How To Start A Clothing Brand (Complete Guide)

Starting a business can be scary, especially if this is your first time. Whether you are starting your brand as a side hustle or are planning to throw in your 9 to 5 and be your own boss, there are some important things you need to know.

If you have the drive and the skills, there is no reason why you can’t start your own clothing brand. But those are the most important factors. If you don’t have the ability to design your own original clothing, then you will have a difficult time finding customers.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t get better and refine your skills. Few experts in anything start off with exceptional talent. But it’s important to be honest and clear about your abilities. So, if you feel as though you have what it takes, read on to find the best ways to start your own clothing brand.

Deciding on Your Niche

Finding your niche is an essential part of starting a brand. A lot of people talk about having a USP or a unique selling point, to such an extent that it has become a cliche. But it is not a silly idea. When starting your brand, consider what you have to offer. If you try to sell clothes that are identical to those already available on the market, then why should people buy yours? 

Having a specific niche will also make your brand easier to market as you will be able to highlight how it stands out from the crowd. If, for example, you use materials that are entirely vegan, cruelty-free, and have been made in ethical conditions, then, sadly, you do have a USP. But this shouldn’t be what you focus on. Make it an obvious part of your marketing so that people who care about ethics can find your brand. But this should be a given. Having an ethical business is not a USP. 

Your niche should be within another niche. For example, you can make clothing that is for fashion, sportswear, or children’s clothing. But within that, is it cottagecore, is it specifically for plus-sized people, is it for children with disabilities? These are all factors that you need to consider when it comes to both designing and marketing your brand.

Fashion Brand

Starting a fashion brand is a little different from starting a standard clothing brand. This is because high fashion usually has a more artistic slant. Generally the difference depends on whether you would expect to see your designs on a runway. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be practical and sensible with your designs. But it does mean that you can be more extravagant and different. The uniqueness of your designs is also essential. Rather than following popular trends, fashion brands set those trends.

With a fashion brand, the prices are also usually going to be quite a lot higher than the average high street price. So it’s important to consider this when you begin your brand. As your prices and designs will need to be considerate of your target audience. While it should not be the case that fashion is the realm of the rich and elite, this is generally the case.

So, if you want your clothes to be more accessible, this will be a more difficult task. But it will be worth it, if you believe your brand niche should be clothes with high fashion designs at an affordable price.

Sportswear

When it comes to sportswear, practicality and style almost completely flip when it comes to priorities. Sportswear exists to serve a purpose first, and look good second. That said, a lot of people enjoy putting together an outfit and looking good when going to the gym or on a hike. So it’s still important for sportswear to be flattering and fun.

As you first start your sportswear brand, it’s important to define your niche even further. Consider where your skills lie, as well as your knowledge of sport. For fashion, design and your own style is the most important thing and knowledge beyond how to design and make clothing isn’t really necessary.

But, for sportswear, you need to know what different sports require from their clothes. For example, running leggings will need reinforced inner-thigh material due to chafing. Whereas leggings or shorts for cycling will need padding around the seat. 

Working out and exercising has become incredibly popular in recent years. For many people, it is one of their hobbies. This means that the market is pretty saturated with sportswear and leisurewear. It is now becoming more common for celebrities to bring out their own sportswear lines, which makes the market even more overloaded.

This is another reason why it’s important to find a specific gap in the market. For example, leggings and sports bras for plus-sized women are in short supply. Try to find a group of people who aren’t being marketed toward and are often forgotten about. This can happen even more in sportswear, especially for plus-sized people, people with disabilities, and almost anyone who doesn’t fit into the marketable image of someone who looks as though they work out regularly.

Children’s Clothing

Children’s clothing is another niche where it’s important to have some experience and knowledge. There is a huge range of children’s clothes available almost everywhere. So it’s important to know exactly what babies, children, and parents all need. It’s also especially important to design pieces that are age appropriate. There have been many cases where children’s clothing has included slogans and images which are inappropriate for children, reinforce gender stereotypes, or otherwise have offensive material. This might not be something that you have considered as a designer looking to make fun clothes for children, but it is an important factor to consider.

As the market is so saturated with children’s clothes, it’s important to find a specific niche. For example, designing clothes for children with disabilities who need different shaped clothes. Or for premature babies who need smaller baby-grows. 

This is where market research and buyer engagement is so important. Research extensively, survey parents, and try to find what is missing on the market and what parents are looking for. This will not only help your brand to be recognizable and succeed, but it will also provide a service for people who are not currently served by mainstream designs.

Cruelty Free and Sustainable

As mentioned above, owning a cruelty-free and sustainable brand should not be a USP, but it sadly is. Having an ethical business is, thankfully, the future of fashion. If you are passionate about sustainability and ensuring that your products are cruelty-free and ethical, it is essential that you are on top of every aspect of your supply chain.

Even if you are the only employee (at present), it’s essential to source every piece of material from ethical and sustainable companies. It’s also essential to ensure that the materials themselves are all sustainably sourced. 

This is much easier than it used to be. But it can still be pretty difficult. This is one reason to make your clothing brand a slow fashion brand. Fast fashion has a huge negative impact on the environment. It causes mass pollution and uses huge amounts of water. Many fast fashion brands also have poor working practices and environments, pay their employees poorly, and generally make poor quality clothes.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep costs low and try to have a large profit margin in order to continue your business. But it’s essential that you do not do this at the expense of your environmental impact and employee rights and welfare.

There are several ways to ensure that your clothing brand is a slow fashion company:

• Make items to order
  This doesn’t mean only working on commission. Instead, design and produce small quantities of your clothing pieces. These can be used to market and advertise your brand. Then, you can make the pieces as orders come in.

  In a society that expects next day shipping and immediate access to products, this might seem strange. But so long as you advertise it as part of your brand, your customers will understand that their products might take a week or more to be made and then arrive. This will ensure that no materials and pieces are made unnecessarily and wasted.

• Stick to capsule collections
  Having a smaller collection is another way to reduce your waste. With a smaller collection, you will need to use fewer materials and there will also be less waste, as you won’t be making huge numbers of pieces unnecessarily.
• Sell Everything
  If you make an irreversible mistake, it’s tempting to just throw the piece away. But this is not a sustainable practice. If you can, unstitch it or rework it into something else. If this isn’t possible, you can still sell it at a discounted price. This can be on your website or on a resale site such as Depop or Vinted. These are great ways to ensure that your pieces are not simply thrown away for minor flaws that most people wouldn’t notice or mind.

Creating a Business Plan

The most exciting and creative part of setting up a clothing brand is finding your own style and niche. But the most important part is setting up a business plan. This is essential for ensuring that your brand not only gets off the ground, but also flourishes and succeeds. This means having a water-tight business plan.

Unless you have a lot of money set aside to begin your business, you will very likely need to apply for a loan or look for investors. This is one of the scariest parts of setting up a business. But being self-employed is incredibly common today and there is a lot of help out there. But before you get going, here are some tips on how to create a successful business plan. 

1. Research Your Market and Competitors
   Knowing where you will sit within the market is essential for personalizing your brand, establishing your niche, and understanding consumer demands. This can be a little difficult. You don’t want to sell something that is already saturating the market. But you also don’t want to sell anything too outlandish and impractical that few people would want to buy.

   Finding your place in the market means knowing what you have to offer, especially in comparison to other brands. This means that researching your competitors is essential for predicting how well your brand will do. If similar brands are doing well within your niche, then this is a good thing. It’s important to research trends and understand what is popular, what will be popular soon, but also what is becoming less popular. Following trends won’t ruin your creativity nor unique style. Instead, it will help you to understand how well your brand and products will do.

2. Establish Your Customer Persona
   Establishing your customer persona is slightly different from establishing your customer base. It’s important to understand who will likely buy your products. But it is also important to envision who your ideal customer would be. Consider their age, their style, their career, their family status, their gender, their location, and anything else which can impact their consumption.

   For example, women have the vast majority of the buying power, yet it is men who are advertised to the most. So, if your perfect customer is a woman, a nonbinary person, or a man, advertise directly to them. But make sure to avoid stereotypes when creating your customer persona. This will not help you to advertise to real people, and could potentially cause you to unconsciously include reductive stereotypes in your marketing.

3. Set Your Budget
   Setting a budget is essential, and it is important to stay within your budget as much as possible. Especially if this is your first company, and you’re unsure of how to manage a budget. Especially if your current funding was difficult to get.

   Establish how much money you have to use in total. Then divide it amongst different costs. These should include production costs, the cost of materials, the cost of shipping, and any other tiny thing that will cost money. No matter how little it costs, include it as those small costs will build up.

   It’s also important to include paying yourself in your budget. Especially if you have quit your job and need to sustain yourself. It can take a while for your company to start to make a profit, so don’t wait until then to pay yourself.

4. Plan Your Plan
   It’s important to ensure that your business plan is laid out in the correct way. As well as include the correct information. Before you start writing, research how to lay out your business plan, as well as what to include once you have the format down.

Setting up the Business

Find a Location

If you have chosen to have a physical store, finding a location is one of the most exciting steps of opening your business. Your brand is finally coming together and seems so much more real than it was on your business plan. 

While you might want somewhere stunning and unique, remember to stay within your budget. You can always make it your own with some interesting interior design. Try to ensure that you have the basics in terms of insulation, storage, and all the essentials you need. Style and beauty can come later on. And remember, if you do well, you will be able to move on to somewhere better in the future.

In-Store or Online

A lot of people find that setting up an online store is one of the best options for a new brand. This is because you won’t have the expenses of rent and bills that come with owning a physical store. You can also reach a wider consumer base as you won’t be limiting yourself to one space.

But, having an online store comes with other costs and tasks. You will need to buy packing for your items, regularly go to the post office to post them, and provide tracking information. This adds a fair bit of admin that you otherwise wouldn’t have with a physical store.

If you think that your brand would thrive best in a physical location, then it’s best to trial it out in another store. Before opening up your own specialist store, approach other traders to see if they will stock your items. This will give you a good idea of what sells well, without the cost of renting a space yourself.

Product Catalog

A product catalog is a great way to advertise your brand. They might seem a little old-fashioned now, but people still love flicking through a catalog. Put together some physical copies and hand them around or post them along with products that people order. This isn’t the best way to get word out today, but it’s still a good idea.

Sales and Marketing

Marketing your business is essential for getting your brand noticed. This can be a difficult task as you might feel as though you don’t know how to sell your products. It can also sometimes feel strange to actually try to make money from your designs, especially if you started them as a hobby or a passion.

Register Your Business

This is incredibly important. Make sure to officially register your brand as a limited company or as a sole trader. This is essential in terms of legality, and it’s a good idea to speak with a financial advisor to ensure that you don’t cut any corners that might cause problems in the future. Whenever possible, speak with experts. Setting up a brand means setting up a business, so it’s important to ensure that everything is above board.

Insurance

Insurance can often feel like an irritating expense, as you are paying money for something that might never happen. But when it comes to looking after your brand, it’s essential that the worst case scenario is considered. Insurance can look after your property if there is damage or if your machinery becomes damaged. No matter how small your business is, insurance is an important safety net.

Funding

Funding can come from many different sources. You can apply for business loans from banks, look for investors, apply for business loans from the government, or look elsewhere. Do as much research as you can in order to find the type of funding that will suit your business the best.

As mentioned before, it’s a good idea to speak with a financial advisor on all monetary matters. You should also reach out to other small business owners. This is important for networking but also research. Other small business owners will be able to provide you with guidance and support, as well as tell you what to avoid.

Creating Your Own Designs or Outsourcing Production

If you love designing and making clothes and want to be able to monetize your hobby, then you will likely want to design and create products by yourself. But, if you have found a niche that you believe will make you a profit, then you might want to think a little bigger. There are a few different ways that you can produce your clothing:

• Resell from Wholesalers
  This is one of the most common ways that people make money. They bulk buy from a wholesaler and then resell pieces individually at a higher price. The profit is the difference. There is no problem with this, but it lacks individuality and isn’t the best route for a small business.
• Manufacture your Own Designs
  If you have skills in both design and manufacturing, then creating your products entirely by yourself is a great idea. But be prepared to spend a lot of time working. Many people start their own businesses in order to escape the 9 to 5, then find themselves working 5 to 9. But you will still be in control of your own time and profits.
• Outsourcing Manufacturing
  If you don’t have the skills or time to manufacture as well as design and run a business, then you can outsource manufacturing. You will still be able to have complete control over the design and material. But you will need to consider the additional costs of outsourcing, as well as ethical working conditions and sustainability within the manufacturing process.
• • Domestic Clothing Manufacturers
    This is a great way of supporting your local economy, creating jobs, and increasing sustainability. Outsourcing to domestic manufacturers will reduce the emissions created through shipping. You will also be able to inspect production facilities and conditions yourself to ensure that they are safe and ethical. 

• • Overseas Clothing Manufacturers
    Many brands outsource their manufacturing overseas to cut down on costs. Unfortunately, one of the reasons why this cuts costs is because brands choose companies that pay their workers poorly. This is something that any brand should work to avoid. If you choose to manufacture overseas, for example if you want to use materials that originate from a culture or country overseas, then it is essential to check in on working conditions.

Branding

Choose Your Store Name

Your store name is usually the second thing that people will notice when they see your marketing. Especially if it is on social media or through banner advertising. They will notice the clothes and then the brand name.

This means that it needs to be something which encapsulates your style but also retains the potential buyer’s attention. Your clothes will grab their attention first, but your store name needs to retain it afterward. Try to think of something original and meaningful, but nothing which might alienate any potential customers. It also needs to be something that no other brand has already registered and trademarked.

If you choose a name with multiple words, consider how these words look without the spaces. As this is how they will look when they are in a URL. You don’t want to accidentally make it into something rude or offensive.

Choose a Color Palette

A great way to develop your brand is to decide on a color palette. This will make your website, designs, storefront, and branding all seem fluid and put together. It will also make you recognizable. Eventually, you will want people to see a color combination or a style and immediately think of your brand. Establishing a color palette will help to make you identifiable.

Design a Company Logo

This is a really fun part of branding. Designing a logo can be difficult, especially if you have a lot of ideas. This is another time to do some competitor research. What kind of logo do other similar brands have, and what can you do to match their style but still be unique?

It’s also important that your logo suits the style of your brand and your designs. It should also be within the color palette of your brand. This will make the brand look professional and show that you have a definitive style.

Packaging

Packaging might not seem like an important feature, but it needs to be styled and designed as well. Especially if part of your marketing strategy involves sending products to influencers. They will likely do an unboxing and style their photos and stories with the packaging.

Once someone receives their order, the packaging is the first thing they will see. This means that it will set their expectations. If the packaging is messy and doesn’t suit the brand, it will give the impression of carelessness. This will lead the buyer to assume that the same carelessness has been applied to the products themselves.

Stylish packaging is also just a nice touch that everyone enjoys. Especially if your pieces are high end and expensive. People will expect your products to arrive in a styled box with additional features. For many people, they will only buy expensive pieces every now and then. Unboxing a beautiful package will make this process even more fun and special.

Social Media and Email

Social media is one of the main ways in which brands advertise today. This can be through standard adverts that pop up as you scroll through Instagram and Twitter, through making video ads on TikTok, or through teaming up with influencers.

As a small business, one of the best ways to advertise your business is through setting up professional social media accounts. Often, if people see an advert but cannot find social media accounts for the brand, they will not trust it as legitimate. Try setting up Instagram and TikTok accounts and document your packing and manufacturing processes in a pretty and aesthetic way. 

Email is another great way to advertise. The easiest things to do are to add a tick box at the checkout so that people can choose whether to hear from you and also add a pop-up on your website for people to add their email address.

Start Selling

You probably won’t be surprised by how much work there is to do before you can actually sell your designs. But it will all be worth it once you get that first order. Here are just a few other things to consider as you prepare to launch.

• Pricing
• Photographing Products 
• Add Deals or Promotions
• Package Products
• Shipping
• Set out Returns Policy
• Plan Ahead for Next Season

Levelling Up

Once your company has been running for a while, you can begin to expand. This can include hiring your first employee, expanding your clothing line, or opening a second or bigger store. Whatever your next step is, bear it in mind and work toward it. But always remember to keep an eye on your business in the present. You don’t want to risk something going wrong because you were looking for the next big thing.

Summary

Setting up your own brand is scary and intimidating but absolutely worth it. When you see people online who have managed to become their own boss and are doing what they love, it looks easy. But what you don’t see is the years of working hard and struggling beforehand. You might be a runaway success straight away, or you might take a little while to get going. The most important thing is to seek help when you need it, do everything by the book, and stick to your core beliefs and style. As an Asia sourcing agent and China sourcing company we have helped multiple brands go for startups to successful brands, if you need any help please get in touch.