Increasing your brand awareness is the first step towards making more sales. Brand awareness is the thread that holds together your marketing campaigns and builds a basis for your advertising objectives. Before creating a favorable impression intended to motivate more consumers to buy your product, they must first become aware of your business existence.

When you look at the facts, Facebook users are growing older, and Twitter isn’t what it used to be anymore, while on the other hand, Instagram is gaining popularity like never before. Next to being the place where you can follow celebrities and learn about new trends, it’s also the place where brands (and bands) can draw more customers. After all, it’s the one social media channel that is based on images, so what better place to show off your band’s t-shirt designs and sell them to your devoted fans?

So, skip the mistakes that a lot of brands tend to make when trying to start a t-shirt business (some of which could certainly apply to your band efforts), and jump into the game.

Why Instagram?

Well, besides the aforementioned fact that Instagram is based on images, there is the fact that it has about 800 million users that are active on a monthly basis. The engagement on this social media platform is high and beats other channels. Also, due to the fact that it is a mobile app, a great number of its users is most likely to purchase products online.

Finally, because a huge number of its users follow the brands that they like on a daily basis, and feel like they are forming a personal relationship with them this way, it is the best place for your band to interact with people and show off your best merch, including, of course, your creatively designed band t-shirts.

Of course, next to your top-notch Instagram page, you still need a website as your main storefront, so consider the options of what kind of eCommerce platform is the best choice for it.

Make your sales obvious

While you will generally hear the advice that you need to be “as human as possible” on social media, the fact is that people who followyou will also look at your products. So, if you dedicate a post to the different t-shirt designs that you are selling, be bold about. Make sure that it’s obvious that, next to being a band that creates the music for their fans, you also need to earn money for your efforts.

Therefore, proudly show off your shirts and other merchandise. It’s always a good idea to think of great pre-order bundles that include your new album, a t-shirt, and other kinds of merch that your fans will be crazy about. When you post a photo that is marketing your pre-orders, make sure that everything that the bundle contains is obvious, and post the bundles right next to each other, so that people know what their choices are.

The key to selling your band’s t-shirts

Quite often, you will see people wearing band t-shirts that were custom-made, either by some shop that has no affiliation with you or by themselves. Sure, some of these look fine, while others are obviously pretty low-quality, but your main task is to come up with the best possible original designs for the ones that you intend to sell. Sure, you can just go for the latest album’s cover, but that is what most people do, and for less money. So, try to make really unique shirts that contain certain design elements that are relevant to your band’s image. Take parts of lyrics and include them in a unique way, using a lettering that no one else will come up with. If you are a genuine band that intends to create unique music for your fans, you need to do the same with your merchandise.

Now, when talking about quality, this means that you need to work with a top-notch company that is going to make shirts for you that are above all the rest. Look for a business that provides the option of high-quality bulk t shirt printing, and get a whole batch of merch ready for your pre-orders, shows, and shops.

Then go to your Instagram and make a post for each one of the designs, with the appropriate hashtags and captions. When it comes to hashtags, it is important that you focus on specific phrases and words that describe your band and brand. You don’t want to go for popular hashtags that basically say nothing relevant about you and seem like a desperate attempt to sell. Also, make your captions go well with your image, and don’t write intricate paragraphs that take the attention away from what really matters.

Finally, it is a clever tactic to make some of your sales limited, so that people go for those CTAs quickly before you “run out of stock”.

Instagram is probably the best place for you to sell your band t-shirts. While your website remains the storefront, Instagram is the place where people follow your band and will see the detailed images of your merch that will entice them to buy it. Be bold about your sales, and make sure that your designs are above any “copycats” out there that will certainly sell shirts with your band on it. Finally, affiliate yourself with a company that does high-quality t-shirts, so that you can offer your fans the best of the best.

If you have an online store, there are many ways that you can boost your customer retention rate without going over-budget. Customer loyalty programs, clever content, and regular use of newsletter emails are just a few ways to ensure an improved conversion rate.

Shopify Apps for Customer Loyalty

Shopify has a host of customer loyalty program apps, many of which are free (paid apps sell at between $9 and $20, approximately). These apps allow e-commerces stores to create a plethora of customizable offers aimed specifically at boosting loyalty. Features to entice clients with include discounts based triggered by specific items, rewards based on amounts spent, ‘buy one get one’ offers, and so much more. The benefits range beyond increased sales, since reports are generated which permit you to understand each customer’s tastes and habits. This information allows you to make targeted offers and campaigns.

Other apps give rewards for taking specific actions; these might include sharing content on social media, following you or your affiliates, commenting, and more. Referrals are another important source of potential revenue, and a definite consideration for reward. Another way to ensure customers take action is to set a loyalty points expiration date, thus creating a sense of urgency.

Content Creation

Your e-commerce site should be more than just a place where customers can find the immediate items they need; it should also boost customer loyalty to drive more sales. Customers are thankful for useful information and the more dynamic your content is, the more likely they are to visit your site to check out your news, perhaps making an unexpected purchase in the process. Cater your blog/resources section to clients. For instance, if you are selling children’s clothes, make a blog for parents with tips on styling and grooming for kids will be well received.

The Importance of Newsletters and Emails

The organic reach of Facebook is practically dead, with the social network having recently changed its news feed to prioritize content shared by family and friends. Therefore, companies will have to increase their budget for paid advertising to garner the same amount of views enjoyed in the past. Luckily, research also shows that email is a more effective sales channel than social networking sites.

Email allows you to personalize communications to customers, which can make them feel more appreciated. An interesting study by ExactTarget found that 77% of those surveyed preferred email for permission-based marketing messages, while only 4% opted for Facebook.

When building your email strategy, look into Shopify apps such as Cross-Selling Emails, which sends your buyers a post-purchase email recommending your top products in an attempt to encourage further purchases. Emailing is fully automated, which frees up your time and energy for other important strategies.

Customer loyalty apps cost almost nothing yet boost customer loyalty in a big way. Clients feel connected to companies that reward them for purchases, shares, mentions and the like, so ensure you say ‘thank you’ in many ways – through points, discounts, two for one offers, etc. Also, keep your customers engaged with interesting content and don’t forget the potential of regular email communications.

Article written by: Jennifer Dawson

[1] Forbes Artice: Customer Retention Is King

[2] Essential Customer Loyalty Statistics 2017

They aspire.

As a fashion brand, finding the right taut and toned shoulders on which to place your clothing can play a big part in the success of your business. Finding a personality who not only looks fantastic in your designs, but also resonates with your typical customer and gets them to aspire, can be the difference between going boom and going bust.

But getting your clothes on the body of a celebrity isn’t an easy task. Do you try to speak directly with the celebrity? Do you reach out to their manager? Their publicist?

You could, but the person who will be the best asset to you is the celebrity’s stylist. The stylist is the person who is hired to choose what the celebrity wears, and will therefore filter any incoming offers, and try to find the fashion brands that fit with their client’s brand.

So how do you introduce your brand to a celebrity’s stylist in a way that will get your attire in their wardrobe? Let’s take a look.

Finding the right celebrity

Your first task is to find a celebrity who fits with your brand. The perks of identifying a celebrity who perfectly matches your brand’s style and ethos are two-fold:

1. Your day-to-day customers are more likely to ‘connect’ with the celebrity
2. The celebrity will be more likely to accept your offer if they identify with your brand

The question you need to ask yourself is simple. Why? Why would the celebrity be interested in my brand? Does my fashion align with what I’ve seen them wear before? Does my brand’s ethos match theirs? You need to invest time in researching a celebrity’s style, and what they’re passionate about. You need to then form a compelling pitch that explains why the celebrity and your brand are a match made in heaven.

But it can’t be forgotten that your celebrity will only be introduced to your brand if their stylist identifies with your product too. In fact, it’s probably more important to impress the stylist than the celebrity, as they are often the judge, jury and executioner when it comes to the celebrity’s wardrobe. While they may be trickier to research, just as much effort should be put into finding out what makes the stylist tick.

Where should you start your hunt? While it might be tempting to check out what your competitors are doing, a better strategy is to find complimentary brands that are targeting the same audience. This will allow you to make contact with a celebrity if you feel they are a tight fit – something that is difficult if they already represent a competitor.

The great thing about social media marketing is that it is easily measurable. How many likes, comments and shares did a post get? And how big was the audience? These two numbers will give you an engagement rate – a super simple yet surprisingly insightful measure of marketing success. Look at the campaigns of these complementary brands, and see what worked and what didn’t. Success and failure can be determined by a range of factors, but will usually come down to the choice of celebrity or the campaign strategy.

Who will resonate with your customer base? To find out, simply check who they follow! By identifying celebrities that your social media followers tend to follow, you’ll get a good understanding of the sort of person you need to target.

While you can manually scour the profiles of followers to get a sense of who your audience will respond to, there are many tools available for this exact purpose. If your having trouble finding celebrities by utilizing Google, you can use a tool like Celebrity Endorsers to find celebrities who align with the interests of your followers!

From this groundwork you should be able to form a list of relevant candidates.

Paid vs free

It’s important to note here that there are two avenues to celebrity endorsement – paid and free. The route that your brand takes will be steered by your budget, your designs and your brand’s mission.

Paid endorsement: The upper echelon of the Hollywood A-list can command significant sums for wearing a big brand on the red carpet, and their stylists can earn a handsome ‘finders fee’ too.

As with anything business, your brand simply seeks a return on investment. For example, if your brand caters to a younger audience then you could pay to have an artist wear your t-shirt brand in a music video and expose the brand to the aritsts entire fan base. This is just one route. When you are paying for the endorsement, you have more control on where and how your brand is seen, whether you want them to post a picture of them wearing your brand on their Instagram, or do a photoshoot, you can negotiate that. The price for paying a celebrity to endorse your brand varies depending on the celebrity, and what you want them to do.

Paying also offers guarantees. A contract ensures that you’ll get the celebrity that you want, they’ll wear your brand when you need them to, and they’ll drop your name into the microphone on cue.

Free endorsement: While it’s a less foolproof strategy than paid endorsement, free endorsement is the more accessible option for most brands. By ‘free’ we simply mean that no money is exchanged, but clothing must obviously still be given away.

Free endorsements are best capitalized on if your brand offers more everyday wear. While the celebrity is under no obligation to wear your attire, if they do, you have a terrific piece of marketing content that has cost you nothing more than a small piece of material. The better your brand fits with the chosen celebrity, the more likely they are to both take up your offer, and do so for nothing more than free samples of clothing. This makes finding the perfect all the more important.

Reaching out to the stylist

So you’ve found your celebrity and you’re ready to get in contact with their stylist. Why the stylist? Because they are the celebrity’s style representative, and any related queries must be channeled through them – much as public appearances are organised through a PR person, and new work is organised through an agent.

Your first job is to find the stylist. Previously a cloak and dagger operation that would involve countless emails and whispers in the hallway, you can utilize a celebrity stylist list to find out the contact info for stylists. Simply pop in the celebrity’s name, and you’ll get a list of all their stylists (with contact information), the brands that they are currently associated with, and a wealth of other handy info.

It should be noted that many successful stylists actually have agents themselves, to help sift through the offers and enquiries sent to the celebrities they represent. The most effective way to ensure that your attire ends up on a celebrity is to hand control over to the stylist. Send out samples to a stylist, and let them decide which of the celebrities they represent best fits with your brand.

While there are no absolute rules for making contact with a stylist (or their agents), and your communication should reflect the personality of your brand, there are a few basic dos and don’ts that should be adhered to.

Don’t

• Pick up the phone and call. In the mind of the stylist this turns you straight from a business opportunity to a telemarketer.
• Send a lookbook of your entire product line. You might assume that exhibiting your entire range will allow the stylist to choose an item that perfectly suits their celebrity, but the reality is that they simply won’t bother. They’re busy people.
• Be picky. If a stylist comes back to you saying that they’d be more prepared to pass your attire onto celebrity B than they would celebrity A, or that they love an item that you aren’t really looking to push, don’t argue the point. Be appreciative of the opportunity you’ve been granted.

Do

• Email rather than call or request a meeting. This allows the stylist to answer at their leisure. They’ll appreciate the courtesy.
• Highlight one or two of your products. Rather than sending the stylist a lookbook or directing them to your site, do the hard work for them. Attach images of a couple of items that you feel the celebrity would really love.
• Keep the message polite and to-the-point. Stylists are busy, so make sure that you keep your message concise, without coming across abrasive.

Billy Bones is marketing director at Booking Agent Info, a celebrity contact database that allows brands to skip the middleman by providing the contact information for the official agent, manager, and publicist of celebrities. He also works at Celebrity Endorsers, which provides brands with celebrity data including their celebrity endorsements, interests, and the causes and charities that they support.

Before launching my own sportswear brand, I worked for an apparel factory in China with my main role as the link between our factory and design teams of major brands.  It was my job to handle our orders from early quotations and sampling to bulk production and shipment.

Another part of my job was to find new brands that we could produce for, and the primary way we did this was to attend apparel sourcing shows around the world.  When I worked for the factory I would attend as an exhibitor to find clients, and I attend now for my own brand to find suppliers.You may have an idea for a clothing design, but finding someone to make it for you can be one of the most difficult steps in the beginning stages.  Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned vet, in my experience the best way to find clothing producers is to attend a sourcing show.

What is a sourcing show?

Think of it as speed dating for factories – it’s your chance to meet hundreds of suppliers from all over the world in one place and decide who is the right match to make your clothing.A sourcing show is a forum, usually held in a large conference center, that both suppliers and brands attend to meet each other.  The suppliers will set up a booth to exhibit and you can walk from booth to booth to determine who might be able to make your designs.

A sourcing show is a forum, usually held in a large conference center, that both suppliers and brands attend to meet each other.  The suppliers will set up a booth to exhibit and you can walk from booth to booth to determine who might be able to make your designs.

Shows are usually organized by product specialty as well as by the region the manufacturer is based.  If you do a bit of research before you hit the floor, you’ll be able to efficiently focus on your needs.

How much does it cost to attend?

Attending a sourcing show as a brand or buyer is usually free, though you will probably need to provide proof of your company or brand.  A business card should be enough, but it is recommended to contact the show or confirm on their website in advance as it is possible circumstances may change and it varies depending on the show.

What shows can I attend?

Texworld, New York & Paris: Texworld is held in New York, NY twice every year at the Javits Convention Center – once in January and again in July.  The apparel based show features production factories, fabrics and accessories suppliers and features a new printing section.  Suppliers come from around the world, though there is also a USA domestic production section as well.

SOURCING at MAGIC, Las Vegas:  SOURCING at MAGIC is held in February and August each year.  It very similar to Texworld but may be a bit easier to reach for west coast based companies and designers.  MAGIC also has a USA region for those looking for domestic production and it features a footwear supplier section that is so big it is held in a separate building.

Canton Fair, China: Held in the southern city of Guangzhou, this is the largest trade show in the world.  Held biannually, at this fair you can find producers for just about anything, with clothing and accessories a part of their week three itinerary.  The Canton Fair only allows for Chinese manufacturers, but you’ll find a huge variety of supplier specialties.  This is for more experienced clothing producers and those who plan to make at least 500 pieces per design colorway.

Benefits

• Meet factories and reps in person:  Having direct communication can be so important.  There is no substitute for being able to see and feel the clothing in person and test the factory’s quality.  It’s also a great way to get a better impression of the company and ask as many questions as you need to.  A few minutes of face-time can accomplish a lot more than days, or even weeks, of emails.
• Speed Dating: Sourcing shows make it possible to meet so many potential suitors in such a short period of time.  It’s also a great way to be able to directly compare different factories and what they can offer.
• Trend Spotting: Seeing so many booths side-by-side, you’ll start to notice trending fashion.  They often bring their newest productions, which will let you see what’s popular.  A lot of people say the fashion centers of the world are New York or Paris, but you can often see new developments from suppliers before it they hit stores.

Ask Questions

Often times seeing a company’s website isn’t enough to paint a full picture.  You will be surrounded by manufacturing experts – use the opportunity to learn more about their companies and about the industry as a whole.

Questions to Ask

What is the minimum order quantity (MOQ) and capacity?  It is important to know if you can reach the factory minimum, or likewise, if they can handle the quantity you need to be made for each design.

Do they have their own factory or outsource production to other factories?  Sometimes it might seem like the supplier is a factory, when the reality is some act as agents and just find factories to make your designs.
What parts of the process can they handle?  Are they a one-stop-shop (idea to finished garment) or do they only handle parts of the production like cut-and-sew.  It’s important to know if you need to find other resources, like someone to handle the printing or make your clothing patterns.

What other resources do they offer?  It’s always a bonus when a factory can help source fabrics and other trims, like necktape and labels.

Advice

• Don’t look for just anyone that can make your clothing, find the right fit.
• Be upfront with what you’re looking for and what you need.  Don’t pretend to be an expert if you need someone to walk you through the order.
• Show, don’t tell.  Don’t be afraid to bring an example of something you’re trying to make to help guide the factory, whether it is a small piece of fabric to a full sample to show the sizing.  It doesn’t take away from the originality of your clothing to show something similar, but it will actually help the factory get it right.

General Warning

This is an amazing opportunity to meet all kinds of suppliers, however, I just wanted to make sure readers understand the commitment this path takes.  While suppliers you meet at these events usually offer complete customization of your clothing from the fabric to the labels and packaging, the commitment of both time and money are often very substantial.  Supplier minimums can be quite high and it can easily take one year from beginning sampling to receiving bulk production.  As I mentioned before, I highly recommend asking as many questions as possible with suppliers you intend to cooperate with in order to understand the expectations and the commitment.

Being in the t-shirt business, I’ve done a fair share of research on the t-shirt printing processes. I wanted to share all the processes I know, because I feel that it is useful for anyone that is starting out. Mind you, the only processes that I have personal experience with are plastisol screen-printing and heat press, so the other categories are all based on research. Regardless, I think this could be a very helpful resource for people looking for the right type of look and feel.

Screen-printing Ink Types:

Plastisol

• This is the most common form of ink used for printing. Used for mostly all types of t-shirt prints.

Benefits:

• Cheapest method of screen-printing
• Many colors
• Low minimums

Disadvantages:

• Prints thicker on the shirt, unless you’re using a higher mesh screen
• If you have a large area of plastisol ink, the print feels a bit heavy
• Sometimes has a gummy texture if not done correctly

Discharge

• This method bleaches the ink from the shirt, which leaves a light print and you can print over it with regular inks or you can add dye to the discharge to give a subtle-colored look.

Benefits:

• Super soft print
• Cool look; has a more vintage look and feel

Disadvantages:

• Expensive process
• Difficult to print
• Don’t recommend DIY discharge printing

Plascharge

• A hybrid of discharge and plastisol; it is mixed with plastisol inks to get pigment in discharge printing.

Benefits:

• Has softer feel than plain plastisol
• More vibrant colors than discharge

Disadvantages:

• More expensive than plastisol
• Not as many printers use plascharge

Waterbased

• This ink uses concentrated pigment based dyes that are, as the name suggests, waterbased.

Benefits:

• Superior feel
• Environmentally friendly

Disadvantages:

• For best results use dark inks on light shirts
• Colors are not always consistent
• Coverage may sometimes be uneven

Foil

• This is a specialty printing method where an adhesive print is made and then the foil is heat pressed onto the fabric.

Benefits:

• Very unique

Disadvantages:

• Not many variations
• Has to be used sparingly

Other printing processes:

Belt Printing

• This printing process prints over the t-shirt seams, which allows the printer to print extremely large prints.

Benefits:

• Extra large print

Disadvantages:

• Very expensive process
• Very high minimums
• Registration is difficult; printing over one color is not recommended

Cut and Sew

• This process uses custom made fabric with the print directly on it, and then the manufacturer custom makes the garment using the custom fabric.

Benefits:

• One of a kind look
• Really professional

Disadvantages:

• Extremely expensive
• Very high minimums
• Uncommon (usually outsourced outside of US)

DTG (Direct to Garment)

• This process uses a printer to directly print onto the garment without the use of screens or sublimation.

Benefits:

• Low minimums
• Full color printing
• Quick turnaround for low quantities

Disadvantages:

• Prints on demand, so ordering more shirts doesn’t necessarily make it cheaper
• More difficult to print on colored shirts
• Best results on 100% cotton shirts
• Large orders take much longer

Heat press

• This process uses transfer paper, so it can be done in a very DIY fashion.

Benefits:

• Very easy for beginners
• You can easily make custom shirts (sports teams, custom names)
• Available anywhere

Disadvantages:

• Depending on brand and equipment, results may not be the best of quality
• May start to peel after couple washes
• Will not retain color very well as well as screen-printing

Dye Sublimation

• With this process the dye turns into a vapor and is absorbed into the fabric, you must use a fabric that is at least 50% polyester.

Benefits:

• Full color
• Great feel
• No minimums

Disadvantages:

• Very expensive
• Can only print on synthetic shirts
• You can only print on white shirts

So that’s a quick overview of the printing processes I’m familiar with. If you’re interested in a process, I recommend researching more on the process before you decide to use it for your shirts. Also, if you are planning to do your own printing, be sure to be careful because some of these processes have harmful chemicals that could be potentially harmful to your health. Good luck!

My article on creating a brand name went pretty well, so I wanted to follow it up with a little bit about logo design. So I realize how huge a topic branding and logo design is, so believe me, I am by no means saying that I am any kind of master of logo design. The purpose of this article is just to provide a little bit of insight for brands with amateur designers like you and me. There is a whole science behind professional brand/logo design that you would probably take a college course for if you really wanted to get into it.

1. Research and Brainstorming

So the first and most important step of coming up with the perfect logo is research and brainstorming. There is no way in hell that you can come up with the perfect logo on the spot, and there’s absolutely no way you can come up with your logo without first thinking of a concept. In a way, coming up with your logo is just like coming up with your brand name, you have to really look at it through your audiences eyes, and try to understand what they perceive from looking at your brand.

With logo design, the golden rule is to pretty much keep it simple but appealing, less is usually more. Think of the best and most recognizable logos in the world. Brands that come to mind for me are: Fedex, Nike, and Apple. These logos sparingly use any design elements, but are instantly recognizable and convey the tone of their company.
Fedex: One of the most ingenious logos in my opinion. The font (futura bold, I believe) is very legible, and if you look between the ‘e’ and the ‘x’, you can see the arrow, which suggests that Fedex will definitely get your packages sent on time with ease.

Nike: The Nike symbol is also very recognizable. There is a sense of agility that matches the tone of this sports equipment brand. Simple and perfect!

Apple: Apple is known for its clean aesthetics and the apple logo perfectly matches these aesthetics. It’s very simple and clean, and cannot be mistaken for another brand.

With my Mouthcan logo, I originally had a complex halftone in the mouth. I later realized that it was too complicated, and made the logo look distracting. Less is more, so taking the halftone off was actually beneficial.

So now, as a clothing brand owner, what is the message behind your brand? Is it aggressive? Is it sporty? Is it fun and bubbly? Whatever the theme of your brand is, the logo has to match the aesthetics.

2. Conceptualize

Now you have to make a few design choices. Do you want a graphic logo? Do you want a font that utilizes a unique or custom typography? Do you want to do a combination of both? So now it’s the hard (or maybe fun) part. Sketch out everything that comes to mind. SKETCH!

When I was first thinking of my logo for Lowdtown, I wanted to use custom typography.

So I sketched out some handwritten logos, however, the look wasn’t really what I wanted in a logo. Though it was nice, it didn’t really have the “bold” feel that I wanted.

So next, I played around with custom typography that was a little bit more fun and exciting. I played around with the idea of replacing the “O” in LOWDTOWN, with a mouth. Since “lowd” is a play on words with “loud”, I wanted to graphically making something that said loud. So I tried to make it into a mouth, but that too looked awkward and didn’t fit.

Next I tried replacing the O’s with a character. I wanted a way to make one character out of both O’s. I finally started getting the feel that I was looking for. I gave a boxier look to the typography, and gave slab-serifs to the type. In my second attempt of playing with this idea, I made the bottom O, just a big mouth. Then it struck me; the O resembled my Mouthcan character. So it seemed perfect to make Mouthcan into the O.

I ultimately ended up having two logos. I have my typographical logo and my branding logo. This adds a little versatility, and my thoughts were that once people recognize my Mouthcan logo as “Lowdtown Friends & Freaks”, I could get rid of the typography.

3. Computerize

So I don’t want to really get into the nitty gritty technical part of designing the logo, but I really recommend using Adobe Illustrator. That way, you can resize your logo to any size without worry about anything. If you have a graphical logo that you sketched and want to trace, use the pen tool instead of the custom brush tool or anything else like that. You’ll get the sharpest lines and corners, and that’s very important for a logo, unless you’re going for a sloppy or messy look. Also be as precise as possible, if you’re making a straight line make sure it’s straight. Little flaws like that will come back to bite you in the ass.

Here’s another very important step. You have to really consider the application of your logo. Most likely your logo will be for web-based applications and also for print. So here’s what you have to do:

• Make your logo really big, and take a look at it. Think about what your logo would look like if you put it on a poster. Would you see all the messy details? If you do, maybe you need to make it cleaner or simpler.
• Do the opposite now. Make your logo really small. Can you still tell what’s going on? If you have typography is it still legible?
• If your logo has more than one color, try making it black and white. Imagine printing your logo and you only have black and white. Does it still look good?

If you’ve tried these, and observed them in both web and print and it still looked good, go on to the next step.

4. Reflection

Once you think you have the look of your logo down, don’t be afraid to ask for opinions, unless it’s like top secret or something, by which case you’re probably a professional so you shouldn’t even be reading this. This is a very crucial step because you want to know if your font is legible if it’s typographical, or if people can tell what your logo is if it’s graphical (think Apple, easily identifiable as the fruit).

For Lowdtown, I put up a post on a forum asking what people thought about my logo. At that point, my logo was in a square format with color rather than horizontal and black/white, and thanks to the Emptees community, I realized that the logo was much more legible when it was horizontal and in black. I gave the Emptees community a bunch of possible colorways and logo ideas that I had in mind. Then I let them choose which one was their favorite, this way they can tell you what looks good rather than making them figure out what would look good.

Finally, give yourself a critical look at your logo. Does your logo reflect your brand? For Lowdtown Friends & Freaks, I wanted to be recognized as a bold streetwear brand, so I didn’t want to be viewed as cute or grungy. I feel that Mouthcan got the job done, because it is neither too cute nor too aggressive in my opinion. However, one thing I was afraid of was that Mouthcan could be associated with the fratboy, beer-drinking culture.

However, I think I managed to avoid that by making the mouth of the can very graphical rather than silly looking (no offense to you fratboys). But just keep in mind that some people may look at your logo differently from what you think it may be perceived as.

So that’s about it. I hope this gave you some inspiration to make a kickass logo! Keep in mind, this is not the only way to make logos. A lot of the greatest logos are great because they break a lot of rules. If you want to check out some really amazing logos for inspiration go to logopond.com. Good luck guys, keep your minds open!

What is branding?

I personally think branding is the most important thing when it comes to an online clothing business. Branding is what basically sells the item before the potential customer gets to see the item. And most of us don’t have the luxury of letting the customer see our product in person at a brick and mortar store, so branding means everything! I mean, there is a gazillion bajillion little indie brands out there, so what is it that sets your brand apart from mine? So today, I’m going to be talking about the first step to making a strong brand, the name.

What happend to RAWR! Clothing?

First, let me tell you my story. I used to run a semi-popular brand called “RAWR! Clothing”. I had a decent fanbase, and I thought my products were good. So why did I switch to Lowdtown Friends & Freaks? Of course, I had many reasons, but one of my biggest reasons was because I simply didn’t like the name. Sure, it was catchy enough, but I felt that there was so many flaws that I needed to make a change.

So let’s identify what I felt what was wrong with RAWR! Clothing. The first important thing is that you want something that won’t be confused with another brand or thing. Being that “rawr” is kind of a web meme, I felt that it was immediately identified with the internet. Thus anyone who was interested in web memes like: rawr, was in the target audience of, I’d say, twelve-ish to eighteen year olds. This was not the kind of audience I wanted to associate myself with, so that was the first reason a change was in order.

The second reason why the name is flawed is because of the word “Clothing.” Why would that be a flaw? It is a clothing company, isn’t it? Though that may be true, once you put a category into your name, you trap yourself in that category. Clothing might be a great word for you if you plan to stick to clothing for the life-span of your business, but I plan to expand to fields of toys and art and such, and I don’t want people thinking “why is a clothing company making toys?”

The final reason is that RAWR! Clothing, to me, was just not an interesting or unique name. This kind of ties in with the first reason, but it sounds too amateur for a serious brand. I wanted a name that would pique a potential costumers interest, instead of something that might leave the customer thinking that my brand is just amateur.

So how the hell did I come up with a name like Lowdtown Friends & Freaks?

Let me tell you, it was no easy thing to come up with LTFF. So many things had to be put into consideration. I wanted something that could be abbreviated nicely, something that could be shortened, and something with a nice amount of syllables. You’re probably thinking I’m crazy, but it was actually very important to me, and it should be important to you too because you have to really consider how your name will be said and heard.

So before I started on the journey to the perfect name, I had a certain amount of things I had in mind. First, I wanted the brand to have a personal touch. I wanted the brand to have a little piece of myself.

So here’s a few things that I felt was important:

• I’m Japanese
• I have a secret love for digimon
• My web name is RAWRoutLOWD
• I have a character named Mouthcan that I really like.

You’re probably thinking how crazy I must be about digimon to actually consider it, but really, you have no idea how much I love digimon! (haha, I’m like the only one) By now you’ve probably also realized that the idea of Mouthcan eventually became my Lowdtown logo.

The Journey to the Perfect Name

Anyways, so I came up with literally a few dozen names that were influenced by the above things. Please also note, though digimon is something that I am passionate about, don’t use anything to suggest an affiliation with another product, you can see what I mean when you look at the names.

Here are a few possible names for the brand that I came up with and why I didn’t use them:

• Mouth Can Monster – The name had a nice flow but the acronym sounded too much like MGM, which I didn’t like.
• Mouthcan – Wasn’t memorable, and lacked syllables
• Lowd Mouth City – This was by far my favorite name, and it was a tough decision not to use it. It turned out that there is a pretty famous band called Loud Mouth, and I didn’t want any association or confusion with that band. I really loved the ring of the name and the acronym though.
• Kisama – I was trying to play with my last name, Masaki. Kisama in Japanese is kind of a dirty way of saying “you”, and I didn’t want to sound rude or dirty.
• YGG (pronounced igg) – I really liked this name too. YGG is short for yggdrasil, which is an (I think) Irish myth about a tree that powers the world. It was also in digimon, and you can see what I mean when I mean a subtle suggestion to your passion. I ended up not using it because there is a company called YGG, which is: Young Go Getters.
• Adventure Goggles – This was inspired by the fact that all digimon leads (besides 5th season) wear goggles. Jeez, I’m such a geek. Anyway, this name didn’t have a good flow when it was pronounced.
• Fuwa Fuwa –  It means fluffy in Japanese. I thought it was a nice sounding name. But I wanted to market my brand as a streetwear brand, so I thought it sounded too cute for what it was for.

So then I finally came up with Lowdtown Friends & Freaks.

I liked the name because:

• It has a nice amount of syllables
• It’s personal because my web name is RAWRoutLOWD.
• The acronym sounds nice and catchy: LTFF
• You can abbreviate the name to Lowdtown
• The domain name, www.lowdtown.com, wasn’t taken
• Lowdtown didn’t come up with any results on google, which means that it is pretty original.
• The name suggests that it could be a street brand that has bold (or “loud”) clothing, which I think is pretty true for my brand.

In closing, I hope this has helped you in even the slightest. I think it’s very important to have a name that is catchy and easy to remember. Remember; try to step out of the box when you’re thinking of a name. I feel like when you have a name like _____ clothing or _____ apparel, you get moshed together with all the other _____clothing and apparel brands. Be unique and try to put a little bit of yourself behind the name, that’s what I did at least. Good luck!

Question:

do you need a logo for a clothing line to start off?

Answer:

In a word, I’d say yes. In terms of branding, a logo is maybe one of the most important symbols/tools/representations of your brand. But the thing is, you have to have a good logo that you feel actually represents your brand well. If you have a shitty logo, people will think you have a shitty brand, and you probably do, because you don’t care enough to have a good logo.

It is extremely difficult to leave a memorable impression on someone without a logo. It doesn’t have to be anything that blows every other logo out of the water. As long as it’s professional, creative, and memorable, you have yourself a good logo. Also, people say that simpler is better (read: nike, apple, etc.)

If you don’t have any design experience, I would recommend hiring a professional graphic designer to make you a logo. A logo is not a thing you can cheap out on. Much like a website, the logo is really important for making an impression on a person. Also, it’s really difficult to change your logo after people start recognizing your brand for it, so it’s a good idea to have a well-thought out logo right off the bat rather than rebranding over and over.

I’ve written a blog entry about coming up with a good logo, so I think it’ll be a useful read: http://blog.lowdtown.com/?p=52

Hope that helps!

-Ray

Question:

Who is your t-shirt manufacturer? Do you make them in house or outsource them to get a tag and design printed on them? I don’t plan to make my own shirts. I would much rather buy a base t-shirt (a thicker, more quality t-shirt…and I want a variety of colors) from a t-shirt manufacturer and have them print my design on it. Do you buy your base t-shirts one place and have the design printed on them elsewhere…or what (and what companies) would you suggest?

Answer:

Ok, so a lot of these are pretty basic questions. Really, it doesn’t take a lot of research to find these answers, but I suppose I can help you out. For t-shirt manufacturers, there’s numerous companies that produce imprintables. I’d say that there’s very few indie t-shirt designers such as myself who produce their own t-shirts. It’s most cost efficient to print onto blank shirts. A few popular t-shirt brands are American Apparel, Tultex, Gildan, Anvil, Fruit of the Loom. To buy the shirt, you usually have to set up a wholesale account with the company to get the wholesale discount.

With my current printer, I buy the blank t-shirts, and give it to my printer for them to print on. This is most cost effective in my opinion because often times the printer can jack up the price of the blanks because it cuts out a middle man.

Question:

Do you have a designer and who would you suggest for getting your ideas on paper? I am not good at drawing, but I have them all in my head! Also, what form do t-shirt manufacturers take the design; does it have to be on a computer program or what?

Answer:

Obviously, a lot of companies work with designers. Luckily, I happen to be a designer, so I often design for my own clothing company. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t collaborate with other artists. It’s good to diversify your brands style to cater to other groups. If you’re not good at drawing, I would suggest you hire a designer and give the designer specific details of what you want the t-shirt design to look like. Just be prepared to pay a good amount of money for a professional design. If you want to be serious about your clothing brand, you have to have a good amount of starting capital.

Screenprinters usually require you to give them the design file as a hi-res raster file or as a vector format. So in other words, it’s a good idea to have a hi-res photoshop file or have the design as an illustrator file if you want the design to print well. If you end up using a file that isn’t prepared for t-shirt printing, it’ll end up looking like crap, and no one will want to buy it.

Question:

I have not owned one of your shirts, but I like the fit of brands like Famous, DC and Nixon t-shirts (so basically a thicker, standard fit t-shirt). So what is the t-shirt company that makes the thicker, more quality base t-shirt for printing (not Hanes or Gilden)? And secondly, what is the best way to get your design on a shirt…is silk screen printing the choice of the companies styles I like?

Answer:

Yea, I don’t think I can be that helpful with this question. The brands you mentioned use a thicker stock shirt than I do. I use shirts that have fashion fits, so they’re usually a bit thinner and slimmer. If you’re looking for a thicker shirt, I suggest you set up accounts with a few companies and get samples.

Screenprinting is definitely the way to go if you want to print on shirts. Of course, there’s many types of inks and processes to use.

Question:

So RAWR Clothing is a LLC…do you suggest that for most small t-shirt businesses? Did you register your LLC, got your tax ID (is a sales and use permit needed too…I’m from Nebraska??), register your trademark, and then you made some shirts and began to advertise and sell them…or what order did you go in or would you suggest?

Answer:

I’m not really too savvy on all the legal business, so I recommend you talk to an accountant or search online. I needed a lot of help too when I first started off. This is a very essential part that you can’t cut corners on, so I recommend you do your research. Either way, since you’re selling something, regardless of if you’re a sole proprietor or LLC, you need to pay sales tax, so be sure you’re all set up before you start selling shirts.

Question:

I am kinda scared about doing this, but no risk no reward I guess…but a main factor is that this shirt may only sell to people from Nebraska…but hopefully my designs will be so cool they will sell other places. So you say eCommerce is the best bet…di you try going to a retail store you could imagine your shirts selling at…or do they not take cold approach t-shirts at most shops and retail stores? I thought maybe consignment shops too…I keep hearing marketing before I even register my biz is crucial…but I also want to protect myself…so any tips on marketing?

Answer:

If you’re scared about starting your clothing company, there’s no reason for you to rush things. If you end up hastily starting something as big as a clothing brand, you might end up faltering a lot on the way. That’s what I did with RAWR! Clothing, so I had to learn my lesson the hard way. So I would really do as much research as possible. If you don’t properly prepare, you might end up regretting it later.

I have my shirts in a few stores, but it really depends on your market too. If you’re going to approach a store just be sure that your brand’s image fits in well with the store. But starting off, I’d definitely recommend getting your store online.

Just try to create some buzz. Word of mouth is always the best kind of marketing.

-Ray

Preface

I’ve been emailing with a guy who is interested in purchasing one of my t-shirt designs, and he asked me if I thought the design would be appropriate for his brand. Even though I like being paid, I honestly didn’t think that the design fit too well with his brand aesthetic, so I gave him some advice.

Question

Thanks Ray,

Dont worry I like the constructive critisism it keeps me on my toes and working hard…

I do like variety in my clothes.
when I decided on a look I took out all the shirts I had in my closet and drawers and asked myself what they had in common..
wierd colors and strong artistic feel with positive imagery was the main theme, breaking character occasionaly.
I like being able to go from a cartoonish tee to a full color image and going back and forth from day to day.
Although I know I need to keep my customers expecting a certain look Im still trying to learn how to tred that line.

I do know I want to stay away from monsters and gory stuff. Also want to stay away from high sexually charged images and obscene stuff. Other than that anything that has an artsy intelligent feel or in some way relates to my life in NYC Im open to. I dont know maybe Im being too broad what do u think?

I had 3 other tee shirt designs that I didnt feel confident puting on the site.. and right now Im shopping around for some and reworking other ideas of my own.
I want to have another 6 designs for sale before I really start promoting my stuff.

Im still leaning towards purchasing your design. Either way though even if I dont maybe we could work together on something else… do you do commissioned work as well?

again I want to thank you for all the feedback.

Answer:

I know exactly what you mean. You can either be safe by keeping your brand extremely consistent, or you can take a risk by trying to broaden the style of your designs. It’s best to have a combination of both, and try to use designs that are interesting and unique but still tie in with your brand.

I feel like you might have a little confusion with what you want exactly. Before you start pumping out more designs, I feel like you should be very certain what your brand represents. Try to come up with a mission statement, and determine what you want your brand to accomplish, and stick to that theme. For example, with my brand, I wanted to create an alternate world called Lowdtown, where all these characters co-exist, so even though I use a lot of shirts with pretty heavy branding, I try to stick to that theme. And even if all the shirts don’t necessarily have Lowdtown characters, I try to make it so the styles still work together harmoniously.

So you said, “Other than that anything that has an artsy intelligent feel or in some way relates to my life in NYC Im open to.” I feel like that may be a bit broad, because “artsy intelligent feel” is quite ambiguous and many designs can have an artsy intelligent feel. You should try to narrow the scope of your brand, so that it is more unique and appealing than the run of the mill artsy and intelligent brands.

Now look at the design that you’re interested in buying, does it fit your mission statement? If it does, then by all means, you’re welcome to buy it. If not, I would love to do some commission work for you, if you give me a clear idea of what you want.

Hope that helps,
Ray

Question:

So, i’ve got my first capsule-collection of tees made. 3graphics,3 styles. i did the photoshoot on Oahu (i love how it turned out) have two features on blogs, but i have yet to launch. here was my plan, in order:
nice hangtags, (my tees are retailing at $65)
biz cards
website – simple, clean with a link to an online store page like bigcartel or etsy
lookbook – might print these myself and do like 20 books for buyers/editors
(will also do a digital version to submit to blogs)
so, i live in Hawaii and was planning a trip to L.A. armed with my tees, lookbooks, a big smile and was going to try and make some appts. w/buyers for my ideal shops…..
good plan? bad plan? any suggestions?
could post a link to the blog postings so you get a feel if you want.
mahalos!

Answer:

Sounds like you’re off to a good start. However, I’d like to make a comment about your order of operations. You’re saying that you want nice hangtags and business cards before you have a website up and running? Sounds a little backwards to me. As I said in another post, your website is your most essential tool when you’re first starting off, so that should be a priority over all else.

Also, you said that your tees retail at $65. To me, that sounds pretty steep, but obviously I don’t know your market, and it sounds like you’re going for a higher-end t-shirt line. That’s all fair game, but be sure that your shirts are actually selling before you make any big moves. Two features on blogs are good, but you need a lot more buzz to be able to sell these in stores if they really are that good.

Going to LA sounds like a huge step if you’re really just going there on a whim. Try not to rush anything, you don’t have to be an overnight success. Though, if you really want to do that, find out which stores you’re planning on going to and definitely make appointments. Tell them before hand that you want to stop by and drop off a lookbook and show off your tees, because it’ll all be pointless if they’re not interested when you get to LA. Personally, I would wait longer, because a lookbook with only 3 designs doesn’t really sound all that impressive to me. Besides, it might not even be necessary to go see the store in person. I’ve sold to several stores in which I literally got the deal through email and shipped them my stuff. Take it at your own pace, and don’t rush things!

I hope that helps, good luck!

-Ray

Question:

Hi Ray. First off let me tell you how rad your clothing line is – really awesome! I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I do have a question and I figured you would be able to help through your experience.

What I’m real confused about is the printing method. I’m just about to have a real small launch and I don’t do ANY designs. I’ve hired an artist to do my designs, but if I’m not mistaken he has to do them a certain way for it to be able to be printed. So my first question is, What exactly are the guidelines I need to give to my artist.

My second question is once I get the artwork, What are the steps I have to take with my printer? Do I have to buy the brand of shirts I want myself and tell them the colors to print the shirts on? And should I go with a local printer or have it done online?

Thanks Ray for the info,
Jenny K. The Up-and-Comer : )

Answer:

Hey, glad you like my brand. Here is my advice; it probably varies from printer to printer, but from the 3-4 printers I’ve worked with in the past, this is the method I’ve used that usually works.

First of all, it depends if you’re working in Photoshop (raster) or Illustrator (vector). Vector’s are scalable to any size, so in the case of vector images, all you really have to do is specify the color and the size of the print on the shirt. I’ve learned that it’s always a good idea to show a mock-up image of a t-shirt so that the printer has a pretty good idea of how large the print should be.

In the case that it’s a raster image (ie. done in Photoshop), you would need to have the file of at least the size of your print (ie. 16″ x 24″ or whatever) and have it at 300dpi. The dpi is very important because if you don’t have it at 300, it’ll most likely come out blurry. 300dpi is usually for print and 72dpi is usually for web, so if you receive a file at 72dpi, tell your artist that it’s wrong!

If you have an experienced artist, he or she should probably separate the colors for you, but if it’s not separated, your printer should be able to handle it. In terms of colors, the best way to get the most accurate colors is by using a pantone color book. A pantone color book is a special book that most, if not all printers use that have the same exact color swatches. That way, even if the design’s colors may look different from monitor to monitor, if you have it properly labelled with the pantone number, there should be no mess ups.

It also varies from printer to printer if you need to buy the blank shirts or not, but I personally like buying the shirts myself. That way, you can buy samples to see which blank is the best for your brand. Also, some printers tend to mark up the price of the blank to get a cut of profit off of that, so you should be careful about that.

Local versus outsourcing is always a debate as well. I currently work with a local printer and I love it, because I get to see samples and stuff in person, and it cuts out the shipping cost as well. However, I’m pretty fortunate that I have a great printer nearby, but there may not be good local printers in your area. In the case of that, outsourcing to well accredited places would be ideal.

Hope that helps, thanks for your questions.

Questions:

I would like to start by off thanking you for answering questions for up and coming clothing lines. I’ve learned some things from you and I deeply appreciate it. Your help can definitely make a clothing line dream come true. Most clothing lines feel as though, you are their competition, so why help?

Someday I plan to do a collab with you, or hire you as a potential designer? I love your brand and I plan to follow in your same footsteps.

I have a few questions:

#1 My clothing line does not consist of a symbol logo. It consists of just a word logo. Other brands, such as The Hundreds and Kid Robot rely deeply on their symbol logo. Do you think there is competition between word logos vs. symbol logo brands? I think there’s pros and cons for each logo. I think symbol logos get played out fast, but a symbol logo is more bold than a word logo. In my opinion, word logos last longer because they have a more traditional look, but don’t get as noticed. I understand there are many brands out there that have both a word logo and a symbol logo. My plan is to just stick with the traditional word logo. Later on down the line, I may create a symbol logo, but the chances are very slim.

How can my word logo compete with the symbol logo brands?

Should I switch the design of my word logo with different types of typography and fonts for different articles of clothing? I feel like my word logo will get played out fast if I use the same design for inside tags, hang tags, and t-shirt designs.

#2 In the beginning stages of starting my clothing line, I plan to do most of the tasks myself. The only employee I will have is a designer when starting. When I’m ready to expand my business, I plan to hire others for the brand. What type of positions am I looking to fill when expanding the business? Are you a one man company or do you have others on your team?

Answers:

1. I think your problem is that you’re limiting the powers of the type logo. It sounds to me like your type logo is just plain type with very little editing. What I would suggest is to add your own flair to the type that represents your company. There are extremely powerful and memorable type logos that do simple modifications to make you double take.

Personally, I’ve always liked the versatility of having both a type and graphic logo. Look at Lowdtown for instance, I have 3 logos that I transition between. I have the main type logo which I use on a variety of labels and business cards. I consider my type logo to be the most professional, so that is the purpose that I’ve given it. I also have the mouthcan logo and the lowdmouth logo. Both of these are obviously very graphic and are used more for brand recognition, because I feel like they are pretty memorable. Graphic logos establish the mood of your brand, in my opinion. And you mentioned kidrobot with their graphic logo. I agree that they use the kidrobot robot symbol the most, but they also have the simple type logo too. Each logo has a purpose and it adds versatility to your branding. However, don’t go crazy and have like 10 different logos, because that would create brand confusion rather than brand recognition.

Open your mind to several ideas and variations. When I came up with my logo, I had to go through several dozen iterations til I came up with ideas that I liked. Try just sketching out as many logos as you can, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find a gem in there be it type or graphic.

2. Yes, I am a one-man operation, but let me tell you, it’s not easy! It’s funny you mention that because I’m currently trying to find some employees to help out as well, but since I’m so attached to Lowdtown it’s difficult to find another person that I can trust it to. Since I’m the main designer, I’m not really searching for another designer, but probably the most important thing that I’m looking for is someone who understands the business side of things. Getting an accountant would probably be the most helpful, because I’m completely clueless when it comes to sorting my own taxes and figuring out how to efficiently use my money. I wish I had more time for marketing as well. If I had someone who can handle that side of the operation of promoting the brand and finding wholesalers, that would be extremely useful.

Thanks for the questions, I hope this helped!

Questions:

Hello Ray,

My name is Justin. I have pondered starting a clothing line. I’ve been doing extensive research because, well, if I do start one I’ll be running off a shoestring budget. Anyhow, I’ll cut to the chase and ask the questions I’ve been wondering about.

Do you make your own shirts, or do you outsource this?

If you do outsource it (I understand the process of outsourcing) does the company making the shirts put the label and hang tag on for you, or do you do this?

If you do not outsource, do you print them up yourself with a DTG printer or screen printer, and then sew on your label, and put your hang tag on yourself? And where do you get your products from? I have researched many, and a lot of smaller operations recommend American Apparel.

I have many more questions, but I’ll leave just one more. I imagine you are a busy person, just as I am.

What kind of numbers do you have rolling in, and are you making a big enough profit to expand your line?

My start up costs would be different from yours, but it helps to have some general ideas, that way I can figure out my break even point.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,

Justin

Answers:

Hey Justin, thanks for the questions.

I’m assuming you’re asking if I print my own shirts rather than make them, but no, I don’t print my own shirts. I wish I could, but I’m still a student, and it would be too much labor for it to be worth it.

The company I outsource puts in the labels for me, but I put on the hang tags myself, because that’s pretty simple.

I can’t share my numbers, because that’s personal, but I make enough to be able to run Lowdtown only off of the money it makes. Mind you, I don’t really use any of the money I make from Lowdtown for personal things, so I pretty much put 100% of the profit back into Lowdtown.

And I don’t think knowing my numbers will help you figure out your point for breaking even. You figure out how to break even, by figuring the cost of your blanks plus the print and any additional embellishments (labels, hang tags, etc). That would be your raw cost of the t-shirt. Then you figure out your retail price, and subtract your raw price per t-shirt. By figuring out how much money you’d be making off each shirt, you can see how many shirts it would take to break even. Of course there would be a lot of other factors, but that’s the barebones way I use to figure it out.

Good luck!

Questions:

Hi Ray!

I was just looking through some online articles and stumbled on your site. I’m also a young entrepreneur and I’m looking to start up a sneaker accessory brand for sneakerheads! There’s so much stuff to consider when starting a brand, so I absolutely appreciate the tips that you wrote on your blog. And I think it’s so important to reach out to fellow startups. The dream of success!

Amazing job with everything! I think the main thing that’ll be a big cost for me is the design part (I’m not a designer, unfortunately! Haha) and of course the inventory part. Since you were a student at parsons, do you know how much it is to get like logos and packaging designed?

Thanks! Your graphics are amazing — if ever I make any money, I promise to buy a t-shirt.

Answers:

Hey Ting,

Logos range in price, depending on who you hire. And obviously, as with everything else, hiring a professional designer is really crucial. I’m sure you can pay a crappy myspace teenager online for a $100 logo, but if you’re looking to get a professional logo, I’d say it would range from around $400-1000. But considering your logo is the most important thing in your brand that needs to make an impression on everyone, you really shouldn’t be frugal about it.

I’m not really sure how much packaging design costs, being that I’ve never made any custom packages. I’m also not sure if you’re asking how much graphics to go on pre-made packaging is or if you’re asking how much it costs to get the packaging itself custom designed. The latter is obviously much more expensive, but that’s about all I can say. If you simply want to get designs printed onto pre-made packaging, I probably wouldn’t expect to pay more than $250.

Hope that helps!

More Resources:

Custom t-shirt packaging ideas

T shirt Packaging

1. How to start a tshirt business: Passion

Without passion you aren’t going to get through the tough times and continue on. There is an awesome video done by Ben of Fright Rags and he talks a lot about how passion is necessary for your success. It’s going to be hard in the beginning. This isn’t like a 9 to 5 where you get paid for the time you put in. You are going to put in hours upon hours of work without seeing any return in the beginning. You are going to do this because you are passionate and you’re following your dream and you will do anything to make your tshirt business a success.

Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.

In the beginning of my first tshirt business I didn’t know anything. I made a tshirt press out of wood and figured out how to screen print. Screen printing is hard, especially if you don’t have all the right equipment. I was making screens in my shower, bought a pressure washer to wash out the design, and made tons of errors in the process. I got better and have printed hundreds of my first design called Missing Turtle. If I could do it again I would just pay a professional to print my shirts. I didn’t start a tshirt business so I could print shirts. I just wanted to design them and sell them. Check out this article written by Jimmy of Heartcore clothing about his story and why you should hire a professional instead of printing your own shirts.

So I finally figured out how to make the tshirts, I put them online, and nothing happend. No sales for a while. What is going on! I thought if I built it they would come. This is completely untrue on the internet. I spent hours researching on t-shirt forums for advice. Most of the information was terrible. I slowly figured out how to market my clothing line by getting my shirts on some of the biggest t-shirt blogs. Read the article how to get your cool shirt on tshirt blogs.

I started getting on these t-shirt blogs and started seeing orders come in. Yippee!! I printed my second shirt live every week like it’s shark week and the print was terrible. Nothing like the design I sent them. I had spent hundreds of dollars on tshirts that were awful. I talked to the company and they agreed to reprint the tshirts. It was better and I felt comfortable to sell the product now but it wasn’t perfect. I went through two other printers before I found the one that I loved (read more about my recommended printer by clicking here)

The moral of this whole story is giving up was never an option for me because I was so passionate about what I was doing. I couldn’t screen print so I figured out how. I didn’t get any sales so I figured it out. I had problems with screen printers so I kept on looking for better ones. It’s your passion that is going to carry you through everything and if you are just in it for the money you won’t last.

2. Have a professional website

Your website is very important to your long term success. You need to have a professional website or else no one will take you seriously. No one wants to buy from a website that they don’t trust.

Luckily for you there are some great options to get a professional e-commerce website up and running without a ton of capital. With $30 a month you can get a site up and start making money. Shopify has tons of free themes that will make you look professional wihtout spending a ton of cash. It’s also easy enough to use that you can customize the site to your brand, manage inventory, and run your website without expensive designers and webmasters. Read my article here about the best e-commerce website for clothing companies.

3. How to start a tshirt business: Find an awesome screen printer

Lucky for you you don’t have to go through what I did and try multiple screen printers before finding a great one. Check out our recommended printer and they will help you make some awesome shirts. I started using them on my second clothing company and they blew me away. I had 8 colors on some designs and they printed them so you could barely feel the ink. For me this was huge and the shirts I was getting made were just as good if not better then any of the shirts I saw in big retail stores. When your confident about your product you are going to be able to sell them better. If you have a product that is just okay your salesmanship is going to suffer. You really need to believe in your product. Also this company does an awesome job of sending you a mockup of the final product so there isn’t any grey area on what to expect.

4. How to start a tshirt business: Plan everything and do your research

You’re doing that right now! Planning and researching is such a crucial part to starting a clothing company. Check out your competitors, see if anyone is doing what you want to do.

• Is there enough of a market to sell your shirts?
• What shirts are you going to print on?
• What is your demographic?
• How are going to get traffic?
• Are you going to sell at craft shows or events?

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. Planning and researching your tshirt company is necessary for success. If you don’t make plans and goals it’s like leaving on a trip without a map. It’s going to be very hard to get to the destination if you don’t know how to get there.

5. How to start a tshirt business: Know your market and customer

Knowing your market and your customer is a must. I feel like a lot of people believe they have a brilliant idea but they don’t connect with their market. No matter how much you want to go and do your own thing you need to remember you need a customer to sell to.

You can’t be a walmart. What I mean is you can’t sell products to everyone. There already is a walmart and they are going to beat you on prices every time and you need to compete on something different. You need to define your market and go after your niche in the market place. You need to produce products that are unique. If you know your customer and can reach them and get them what they want you will be successful, simple as that.

6. How to start a tshirt business: Know your finances

I remember the first year I filed taxes for my clothing company. I had no idea what I was doing and I was so stressed out! Since I owned my own business I had to do all the bookkeeping and figure out all the numbers by myself.

It wasn’t like all my friends with jobs that just got their numbers handed to them in a W-2. I remember I filed for an extension but I still procrastinated until the deadline to file everything. I felt overwhelmed and hated it. It was the most stressful thing in my life.

Fast forward to this year. I filed my taxes in a few hours and then went out with my friends to have a few beers. I didn’t stress about it all.

What changed?

I was on top of my bookkeeping. I have been using Quickbooks to automatically import all my transactions and once a year I go through to double check everything. Quickbooks makes it easy to import all your transactions and set up rules to automatically categorize everything correctly. It learns from you and gets easier the longer you use it.

Then once a year I just send over that info to Turbo Tax to file my taxes.

Quickbooks starts at $5 for a limited time.
That’s 50% OFF if you use my special link below

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You also get a 30 day free trial so you can check it out and see if you like it before you pay anything.

7. How to start a tshirt business: Follow the Golden Rule

One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. A really simple rule that everyone starting a tshirt business should follow. Think about how you would want to be treated if you were in the customers shoes. If you follow this rule you will have a lot more happy customers and your tshirt business will thrive because of that.

There is actually an even better rule. Treat others as they want to be treated.

8. How to start a tshirt business: Stop Trying to do it all and Delegate

I wrote an article about delegating and its a real important part in making your tshirt business be more professional. I’m not an amazing screen printer, or even an amazing artist. I’m good at making websites managing people and marketing. Everything else I find people that are the best at that field. I use the best designers, the best screen printers, and find people that are better then me to help me out. In the end I look a lot more professional and I end up not spending as much time doing the things I am not that great at.

9. How to start a tshirt business: Never give up

I hit on this a little bit in the beginning but it needs to be said again. Don’t give up! Your failures aren’t just there to humble you, they are learning opportunities. Everyone who has succeeded with a tshirt business has taken their mistakes, learned from them, and fixed the problems. I wrote an article called Fail Fast that hits on this more.

10. How to start a tshirt business: Advertise and Market your tshirt business

My best successes have come from word of mouth advertising. The best part about this advertising is it’s free. I would get in touch with the t-shirt blogs, these are the talkers on the internet. You connect to them and they will let all of their followers know. I’ve gotten on some big blogs, and websites, and gotten thousands of orders this way.  Read the article how to get your cool shirt on tshirt blogs.

You can also connect diretly with your customer through facebook, pinterest, twitter, instagram, and email lists.

Create a blog and write about what your customers are interested in. Fine tune your website with search engine optimization and get some google traffic to your site.

With all of this free advertising where you can spend no money and build your audience it just makes sense to focus on it.

11. How to start a tshirt business: Have Fun!

Yeah it might be stressful sometimes but you decided to start a tshirt business because you wanted to make a living off doing something fun. Be passionate about your work and remember to have fun. Have fun on your journey, it’s not about the destination.

Leave a comment if you have any more advice.

There were so many different carts and information out there it was hard to make a decision. It was paralysis by analysis.

I’ve since become a web developer working with many clothing companies and using a lot of different carts.

With the e-commerce solutions I tried I was always unhappy with the something. Either it was the interface, there weren’t enough features, or it was just too difficult for a my clients to run on their own. I was constantly searching for something better that had everything I wanted.

Finally I discovered shopify and it had everything I wanted.

Why Shopify?

There are many reasons why you should use shopify, but here are the most important.

• It’s easy to use
• There are tons of professional themes and apps
• There is a thriving community of developers improving shopify constantly

The biggest reason you should use shopify is that it’s easy.

You don’t need to be a techy person to use it, and you definitely don’t need to pay an overpriced webmaster to make the changes you need.

This means you’re in control of everything; adding products, blog posts, controlling inventory and managing every aspect of your online business.

It doesn’t matter if you are just starting a new online shop, or you have been in business for a while, the last thing you want to do is troubleshoot technology.

With shopify you don’t have to worry about updates, SSL security certificates, optimizing your site and host for speed. All of these things are a huge headache and It’s all done for you so you can concentrate on whats important… Running your store and making money.

Themes

Shopify has over 100 beautiful and professional free and premium themes that will make your brand stand out.

I suggest everyone starting out to use a theme instead of a fully designed website by an expensive web designer. The reason is because you want to start testing your ideas out as soon as possible with as little money as possible.

The themes in shopify will make you look professional without breaking the bank, so you can get your site up and running and get the ball moving.

Add your logo, make a few changes for colors and fonts, and you’re ready to start selling online.

All of themes for shopify are responsive which means your site will look great on every screen size, mobile phone, and tablet. With 50% of your customers coming from mobile devices you need to have a site that looks good on all devices or you’re losing customers.

Apps

Shopify has over 1,500 free and premium apps and most of these are focused on making you more money.

Here are two of my favorites to give you an idea

Retarget app: it shows the products your customer looked at in their facebook feed converting users that viewed your site into customers.

Beautiful abandoned cart emails app: it will send emails to the customers that abandoned their cart.

Both of these apps I’ve seen at least a 10 times return on investment. So for every $1 you spend you sell $10 worth of product. The great thing is once you set it all up they run automatically so you are converting users into customers all day everyday, just sit back and relax.

Constantly improving

My last favorite thing I wanted to tell you about shopify is that it is constantly improving with more awesome apps and themes being developed everyday.

It’s like having a team of 1,000’s of designers and developers working for you but at a fraction of the cost because they are spreading the cost onto everyone that purchases there theme or app.

Shopify is currently powering over 325,000 online shops and has helped businesses process over $24 billion worth of sales.

Check out Shopify for a risk free trial and see for yourself that shopify is the best choice for running your clothing lines e-commerce store.

If you have any questions write them in a comment below.

If you’re reading this, it’s because you own a fledgling clothing company that’s just about to go to market, and it’s probably safe to say that you’re facing a fair amount of uncertainty. You’ve done all the hard work: conceptualizing, designing and creating items that you think will become staples in the fashion industry, not to mention all the work you put in creating a business plan and a strategy for your company’s direction. And while all of that is critical to ensuring a successful launch, there’s one other piece that’s arguably the most important to getting your brand’s name out there: how you will market the brand. In this article, I want to cover celebrity endorsements as a medium for marketing, and how they can be used to effectively grow your brand.

With a good celebrity endorsement, a brand can go from obscure to ubiquitous almost overnight. Take BAPE, for example. The company was founded in 1993, but it wasn’t until Pharrell lent his star power to the brand in the mid-2000s that the company became well-known in the United States. Within a year of his endorsement, BAPE went from a little-known Japanese clothing company to one of the most in-demand brands in the United States. Need another example? How about Michael Jordan and Nike? Before Jordan signed on, Nike was a fledgling shoe company fighting Adidas, Reebok, and all other brands for a foothold in the market; after Michael Jordan came along, however, Nike set itself apart from its competition, beginning a decades-long reign as the king of the shoe brands.

Make no mistake: a good celebrity endorsement is as important to a startup brand as a business plan and a great product. So today, we’re going to discuss how to make sure you put your brand’s best foot forward when it comes to celebrity endorsements.

Identify a Quality Celebrity

This may seem obvious to some, but you’d be surprised how many brands don’t understand the difference between a high-quality celebrity endorsement and an endorsement from the latest “hot at the moment” celebrity. Finding a high-quality celebrity is a key component of a successful campaign. So when you’re starting to put together your potential list of celebrity endorsers, make sure they have a decent amount of staying power and that they’re generally well-liked by the public. After all, once you have a celebrity endorser, that celebrity will forever be associated with your brand, for better or worse, so make sure you select someone you feel confident will remain in the public eye for a long time.

You should keep in mind the acronym “FRED” when determining which celebrities would be a good fit for your brand:

• Familiarity: The more familiar a celebrity is to your target audience, the more impact the endorsement will have. So in your case, if you’re targeting a fashion-oriented audience, you’d want someone who is already known to that audience (for example, ASAP Rocky).
• Relevance: How relevant is the product to the celebrity endorsing it? When it comes to celebrity endorsements, the target audience has to be able to connect the product being endorsed to the person endorsing it. So while David Beckham is a household name, having him endorse a new pair of basketball shoes wouldn’t resonate with the target audience.
• Esteem: The esteem of the celebrity endorser carries over to the product they’re endorsing. But this goes both ways- a well-respected celebrity also has a personal brand to maintain, so if the product is inferior and incompatible with their brand, their reputation will suffer as a result. So while you want to get an endorsement from a well-liked celebrity, make sure it’s a product that you’d be happy having their name on and that the celebrity is comfortable endorsing.
• Differentiation: This is the big one, and it’s part of what separates traditional endorsements from non-traditional ones. Differentiation simply means making the celebrity endorsement stand out from all the other ones out there. That can usually be done with a creative approach to the endorsement itself.

Some other things to keep in mind is the previous brands that the celebrity may have endorsed as well. For example, if the celebrity is endorsing many brands then your message may be diluted, and not get the best impact. You can utilize an endorsement database like Celebrity Endorsers to identify celebrities based on your brand identity. By making sure the celebrity you choose to endorse your product meets all these criteria, you’ll stand a much better chance of making your partnership with that celebrity a long and successful one.

Know Who (and How) to Contact

Now that you’ve identified the celebrity you want to be the face of your brand, the next step is contacting them. But making sure you contact the right person is almost as important as knowing what to say to them. Your desired outcome of reaching out to the celebrity also plays a role in what you should say and how you should say it. We’ve covered this before, but most celebrities have a team of representatives (typically an agent, a manager and a publicist), so you need to be sure that you’re reaching out to the person who’s most likely — and most able — to help with your request.

For example, if you’re looking for a standard endorsement deal, you’ll want to reach out to their manager (unless they have an agent who handles endorsements). On the other hand, if you’re just trying to get your product into the celebrity’s hands for free with a request that they talk it up on social media, you’ll first want to touch base with that celebrity’s publicist. In rare cases, some celebrities don’t have a team of representatives managing their business; if that’s the case with the celebrity you’re targeting, then you can simply contact the celebrity directly with your request. As a reminder, the message you send to the celebrity’s relevant representative depends on what you’re hoping to achieve through your work with that celebrity, so be sure you highlight what’s likely to be most important to that specific representative when you reach out.

Understand the Compensation Options

The ways a celebrity can receive compensation for their endorsement are as varied as the products themselves that the celebrities are asked to endorse. There are plenty of different kinds of deals that can be made, but a large part of determining what kind of deal to offer has to do with your business plan and operating costs. Let’s take a look at some of the more common and relevant compensation options available to someone running a startup clothing brand.

One-off payment

Like the name implies, this compensation structure involves a one-time payment to the celebrity for a predetermined amount of work. What the celebrity does as part of this agreement is entirely up to you; maybe you want them to wear your clothes at a red carpet event. Or, if the celebrity is a musician, maybe you want them to shout out your clothing line in one of their songs- the options are practically endless.

Probably the most common is a social media deal, where the celebrity publishes a certain number of posts on their social media account about your product. In some cases, you can negotiate a package of posts at a cheaper rate per post than you would have to pay for a series of one-off posts about your product.

Equity

If you’re a little cash-poor at the moment but really need a celebrity endorsement to elevate your brand to the next level, another option to consider is giving the celebrity an equity stake in your company. This option really only works when the conditions are absolutely right; for example, you need to be sure that the celebrity is committed to maintaining their support of your brand over the long haul and won’t just stop pushing your product after a while.

As mentioned above, you have to be confident that the celebrity you’re asking to endorse your product has staying power. The last thing you want to do is give equity to a celebrity who will fade from the public eye in less than a year but will continue to take a cut of your company’s profits long after their value as an endorser is gone. If all the conditions line up perfectly, equity can be a great way to secure a long-term celebrity endorsement, but you need to be absolutely certain that the deal works for both parties in the long-term before offering it.

Revenue sharing

Similar to offering equity in the company, revenue sharing is a good way to secure a celebrity endorsement without putting down more money up-front than you can comfortably afford to spend. Revenue sharing is simple: you partner with a celebrity who will represent your brand in the public eye; in return, the celebrity will receive a percentage of your sales. Unlike equity, however, the celebrity does not have an ownership stake in your company.

Offering revenue sharing to up-and-coming celebrities is also a smart idea, since up-and-comers can usually be persuaded to only start taking a percentage of your sales after you’ve broken even on your costs. This is more the exception than the rule, however; most celebrities will still often want some sort of up-front payment for their work. But if you have enough money to cover that up-front fee, revenue sharing can be a good (and creative) way to secure a celebrity endorsement without bankrupting your company in the process.

Free merchandise

While all these options are great, what do you do if you’ve sunk every last penny into your business? You don’t enough money to cover a one-off payment, you don’t want to give up any equity in your company, and the celebrity won’t agree to any revenue sharing deal without an up-front fee (which you can’t afford). Luckily, you can always turn to the one thing you have plenty of: your product.

Offering free merchandise is a great way to get your brand’s name out there without incurring costs you can’t afford. Many clothing companies will send free merchandise to celebrities in the hopes that the celebrity will be photographed wearing the clothes; if the brand is really lucky, the celebrity will be so happy with the new clothes that they’ll post about them on social media for free. For example, Joyrich knew that Trill Sammy was a fan of their brand, and gifted him with some free clothes and he posted about it. Also with more popular celebrities, wearing an up-and-coming brand gives them clout and boosts their reputation as a trendsetter.

Of course, because offering free merchandise is the least expensive way to promote your brand, plenty of other clothing companies do the same thing, which means the odds of the celebrity wearing your brand out of the hundreds they’ve received are much lower than they would be with a traditional, compensation-based endorsement deal. But if you’re confident in your product and really can’t afford to spend the money for a traditional endorsement, sending free merchandise has high upside with few drawbacks.

So there you have it. As you know by now, starting your own clothing company is a difficult endeavor with lots of challenges along the way, and the work doesn’t end when your line of items is complete; in fact, it’s just getting started. But by using the tips in this article, you can put yourself (and your business) in a position to make a splash in the fashion world when your company launches, and with the right celebrity endorsement, you’re well on your way to making your product a household name for years to come.

Billy Bones is marketing director at Booking Agent Info, a celebrity contact database that allows brands to skip the middleman by providing the contact information for the official agent, manager, and publicist of celebrities. He also works at Celebrity Endorsers, which provides brands with celebrity data including their celebrity endorsements, interests, and the causes and charities that they support.

Is it really that important for a new clothing brand to choose the right name? Is it possible?

“It’s just a name.” I’ve heard several times.

As someone who’s started projects from scratch quite a few times, I can guarantee that coming up with a name might seem like something easy, but it’s not.

The name you pick is for life. Sure, technically speaking you can always change it, but rebranding it’s a tedious process at its best and not to mention the fact that if you have to rename the brand then you also have to deal with everything else that’s not going well. After all, nobody changes the identity of a company that’s being successful.

So how can I come up with the best name for my new clothing brand?

For most people, when they venture into this industry with a new line, a name is already in their minds. A name that not only reflects the brand’s personality, but is also catchy — surely the next Jonny Cupcakes.Of course, the name processes all those attributes, but you’re the only one who sees them, for now.

You might like it, you might think it’s a mirror of everything you want to communicate. But how about everyone else? Do you really know what comes to mind when people hear the name? Does it really match the products you’re selling? What kind of emotions does it evoke? Does it have any negative connotations? Any strange imaginary? If you really don’t know, then it’s about time to start doing some research.

The only way to make sure your name works is by testing it. And to do so, we’ve put together an infographic that takes you through the entire process, from selecting different options to alternative exercises to prove if this name is really the best fit.

Start gathering ideas, compare with brands similar to yours, clothing lines you’d like to imitate and write their names down somewhere. It’s also a good idea to scribble a list of all the words that come to your mind when you think about your brand, try to use as many adjectives as you can.

Once you’re done listing different possibilities, it’s time to check if there’s anything wrong with them. Make sure the domain is available and that it doesn’t have any strange secret meaning; check out Google too, is somebody ranking for those words? Can you beat them easily? Don’t forget about the trademark. Make sure the name hasn’t already been registered (trust me, you’d be surprised).

At this point we have a selection of brand names that we know are available on the wild world web and haven’t been trademarked. Which one is the one?

The Human Test
Before you definitively go for it, you need to do one last test. Is your name good for humans? You need to find out.

Head over to the closest bar and ask around. Can they remember it? Pronounce it? Spell it? If they can’t, then it’s probably better to stay away from it. Do not forget about its readability, can people easily distinguish the letters? It’s not the same to be called Momomo than Lillili, now is it? And again, use your common sense. Keep the name short if it’s a word you’re coming up with, the longer it is then the more difficult it will be for people to retain it.

Remember all these things when choosing your brand name, perhaps you won’t come up with the next Zara, but at least you’ll make sure your brand has a name that appeals to people and is easy to remember.

You’re good to go!