Email marketing
Sponsorships
Local events
Local news
Always keep your brand at the forefront when choosing marketing strategies and channels to promote your clothing business. If it is on-brand, and you are likely to get the most out of your marketing budget, consider whether it will be effective. You will want to choose multiple marketing channels as you would with distribution channels.
Conclusion
Starting a Clothing brand business can be a wonderful way to combine your creative passion with business sense. You can also see your work on the streets, and turn your passion into a profitable enterprise. It's also more affordable to launch a clothing brand than ever before, so there's no need to make a large investment.