If your ultimate dream is to launch your own clothing brand, it’s about time that you pursue it. Today, athletic clothing wear is a marketable clothing style that also comes in high demand. The athleisure market is growing massively, with a forecast of almost a 10% increase in the next decade. This increase is enough to urge you to take advantage of the potential market waiting for you.
However, like any other business, it’s crucial to consider everything before launching your athleisure brand as there are trivial and complex variables that can either make or break your startup business. Aside from finding a supplier or vendor to work with, like Printful or any other reputable custom printing company, you need to study your target market, prepare your budget, and many more.
Hence, it’s imperative to apply the following tips before launching your athleisure clothing business:
1. Take Care Of The Basics
First, you need to take care of all the essential aspects when launching your own business. A business plan is necessary to ensure that you have taken care of every aspect of the business operations. Although a business plan is required if you’re planning to attract additional investors or business partners, it’s best to use it as your guide. The business plan can be your cheat sheet where you can find all the elements of the business. It will be your blueprint that changes and evolves, especially when things don’t work out the way you planned.
Next, you need to look after your finances. Set aside the money intended for your athleisure business. Decide how much you’re willing to invest and create a financial breakdown for it. It’s essential to estimate the cost of setting it up. This allows you to evaluate whether you can afford the entire investment capital needed or whether you should apply for business loans. Besides, you can turn to angel investors and startup loans should you need assistance.
Finally, you must hire the right people for your startup athleisure business. Because you might not be able to afford a large workforce just yet, it’s crucial to employ critical people for now. You can’t operate with only yourself, so it’s best to hire at least someone who can be in charge of your production, marketing, and finances. Eventually, you may delegate more tasks to more employees when you can afford more people to hire. The key here is to look for creative and hardworking individuals willing to learn and grow with you in your startup business.
2. Design Your Products
The next tip is to ensure that your products are well designed, uniquely, and creatively. This is where the design and product development teams come in. They should help you know about graphic design so you can also input your ideas. If you’re the designer or you hired one, you must come up with unique athletic designs that are not similar to your competitors. Begin by defining your collection with styles that complement and help your sales
A vital component of this phase is selecting suitable materials. Consider what the products will do, how they look, and possible problems your customers may point out. Once the designs and materials are finalized, you can pass them on to the production team. A brand’s image, inspiration, and target market should all be incorporated into the design. Your brand’s style should be in line with your image and values.
Before producing your garments, it’s important to study different choices of manufacturers. You might not be ready yet to produce the athleisure clothes by yourself, so consider outsourcing the printing and sewing from factories with excellent quality and precision. You can narrow your search for suitable materials or factories if you have a pricing strategy and quality preferences. Check all the details of your design and ensure that the third-party manufacturer can meet them all. Then, find a manufacturer who can provide the output you want, produce your volume order, and work with you anytime.
3. Think Of Adding Special Features
This next tip is to provide value for your products and make them stand out from the competition. For one, having a comfortable fabric material is enough to make your customers choose you over other athleisure brands. Because these garments are for sports and active events, you need to ensure that the clothes are comfortable and easy to wear.
Sometimes, having the correct fabric is enough for you to sell your manufactured products. However, adding other unique features can work, too. You may, for example, come up with fabric materials that are moisture-wicking, waterproof, antibacterial, or come with UV protection. All these additional features will set you apart from the other brands in the market.
ConclusionÂ
The tips discussed here provide an overview of starting your own athleisure brand. The journey may not be a walk in the park, but if you prepare every aspect well, you can achieve your dream of becoming an athletic clothing brand owner. You may start by creating your business plan, taking care of your finances, working with the right people, finding the best manufacturer or vendors to work with, and offering special product features.
