Brand/Business Advice Needed

[Smurf]

Hey guys, thinking about starting an online clothing company and could use some insight on general business, branding, things of that sort. Don't really know where to start but really want to get this up and going.

Thanks in advance!

Jake.

 

[Hue]

That's fucking sick man!

I know some people that fuck with small clothing businesses, although none that have straight up started them.

If I had any advice, I would say talk to any and all artists you know, and both ask them what types of designs / styles they would be interested in wearing. Ask them what they fuck with.

I say this because artistic types tend to have good taste in designs and style. Many are aware of what's hot in the area, which is the most practical target audience. Also they usually have the creative mind for what they would put in addition to what's already hot (what's missing).

Plus, if you get some artists wearing your most banging shit, bada boom bada bing.


There's usually only two ways artistic shit sells, and IMO clothing is art.

1). It's totally original, and so motherfucking dope that is blows the fuck up.

2). It's in line with what's already hot, but has a unique addition to it. Typically these are just fads, though.


I think right now what's hot in most places clothing wise is a simple statement/brand/design... something that concisely captures an idea with a little swag to it. For example there was a shirt I saw which said nothing more that "high." Which is like hello, hi, (a friendly t-shirt idea) which also appealed to the drug/stoner-community with the entendre. That shit's simple, creative and instantly grabs the target audience.

I'm also in a marketing lab and frequently chat about ideas in there if you'd be interested in any of that discussion.

 

[Smurf]

Thanks Hue!

I'm actually going to a networking event tomorrow night with a guy who runs a successful clothing site. I've been people collecting which is a lot easier when I have a purpose to do it, and brain storming some ideas and logos.

What's A marketing lab?

Jake.

 

[Hue]

Jake,

How'd it go man? Networking is a given with any business. Build a dope squad and things start taking care of themselves.

What's A marketing lab?

I'm a research assistant in a "lab" for marketing research. We conduct studies through surveys / procedures / faking people out. Pulling strings in a controlled environment to see what people do. It's interesting to see how most people naturally are distracted by certain things / respond the same way to the same stimuli.

 

[foggy]

Marketing guy here.

Learn digital marketing if you haven't already, specifically SEO and SEM.

Use Wordpress to build your site. I recommend using a Genesis framework. Having a Genesis framework really helps with SEO.

Get Woocommerce for your website. Hook it up with Mailchimp, which provides marketing automation for ecommerce businesses. Pretend you have a customer who navigates away from their online shopping cart without completing a purchase. Mailchimp will automatically send them an email to remind them what they’ve left behind and encourage them to return to your store. Bam more sales. Isn't that great

There's a nasty learning curve with this marketing stuff - let me know if you need any help or want to learn more.

 

[misty]

That's really a nice idea Jake but do complete your home work first. Collect all details about the industry you want to get in and contact some distributors / whole-sellers to add their products. Hope your friend help you find some good and reliable distributors in your country.

In start, i don't recommend you buy even a single product in stock. This is the most common mistake entrepreneurs make. There are lots of whole-sellers / drop-shippers allow you sell their products through their managed data-feed. So you just need to update the inventory daily and no need to invest thousands of dollars on stocking. moreover, you can contact me anytime if you need help in website designing or SEO marketing.

 

[Smurf]

True that, Misty. The company I work for now gets shirts ordered at wholesale so I was gonna stock through them until I was officially up and running.

Hue, the guy I wanted to talk to didn't end up being there. No matter, still forging on, getting a general plan in place. I don't plan on being up and running for a while 'cause I want to get it right.

Backstory, thanks for the advice, I'll look into it!

Jake.

 

[Parkour]

Online clothing is hard, what backstory offered is a good start but seo/sem only will work in a niche where people search using google and there is realistic competition like specializing in a specific kind of shirt that few people offer. If you’re doing fashion, you need to build a brand. You’re going to get the most traction with social: Specifically Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. The rest is about publicity, getting recognized and hustling in more of a PR kind of way. There are opportunities to do contests with some brands like beta brand but ultimately, you just have to hustle till you get recognized and the promotion machine and echo chamber of fashion bloggers gets you out there.
Start to follow other up and coming fashion people, especially in your city and learn what they are doing that is working. Get yourself into a higher end store, do some pop ups and promos at style oriented events, and make sure everyone knows what you’re about.

On the business side check out SBA and score, and start attending every fashion show, textiles show, and anything else that you can in the space. Meetup might even have some stuff in your area. Get square or another startup friendly point of sale, register your business license with the state so you can file sales tax if that applies to any of your products. You can file an EIN as a sole proprietor or do a legalzoom s-Corp or llc. Open a business bank account and keep it all separate. Get quickbooks online and manage your expenses. Start looking for places to make the stuff you’ve designed or start networking with designers. Business is about coming up with all of the steps and putting it all together. Ultimately I think it’s about immersion, learning, and not getting stuck by neglecting some part of the business. If you can find people already doing it well but with different products or designs you can hack the learning curve. A partner might also be a good option but they have to be strong at what your week at and vs versa. Otherwise you won’t get the 1+1=3 scenario and I think that is what is required for a good partnership. One person tends to have more vision, product, sales focus and the other might be really good at logistics, operations, finance, supply chain, etc...