At James Hillman Consulting we regularly receive enquiries from hordes of ambitious fashion entrepreneurs. A large majority of these enquiries come to us seeking advice on how to found their fashion brand, but amongst that, the one word we come across a lot is: Luxury.
Luxury is a phrase that cannot be defined, and in fashion this is exemplified. Vogue refers to luxury as being a concept, combining both high quality manufacturing materials and high quality brand identity and placement.
Luxury evokes ideas of exclusiveness, both within the brand identity itself and its craftsmanship. We can see that idea reflected most commonly in well known luxury clothing brands. Just consider how many pieces feature the brands name or logo as centrepieces of their products.
So when it comes to starting a luxury clothing brand, there isn’t one set of rules. High quality craftsmanship and materials could perceive one brand as luxurious, whilst strong images, ideas or emotions could perceive the identity of another brand as luxurious.
However, for those looking for general advice on how to start a clothing brand, we can offer you these tips garnered from years of experience.
Identify what makes your business unique
The clothing industry is both fast-moving and saturated. There are hundreds of brands that produce clothing items, so new clothing brands must identify what is unique about what they will be offering.
In the case of luxury brands, this unique selling point should be clearly identified and defined. For example, is it the craftsmanship that makes your products luxurious? Will you be using higher quality stitching? Or, is it the materials that your products will be made out of, such as cashmere?
Whatever makes your brand unique must be embedded throughout your products from the outset, whether you’re building a clothing line, or dedicating your craft to one specific item.
Research into your market
Once you know your selling point, it’s time to conduct research. At James Hillman consulting, we place particular emphasis on this stage as comprehensive research can help to build your product and define your brand by identifying areas to capitalise on.
Areas of importance to consider are: What currently exists and what doesn’t, what competitors in your chosen niche are producing and at what price point, and what consumers in your chosen niche are buying, why, and at what price.
Identifying trends can also help to provide more information around sales of items, for example how many sales a product received, in what season, why, and at what price it was sold for.
Choose a logo
Choosing a logo is an essential aspect for any business as it helps to build brand identity.
A good example of a luxury fashion brand logo is that of Ralph Lauren’s polo horseman. On the surface it is a simple image that is easy to recognise. However in the planning of the design, Ralph Lauren stated that their decision behind choosing the logo was because it promoted connotations of pride, elitism and the good life.
This again ties into the idea of strong images, ideas or emotions evoking a sense of high quality. So, when it comes to choosing your own fashion logo, it’s important to keep in mind that it must:
Be instantly recognisable, like the Nike swoosh
Want to make customers buy, either because of its professionalism, connotations, or visually-striking design which could intrigue customers.
Separate your brand from the competition. Try to avoid choosing a logo that is too similar to others, else you could risk losing customers to competitors and potential copyright accusations.
Promote brand loyalty, either by customers instantly recognising your products, or from the associations they receive from it, like Ralph Lauren’s elitism connotations
Not be too intricate that it does not translate well when embroidered. Your logo will feature on all of your products, so it must be robust enough that it remains the same quality and identity across various sizes.
Choose a colour palette
Clothing brands use the psychology behind how we perceive colours to evoke a range of emotions within their customers and to portray their products in a chosen manner.
Ultimately this psychology helps to sway purchasing decisions. For example, colours such as deep navys and purples are subconsciously perceived as regal, authoritative and intelligent. Likewise, gold is perceived as expensive, glamorous and prosperous.
Deciding which colours you will use, not only in your brand identity but also for your products, will decide how your customers perceive your brand and ultimately what they will buy from you at what price.
Take the time to consider exactly what it is you want your brand to convey, and then choose colours that communicate this ideology.
Determine your price point
Choosing the right price for your products not only impacts the sales you will make, customers you will entice and profit margin you will receive, but also the way your brand is represented.
If you will be presenting your brand as a high-end clothing line, then your prices must reflect this, but remain realistic enough to entice sales.
You’ll also need to ensure that you’re receiving more profit than costs you incurred for the fixed and variable elements of your garments. Your fixed costs will be costs that don’t change, like the purchasing of new equipment or any business premises. Whereas your variable costs will be those that are changeable, like the difference in manufacturing costs for various products.
To calculate your ideal pricing structure, work out what your cost per unit will be. To do this, take into account the following:
The manufacturing costs of your garments
Import Taxes
The price of packaging
The price of any promotional materials
Shipping costs (and taxes)
Marketing costs
Once you have calculated your total cost per unit, you then need to add your profit on. In the industry, a profit margin of between 30% and 50% is considered accurate for a clothing brand. However, you must make sure that if you are aiming for a high-end perception of value that you take into account the additional cost of branding as well as the product's perceived value.
Prepare your brand for the conceptual and the technical
Technical packs are blueprints that are created by fashion designers to be used by clothing manufacturers. These packs are essentially an instruction manual of how to construct your product.
Typically the pack will contain information like:
Front and back views of the product
Information relating to the type of materials and fabrics used
Technical information such as colour references, dimensions, fabric compositions, logos, dyeing or printing requirements, and sizing.
It's essential that the information within this pack is correct. These will be the blueprints that eventually result in you having a fully fledged product, so you must be accurate with them. Sites like TechPack can show you how to properly construct blueprint designs.
Another important element of a successful tech pack is providing conceptual illustrations. These help manufacturers visualise your product so that they can bring it to life. If you’re not a fantastic artist - don’t worry. These images can be as simple as outlined sketches, and you can provide accompanying images that you have used for inspiration. Just ensure that you do detail the fabric composition and other technical details like materials and sizes.
At James Hillman Consulting, we have over ten years of experience in turning conceptual ideas into production ready tech packs. Find out more about our work.
Research into manufacturers and suppliers
Finding the right manufacturer for your brand can often be the hardest part. Thanks to our copious experience, we at James Hillman have built up a reliable network of manufacturers and suppliers, but when you are first starting out it can turn into a minefield.
Thankfully there are ways to tell if a manufacturer is both trustworthy, and the right fit for your brand. Once you have made contact with a manufacturer, ask them questions such as:
What is their minimum order quantity?
Whilst many manufacturers will list their minimum order quantity (MOQ) on their website, depending on the clothing you will be creating, the manufacturer may need more information about your products before they can inform you as to what the MOQ is.
What are their specialities?
Many manufacturers will have specialty areas which they prefer to stay within, so ascertain what areas these are before proceeding.
What do they produce?
Some manufacturers will produce just menswear products, some will produce womenswear, whereas others will produce unisex. Men’s and women’s clothing manufacturing requires the use of different skill sets, as does casual and formal wear so ensure you are clear with your manufacturer as to where their skill sets are best used.
What services do they offer?
There are three types of clothing manufacturers: CMT, Cut, Make and Trim, FPP, Full Package Production and POD, Print on Design. Check to see which services your manufacturer offers as some FPP manufacturers may offer design services, and some may not.
What are the estimated time frames?
Time frames vary hugely in clothing manufacturing depending on the quantity and design specifications. Most manufacturers can offer general time frames, but because each product is bespoke it is unlikely that they will be able to give you accurate lead times until they begin producing your items. However, it’s still best to ascertain what type of time frame you could expect.
When speaking to manufacturers, warning signs to be aware of are:
If the manufacturer hurries you off of the phone, asks you to send an email and then fails to respond either promptly, or not at all.
A distinct lack of reliable customer service could indicate you will not receive the product or service quality you need. Your manufacturer must be informative, dependable and communicative.
If no legally binding contract is signed that outlines each party's roles and responsibilities. These should include terms, payments, and specifics related to the production process you enter into with the manufacturer.
Get samples and get feedback
The most exciting part of launching a clothing range is seeing it come to live, and this starts in the samples production process.
Once your brand moves into this stage, it’s imperative that you provide input and feedback to ensure you are on the right track to receiving the product you have dreamt of.
This process can take time as there will need to be a lot of back and forth communication. Luxury brand owners in particular can not afford to cut corners in this process as their entire brand will ultimately be judged by the quality of their product.
Finally, once the sample process is finished you will likely have your first fully fledged product. Then it will be time to apply sufficient marketing to the product and begin a soft launch.
It’s important that brand owners of all kinds take into account the feedback they will receive from a soft launch. If a customer is unwilling to pay the price point, or feels as though the quality is underwhelming, or even fails to understand the identity of the brand, these are all things that must be actioned for review before initiating a full rollout.
To wrap up:
Launching a clothing brand is an inherently personal process that takes a lot of effort, determination and work. We have only listed the initial steps in this blog. Brands must still develop an online identity, undergo the marketing process and be legally recognised as a company.
At James Hillman Consulting we have experience in helping luxury brands through all aspects of their journey. We can take your brand from development, to concept, to design, all the way through to production. View our work here, or contact us today to see how we can elevate your brand.
