Streetwear is a lucrative industry, with a market worth of almost £300 billion. It’s also highly competitive, with established names dominating the market and investing hundreds of thousands in marketing, making launching a streetwear brand no easy feat. But it’s not impossible.
With research and preparation, you can learn how to start a streetwear brand that’s ready to compete. Let’s get into it.
Find Your Unique Selling Point (USP)
Honing in on streetwear is a solid start for your USP, but it’s still too broad a niche. With so many successful streetwear brands already out there, you need a clear differentiator that’ll help you carve out a space in the market. This gives your target demographic a reason to choose you over a similar brand or an already established one.
To find a USP, you need to look at two factors:
- Gaps in the market: Where is the streetwear community currently underserved? You might find that there’s a lack of sustainable streetwear, for instance, or body-positive brands.
- Demand: A gap in the market also needs demand. Essentially, is there a clear target demographic who wants the USP you’re considering?
Test different USP ideas directly with your target consumers, using surveys and feedback to identify whether an idea is strong enough.
When you’re ready, you can also test your concept through pop-up events. Make sure your USP is clearly advertised and that you’re tracking sales with a POS system to learn more about which products are going down well with customers. Use your data to refine your idea before you take your brand to the next level.
Study Your Competitors
You can learn a lot from your competitors. From the early stages of starting a business right through to launch and beyond, you should be keeping tabs on what other streetwear brands are doing.
Start by analysing the products themselves. Look at what materials they’re using, available sizes, and any standout features (like hidden pockets or waterproofing). Pay attention to how they position their products, too. Are they focused on affordability, sustainability, premium quality, or exclusivity?
Beyond products, it’s smart to look at:
- Price points
- Launch strategies
- Branding and marketing
- Sales channels
Check out what people are saying about competitor brands, too. This is a practice known as social listening, in which you track comments and reviews across social media and the wider internet to gauge real feelings about a brand or trend.
Establish Your Manufacturing Network
It’s never too early to begin exploring your manufacturing options. You have two main choices for how you approach this:
- Full package production (FPP): Your chosen factory will manage the entire manufacturing process, from sourcing fabrics and production to packaging. This is ideal for taking the stress off your shoulders, especially if you lack manufacturing knowledge.
- Cut, make, and trim (CMT): You’ll work closely with your manufacturing team, and supply your own patterns and fabric. You do need a bit more know-how for CMT, but if you’re prepared to research and learn as you go, it gives you more input over final products.
Speak with different manufacturers directly, and compile information on prices, turnaround times, and minimum order quantities (MOQs). You don’t need to make any final decision now, but it’s good to have the information ready for when it’s time to start manufacturing.
Develop Your Clothing Designs
If you want to launch a clothing brand, you need clear designs that can be understood by everyone in your supply chain. Rather than artistic sketches, focus on technical drawings that show the garment in 2D, front and back. You might also include close-up sketches of any specific details, or an inside view if necessary.
Add labels for details, like seams, zips, and ruching. Include notes on potential measurements and fabrics, though it’s likely that you’ll finalise these details after you’ve had the first samples from your manufacturer.
For professional drawings, it’s best to use software to create digital designs. Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, and CorelDRAW are all excellent choices.
Source Fabrics and Trims
If you’re taking the CMT approach to manufacturing, you’ll need to source your fabrics and trims (like buttons and zips, for instance). There are a couple of ways you can do this, including by:
- Finding suppliers online
- Visiting supplier shops
- Attending trade events
Make sure to do your due diligence before choosing a supplier. Read reviews from other customers, for instance, and request samples to check the quality firsthand.
You should also pay attention to MOQs, which dictate how many metres of fabric you have to order. As a startup, lower MOQs are often beneficial, allowing you to order just enough for a product run without wasting money or struggling with storage.
Develop Your Branding
You’ve found your USP and your manufacturing is ready to go. Now it’s time to develop a brand that gets you noticed in the streetwear market.
Your competitor research will help you at this point, giving you a reference point for industry aesthetics. This is particularly useful to ensure you’re not creating a brand that feels too similar to what’s already out there.
You might, for instance, notice that a lot of streetwear brands have more of a nude colour palette. Your market research identifies that your demographic responds well to brighter neon colours, helping you shape a streetwear identity that feels entirely new for the market.
To streamline your branding across touchpoints, from packaging to social media content, put together clear guidelines. These should outline your:
- Brand colour palette
- Typography
- Style of imagery
- Tone of voice
- Brand values and ethos
Make sure any collaborators or team members have access to your guidelines for cohesive branding.
Create Your Marketing Strategy
Get your streetwear brand noticed with a solid marketing strategy. Explore using both traditional and digital marketing methods, like:
- Traditional: Leaflets, catalogues, branded freebies (like water bottles), magazine ads, billboards.
- Digital: Web design, search engine optimisation (SEO), social media, Google Business Profile, pay per click (PPC), email marketing.
A few of these can be done on a very limited budget, making them a smart choice in the early days of launching. You might be able to carry out your own social media marketing, for instance, or hire a freelancer to manage it for you, reducing the need for big budgets and in-house teams.
When scaling your streetwear brand, you can then bring in in-house experts or outsource to an experienced marketing agency. The sooner you bring in professionals, the better for your business!
Final Thoughts
Starting a streetwear brand is an exciting venture, but not one without challenges. Be sure to keep these tips in mind when moving forward, and you’ll be building a stronger business from the ground up.
For industry insights into the world of men’s fashion, read the latest news on PAUSE.
