December 14, 2020

How to Start a Fashion Brand in 8 Simple Steps

According to Statistica, the fashion industry is expected to reach a value of over $3 trillion by 2030. That means if you're starting in the fashion industry, you're in a growing sector.

However, that also means that you need to make the right moves because you've got competition.

Starting a fashion brand isn't easy, but if you follow these 8 simple steps, you'll be on your way to an effective and profitable brand.

Step 1: Set Fashion Goals

What are your business and brand goals?

Decide the type of money you want to make, the products you want to design, and the mission you want to achieve earlier.

Spend a good chunk of time (2-4 weeks) thoroughly planning out your fashion brand before you launch.

This means plotting out your styles and ironing out your initial designs.

You should also put together a team to develop a process for brainstorming, manufacturing, producing, and delivering your fashion products.

This is the perfect time to create a quick business plan to get the ins-and-outs of how you'd like your fashion brand to look.

You may also consider different brands' business models such as Drop Shipping, Shopify stores, and other clothing business models.

This is the time to set SMART goals (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant and Time-bound). This step will be the core of your fashion brand.

Step 2: Brainstorm Your Target Market

Once you're got your goals in order, it's time to find a market that you can serve.

Fashion isn't just about creativity; it's about serving real needs to real marketplaces.

You can have the most innovative designs globally. Still, if they don't serve a specific group of people in the right way, you won't have a profitable business.

Start researching your potential target market by looking at your goals and doing some quick searches.

Are you interested in producing fashionable clothing for men?

Look into the age, demographics, and geo-graphics of customers that you wish to serve.

Find out what styles people you want to serve are already wearing.

This will give you a sense of what's already trending in your target market.

You must define your target market before moving on to design and production. Otherwise, you'll be wasting time and resources.

A fashion brand isn't just a passion project. It's a business. Your business needs to be profitable and serve a clear need,

Do you want to learn how you can kickstart your fashion brand today? Check us out at POND Threads for premium fashion designing and manufacturing.

Step 3: Clearly Define Your Niche

Did you know that 87% of millennials and Gen Z'ers are willing to pay more for sustainable clothing brands? (Digital Commerce 360)

Standing behind the firm and desired values will give your fashion brand the edge it needs in the current market.

Once you have your target audience clearly defined, you'll need to clarify your niche.

Your niche is what sets you apart from other fashion brands.

For example, instead of just a fashion brand based in the U.S.A., your brand could be a sustainable women's fashion brand that makes casual women's T-shirts for streetwear.

You can get really specific with the niche your brand exists in, as long as there are enough customers to serve in that niche.

You don't want to establish yourself in a niche that doesn't have any potential customers.

Define your niche by your location, the products you want to make, and any differentiating factors.

Your niche will be your way to carve out a small part of the whole fashion industry to call your own.

Niches are how you can thrive through competition and give your brand the competitive edge it needs.

Don't try to serve your fashion brand to everyone.

Instead, formulate your brand around 1-2 ideal customers.

Give your ideal customers, names, ages, hobbies, jobs, etc.

Be as descriptive as you can be.

Step 4: Design Your Brand Website

Once you have a target audience and a specific niche defined, it's time to start testing the waters and building your fashion brand website.

You don't need to use any fancy website design programs. In the beginning, you can start with eCommerce platforms for your fashion business instead of a website.

Eventually, you're going to want to have a home base on the internet that all of your potential or return customers can visit easily.

Your website should include a few products that you've designed, prices, and shipping times.

A reliable brand website can help validate your fashion ideas.

One way you can use your website at this stage is by making pre-order campaigns.

Create designs and sell them for pre-order to validate individual designs before you actually produce them.

If you don't have a brick and mortar location, your brand website will serve as your virtual storefront.

You'll need to be sure that your website has eCommerce payment methods for your fashion brand.

Make sure to start on this step early and continue adding to your site while completing the following steps.

Step 5: Find The Best Manufacturer

Manufacturers will do the bulk of the production work in your business.

They will source the material for your products and help you make your fantastic fashion designs a reality.

You must find the best manufacturers for your brand, specifically.

Are you aiming towards a broader, commodity audience or a more luxury, premium audience?

Knowing your niche and target audience will help you find the best manufacturer for your brand.

Step 6: Build Industry Relationships

Once you've got your manufacturer, it's time to start building relationships.

This means reaching out to any shipping companies, design agencies, marketing businesses, and other business partners that you need.

Network and find the best connection that you can.

In the future, you may want to team up with other fashion brands to do collaborations.

You may also want to eventually reach out to influencers and brand ambassadors as well.

Now's the time for you to plant the seeds for those relationships to sprout out.

Step 7: Carefully Craft Your Clothing

While you should have done your fair share of crafting in steps before, this is the step where you will really dive deep into properly formulating your designs.

This is the fun part.

Find, craft, create, and design various products that you will be selling in your fashion brand.

Be sure to compare your designs to competitor designs and clearly highlight the features and benefits that set your brand apart.

In this step, you focus on the look and feel of your brand in the products themselves.

Step 8: Run Traffic To Your Brand With a Marketing Funnel

Now that you've set up your fashion brand and build the infrastructure behind it, it's time to run traffic to your brand.

You need to build a property marketing funnel to run your fashion campaigns.

Customize marketing strategies to your brand.

If you built your website correctly, it should act as a virtual storefront for all of your orders.

Here are a few methods for generating traffic to your website and making sales:

Facebook Ads
Instagram Ads
SEO (Article Writing)
Facebook and Instagram Posts
Pinterest Pins

Running traffic to your fashion brand should be simple if you've executed all of the previous steps correctly.

Final Word

You've got the proper steps. All that's left now is to start!

Are you ready to start designing your products and building relationships with quality manufacturers? Start with us by contacting POND Threads today!