A Guide To Starting A Fashion Label From Scratch

While it has never been easier to start a fashion brand, it's also a very saturated market. Finding the right ingredients to create a memorable brand that people want to repeatedly purchase from can be tough, but whether you’ve got investment or starting in your garage, here’s a look at starting a fashion label from scratch.

Rule of 3 

Firstly you need to identify your USP and with fashion this can be tough. When starting any business, there are 3 factors to consider, Be Faster, Be Better or Be Cheaper and you need to be at least one.

Faster - A tough one in recent years as delivery companies are pretty much giving every business the chance to be fast with next-day delivery, time slots and convenient pick-up locations. Considering the speed of your overall service, dropshipping now allows you to have your products made as it’s ordered. This doesn’t increase your speed to the customer, but it might mean you’re not setting new product launches for months ahead. 

Better - There are thousands of fast fashion brands, usually the same poor materials with slightly different prints on each. 2023 and beyond is the era of affordable luxury. Big fashion houses don’t spend hundreds on creating a t-shirt, it’s just an extreme markup for the logo. When creating your brand, find the balance between quality and affordability. Most people won’t spend $100+ on a brand they're unfamiliar with, so either your marketing needs to be on point, or you need to make the brand reasonable. To be better, consider premium quality garments, ethically sourced materials, or designs that aren't on the market.

Cheaper - If creativity isn’t at the forefront of the brand, then making a more affordable brand that competitors can give you the edge you need to succeed. Finding inspiration elsewhere and working hard to create a men's full tracksuit or t-shirts that are more affordable. Drop shipping is more affordable for the business owner but printing clothes as they’re ordered tends to be more costly than bulk orders, but then you run the risk of not selling or upkeep on warehousing.

Website

A lot of business owners go wrong with their website, they want all the bells and whistles, an app and essentially, too much going on. New brands need to keep it simple. Easy to navigate on mobile, great product photography and enough payment options to cater to most. The UX needs to be strong and fast with the fewest clicks to purchase. Get this right and you can start adding more functionality down the line when you have a healthy customer base.

Socials

Having a good social presence is tough in 2023 as everyone is trying to do something different and IG/TikTok algorithms can be cruel. The user buying journey can be long, they might see your ad, follow your brand for a few months, and then commit to a purchase. So keeping your socials active with engaging content keeps you fresh in the buyer's mind.

Ads

The best way to get your brand in the user's eye line is by setting up ads on TikTok or Instagram. It can be set up with pretty much any budget and it’s fairly straightforward to track your progress and how much money it’s making. It’s worth looking at other marketing channels too, make sure when you're planning, you’re not putting all your investment into one avenue.