How to Launch a Sustainable Fashion Brand

1) INTERPRET THE NEED

By becoming a quality sustainable clothing brand, you create the opportunity to dress according to your values. What problem are you trying to solve? This is where you define the sustainable practices of your brand. Would you like to use ecological fabrics? Donate a percentage of every sale to a worthy social cause? Does it support sustainable innovation? Do your research as much as you can on the type of product you want to bring to market. Make sure your products reflect your brand's mission statement to get a consistent message that customers can endorse.

2) DEFINE YOUR TARGET MARKET

Who is your client Define your customer demographics by creating a sheet on this person. Consider the following: What are your likes and dislikes? What is your monthly / annual income? Which global issues are you most concerned with? To get more detailed data, do market research by interviewing people who fit your market. You can do this through online surveys or live interactions with people. Go to the stores your ideal customer would shop and talk to the customers about their clothing needs and wants.

3) FIND A MANUFACTURER

Now that you have a collection of sketched and strategic designs, you need someone to help you produce it to scale. Your manufacturer will be the facility providing pattern making, cutting and sewing services, knitting services, and in some cases design advice. You must ensure that the manufacturing facility you work with adheres to the safety code, uses ethical manufacturing practices, and pays its workers a fair living wage.

4) GET YOUR MATERIALS

When looking for the right fabrics for your ideal product, it is important to be selective and careful. Look for certifications, authenticity and quality - how is it covered, is it comfortable on the skin? How will the fabric wear out in 5 years?

5) SET YOUR PRICE

Now that you know your production costs and any other overhead costs you will have to deal with to run your business, you can now set the price for your collection. Do you sell directly to the consumer or do you also want to diversify and sell in physical stores? Depending on whether you are planning on wholesale, you will need to double the cost of manufacture and all goods contained per unit. For example, if a shirt costs $ 25 to make (including fabric, labels, cutting / sewing, and all other costs associated with that shirt), the wholesale price is $ 50. Double your wholesale price, which in this case would be $ 100 per shirt.

6) START OF SAMPLE AND DEVELOPMENT

Development is the most important part in creating your clothing line. In this step, a basic pattern is created, adapted and refined. The patterns are created according to this pattern. The samples are essentially prototypes of your clothing products. You will need approximately three samples per model to determine if adjustments need to be made before starting production. If adjustments are required, the pattern is checked and the cycle repeated.

7) BUILD THE BRAND IDENTITY

Before you introduce your sustainable fashion manufacturing brand to the world, you need a name and logo. It is helpful to create branding guidelines that allow you to adhere to specific color schemes to ensure consistency on your website that matches how your brand is represented on social platforms. Packaging should also be considered when analyzing what type of aesthetics and feel you are looking for. Make sure you find eco-friendly packaging that fits the spirit of your brand. We don't like a problem, but you can find plenty of options online too.

8) EXPAND YOUR AUDIENCE

Now you are ready to introduce your brand to the world! Make sure you create and stay active on social media pages for your brand by posting at least 1-3 times a day. You want to build a relationship with prospects by engaging in conversations. Create a content calendar that includes hot topics and seasonal technical insights

9) TAKE BIG PHOTOS

If you are in the fashion industry you need to have good pictures. It's important to have a budget available to pay for a photographer, model, and art director. Before launching your sustainable clothing collection, be sure to plan a photo shoot so that you have product plans (product pictures in the studio, not on a model), product pictures on models, and lifestyle pictures that will make your clothes look great situations.