This week is Business Week, and one question that came in is “how to start a clothing brand for moms”. I responded with a two part series on TikTok, and the second part reveals on how to find the suppliers for any brand.
Please bookmark this as I'll add more details this week. Let's get into it…
How to Start a Clothing Brand Part 1
@thebusinesskid Reply to @brendasimpler How to Start a Clothing Brand for Moms Part 1 ##brand ##clothing ##tutorial ##resources
♬ original sound – ILoveMakingMoney
Five Steps to Starting a Clothing Brand
One of the biggest mistakes people make when starting out is spending money on “ideas” instead of quickly testing ideas to see which one is a winner. We talk a lot about minimal viable product & how you can get started at little to no cost to you. Check out this article related to “minimal viable product”.
The first rule is to prove YOUR concept without spending a bunch of money… here's what I would do:
Step 1: Create Your Vibe
First…
You create your brand, create your vibe. This will be the SOUL of your brand. Have you noticed that the most successful brands give off a vibe that connects with an audience? Brainstorm WHO you want buying this product and then, create the vibe that connects with your buyers.
Check out your competition to see what vibe/what colors/what copy/what designs they are using.
Second…
Step 2: Create Your Designs
Now, if you missed Monday's TikTok, then make sure you come away with that with a lesson of “the past does not dictate your future” and “everything is figureoutable”. When you need to create your designs, let's find the resources to help you get quality designs for your audience.
Use Canva or Photoshop to create your designs…
- Canva $0
- Photoshop for iPAD $9.99 per month
You can also find artists on Fiverr and get your designs going this week.
Step 3: Mockups
Then place YOUR designs on models using Smart Mockup $0
A mockup is a full rendering of your design on one or more products like t-shirts, mugs, stationery, laptops, iphones. Read our full review on how to use Smart Mockup here.
Step 4: Create a Store
Keep it simple with done-for-you, prebuilt stores. Use a platform like Squarespace ($40 for the advanced plan) DO NOT BUILD ONE FROM SCRATCH.
This is another key to moving quickly. I used to think you had to build your website from scratch in order for it to be part of your brand's package when you go to sell it. The bottom line is – investors and buyers will purchase your business by looking at your bottom line.
For this, you can use Squarespace to create a beautiful store. Squarespace allows you to drag and drop ready to go website templates, and it integrates with Stripe and Apple Pay. We do not recommend Paypal due to their long history of bullying entrepreneurs.
Step 5: Autofulfill
Now, we're working smarter and one shortcut is to hookup your fulfilment company to your store. When orders flow in, they are auto-connected to your fulfillment company and the product is shipped on your behalf.
Then, your customer is informed every step of the way through Squarespace and Printify. Printify will auto-fulfill your orders for you.
That way – you can focus on creating your vibe on Tiktok / Instagram and drive people to your shop. Once you prove this concept and it's a winner…
Let me show you how to find suppliers in part 2.
How to Start a Clothing Brand Part 2
@thebusinesskid How to Start a Clothing Brand Part 2 … Find the Suppliers. 🤯🤯🤯 See Part 1 Here: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJWx34h4/
♬ original sound – ILoveMakingMoney
During Part 1, we went over how to create your clothing brand at the least amount to prove the concept. We need to know if people will buy your stuff. Once you have a winner, it's time to find your suppliers that are high quality / high quantity.
Let's go through a simple exercise to help you understand the process. First, look up Clothing Brand for Moms. Just Google “Clothing Brands for Moms”. Because the original question related to this, we're going to stick with it here. You can easily exchange this part with what you're searching for. Click here to view the suggestions
Five Sites to Help You Find Suppliers
Now you can find THEIR suppliers using these resources:
- PortExaminer
- Panjiva
- Import Genius
- Import Yeti
- Jungle Scout
Most of those charge a fee & sometimes you can get around the fee like this:
You just google the brand plus one of these suppliers like this:
Athleta PLUS PortExaminer
OR
Madewell PLUS Panjiva
Ask your business questions and welcome to business week. Please bookmark this post as I'll be updating throughout the month with more details and shortcuts to the resources.
