How to start a clothing brand online? Theoretically, you only need a supply, a niche, and a market to sell to. In practice, however, it’s more complicated than that. Thankfully, with the help of robust e-commerce platforms and a little elbow grease, starting a competitive clothing business has become much more accessible than it was some 10–15 years back. And now, we’ll show you a condensed guide to get you where you need to be!
Creating a Clothing Business in 2024, Step-by-Step
Starting a clothing brand is a challenging feat. You’ve got your work cut out for you.
Expect many twists, turns, and bumps along the way. To help you navigate the process and enter the market as smoothly as possible, you can use this guide as a general roadmap for starting a clothing business.
1. Identify Your Niche and Audience
You can’t make clothes for everybody, at least not to start with. The first step will always be establishing a target market to which you want to sell. Come up with a buyer persona based on the following:
- Demographics
- Values
- Personality
- Style preferences
- Purchasing behavior
Remember: your brand has to stand out somehow. “Generic” might as well be a synonym for “obsolete.”
2. Develop a Brand Identity
Your brand’s logo, colour scheme, and identity must be instantly recognizable and easy to remember. Reach deep within and seek out your motivations for starting this business—a good, heartfelt story built around your brand helps create authenticity and connect with your customers.
3. Work out Your Business Model
This decision will influence your daily operations, profit margins, and creative control, so choose wisely. Here’s a brief overview of the available methods:
- Dropshipping: Essentially, you outsource warehousing, production, and shipping to someone else. It’s a safe method, but your margins will be lower.
- Print-on-demand: With this model, you don’t hold stock, which saves costs upfront. Scalability might become an issue, as print-on-demand brands don’t have much wiggle room for product line expansion. You’ll most likely be selling t-shirts and hoodies with your designs on them and not much beyond that.
- Bulk manufacturing: With a larger upfront investment, you partner with a manufacturing company to produce goods for you. This means more control over various aspects, like quality and pricing, at the cost of storage and the risk of unsold inventory never generating profit.
Of course, there’s also the full DIY method where you start a small-scale operation and handle everything yourself. If you’ve got the skill, time, and ambition, this will be the option for you.
4. Create a Business Plan
Research the market, develop a financing plan, and set a pricing strategy. These three things are the backbone of your business. Whether you choose to register an LLC or start a sole proprietorship, your structure has to align with your business goals and available funds. Create a realistic roadmap for growth, set goals, and outline how you plan to achieve them to promote your brand.
5. Establish Sales Channels
Decide how you’ll be selling your products. Will it be through your website? Pop-up stores and markets? A fixed brick-and-mortar location? Social media or third-party sites like Etsy or Amazon? Each way has its set of pros and cons, so the choice should align with your brand, target market, and other aspects of your business plan.
6. Set up an E-Commerce Background
If you decide to establish an online presence (as you should in 2024), you’ll need an e-commerce platform that fits your needs.
Sites like Shopify or WooCommerce are the most popular choices these days, but the usefulness of their generic versions can only take you so far. That’s why WeCanFly offers comprehensive support in building your digital brand by equipping your Shopify store with better tools and functionalities to help you grow. See our portfolio of past work here.
7. Design Your First Collection
With (most of) the groundwork laid, it’s time to get designing. Create a collection that reflects your brand identity and will resonate with your target market. Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew straight away—start small to test the waters and get feedback.
8. Employ Digital Marketing Strategies
Utilize social media ads and a content marketing strategy to build awareness about your upcoming launch. If you’ve got the funds and infrastructure to make it big, consider influencer marketing as well, just be prepared to spend quite a lot more.
Use this time to engage with your target audience through behind-the-scenes sneak peeks and storytelling. You need to generate enough buzz to create anticipation and excitement for launch day.
9. Launch!
Once you’re ready to take your product online (or out into the real world), all you have to do is… make sure nothing goes wrong! Be ready to address customer service issues and start shipping out those orders!
10. Focus on Sustainable Growth
Once you’ve launched, it’s time to focus on scaling. Gather feedback from your customers to improve your products consistently. Continue to monitor e-commerce trends and compare them against your own sales metrics. This will help you keep your brand fresh, stay on top of demand, and be ready to pivot if necessary. Remember, slow and steady wins the race.
The Takeaway
How to start a clothing brand? Hopefully, with these 10 steps, you’ve got a solid idea that will help you establish and grow a successful brand.
And when you’re ready to take the leap, reach out to us at WeCanFly to help us develop your Shopify e-commerce store and implement tailored growth strategies!
👉 You may also read: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Store on Shopify?
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