When you’re just starting out in your business, it’s hard to know what exactly your focus should be on. What should you do with your business name? How do you find a manufacturer to suit your needs? How do you create your own branding? All of these questions can be answered easily—and you can be well on your way to creating your own clothing line.
Top Clothing Line Ideas are:
- Work with a manufacturer who allows for minimum quantity orders, like those found on Maker’s Row, Common Objective, Sqetch, and Kompass.
- Pick a name that’s unique and stands the test of time, using your ideas, inspiration from name generators, or your family names, like from Shopify, NameMesh, NameSnack, or RhymeZone.
- Create a unique branding package that’s unlike any other brand using PicMonkey, WordSwag, Canva, or VistaPrint.
- Focus your marketing on your target demographic through social media—and attempt to go viral on sites such as Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.
Whether you’re looking for ideas on your business name or where to find your products, you too can find answers—read on to find out how you can easily start your clothing line and where you can find more information.
Work with a manufacturer who allows for minimum quantity orders, like those found on Maker’s Row, Common Objective, Sqetch, and Kompass.
One of the hardest parts about creating a clothing line is finding a manufacturer. Even if you’re making your clothing in house, you’re going to need supplies, and finding the right one doesn’t have to be a needle in a haystack.
How do you find your own custom manufacturer? First off, make sure you know the industry and you know what you’re looking for. It’s going to be much harder to find that manufacturer of your dreams if you don’t know what your dream is. Figure out what kind of clothing you would like to create, know what demographic you plan on selling to, and determine from there what kind of manufacturer you’d like to work with.
When considering manufacturers, one of the most important factors across the board is finding a company that allows for MOQs—minimum order quantity. Just starting out, you shouldn’t be using a huge part of your budget to purchase inventory, especially if you’re not sure it will sell. This is the most important factor to consider as you look for a manufacturer.
What do you want to look for in a manufacturer? It depends on your business. Are you looking for high quality, sustainable fashion? Are you looking to create your clothing inexpensively so you can pass those savings off to your customers? Do you want something American made? These are all questions you should ask yourself as you look for manufacturers.
As you look, make sure you understand that the smaller your order, the more likely larger companies will supersede your orders. Money is money, and larger manufacturers need to please those more established companies. You should also avoid those who are too small—they can be extremely expensive. Make sure you get all the information upfront, especially about how they create their products.
How to find clothing manufacturers: start with networking. Talk to people who are in the clothing business, make friends and business partners, and you never know how much they will help you. While Google can occasionally get you some ideas, working face-to-face with people tends to be the most effective. Consider visiting trade shows or finding online databases to find manufacturers with good reputations. Some databases include Maker’s Row, Common Objective, Sqetch, and Kompass.
Types of Fashion Business You Can Start
Pick a name that’s unique and stands the test of time, using your ideas, inspiration from name generators, or your family names, like from Shopify, NameMesh, NameSnack, or RhymeZone.
When you’re looking for ideas for your clothing line, one of the main decisions you need to make is your business name. How do you make sure you stand out in an industry that can be incredibly hard to stand out in? You have to pick the right name for your business.
There are a number of ways you can go about choosing your name, but sometimes this takes some research and time. Before you even consider your name, there are some questions you should think about, including:
- What is my line’s aesthetic?
- What kind of inventory am I going to provide?
- What is my design process on my clothing?
- What is my target demographic for my clothing line?
- Where do I draw my inspiration from?
- Why is my line unique?
- What kind of branding will I use?
Once you have those answered, you can start considering what those mean to your business. You can look at name generators, use alliteration, rhymes, or puns, and even consider family names for your business name. Make sure you take a break if you get too overwhelmed and consider asking for help from people you trust.
How to find a unique name idea for your clothing line: draw inspiration from your own ideas, check name generators like Shopify, NameMesh, or NameSnack, check RhymeZone for rhyming ideas, or delve into your family history for a list of unique names you can use.
Create a unique branding package that’s unlike any other brand using PicMonkey, WordSwag, Canva, or VistaPrint.
When it comes to starting out with your brand, marketing is key, and keeping your marketing costs low will serve you best in the long run. How do you do that? Easy—through free posts on social media.
While you need to consider what makes your business unique and then lean into it, you need to turn that into a visual representation of what you stand for. Remember those questions you answered when choosing your business name? Consider those answers to really drill down on what fonts, colors, and aesthetic you wish to put off in your branding.
How to create your own branding inexpensively: easily make your own social media posts with your branding through sites like PicMonkey, WordSwag, and Canva. Once you’ve done that, you can start making your own business cards and other identifying items on VistaPrint.
Focus your marketing on your target demographic through social media—and attempt to go viral on sites such as Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.
There are many ways for you to market your brand, but in most cases, those can cost a lot of money that you do not have at the start of your business. How do you market to a large group of your target demographic without breaking the bank? Social media has that under control for you.
There are several different ways to make yourself an engaging member of the social media community, and the first one is by choosing just one or two platforms to use. When you have Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, WhatsApp, and more, there’s no way that you can properly focus your energies on all of them. Pick the social media website that your target demographic uses the most and put all your social media advertising and posting into that.
What can you do to do that? It has everything to do with branding. Pick out a tagline that people can remember—everyone knows Nike’s “Just Do It” and Kay Jewelers’ “Every kiss begins with Kay.” People also want to know your story, and you can do that through social media—explain your starts, talk about your materials, your inspiration, and what makes you unique. You can also consider a giveaway campaign—everyone loves discounts on products. You can even work with another brand to get more attention through their posts as well.
How to find ideas for engaging social media posts: pick your chosen social media medium and start looking at what is most popular right now. Consider what was popular even two weeks ago to find out the trends. Look for specific hashtags that tend to come up more and more, and try to create content that is relevant to those posts. For more ideas, check out competitors’ pages to see what they’re posting—and find out how you can do better.
Finding the right resources in which to start your clothing line doesn’t have to be complicated. Whether you’re looking for manufacturers, social media marketing ideas, or how to brand your business, use this as a resource to move yourself forward to the next step in your clothing business!
How Much Money Does a Clothing Line Owner Make?
RELATED QUESTIONS
How can I register by business name?
This varies from state to state, and depends on your business structure. If you want to find out more about how you can register your business, visit the U.S. Small Business Administration website.
How do I limit my inventory but still sell products?
Because a start up company should have fewer inventory in order to maximize profit, consider creating a wait list or pre-order for your clothing. You can create demand without having to purchase too many pieces of inventory, therefore wasting your money. Consider selling online and only having several on hand, allowing a third-party fulfillment center to drop ship your items.
To learn more about how to start your own fashion clothing line check out my startup documents here
Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.
Meet Shawn Chun: Entrepreneur and Fashion Business Fan.
I’m a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a designer or boutique owner at a craft fair, farmers market, retail location or anywhere else I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to retain clients, find good employees and keep the business growing all while trying to stay competitive.
That’s why I created Fashion Business Boss: I want to help fashion business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.