As social media and influencers have built reputations, many businesses find that their clothing and accessories can be made or broken overnight. The word of an influencer is strangely powerful.
This can make it difficult for anyone to start a clothing business, especially if you’re targeting women’s clothing. But, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, you simply need to take the right steps.
Contents
Decide Your Market
Source: BizVibe
Women’s clothing is not just one market space, you can opt for young, high fashion, mature, curvy women, the list is almost endless. But, you can’t easily or successfully cater to all these markets when you’re first starting out. You need to choose one market and then learn everything you can about that market.
It’s going to really help if you already have a passion for women’s clothing, specifically the market you’re targeting. The good news is women’s clothes are always going to be in demand.
Supply
Source: Eolane Supply Chain Management
The next step is to decide where you intend to source your clothes from or if you’re planning on designing and creating them yourself. If you’re purchasing the clothes ready to sell you’ll need to choose between bulk buying from a large manufacturer or simply connecting with a local supplier.
It’s also worth considering dropshipping. In essence, you simply create the site and advertise the clothes, they are sent to the customer by the supplier and you take your commission.
Company Structure
Source: CorpNet
It’s safest to set up a company that is separate from you, this mitigates the risk if everything does go wrong. Of course, you hope it doesn’t but it is better to be prepared. It’s worth talking to a professional regarding the best structure for your new brand.
Budget
Source: mo.bi
There are plenty of things to consider when starting any business, especially a women’s clothing brand. You’ll need to produce something that appeals to as many people as possible but, it must be done within your budget.
That means establishing a realistic selling price and then working backward to evaluate the costs and the expected profit.
This doesn’t just give you something to compare your progress to, it also helps you to locate finance, if necessary.
Financing
Source: Pinterest
Starting a clothing brand requires capital. You’re going to need to make the products and that means a space to create, as well as a space to process and even a little space for potentially drop-in customers.
There is also the cost of the materials to be thought about and a variety of other costs that will ensure you get your clothing brand off to a good start.
Understanding the costs involved will allow you to create a budget and cash flow forecast. This will help you to secure the finance you need when you approach the right lender.
Create The Logo
Source: FQ Magazine
You need a name and a logo for your new business. Both need to be unique, but the logo also needs to be easy to recognize and should reflect your values. It’s not always easy to design the right logo, it is worth getting assistance with this part of the process to ensure you get it right.
This will ensure it ticks all the right boxes and is something your company wants to be associated with in the future. In fact, this is one of the most important factors to remember, it’s not easy to change your logo once you’ve created it and people have got to know it. Getting it right the first time is important, do not rush your decision.
Draw several possibilities and listen to feedback from people you know and trust, this will help you to decide which logo really works for your clothing brand.
The Website
Source: SEO.co
With nearly 4 billion internet users in the world, the easiest market for you to hit first is the internet. You’ll need to create a website and start building customers. This is why your logo and company name needs to be established and registered first. It will be on all your paperwork and you can start building brand recognition before you even start trading, simply use social media to talk about your project and gain support.
Of course, you also need to create a website. This should advise people of what you do and why you’re good at it. But, it should also display your work and provide people with the opportunity to buy from you. Perhaps most importantly, your website should be fast loading on all types of devices and easy to navigate.
The average person spends less than 30 seconds on a webpage. That’s how long you have to load the page and get them hooked.
Building Traffic
Source: Medium
When you first start you’ll be making lots of comments on the social media sites and should be building the content on your website. This will help you to move out of the shadows and become a brand that people actually want.
But, to really encourage people to visit your site and hopefully purchase your products, you need to invest in some paid advertising. This will help you to always be near the top of the search results and get the customers you need to start making a profit. Take a look at quikclicks.com.au, you’ll be impressed by how it can drive customers to your website by making sure you’re at the top of every search page.
But, don’t forget the website is only one selling point, you can sell your designs through your own retail outlet, or through other businesses. Everything is possible and will increase the exposure of your business. That’s a good thing.
Customer Support
Source: sabre.com
The critical factor when starting a women’s clothing brand is to make sure your customer response s the best possible. Even if a particular product is below par you can win customers by handing the complaint smoothly, professionally, and fairly.
Customers will appreciate this, continue to use you, and tell their friends. That leads to recognition and success. It’s a difficult road but you really can create a successful women’s clothing brand.
