First Published: 5th July 2021, written by Chloé Safilo | Last Updated on 6th January 2024 | Reviewed and Edited by Chloe Safilo
If you’ve a love of fashion and a flare for style, you might have thought about starting a clothing line. It might sound grand, but the reality is that technology has made it easier than ever to design, personalise, and sell your clothes online. Thanks to the rise of eCommerce and affordable merchandising customisation services such as Camaloon, you can get started immediately. But what do you need to know?
Get your ideas straight
Before getting started you need to have a clear understanding of who you are going to be as a business. What is your brand identity going to revolve around? Ask yourself some key questions. What kind of clothes are you going to sell? What is going to make them stand out? Who are you going to market them to?
How much are you going to charge for them? These are all important questions that you should have clear answers to before you get started. Remember that the key to marketing is brevity – customers need to know who you are and what you’re all about in an instant. This applies whether you’re going to be a premium brand marketing elegant partywear, or a more youthful brand advertising trendy street clothes.
Work on some designs
Custom printing services will allow you to personalise all manner of clothing quickly and easily, offering affordable bulk-buying rates for business owners willing to invest in themselves. To do that though you need to have some unique designs. If you’re a talented artist, start thinking about the designs you’re going to incorporate.
Remember to tie them back to your branding whenever and however possible. If you’re not an artist yourself, you could think about commissioning someone to design something for you – though make sure you’re clear about your intentions to market that design as your own, and be sure to get the rights and permissions from your artist to do so.
Keep it simple to start with
Many business owners fall into the trap of getting carried away with their creativity as soon as they get started. This isn’t a good idea because you’re going to be spread thin as it is, the broader the pool of inventory you have the harder it will be to keep track of. So, focus on a handful of your best ideas and use those as the backbone on which you begin building your business. That’s not to say you should abandon your new ideas, far from it. Just that starting a simple hoodie brand is a lot easier than a 50 piece capsule collection.
But rather than actioning each one as it arises, get into the habit of accurately capturing your ideas as you have them, so you can refer back to them for future inspiration. You’ll be much better served focusing all of your attention on three pieces of clothing to start with, rather than jumping into the deep end and trying to market and sell thirty.
These three key tips will help you get your new online clothing brand off to a great start. Take advantage of customisable merchandising options, and you can take the world by storm.
