5 Unique Tips for Making Your Clothing Brand a Success
Launching a clothing brand takes much more than simply making some great-looking clothes. It's about creating an image and a story that people can latch onto, but also about knowing what to do when things sometimes don't go as planned.
Did you know the revenue of the global apparel industry is predicted to increase to 2 trillion dollars by 2026? It’s no surprise that the fashion industry is cutthroat, making it all the more critical for brands like yours to develop an enticing strategy and reach your target customers. But it’s not impossible to make a splash.
Keep reading to discover 5 starter tips you can use to get ahead of your success.
#1Start by working on your brand aesthetics
When it comes to starting an online clothing business that successfully drives engagement and conversions, you need to be clear about your goal. Brand aesthetics is the most important thing for ensuring long-term success, and that comes with clarity on how your clothing line will be helpful to the audience.
The fashion industry has changed drastically over the last two decades (from trendy clothing to fast fashion to sustainable clothing), and there's no reason it can't change again in the next 20 years. So you need to be creative when it comes to creating a unique clothing line.
To stand out as an up-and-coming brand, you must ace your brand aesthetics. And for that, you need to use things like creating mood boards, researching the niche competitors, and customizing the layout/color/widgets on your e-commerce site.
Brand aesthetics is all about the way customers feel after associating with a brand. If you can not build trust signals with your customers, your brand won’t outrank the competition. This will not only affect the ROI, but also the customer retention rate.
But you don’t have to be a UX expert. As a beginner, all you need to do is take care of these 4 things:
- A unique clothing brand name with powerful brandability
- An optimized store design/layout tailored to your niche
- An appealing brand logo that goes handy with your niche
- Your brand’s thematic colors and fonts
One great example of good brand aesthetics is H&M’s Instagram page. Their brand follows a minimalist theme across their various e-commerce platforms that helps attract more customers.
The harder you work to nail your brand aesthetics, the more memorable your brand will become in your customers’ minds.
#2Perform niche research/product research
Launching an e-commerce business takes more than a good idea and a quality product—it takes thorough research. It's not enough just to make a great shirt. You have to understand why people are buying it and what you can do to make them buy from you instead of from the competition.
The latest tech has made it easier for small businesses to use niche-specific research and product research to their advantage. Using tools as simple as Google Trends or specific keywords before you launch will also give you insight into what people are talking about online that relates to your company.
You can use this information to decide on the best direction for your new clothing line, including specifics like marketing strategy, ensuring that your designs stand out from the rest of the industry, and choosing a name that is easy for customers to remember.
By doing this, you'll be able to create clothing that appeals to your ideal customers. You can also use this data to tweak your product line, allowing you to capture an even larger market share.
#3Be transparent with orders and shipment
Shipping, production, and packing processes can vary depending on where your clothes are made and how popular they are. If you're using a global supply chain to produce your clothing line—which is becoming more common—it's vital that you have complete visibility into the status of each order from start to finish.
One way to do this is by creating a shipment tracking page on your website. Customers can check their order status easily from the site, which means they will feel more secure about buying from you in the future. You can also offer product recommendations based on other items they viewed while shopping or by making recommendations based on past purchases.
Be upfront with customers about how long it will take for their items to arrive at their doorstep. This way, when you miss a delivery date due to an unforeseen circumstance, like a strike at the factory where your clothes were made, customers will be more understanding and forgiving of the delay.
#4Use trending AI for starting and launching your business
In order to stay ahead of the competition, clothing brands need to be innovative and find ways to differentiate themselves from others. One way to do this is by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the operations of a clothing brand.
The growth of technology such as the metaverse and AI has made dramatic improvements in the fashion industry, with many applications—from helping designers create new styles and patterns, to improving operations efficiency, to predicting consumer behavior.
One of the most common ways that AI is being used by businesses today is in pattern recognition and analysis. This process helps designers and manufacturers spot fundamental problems in their clothing designs before they go into production. Once a design is finalized, it can also be analyzed for fit issues, which are often difficult to identify due to variations in human body types and shapes.
AI tools can also be used as part of your marketing operations to spread the word about your brand. For example, you can use the now-popular ChatGPT to generate descriptions of your designs and products. This AI sounds incredibly human, so the output needs little to no tweaking.
It also provides a great use case for your content marketing and research operations. Similarly, if you aren’t sure about the best brand name for your clothing line, you can use free AI tools. For example, if you want ideas around Etsy stores, look for something like an Etsy name generator. These AI tools will bring you one step ahead of the competitors.
#5Use referral marketing for social media sharing
The best way to promote your clothing brand and trend on social media is through referral marketing. When customers share their purchases with their followers and friends on Instagram or Facebook, they offer free advertising.
To get started, you can use referral marketing tools like ReferralCandy. You can put this to work by offering your customers a reward when they refer the product to friends or family. This includes a two-way discount to both referral and referee, cash points, gift vouchers, and so on.
Here’s a quick example to get a better picture. The Bonobos, a clothing store selling minimalistic and trendy collections, offer a 25% discount to customers when the person they referred to the brand makes a purchase.
When people see that their friends or someone they trust are using the same products, they're more likely to be confident about purchasing. This is especially true for new clothing brands people aren't familiar with yet.
Conclusion
Growing your clothing brand is a crucial step in establishing your company's reputation and developing a loyal customer base. You have several options for building brand recognition and marketing your company.
You can start by brainstorming a unique name for your store. Use a brandable, 2-3 word name that showcases your niche.
That said, it all starts with branding. Your designs and focus shouldn't be an afterthought once you have solid branding—it should build off of them instead.
By keeping these five tips in mind, your clothing brand will be poised for success this year and beyond. So don’t sit on it any longer. Get started with your clothing brand’s big wins today!