As a fashion brand consultant, I coach new brands and designers every day, they’re always really passionate about fulfilling their dreams but can feel overwhelmed by the task of starting out in the industry. One of the best parts of my job is helping brands through this process, it’s really satisfying and fulfilling so I wanted to write this post to help move you in the right direction.
The one piece of advice I give every new brand I work with is to…
“Be everything to someone not something to everyone”
This 10 step guide to starting a fashion brand covers all of the key areas to start thinking about. I wanted this guide to be no-nonsense and realistic; it won’t happen overnight and there’s a lot to learn along the way but with work, lots of enthusiasm and hustle (!) you can do it.
It’s often a steep learning curve when starting a fashion brand; I’ll explore each of these areas further in future posts but for now here are the headlines to get you started on your journey…
1. DEFINE YOUR USP AND A GAP IN THE MARKET
The essence of starting a brand is always remembering that customers need a reason to buy from you; not a competitor or from a big retailer (who will usually be selling at a much cheaper price). Finding this gap in the market and your Unique Selling Point (USP) is the most important, and often most difficult, part of starting a brand. Everything you do from this point forward will come back to this so it’s important to get this first step right!
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When you’re thinking about this part of your brand some considerations will be:
What’s missing in the market and finding something that’s truly unique. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a product but could also be the way you sell that product. It could be based on something specific like who you are or where you live. Some examples could be your life living by the sea, an unusual target customer, how you handmake your products or the unique influences in your designs.
Who do you know that needs this product? This will help you to decide if this is worthy of taking it to market.
Who your customer is - for instance, what she likes, how she spends her time and what her priorities are. This will help you as you move forward by helping you find your customer and building the brand around her.
Where your brand will sit in the market - if it will be premium, young fashion etc. Again this will help you focus on what’s important to your customer.
Who your competitors are - make this as realistic as possible by looking at brands that aren’t large or long-established. Doing this work will help you find templates for building your brand.
Which brands you aspire to in the future - good models that will help you focus your goals and inspire you on your journey.
What level of quality your customer will expect - going higher or lower than what they expect can be a stumbling block.
What appeals to that customer - this could be sustainable practices, neutral colours, natural fabrics and so on.
The more specific your USP is the better. You'll get a group of loud cheerleaders if you're doing something no one else is doing in the market. It should be extremely personal to you and ideally involve you as a selling point of the brand (nothing is as unique as you are). You need to sell something truly individual and give the customer reasons to buy into your story to make it worthwhile buying from you. This can be your unique approach to design, unique product, the interesting story behind the brand and so on.
I really enjoy helping brands to refine this aspect of their brand as it can sometimes feel like everything’s been done before! There are always new trends and ways of selling so it’s worth putting some time aside to work through this point.
2. DECIDe WHETHER IT WILL BE OWN BUY OR BRANDED
If you haven't already then its time to decide whether your brand will be own buy or branded i.e. if the products you sell will be made based on your own designs or ready-made from a third party. The approach you take will determine how you run your business and what you need to plan into the development of your brand. Branded products are often ‘easier’ to buy as they are ready-made but they may be less unique in the market as other brands may have them. Own buy requires investment in time and money but it will be truly unique to you - a great selling point.
There are many options within this, some of which include:
Buying from a third party wholesaler - there are many suppliers out there, especially online that will sell their goods to you for you to re-sell. Some of them will re-label with your own labels and branding.
Customised wholesale/Wholesale branded product - buying ready-made products that you customise in some way. Commonly this is used by brands that sell printed t-shirts with their unique designs on them. There are many other customisable products out there which are bought through a fulfilment company. Many will even re-label and send out the finished product to the customer for you.
Make your own products at home.
Working with suppliers to create a unique collection just for you - own buy products that you will buy upfront and will be delivered to you.
Custom making pieces for individual customers based on, for instance, their specific measurements.
3. SOURCING AND SUPPLIERS
Whichever route you take, you will need to find the correct suppliers for your brand; some considerations are:
Location - this is critical if you want to be able to visit your suppliers
Cost - for obvious reasons its key to be clear about what is and isn’t included in your price.
Quality - getting examples of what you will receive from your supplier.
Lead time - how long will it take to get delivered? Does this fit with your time frame? Local suppliers are often quicker than those that are far away from you.
Flexibility - can you change designs and if so at which points can you do this? This is called the critical path and should be managed consistently at each stage of the process to ensure you’re on time for your launch
Experience and ratings - are they reliable and trustworthy as a supplier?
Ethical/sustainable standards - are they at the standard you require?
Ability and expertise - can they make the products that you want for your brand?
Minimum order quantity (MOQ) - are there any minimum buys that you need to be aware of?
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4. DEVELOPing YOUR PRODUCT
What you need to consider when you’re designing and building your range will vary depending on whether you’re designing your own product or not. In general, some of the things you will need to think about are:
Fabrics - are the fabrics you require available and within your budget?
Trims - as above.
The design - getting a tech pack to send to the factory. A tech pack gives the factory the measurements and specifications needed to make the product
Sizing (and grading).
The cost of the garment.
Feasibility of making the product in reality - complicated styles can be hard to make in real life. They may also be very expensive.
Economies of scale - can your product be made in bigger quantities later down the line?
5. SETTING UP YOUR BRAND FROM A LEGAL/FINANCIAL POINT OF VIEW
I’ll only touch on this briefly as many new brands are self-funded; it’s absolutely possible to start small, especially in todays online marketplace. I would always advise new brands to grow slowly and sustainably with a very small budget initially.
Some funding options might be:
Using Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter or one of the many other platforms out there
Government or privately funded grants/loans
Small business loans
Business Angel Funding is a good source of investment at the early stages of a business. Find out more via networks like Angels Den and Angel Investment Network.
You’ll also need to set up your business for tax purposes - either as a self-employed sole trader or company.
6. DESIGN AND BUILD THE RANGE
Another part of the process I love is building the range; this stage is vital to ensure that you have a collection that works well together and covers everything that your customer will be looking for.
What to think about:
Trend forecasting to ensure that your customer will have what they’re looking for when your collection launches
Offering a full range of products that your customer will want - making sure that both trend-led and ‘core’ products are available.
Ensuring there’s no duplication in the range
Range of prices (both cost prices and selling prices) so that there is choice and your budget is managed
Competitor analysis i.e. looking at your competitor’s ranges. This is key to ensuring that you are staying unique to you and that your prices/quality are what the customer will expect
Market research to ensure that there is potential within your part of the market
Factors like making sure there are a variety of colours, prints and lengths on offer so that you are not putting off customers that don’t like certain design aspects of your collection.
Lead times of each garment to ensure that the whole collection will be delivered at the same time
My guide to the Essentials of Buying (linked above), is a useful tool for brands that need a bit more guidance in this area. It also covers other areas like working out cost prices and managing the critical path.
7. BUDGET
Before you commit to buying from suppliers you should work out what budget you need to get started and what funds you have available. To to do this you will need to consider the following:
The costs of each component of your product
Packaging and labelling costs
Running costs of your business - website, promotion, paying people for services related to your brand
Shipping costs
Import costs
Storage costs
Delivery costs (to the customer)
Decide your selling prices - they should be based on what your customer is willing to spend on this product but also what the total cost price will be for each product
8. BRANDING
Branding is an important part of the first impression you will have on a potential new customer. This needs to be designed for your website, literature (like lookbooks), social media and clothing labels.
You may need to employ a graphic designer with this part of the process; one that shares your vision and can help translate this for your brand. Some things to consider are:
Tone of voice you’re going to use to talk to your customer
How you will tell your story through your branding
Creating a logo that can be used across your brand - on your website, social media, packaging and labelling
Design your labelling
Choosing the fonts and colours that will best represent your brand
Photography and visual tools that will help tell your story
9. WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
I always advise brands to use a template for the initial stages of their brand; like Squarespace. It’s cost-effective, easy to build and low risk. If you have a custom site built it will be costly and require further maintenance whenever you update your site (at extra cost). If you have the option of updating it yourself you’ll save money and get the benefit of high-quality web design that you can adapt to your brand easily.
We all know how important social media is to fashion brands, Instagram, in particular, can be a useful tool for growing a brand. In My experience, follower counts aren’t important, true engagement and passion from followers are all that matters! The key is converting current followers into sales, by telling a story that will capture their imagination and inviting new followers by showing who you are.
Some of the advice I give brands when considering their website and social media includes:
Think about who your customer is, what they want to see, are interested in and where they go to find products and inspiration
Use original content - like photography at all times. Customers are very savvy and know when images are from stock.
Don’t use ‘product shots’ as the basis of the imagery for your brand. You should have photographs that bring it to life; on a model and either on location or in a studio. There are ways to do this on a small budget and it’s vital if you’re going to sell your story and make your products worthwhile buying over cheaper products on the high street. Shots of the product in isolation can be important as second or third images on a product page but they're not what will move the customer to buy from you initially.
Use interesting, insightful and witty captions and copy when speaking to your customer. Always coming back to what you know appeals to your customer
Have an ‘About us’ page. This is particularly important for a new brand. Talk about who you are, on a personal level and what’s unique about your brand
Regularly update your blog and ensure that you’re using keywords to increase traffic to your site
Utilise Pinterest to bring traffic to your site - this is a hugely underestimated tool when growing a fashion brand
Keeping it all up to date and relevant - time-consuming but there’s nothing more off-putting than an out of date site or social media page
Build a community around your brand via social media; using hashtags, engaging with potential new followers and promoting your accounts.
Engage with your community and get them to create content for you via hashtags i.e. posting selfies of themselves
If you can then it’s a good idea to create videos to show who you are - either your personal story or the story of your brand. This isn’t essential but they are visually appealing and people can easily get a feel for your brand from them.
Collaborate with influencers where appropriate. When done well this can a great way of getting new customers onboard and expanding your message
10. TELLING YOUR STORY
There are countless ways of utilising PR And marketing to grow your brand and get your message out there. Usually, the approach will involve building networks to get seen by new customers, increasing exposure and collaborating with other brands or individuals. The route you take will be whichever fits best with your brand, some ways of telling your story include:
Letting your customer go ‘behind the scenes’ into the workings of your brand and process
Showing how your product is being worn and used; either in your photography or in real life with examples from your customers
Talking about how its made or how you design your product
Discussing the inspiration behind your brand
Using quality images that bring your products to life - no flat and lifeless product shots as mentioned in the above step
Collaborate with other brands/organisations to show how your product will work in customers lives
Interviews with publications, blogs etc are great opportunities to tell your story. Reach out to people that will help spread your message and help you reach your customer
As I discussed in my first point, the most important factor to remember is to sell your story at all times! Everything else will fall into place if you do this well. Good luck on your journey!
I help brands through each part of the process via my 1hr consultancy sessions and 3 month starter packages. Get in touch to discuss them further or see my Packages and Courses page for further details.
If you like this then my blog and Instagram have lots more content and free advice that you may also like to take a look at!
