START AN ACTIVEWEAR BRAND IN 5 STEPS

Consumers have shifted to adopting healthy lifestyles over the last few years, and this trend is continuing through the COVID-19 pandemic. During the virus-related lockdown and temporary closures of gym and fitness studios, consumers are buying more health and wellness-related products to stay active and exercise at home. In order to continue interacting with consumers and support their at-home workout experiences, sportswear players such as Nike, adidas and Outdoor Voices use social media and digital platforms to offer virtual workout classes. lululemon is ahead of the game by responding to an emerging trend in personalised at-home workouts.

Today we are going to give you a step by step tutorial on how to start and launch a clothing brand or activewear brand! Here break it all down for you.

1.Market Research

Who is your target customers ?
What is your customers needs?
How is your plan ,will it help to get more customer win one of the market cake in activewear industry?
Why you want to start in this industry?
How many design you want to launching at the first collection ?
What kind of the product you want to start at first ,Leggings ?Sports bra?Or Outerwear?
How many budget you have ?
How many pcs in your first collection?Etc.
Where will you sell your products to your customer ?E-commerce or off-line?

Entrepreneurship

Running your own business isn’t a 9 to 5 job. It is not the hours you spend in the office that matters. What matters is what you produce. You are your own boss, and you need to make it all happen. You will live and breathe your brand, working 24/7. All people have great ideas. The differentiator is that the entrepreneur makes them happen. It will require you to put in the work and follow through on your dream. Are you cut out for this? Is it really what you want? Do you have the grit and determination to pursue this dream? If you are nodding your head – keep reading:)

2.Branding

Put a lot of time and thought into your activewear brand identity, don’t rush it. Creating an enticing brand identity is important. Every touchpoint with your garment and brand should be thought about, from the labels and hangtags, to your packaging, to your website and point of sales material, all should be cohesive and on-brand. Your logo needs to be designed with the end-user in mind – from a small embossed logo on a cord stopper to a big backdrop for a fair, your logo needs to look equally great in all areas it’s used. There are many brands out there, so you need to make yours stand out. Create brand awareness and loyalty that connects your customers to your label. Remember that it’s important for your brand to tie together with your actual products.

You need do the trademark search, each country has there own trademark search system ,go on there check your name hasn’t been taken by others, also u can check via google ,ins ,facebook ,etc. Because u must don’t want to receive a infringement notice letter from a company when u almost done for everything.Just move forward another idea until u find one that hasn’t been taken.

3.Product design(Tech Pack) / Creat your private label with our stock items (OEM service) :

Leaving the foundation phase behind you, it’s now time to start the design and product development, the process of making your garments. The first step here is to define your collection, a strong collection with styles that complement each other, and help the sales.

In this phase, you will also focus on choosing the right materials. Think about what purpose the products have, what problem they will solve for your customers, and the aesthetic direction you want to go in.

A fun part of this phase is to create an inspirational mood board that guides the design direction.

Finally, make sure your collection is clear and cohesive.

You have structured and defined your collection, and the activewear designer or freelance designer can start sketching and sourcing. It’s important to incorporate the inspiration, the brand image, and your target customer. The styles should fit in with the values, vision, mission, and identity of your brand. The designer needs to make great tech packs so you can start the process of sampling and manufacturing your products. The tech packs are the blueprint of each product, and with this document the manufacturer can quote your prices, plus create your prototypes.

After finishing the artwork , send tech pack to supplier to create sample, check quality is very important for you at this moment ,the tech pack need including all the measurements and specific size information .

If you don’t have design team , you want to lower the budget for starting or the moq for customize too high for you ,don’t worried! We have more than 300 designs in stock for you choose, save your design’s cost and time ,you know time is money and fabric is quite difficult for start-ups to choose at the beginning ,you need get fabric swatches check first and choose, then create sample test, even that you still don’t like it, it will waist you a lot of time if you not professional in this. So we offer OEM service to help you easier to start (Print your logo and customize hang tag /plastic bag etc). Click Here to Get Our Catalog!

Fabric is another important thing, it can appear the function and feeling to your customers, a lot of people will ask about Lululemon or Nike‘s fabric, but…

Realize that you’re not Nike or Lululemon

I can’t tell you how many times a client has come to me and said ‘I want to use the same fabric as Nike or Lululemon’. As a startup, this isn’t realistic but, there are lots of sports fabrics available to you. Big sportswear companies have their own in-house development teams – scientists who create custom fabrics for them. The details of these fabrics never leave the brand and are under strict confidentiality agreements, so these fabrics aren’t available on the market. As a start-up, obviously, you won’t have the budget to have your own team of scientists, so you’ll want to look at suppliers who create fabrics with performance features for smaller businesses. Thankfully, there are suppliers out there who offer this, but you will need to do some digging; lots of fabric suppliers will only sell to people who are prepared to buy hundreds or thousands of meters, so the trick is finding someone who will let you buy a small amount suitable for start-ups.

One of the key differences with starting an active brand vs a ‘typical’ clothing brand, is the fabric. A lot of people I speak to who are new to the industry are surprised to learn about how complex fabrics are. This is a specialist type of fabric, you don’t want something which is going to go out of shape or stretch so much it falls down, right? You can also use fabrics as a way of adding extra value to your customers. For example, there are sports fabrics available which are antibacterial, or moisture wicking (they move sweat away from the skin), or breathable (so you’re not working out feeling really overheated). You need to think about your target customer and whether they would expect to see such features in the range – there’s a big difference between people who are looking for ‘athleisure’ (clothing you can work out in, but also wear to the shops) and ‘sportswear’ (clothing for people who want to work out and have their performance increased with the help of the clothing).

Aside from the fabrics, there’s also speclaised construction methods for sportswear, which make the garment more comforable to wear and prevent the seams rubbing against the skin. You also need to make sure that the design offers enough movement and stretch.

Okay , By this point, you should need to obtain samples for testing, and when you receive them for testing and inspection without any problems you can confirm your first bulk order with your supplier.

4.Sales and Marketing

No matter what products you want to sell ,you need to know where you want to sell your products ,open a shops to sell off-line or sell online ?

Sportswear expects recovery once COVID-19 lockdowns ease

Euromonitor International’s “Post-COVID-19 forecast baseline” predicts that sportswear value sales are expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels by early 2023. As the number of coronavirus cases is still on the rise and it is still unclear as to when the crisis will end, the recovery of apparel and footwear is expected to be at a gradual pace. However, sportswear will likely recovery slightly faster, as the demand will be driven by the continued athleisure and casualwear trends as well as growing interest in health and wellness among consumers. The category is also expected to see a continuous channel shift to e-commerce. Brands and retailers will develop or strengthen their digital strategies to respond to the new environment. From subscription services to curated products to digital engagement, companies will focus on creating a unique omnichannel shopping experience.

E-commerce is the only silver lining during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Store-based retailing saw a sudden drop in sales due to temporary store closures and reduced store hours. Brands and retailers, including those that traditionally relied on in-store sales, had to swiftly pivot to ecommerce operations to cater to the growing online traffic. The leading sports goods stores retailer, Dick’s Sporting Goods, adopted new contactless pick-up options such as curbside and in-store pick-up to offer more convenience and minimise consumer contact. As e-commerce is expected to continue taking channel share from store-based retailing, companies will further focus on scaling up their e-commerce capabilities.

Nike leverages the power of digital to drive growth

Nike has been expanding digital business through investments in commerce apps and omnichannel fulfilment capabilities. For example, Nike has strengthened mobile apps through the training-focused Nike Run Club and Nike Training Club apps as well as the shopping focused Nike app and SNKRS. The company has also opened digitally-focused concept stores such as Nike by Melrose and Nike NYC House of Innovation 000 in the last couple of years. Nike plans to open more of these live concept stores to improve consumers’ shopping experience and customer engagement. Nike also tapped into subscription services by launching Nike Adventure Club, a footwear subscription service for children in 2019. As digital business now represents more than 30% of Nike’s total sales, the company will continue to focus on its digital strategy to drive growth and stay competitive in the market.

Marketing

Keep posting your product’s photoshoot on your social media, Instagram & Facebook & website & Youtube, these all can be your touchpoint with your customers, building trust is a long-term subject. Don’t miss any opportunity to showcase your brand and products, keep sharing your products and your brand image on your social accounts, as people keep getting more and more impressed with you naturally they will come and try to buy your products.

Marketing is a discipline that requires you to keep learning and summarizing, don’t get discouraged because no one buys your products at the beginning and give up all the efforts you made in front of you, you have to firmly believe that the success of any brand is the accumulation of time and their persistent efforts to share their brand story, I believe you are too!

5.Handle your order

Customer Services

Respond to your customers’ messages as soon as possible, which will make them feel good about your service. When they receive your product, your after-sales service is still very important, not just sell the product and leave it alone, don’t let them down at any time and build up from a small number of customers. In our China, many e-commerce companies will create a group – pull customers who have spent money into the group and market to them regularly, whether anyone replies or not, just as if you were sending a Facebook message. Do more than just email marketing, remember to have more touch points with your customers than just one platform.

Shipping

Ask all your local delivery companies ,see what is the best price they can give you , don’t forget ,the delivery time also is very important to your customer ,I know every business man want to save more cost ,but at the beginning ,you need deliver your products as quick as possible to your customer’s hand ,Use a fast courier, which will add to the impression of your brand.

This 5-steps overviews might gives you an idea of what is involved in starting your own activewear or athleisure brand.

No matter if you are a start-up or an established brand that wants to expand your product segment, we can help you make it happen. You bring the idea and concept, and we help make your idea a reality – create your own brand and bring activewear products to your future customers’ hands.

Thank you so much for your watching!😘