How to Start a Streetwear Brand with No Experience in 6 Steps

Are you questioning the right way to begin a streetwear model from scratch? Then that is the information for you. You’ll learn to select an viewers, create your model id, and far more.

Beginning your clothes line may be scary, however within the phrases of profitable streetwear model Awake at Three’s proprietor Craig Renwick, “simply go and do it.”

The excellent news is, it doesn’t should price you a fortune. You possibly can select to take a position (time, power, and so on.) as a lot as you’re feeling snug with. I’ll discuss extra about that later.

Earlier than we dive into how to start a clothing brand from zero, let’s cowl the must-know information about trend’s largest buzzword—streetwear.

What makes a model “streetwear”?

A streetwear model is a line of clothes that’s casual-yet-fashionable and provides gadgets like graphic hoodies, tees, sweatpants, and sneakers. Streetwear grew to become fashionable within the Nineteen Nineties because of hip-hop tradition in New York and Californian surf fashion.

Initially, streetwear was worn by numerous city youth subcultures. For instance, many hip-hop artists would market their streetwear manufacturers to followers.

These days, streetwear manufacturers have claimed their place in mainstream trend. Well-liked streetwear merch may be seen on celebrities, influencers, and actually anybody wishing to make a trend assertion. Simply consider Stussy, Supreme, or Obey.

The best truth about these main streetwear manufacturers is that all of them began small. This implies you may too!

The best way to begin a streetwear model in 6 steps

From defining your audience to how to market a clothing brand, this step-by-step streetwear startup information has all the information you want.

Step #1: Outline your goal market

No model could make gross sales with out an viewers. What’s step one? Ask your self who you’re promoting to. For instance, analysis exhibits that the majority streetwear customers are younger folks under the age of 25. So a good suggestion may be to create a streetwear model geared toward Gen Z, however don’t be afraid to focus on a wider viewers as properly.

Technique& and Hypebeast, a number one on-line media platform for males’s modern trend and streetwear, not too long ago carried out a survey about streetwear customers that gives some useful insights:

Supply: Technique&

A great way to conduct market analysis is to evaluate the competitors. See what different streetwear manufacturers are doing. Analyze what’s promoting and who’s shopping for. Possibly you discover a spot within the streetwear market, like t-shirts with meals puns on them.

Supply: Etsy

Don’t overlook to evaluate opponents’ interfaces and the way they work together with their prospects. Analysis exhibits that 90% of consumers within the US worth customer support simply as a lot because the product itself.

Ask these necessary questions: what are the psychological and emotional elements that drive folks to need that model? Why would folks wish to purchase your model?

Keep in mind—gathering as a lot information as you may will simplify the launch course of.

For those who want some inspiration on area of interest concepts, try our article on “How to Find a Niche for Your Online Store” the place we share over 100 concepts. 

Step #2: Create a model id

Now that you realize your audience, you want a model id. These are the qualities that outline a model within the minds of customers, like its values, persona, and general model picture.

Begin by asking your self: what would you like your prospects’ normal impression of your merchandise to be? Set up your model’s goal, mission, values, and audience. Be clear about what separates your model from others.

Conduct market analysis to investigate buyer wants and discover any gaps in your opponents’ choices. Then, decide what emotional connection you need your model to evoke. Do you stand for serving to to guard the atmosphere or is your model a method for folks with related pursuits to attach?

Your model id must be mirrored throughout all touchpoints and communication along with your prospects. Create fashion tips in your model’s content material, and give you distinctive colours, fonts, and pictures in your branding. Use your model id on packaging, web sites, social media accounts, advertising and marketing supplies, and some other supplies which have direct contact with prospects.

Keep in mind that folks like connecting with different folks, not with a model. The easiest way to construct belief, improve buyer loyalty, and construct engagement is to have a robust model story. 

Share what you do, the way you do it, and most significantly, why you do it. Observe the 4 C’s of storytelling—battle, characters, neighborhood, and confidence. 

Take a look at this Definitive Guide to Brand Storytelling for extra data on the right way to create a novel model story. 

Questioning which elements drive customers to decide on a streetwear model? Customers view brand legacy as one of the crucial necessary options, solely second to high quality/design. Model legacy is the recognition, belief, and affect created by a model. 

Sources: Statista

Under are some recommendations on constructing a model legacy.

• Create a compelling model goal: Your model goal ought to transcend promoting merchandise. Determine what sort of social contribution your model goals to make. With a robust goal, you may create an enduring legacy in your model.

• Set up your model’s values: Describe the core values that information your actions and choices. Be sure that they align along with your audience’s aspirations. Be true to your values by incorporating them into your model’s tradition and operations. 

• Construct genuine relationships: Contain your prospects, workers, companions, and stakeholders within the firm processes. Take heed to their suggestions and make changes based mostly on it. 

• Present impeccable experiences: Keep in mind how most customers worth customer support simply as a lot because the product itself? Ship distinctive buyer experiences and watch how the 5-star opinions roll in effortlessly. 

• Give again to society: Enable your prospects to be a part of one thing greater by donating a part of your earnings to a trigger. For instance, allow them to know that with each product they buy, you’ll donate $1 to avoid wasting the rainforests. 

• Have a development mindset: All the time search for methods to innovate and evolve your model. Create new designs, enhance the standard, and hearken to constructive suggestions.

• Empower others: Be beneficiant with the data and data you share along with your prospects. Right here at Printful, we consider in serving to our prospects develop. That’s why we share advertising and marketing recommendation on our social media platforms and infinite assets on our blog.

• Rejoice your wins: Whether or not it’s reaching 10K followers on Instagram or making your first 5,000 gross sales, share these milestones along with your viewers. Your prospects are rooting for you and celebrating your wins offers them an opportunity to have interaction and really feel extra related to your neighborhood.

Lastly, do not forget that constructing a robust, optimistic fame takes time, effort, and consistency.

Step #3: Determine on the manufacturing course of

You may have your goal market and your model id, now it’s time to supply some merch. Under are a number of manufacturing processes to select from, and the professionals and cons of every.

Print-on-demand

Print-on-demand (POD) dropshipping refers to a enterprise mannequin by which a retailer will get its merchandise from a 3rd occasion who then ships them instantly to finish prospects. Your customized designs are printed on merchandise solely as orders are available, and solely within the amount requested.

Which means that there aren’t any upfront prices. You’ll solely be charged when a buyer makes a purchase order. All you need to do is ready up your ecommerce store and join it to a print-on-demand platform like Printful.

One other benefit of POD is that the method of storing, printing, packaging, and fulfilling orders is carried out by your printing accomplice. You simply concentrate on the designs and advertising and marketing.

That stated, you don’t have full management over the success course of or the standard of the merchandise—you need to rely in your printing accomplice. Plus, product availability and order success time can differ. That’s why it’s necessary to decide on your POD partner correctly.

Ordering in bulk

Ordering in bulk from a wholesaler is an efficient choice when you have some capital to take a position. Buying wholesale typically means you get a lower cost as a result of the provider bought a lower cost from the producer.

Let’s say you order 100 t-shirts along with your design on them for $16 every at wholesale worth. You then promote them for $25 and make $9 per sale. However in case you order 500 t-shirts, you may get them for $10 and earn $15 per merchandise offered. That’s a fairly good margin.

The draw back of ordering in bulk is that you could be not promote every part and you might find yourself with leftover inventory. You even have to contemplate storage prices like renting a warehouse area, utility payments, and insurance coverage. Keep in mind that the cash you set into stock that goes unsold may’ve been invested elsewhere. 

What’s extra, ordering in bulk means you don’t have as a lot margin to experiment with new or fashionable designs since you’re all the time worrying about whether or not or not they’ll promote. This isn’t the case with POD. 

Merchandise are made on demand when an order is available in, so you may provide as many designs as you want.

Supply: Pinterest

Fulfilling orders your self

Probably the most important benefit of fulfilling orders your self is that you simply get to have full management over the whole course of. You possibly can add your private contact to every bundle, like a present card, pattern, or message (simply consider you may do this with Printful too). What’s extra, you’re in direct communication along with your prospects which lets you construct relationships, and provide customized help.

On the flip facet, fulfilling orders your self may be time-consuming. Storage and stock administration require area, group, and staying on prime of inventory to keep away from shortages or extra. To not point out, you need to cope with delivery and logistics.

Additionally, fulfilling orders your self doesn’t depart a lot room for scalability—there’s solely a lot packaging, delivery, and inventory you may deal with by your self. That stated, it could be just right for you in case you’re simply beginning your streetwear enterprise and you’ve got extra time than cash to take a position.

Step #4: Design merchandise

Now that you realize your audience, you’ve created a model, and chosen a manufacturing course of, it’s time to design merchandise. However with so many doable streetwear items, which gadgets must you begin with?

Choose merchandise

When deciding on merchandise, take into consideration your area of interest and your audience. Would your prospects purchase solely custom shirts? Or do they need custom hoodies, sneakers, socks too—the entire bundle.

In accordance with Hypebeast, sneakers are the most-bought streetwear merchandise on the market. However perhaps your area of interest is tees, or perhaps your clothes line can provide a broader vary of merch to fulfill your following. No worries! Once you use Printful, you may create free mockups for any merchandise from our Product Catalog and see what’s fashionable.

As for which merchandise to pick out, try How to Choose Print-on-Demand Products for Your Store.

Provide you with designs

When you’ve chosen some merchandise, it’s time to start out designing. Right here you’ve got a number of choices: create a design your self from scratch, use Printful’s Design Maker and customise our free templates, or rent a designer to do it for you.

You’ll additionally wish to think about the printing technique. For clothes, we provide embroidery, direct-to-garment printing, sublimation, and direct-to-film printing. Every approach works greatest on completely different cloth sorts, so be sure that to test our Direct-to-Garment File Guidelines, our Embroidery File Guidelines, our Sublimation Printing Guide, and the Direct-to-Film Printing requirements.

Unsure whether or not it is best to go for direct-to-garment or direct-to-film printing? Take a look at this DTG vs. DTF comparison.

No matter path you select, don’t get discouraged in case your first thought doesn’t captivate the style world. In accordance with Craig Renwick, it is best to produce a minimum of one design per week till you’re content material. Moreover, your design expertise will enhance with each you set out!

Get samples and suggestions

Whether or not you design the emblem your self or outsource the work to another person, it’s a good suggestion to try it out earlier than itemizing it on-line. Order some samples and put on your garments round buddies, household, or coworkers, and ask them what they assume. Additionally, submit it on social media, or higher but, within the subreddit r/streetwearstartup.

By performing some analysis, you’ll perceive which designs folks favor, and the right way to enhance your providing. Plus, carrying your model in public or posting pictures on-line is free promoting.

Step #5: Arrange a web-based retailer

Now that you simply’ve created a design that your followers and followers love, it’s time to launch your on-line retailer! You possibly can study all about How to Start an Online Store with Printful here. However, let me recap your choices:

Ecommerce platforms

All-in-one ecommerce options like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce simplify the creation and administration of on-line shops. Their options embrace editable templates, safe cost gateways, stock administration, and advertising and marketing instruments. Plus, you get to showcase your model by itself devoted web site.

Marketplaces

The cool factor about marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, or eBay is that they have already got a big buyer base. You possibly can checklist your streetwear gadgets on their platforms for only a small charge, as a substitute of paying a subscription every month (as is the case for ecommerce platforms). This makes them a very good choice for small companies and start-ups.

The best function for each ecommerce platforms and marketplaces is which you could combine them instantly into your print-on-demand accomplice’s platform. Be taught extra about every integration here.

Social media platforms

Social media platforms like Instagram, Fb, and TikTok allow you to arrange a retailer instantly on their interfaces. This may be an superior choice if you have already got a big on-line presence on any of those platforms. We’re at the moment partnered with TikTok, so you may flip your followers into prospects within the blink of an eye fixed.

Step #6: Market your streetwear model

The streetwear market exhibits no indicators of slowing down. In accordance with analysts, the trade is anticipated to achieve $193.21 billion by 2027, rising at a compound annual development charge of three.52%. And we all know you desire a piece of that pie.

So how will you penetrate the streetwear market? Let’s check out some efficient advertising and marketing methods for promoting your streetwear model:

Crowdsource stock concepts

Analysis exhibits that a few quarter of customers purchase streetwear to reveal their social standing. However the place do they flip to for reliable opinions on what’s scorching and what’s not? Social media, after all. On this area, customers drive traits, not manufacturers.

Supply: Statista

There are methods you may monitor these conversations and know what’s trending in streetwear trend. Use social listening instruments like Mention or Google Trends. As soon as you notice a pattern you want, hop on it and create a design that beats the competitors.

You can too provide prospects the choice to pre-order gadgets. That’ll provide you with an thought of whether or not there’s a requirement in your product or not.

Construct a neighborhood

As you may see from the Statista chart above, a few quarter of shoppers purchase streetwear clothes to really feel a part of a neighborhood. Whether or not that’s a Fb group, TikTok following, or YouTube channel, on-line communities assist prospects construct an emotional attachment to your model.

They’re additionally an effective way to realize shopper insights and provide unique entry to new drops (as a result of folks prefer to really feel particular). Right here’s a helpful information on How to Grow Your Online Community with Organic Traffic.

Supply: Prideletics

Use influencers as social proof

Keep in mind how folks flip to social media to know what’s in fashion? You possibly can set traits by teaming up with influencers to market your clothes model. In accordance with a Marketingcharts survey from 2020, 36% of customers made a purchase order instantly or not directly by influencer posts. That’s a fairly good conversion charge.

Keep in mind: be sure that the influencer’s fashion aligns along with your model. This won’t solely guarantee credibility, however you may additionally be capable of provide free merch in alternate for publicity.

Supply: MarketingCharts

Be sure that your prospects perceive the right way to use your product

Moreover hiring influencers to showcase your merchandise, you may entice potential prospects with fashion guides. Submit other ways to fashion your clothes in your web site and social media platforms. Folks prefer to see real-life examples of the right way to fashion a bit into an outfit.

Plus, you may simply spark the necessity to purchase one other merchandise to complete their look.

Supply: Instagram

Create exclusivity with product drops

One of many eight fundamental human instincts, in response to Drew Eric Whitman, is the will to be superior, profitable, or “maintaining with the Joneses.” Use this to your benefit and create a sense of exclusivity with product drops. Add buy deadlines and restricted gadgets to make folks really feel like they’re in on a particular, choose deal.

Supply: Charlie Hustle

How a lot does it price to start out a streetwear model?

In terms of selecting a advertising and marketing technique, think about how a lot money and time you’re prepared to take a position. The excellent news is, start-up prices don’t should be extravagant—you may even Market Your Online Store on a $50 Budget.

Additionally, you should utilize free content creation tools, and social media for advertising and marketing. Plus, in case you select the print-on-demand dropshipping model, you pay for the merchandise solely as orders are available. All it’s essential to do is ready up your on-line storefront or checklist your gadgets in an current Market.

Another prices to contemplate are delivery, outsourcing if wanted, and enterprise taxes. It’s best to test along with your native tax authority and seek the advice of a tax skilled to find out your tax obligations, and what permits and licenses you might want. This manner you may be sure to’re complying with all the required legal guidelines.

To learn the way to arrange your retailer’s taxes in 3 easy steps, try our guide to Printful taxes.

Streetwear model examples to get inspiration from

These manufacturers all began from scratch, however at the moment are über-popular. All of them have two issues in widespread: originality and high quality. Take a look at this text for extra Successful Print-on-Demand Store Examples.

Now, listed below are three streetwear manufacturers for inspo:

MISBHV

Supply: MISBHV

This now multi-million greenback label began off as a facet hustle. Designer and founder Natalie Maczek was finding out regulation whereas she started making nightclub outfits for her buddies. A couple of years later, in 2017, the model held its first present at NYFW. You possibly can nonetheless see the underground music scene’s affect on MISBHV’s aesthetic.

Snow Milk

Supply: Snow Milk

Based by 42-year-old Doobi Duke Sims, this model takes upcycled clothes and turns every garment right into a one-of-a-kind t-shirt, trench coat, and so on. Each piece is exclusive and numbered so that folks can categorical their individuality.

Johnny Cupcakes

Supply: Johnny Cupcakes

What began out as a humorous nickname become a profitable enterprise when Johnny “Cupcakes” Earle determined to place the now iconic cupcake and crossbones brand on a t-shirt. His model stands out from the gang by being the first-ever t-shirt bakery. The brick-and-mortar shops look and odor like bake outlets, however they solely promote clothes (which is lots more healthy, Johnny provides).

Simply go and do it

Beginning your personal streetwear model could be a enjoyable and thrilling endeavor that might flip right into a worthwhile enterprise. After all, as with something worthwhile, it takes time, endurance, and consistency. Keep in mind to make use of all of the free instruments at your disposal for designing, promoting, and conducting your market analysis.

Plus, you get to decide on how your attire is produced and the way a lot to spend in your digital storefront. With the print-on-demand dropshipping mannequin, you may launch your online business with no cash or stock. This implies you may experiment with completely different designs till you discover the one (or extra) that folks like.

So, get on the market, discover your viewers, construct a model picture, and begin promoting your clothes line along with your customized prints and brand. There’s no higher time than now to enter the streetwear world.