Here are 30 different client acquisition sources you can use to promote your clothing brand and thus, increase your turnover.
Creating beautiful clothes, with style and originality, is good. Successfully selling them is better.
There are many stylists and artisans who create very beautiful things but still fail to market them and develop their brand awareness. If you are a stylist yourself and / or have your own brand, you might know something about it.
So check out these 30 client acquisition sources and try them out!
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1 – Social networks
We start with the most obvious. Social networks are undoubtedly a very good way to communicate around your brand, your history and to unite a community. They can be used as much for discovery as for customer loyalt
Among the most important social networks for fashion, we note among others Instagram, Facebook but also Pinterest or Tik Tok. Other networks exist. Those to be favored then depend on the target audience.
A good content and community management strategy is important to ensure growth and visibility
2 – Social media ads
On social networks, it is also possible to advertise. They appear as “sponsored” posts. You have probably seen it happening if you surf the networks from time to time.
Instagram ads, facebook ads, pinterest ads, twitter ads… each platform has its own advertising system and its own specificities.
In general, with the right settings (or the right web marketing agency), you can really reach your target audience. It takes a bit of knowledge and practice, so if you don’t know your stuff at all, don’t hesitate to call in the specialists.
3 – SEM
SEM or even Search Engine Marketing are text ads found on search engines like Google.
These are ads that appear based on the keyword typed in the search engine bar. The main benefit to using this client acquisition source is that it responds to queries from people who are doing an intentional search. People are actively looking for a solution and if your brand responds to it, it’s a winning customer.
If you are in children’s fashion for example, it may be interesting to create ads to appear when people type in keywords such as “children’s clothing”, “baby clothing”, “birth gift”…
4 – Display or programmatic Ads
SEA stands for Search Engine Advertising. SEA are all the advertising techniques used on websites and search engines to develop visibility. This includes the SEM seen earlier, but also the use of banner displays for example on sites.
Google Shopping too, which allows a pictorial / catalog ad to be displayed in response to shopping queries is one of them.
This type of traffic source is particularly effective in increasing brand awareness.
5 – Blogs and guest blogging
Another interesting client acquisition source to exploit is guest blogging with blogs that belong to your sector. If some bloggers promote styles that are similar to yours, you can try pitching your brand to them with the goal of getting them talking to their community.
If you are in the ethical fashion industry for example, you can try contacting blogs that talk about responsible fashion to talk about your project.
6 – Influencer marketing
Just like SEA, influencer marketing can be an effective lead source for your clothing brand.
Several fashion brands have exploded thanks to this. Sézane very quickly had many influencers who spoke about the brand. Their notoriety grew very quickly thanks to this. Similarly, Off-White, the brand of Virgil Abloh, the former stylist of Kanye West, has become a flagship to overtake Gucci. Thank you Kardashians-Jenner!
In a slightly ancillary field, the watch brand, Daniel Wellington, gained fame only through influencer marketing.
You have to choose your influencers well, but in fashion, they undeniably have a key role to play.
7 – Star endorsement
Very much in line with influencer marketing, you can use stars to promote your brand or even associate yourself with it.
The reason that LVMH group luxury brand Fenty has taken off so quickly is largely because it is worn by the popular and famous Rihanna.
Not within reach of all budgets, we grant you. But if you have knowledge that is well-placed in the business and that matches your brand, don’t hesitate to call on them.
8 – SEO
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is about optimizing your entire website to make it friendlier for search engines.
SEO can be quite technical and time consuming. This is a long-term client acquisition source because it might take months to be well referenced for a particular keyword. However, if you do a good job with your SEO, it can bring you more and more traffic and organic notoriety, and ultimately at a lower cost.
9 – Content marketing/ inbound marketing
Content marketing not only improves SEO but also brings your brand to an audience looking for information.
Indeed, a good content strategy allows by creating relevant content to answer the questions of your target. Not only is it good for your SEO but your community will like it if you provide good content. By the way, feel free to check out our content batching guide if you need to create a lot of content.
10 – Email
An email is direct contact with a customer. It is a known, tested and a well approved methods among all the client acquisition sources. With the new privacy laws, you obviously cannot send emails without the person having first given their consent.
This is less true when it comes to a generic email from a company, for example. Also, if your brand targets businesses, emails can be a great way to market your product.
In addition, some companies, especially the media, have offers that allow partners to be highlighted in their newsletters sent to subscribers. Do not hesitate to take a look at the media kits of the media that interest you.
11 – Viral marketing
Creating buzz around your brand is a great way to promote it. Le Slip Français, for example, created an incredible buzz during the 2012 election campaign by hijacking posters of presidential candidates. “Slip’s change is now!”
In less than 6 days, their parody video had been viewed more than 40,000 times, thus doubling the number of visitors to their site.
Creating buzz and virality isn’t easy, but if you are successful you will definitely make history. Where it is to your advantage is that when you are a stylist or a fashion designer, breaking codes or being original is your core business. Also, it is absolutely within your reach.
12 – Business development
Business development is not for the fashion industry a simple lever. It is more obvious if, for example, you are selling a service.
To put it simply, business development is the art of forging strategic or even exclusive relationships with partners in order to attract customers of interest to both parties.
Example: If you offer styling services, teaming up with a pattern maker or a seamstress can be a winning relationship that earns you both revenue. Indeed, your customer may be the customer of the business with whom you are partnering.
For a B to C fashion brand, this could be a partnership with a concept store for example.
13 – Affiliation
Affiliation is a very powerful potential source of clients. This is about giving commissions to prescribers of your service based on the number of people they bring you.
Take an example with a case of affiliation with a YouTuber or a fashion advice site. They talk about your brand to their audience and refer them to you thanks to an affiliate link that you will have created to follow the results. Each 1000 people brought to your site for example, or for each customer brought, you pay them a sum or a percentage of sales defined in advance.
Much like in business development, you create a win-win relationship that can promote your clothing brand.
14 – Sales
Customers attract customers. Have you noticed that when you have a lot of customers in a store, you immediately feel a little more inclined to walk into them? It piques your curiosity and makes you want to know what attracts so many people.
This is why in some countries, such as the United States or Japan, we pay people to queue to attract others.
So making good sales, having many customers can also be a good way to get people talking about your brand and attract other customers.
15 – Word of mouth
Likewise, offering the right service and a good product to the right customer helps build brand awareness. A happy customer will be happy to talk about their experience and recommend you. There is nothing better than word of mouth to build your brand awareness.
Note, however, that this is a double-edged sword. Indeed, a happy customer will tell about your brand to 2 or 3 of their friend. On the other hand, a dissatisfied customer will be eager to tell to more than ten people about their bad experience. And with social networks, it can go very quickly!
16 – Brand collaborations
You could also do collaborations with brands that share similar values but different target audiences or have the same audiences.
That way, your fashion brand will be exposed to the other brand’s audience. And you might just gain new clients afterwards.
However, do note that it needs to work both way for a collaboration to be successful.
17 – The distribution network
Being distributed in several stores in several corners of France can allow you to promote your brand (and increase your sales!).
In some cases, boutique distribution when it comes to Galaries Lafayettes or Printemps can even turn out to be more of a communication operation than a means of making money as the constraints are so high.
But by multiplying the points of sale, you increase the chance that your brand is seen.
18 – Pop up stores
Participating in a pop-up is a way to reach out to customers and present your products. Not all pop ups are created equal and it’s important to put in place a real communication strategy around them if you don’t want to waste your time.
The choice of location and timing is also key.
19 – Creators’ markets or christmas markets
If your brand is suitable and is more artisanal, you can consider designer markets or Christmas markets to market yourself. Those who attend are often looking for new products, gift ideas and emerging designer
20 – Trade shows
If you want to make your brand known to a professional audience of buyers with the idea of selling B2B and wholesale, trade shows are a good way to introduce yourself.
In France, the Who’s next, the lingerie show and the Première Classe show are still relevant. The Impact fair and the Made in France fair are gaining notoriety. Check with your federation which ones may be of most interest to you.
Organizing a trade show is a significant investment and it requires preparation.
21 – Fashion showrooms
Joining a fashion showroom allows you to present your brand to a range of buyers. Showrooms can be interesting to study if you want to expand internationally.
22 – Commercial agents
As with showrooms, hiring a sales agent is especially relevant if you want to promote your brand abroad.
23 – Press relationships
Media relations is the whole process of getting journalists to talk about your brand organically. In fashion, many big brands have developed their notoriety through this.
This consists of creating press kits and interacting regularly with journalists in order to provide them with news about your brand. Maintaining press relations requires interpersonal skills and is very time consuming because you have to regularly renew your contacts. There also needs to be material and stories to tell, such as a launch or a fashion show.
It’s a real job, so don’t hesitate to entrust the task to a pro!
24 – Ads in magazines, online magazines or newspapers
Magazines and newspapers are largely funded by advertising. You may, in fact, decide to buy an entire page of advertising to promote your brand.
Be careful, this can quickly become expensive! ¼ of a page can quickly cost around $ 5,000 as a guide and the price depends on the audience and the style of the magazine. So, keep it for a development or a scaling period when you know you can invest.
However, if you pick the right magazine, it can help you develop or affirm your brand image. Smaller magazines also offer more attractive prices.
25 – TV ads
We mention it anyway, even though it is far from within the reach of most designers and small brands.
TV advertising still has an impact today, especially as there are audiences like seniors who have not yet fully gone digital.
26 – Product placement
Product placement is about having your piece used in a movie or series.
27 – Billboards
Billboards are a good way to build awareness if you are looking to market yourself to a local clientele. Keep in mind only passers-by and local clients will see the poster or panel.
One immediately imagines the large billboard in the metro or near the highway. However, it could very well be a small poster plastered in small signs in the neighborhood you are targeting. And if you’re in a small town, maybe it can cost less than you think.
28 – Flyers
Distributing flyers can also be a way to build awareness of your brand. This is not suitable for all levels of the range. In addition, the flyer must be really impactful and provide real added value to attract the attention of the person or risk being thrown in the first trash.
But if you have events or if you are organizing a pop-up, this can be a lever to test.
29 – Conferences
Attending conferences as a speaker can help you build awareness of your brand. There is probably no better person to talk about your product and your fashion vision than you.
Plus, it also positions you as an expert. Developing your own personal brand can also positively impact your clothing brand. If you like to talk and are comfortable in public, consider the maneuver.
30 – Podcasts
Finally, you can also approach podcasts with the aim of getting people talking about your clothing brand and / or your expertise. Podcasts are on the rise and increasingly popular these days.
People now consume content as easily and naturally as breathing air. Because of social media, the arrival of 5G and the democratization of mobile phones, brands and designers are constantly pressured to create, release and share more.
You need to regularly update your websites, post consistently on social media, create visuals for your promotional campaigns… The list can go on and on. I know it can be daunting to see how much you need to create to do that.
In my 3 years of fashion entrepreneurship, I created around 3700 web content, wrote 4 ebooks, more than 200 long form articles and many promotional emails.
Some people told me that they were very impressed with the amount of content I was releasing every month.
So I thought It might be interesting to share with you my secret recipe to create a massive amount of content in a short period of time when you are a fashion brand, marketplace or an indie fashion designer.
If you are looking for actionable tips and a strategy that will make your life a lot easier, keep on reading!
What type and how much content do you actually need to produce ?
Yes, we can all agree that you need content to have a presence on the internet and make your brand look alive.
However, knowing what and how much content you need to have is a whole different question. It’s also a good way to start a solid content strategy.
It will help you plan your actions better and will make the process of posting a lot less stressful.
Here are the different types of content you could be posting when working in the field of fashion and beauty and how much content you might need.
Web content
Web contents include any type of contents that need to be uploaded online.
According to Oberlo, the number of online shoppers should hit 2.14 billion by 2021.
In addition to that, in a survey conducted by Bizrate Insights in April 2019, 3 out of 5 internet users said they’ve purchased clothes, shoes or accessories online in the past month.
So there’s no doubt that having an online presence for fashion brands and designers is key.
Website
Depending on your situation, the website could be a simple portfolio page that showcases your main products/ assets or a solid e-commerce platform.
Contrary to what many people think, a website is not a static asset. It’s not “now, it’s developed, live and I’m good to go”. Just like a car, a website needs some maintenance to keep up with the new trends, algorithms and new technologies.
On top of that, a frequently updated website will have more success with organic search engine rankings. In other words, the more you keep your website up to date, the more likely you are to have a better ranking on Google.
The homepage should reflect the latest collections of the brands or your latest works. Therefore, there should be a change of pictures/ banners at least once every season. And if you have any promotional campaign going on, it should be mentioned somewhere on your website. Blogging regularly, every 2 month for instance, is also a good practice.
Social media
Instagram and facebook are considered as essential in the fashion industry. But depending on your target audience, you could also consider using Pinterest, Tiktok, LinkedIN, twitter or Youtube.
Obviously, the more social channels you have, the more work it requires. But bare in mind that :
People can be on several social media but have different behaviours depending on the one they use. For instance, a woman can be browsing ideas on pinterest, checking out a brand on instagram and then purchase via facebook.
People are not on all social media. If you want to reach baby boomers or Gen X, you’d better off publishing and advertising on Facebook rather than Instagram or TikTok (Although there are opportunities to reach them also on both platforms)
As for how often you should post on social media, there are good practices (as shown below) but if the best you can do is once a week, it is fine as long as you stick to it.
Online Ads
Consumers do their research before buying a brand. It’s part of a classic shopping journey. And that’s even more true today because many consumers now take into consideration how authentic and sustainable a brand is before buying.
If you are a brand with products to sell, online advertising is almost a must.
There are many types of online ads. You can use Google Ads, programmatic ads, facebook ads, instagram ads, pinterest ads, twitter ads, youtube ads… And all of them require specific visuals and formats. And every time you are doing a different campaign, you need different visuals.
Emails
Emailing is one of the best ways to reach potential customers and convert them into actual shoppers. On top of that, once you’ve built your email list, sending email is almost free.
According to Hubspot, over 90% of consumers check their emails daily. Also, email subscribers are 3 times more likely to share social content than others.
To craft a good email, you will need a good text, click-worthy images and a call to action.
86% of consumers said they would like to receive a promotional email from brands they subscribe to at least once per month. Weekly emails are also said to be effective but no more than that to not be considered as spammy. 78% of consumers have unsubscribed from lists because a brand was sending too many emails.
Print Content
Flyers and pack-ins
If you are making a sale, you may want to add flyers, coupons, branded stickers or postcards to the packaging to make the shopping experience last a little longer.
Encouraging a customer to buy again is easier than converting a new customer.
Some brands, like Sezane for example, also change their mailing boxes every once in a while.
Therefore, you can also take into account all the things you need to develop for your after-sale experience when you will be preparing your content.
Tradefair documents
If you are taking part into a trade fair (BtoB or BtoC), you will probably need lookbooks and flyers to present your brand or your work to potential buyers and customers. And in case, some journalists come to see you, having a printed copy of your latest press release could be useful.
You will also need to decorate your booth with your colors and identity to make it stand out. Frames, photos, large banners can be useful to do so.
The number 1 rule to create massive amounts of quality content for your brand : content batching
What is content batching and why should you batch content?
Content batching consists in creating all your content in one go instead of little by little every week. I realize it might sound like a lot of work but there are many benefits to content batching and it actually fits the way the fashion industry works.
As a matter of fact, in the fashion industry, your work revolves around collections and seasons. Haute couture and ready to wear fashion collections need to be ready at least 2 seasons prior to their presentations. In other words, when you are selling the winter collection, you are actually designing the summer creations or even the next winter pieces.
So, you are already used to batch working because that’s what you naturally do when creating a new collection.
6 other advantages of content batching
Not only will it feel natural to you to batch content but there are also many other advantages.
It will ease your mind. Once it’s done, it’s done. No more stress over “hey, what should I post today ?” . Even in a time of pandemic, you don’t have to fret over what to post because you already have ready-to-go or easily tweakable content.
In the end, it will save you time and allow you to take care of things that are equally important for a successful business: customer service or quality control for example. Ultimately, it streamlines your marketing efforts and makes you more efficient.
You will avoid making stupid mistakes. Again, since fashion collections are completed sometimes a year in advance, it’s easy to get things mixed up or to forget about important details. Content batching and planning prevent you from that.
It helps your brand to be more consistent and provide a more holistic experience. When you are creating all your content at the same time, it’s easier to see the big picture and keep everything in line with the chosen art direction.
You tend to be more creative and have more ideas. When you are creating your content week after week, you need to restart and warm up the machine (i.e your brain) every time you do it. On the other end, when content batching, the ideas will flow a lot more easily because you will be intensively brainstorming and focused.
How to start content batching?
It all starts with a good plan
Before getting into the actual content batching, you need a good plan. Just like war, you need to get prepared and know where you are heading to.
First, assess how much content you need to produce. You can refer to the earlier sections to do so. List all the pieces of content you will need and afterwards, all the elements it will require to create these pieces of content. You might already have some of them. Things like moodboards, sketches, collection boards or sketches are all sources you can use to create your content.
The rest can be gathered through photoshoots and brainstorming sessions.
Optimize your photoshoot sessions
Most of the content needed by fashion brands and designers are visual-based. Photos are the one thing that show people what your universe and inspirations are. They showcase the qualities and the details that make your clothes or accessories unique. Through your pictures, people can also project how the clothes will look on then when worn. In a nutshell, your pictures are what triggers the desire and maybe some impulse buy.
In other words, optimizing and succeeding your photoshoot sessions are crucial. Good photos sell. So, do not be afraid to allocate some budget to hire a good photograph and models or to book the right venue.
Also, take into account where these photos will be used.
As a matter of fact, if you know that you need to create banners for your website, you will make sure that your photograph also does landscape photos.
If you are selling on a marketplace, you know that your pictures should comply with certain tech specs (white background, png format… ). Therefore, you will shoot your products with the adequate background so that you don’t have too much post-prod to do on your photos.
Here are the types of pictures you should consider taking during your photoshoots:
Lifestyle photos
Pack shots (ideally, take a picture all angles of the products)
Photos with a white background (or at least a background you can easily remove)
Flat lay photos
Outfit ideas
Behind the scene pictures
Inspirational photos (pictures of the venue for instance)
Obviously, the more photos you have, the more options you will have to create your content.
Dedicate some of your time to writing sessions
You will probably need texts to accompany your social media posts, your emails or documentations.
Same as the photos, identify all your needs in terms of texts. The advantage of creating all the texts in one go is that you only need to do your brainstorming and your research once.
My recommendation would be to start with the bigger chunks that can then easily be split into small shareable pieces of content.
For example, your press releases could be turned into many social media posts. Moreover, if you write an ebook to use as a lead magnet, you can transform each chapter into a blog article.
Here are some texts you will probably need to create as a fashion brand :
The description of your mission and your values
The product details (description, composition, traceability, sizing, care instructions)
Why your products are the best and how unique they are
The inspiration/story behind the collection
The description of the creation process
What you do for sustainable development
Keywords that can be used for your collection
Taglines for the collections
The details of any events or promotions you will be planning
Create and multiply your content
Once you gathered your base elements for your content, you can start creating what you will need for the next months.
Of course, for any visual based content, you can use photoshop or illustrator. But, one tool that I love using is Canva.
As a matter of fact, Canva is a very user-friendly digital graphic platform that enables you to easily create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other visual content. They have many ready-to-use templates and fonts that make your content look professional.
And with a premium subscription, you can with a click resize all your design and this is a super time-saver! In other words, you can create a bunch of designs for facebook and then just resize them all and adapt them for twitter within a minute.
On top of that, it’s pretty affordable, especially compared to adobe’s pricing. Indeed, it doesn’t do the same thing. If you really need to completely modify and edit a photo, Canva won’t do and you’ll need to use photoshop… or hire somebody else to do it.
However, usually, when you are doing a photoshoot, your photographer should give you files that are already clean. Unless you are creating a large billboard that needs to be printed, Canva should be fine for your needs.
As for your text-based content, any text editor you are familiar working with is fine. The real key to creating a massive amount of texts is writing a good long first draft. The first draft is always the most difficult one. Once it’s done, you can use synonyms, split the texts, merge them or spin them to multiply the initial draft into multiple content. And for those who know the art of content-spinning, feel free to use it!
The next step: outsource
If you want to go further or if your business requires it, you can also outsource your whole content creation process.
You know the principle. When you work alone, you have 24 hours in a day but when you are 2, you have 48 hours to use in a day. That’s the magic behind outsourcing.
Finding the right team or person is not that easy but when you do find it, it will save you a lot of time. What you need to do, afterwards, is to implement a good communication system so that the content creation process flows smoothly.
It could be something like:
Naming your base elements and the future content pieces in a certain way
Sharing a plan that is realistic but ambitious and clear about everything they will need to do (what types of content, how many they need to create, in what format they should produce them, where they should put the files…)
Clarity about the deadlines
Telling them how creative they can go with your designs and texts (Having a brand style and editorial guide could be useful for this purpose.)
Creating templates together
Alternatively, you can also grow your team with a new member who will be dedicated to this task. It’s a matter of budget. Outsourcing is usually less expensive than hiring.
Repurpose everything
Finally, the true secret for unlimited content : repurposing.
Each content you created can potentially be transformed and used somewhere else. In fashion terms, it’s like upcycling.
As a matter of fact, not everyone uses the same platform. You might have reached some people on facebook but there might be people on Linkedin who never saw and who might feel equally attracted to your new collection.
On top of fact, if you create evergreen content, i.e content that never gets old, you can use it endlessly. It could be pieces of advice on how to use your products or to care for them, a picture of your team or a video on your creation process.
Because it was used once doesn’t mean it’s good for garbage. It’s quite the opposite actually. In fact, sharing them again can amplify the message and the chances someone remembers it.
This is the brief overview of how you can produce and create a lot of content in a short amount of time, even if you are alone, have a small team or a tight budget. It’s a habit to take but once you are used to it, it’s like a machine that just needs a little bit of maintenance.
Of course, there is a lot more that can be said about the topic so feel free to ask questions in the comment section if you have some or to contact me directly.
Today, I’d like to deep dive and really share concrete measures and actions that you can take if you are a fashion designer or a fashion brand to make your business crisis-proof.
Indeed, these actions are designed considering the context of the pandemic but they could totally apply whatever the crisis you might be facing in the future.
Short Term actions fashion brands and designers can quickly implement during the Pandemic
Product related actions
Organize promotional operations to liquidate dead stocks
In the fashion industry (clothes, shoes or accessories), many products are highly linked to a season. Winter coats and boots, for instance, mostly sell during fall or winter. Beachwear are more popular during summer. The ugly christmas sweatshirts are sold a few weeks before the end of the years.
Some clothing or footwear items you have might also be part of a trend that might not last long. Prints, for instance, have a short shelf span. While some fashion trends can come back, you don’t know how long they will take before they come back. How many flamingo or leopard print do you see in the street lately ?
Not only do you need to pay for storage in order to keep them, but dead stocks are also a useless weight in your P&L that drive your results down. Not really ideal if one day you need to convince a bank or an investor to lend you money.
So, if you have that kind of products in your inventory, quickly organize promotional operations to get rid of them. Here are a few things you could try :
Organize Private sales with your already engaged clients and consumers
Offer major discounts
Make Outlet sales
Sell to wholesalers
Sell on Fashion marketplaces
Group the products and sell them in Lucky bags
Run a contest and use the dead stock as the rewards
Use the dead stock to start an ambassador program and use the inventory as samples
Reschedule product and collection launches
Unless you are selling exactly what people are currenly looking for (athleisure, lingerie, pajamas and comfy clothes), you might want to reschedule your product launches.
It doesn’t mean you can’t talk about the products that should be coming. However, during a pandemic, people are not in the mood for shopping, especially if the country is under lockdown. You might be able to sell, but it might cost you more than what you initally designed in your business plan.
As an example, if you are selling clothes and people can’t come to your store to try, you might have more client returns than planned.
If your cashflow allows it, it might be better to reschedule the launches or to push collections or products that are more adapted to the situation.
Cancel or reschedule orders with suppliers
Let’s say you have a concept store. If you can’t open or can’t serve as many people as usual, you might want to reduce the number of clothes, accessories or shoes you sell.
Otherwise, you will end up with a lot of inventory. Why pay for goods you might not be able to sell ?
If you are a fashion brand that decided to push the next collection to the year after, you might want to reschedule the production or/and the delivery of the parts and fabrics needed in this particular collection. It’s a matter of cashflow management.
If you know money will not come in easily in the next months, try to negotiate with your suppliers so that your (professional) bank account doesn’t get overdrawn.
Focus on the most profitable products
In nowadays’ world, unless you invented a new kind of clothes, or shoes or you are selling luxury goods, the market also help define the prices.
As a matter of fact, some products might cost you more to produce but have less value in the eyes of the customers. One of my friends was selling leather goods. She had a brown leather purse that required a lot of manual work and stitches. At some point, she decided to launch more colorful products and came up with a red and a yellow folded purse. This specific product costed her less money and time to make but after surveying her customers, they were willing to spend more money on the colored items rather than on her timeless brown purse.
Another good example is jewelry. Especially if there are made out of copper or brass, they don’t cost a lot to make. Yet, you could have x6 or x7 margin because for customers, they seem more valuable.
If you have some items like that in your product line and you are in need for more cash flow, try to highlight these products a little more.
Communication
What should you communicate about during the Pandemic ? How do you communicate during a Pandemic ?
Communicate about all the operational short-term measures you took
Some countries took specific measures against the virus. Lockdown is one of them. Therefore, your customers or potential customers might be wondering if they can still go to your shop or order online.
What are the operating hours? If you have a physical location, can they still visit your shops or are you completely closed? Do you have employees who can answer the customers’ questions regarding that matter? If you sell your clothes online, what happen to the on-going orders and deliveries?
People would definitely want to know what they can expect.
If you have employees, quickly inform them of the measures you are taking and how they are going to affect their jobs? For example, do they need to work from home?
Be online where your customers are
Since people have nowhere to go, they spend a lot of time online, surfing on the internet or browsing social media. In 2020, according to Telegeography, average international internet traffic increased by 48%.
If you don’t already have an online and a social presence, it is high time you get on them. If they can’t go to you, just go to them.
During Lockdown, in the UK, internet users spent a record-breaking amount of time online, spending 36% more time on social media than usual, and 26% more time on news websites. Young adults between 18 and 24 spent the longest time online, that is to say, an average of 5 hours per day.
Should we also talk about the rise of Tik Tok? If your fashion brand targets young adults (15 to 25), this is the place to be. Interestingly, 47% of the tiktokers don’t use Instagram.
Remain true to your brand’s values
More than ever, stick to your brand’s values. People are looking for genuine brands.
Keep your editorial line.
Operations-wise
Create a store environment your customer feel safe in
In some countries, the government is requesting some shops to enforce specific measures so that they can remain open. Make sure you apply them.
For instance, in France, during the second lockdown, shops were asked to reserve 8 square meters per client. Social distancing and hydroalcoholic gel were still needed.
To make sure you have enough space between each client, as a fashion retailer, you might need to remove and re-arrange some clothes racks.
Customers don’t really know what’s going on with the virus so they might reassured to see that you are taking all the appropriate measures to keep them safe. Same for your employees.
Set up contactless payments and implement click and collect
Contactless payments might not enable you to do more sales but implementing it or increasing the limit will make your customers feel safer. And customers that feel safe are happier customers who might be more faithful to you.
Operationnaly speaking, contactless payments help speed up the time people spend paying for their clothes. So, that’s good in terms of safety, and you might be able in a day to welcome more customers because of those little seconds you succeeded saving. The queue will also be shorter and less frustrating.
Then, setting up a “click and collect” service could be a good way to keep sales coming in. People can shop safely from their home, quickly come get their order and happily avoid delivery fees.
Contact your retailers to understand their problems and offer solutions
If you are a fashion brand or a fashion designer who relies on a network of boutiques, quickly contact your retailers.
They might be struggling as much as you are. Be human and try to understand their own issues so that you can come up with solutions that can help you both.
You can maybe offer to give a special presentation on their social media or slightly delay your shipment. Connect with them and see how you can keep working together despites the situation.
Focus on E-commerce
This might seem obvious but sometimes, you just gotta have people tell you the obvious. Now is the moment to sell online.
The good news is : people are more and more used to buy clothes, shoes and fashion accessories online. Yes, their spending is decreasing but the number of online buyers is increasing.
Another good news is that clothes and shoes are products that can somehow easily be shipped. That’s particularly true for clothes because they are lightweigth products. Sometimes, they can even fit in a padded enveloppe.
One last good news regarding e-commerce : if you don’t already own an e-shop, there are multiple platforms that enable you to easily create one.
About your finances
Get rid of all non-essential expenses
When the business is doing great, we don’t take attention to all the small expenses that we have because they feel like nothing.
Thing is: Small expenses quickly add up. On top of that, you might be paying for services or softwares that you don’t even use and this can represent quite a big amount of money at the end of the day.
And this money can be exact sum that you need to pay your employees or fuel your upcoming collections. So check out your expense list and get rid of everything that is not useful or doesn’t add any value in the short, middle or long term.
Apply for all the government’s aids and subventions
In France, the government gave some financial help to the companies that lost 50 to 75% of turnover compared to the previous year and were partly financing the wages of the employees that were forced to be put under partial unemployment.
It may not represent a lot, but it’s worth trying and it’s better than nothing. If the government of the country you are in offers any form of subventions, apply for them.
Contact your financial institutions and renegotiate some terms
Fashion requires a lot of cashflow. You need to pay for the materials and the R&D that come with any new fashion designs. To do so, you may have requested a loan from the bank or from business angels.
If that’s the case, you might have a debt you need to reimburse. Bankers and business angels are not necessary sharks. A lot of them are quite human and can understand the issues you are going through. They should be true partners in your fashion adventure.
So, go discuss with them. They might be able to reduce your interest or delay the payments you need to make. They can also loan you some money if you absolutely need to.
Also, check whether you can get anything with your insurance. You never know.
Mid-term Actions to take to help your fashion brand better navigate during difficult times
About the products and collections
Adapt the collections to the new tastes of your target customers
When you stay at home all day long and even work from home, you definitely don’t have the same needs, fashionly speaking.
And statistics showed that people were more about buying athleisure goods, casual pieces of clothing and lingerie. They want to feel comfortable in their clothes.
People also feel like wearing more colorful tops. As a matter of fact, they spend a lot of time on zoom or other video conferencing softwares. And on these platforms, you only see the top part of the person. So wearing acolorful t-shirt or sweatshirt helps bring some liveliness to the situation.
Black, white, dark colors, despites being timeless essentials, will likely be less in demand.
Consider relaunching previous product winners
If you have some sale history, you might have launched in the past some products that really overperformed. Can you re-enact this success by relaunching them? Who says you can only launch a product once?
Think about this : you already did all the R&D. You have the patterns, the technical sheets. People were already satisfied and might have left you some good product reviews. On top of that, you might also have photos and videos you can use again. All you need is to produce the item.
It might cost you nothing to sell this product again. And you can ask people to pre-order it instead of producing ahead.
Re-evaluate fabric and raw material sourcing
Most borders were closed. In fact, many fabric or clothing factories based in Asia were unable to ship their orders to their clients.
There might be great fabric factories in your own country or at least in your neighbour countries. It might cost you more at first but reducing your prototyping and production time can be worth it.
If you used to work with Asia, by sourcing locally you might remove the language and cultural barriers that made transactions difficult. And it will give you a marketing advantage. Two birds one stone.
Find other alternatives for your production
Having several factories or ways to produce your fashion line can avoid you having frustrated or angry customers (waiting for their orders). Let’s say one of the workshops you used to work with goes bankrupt, you will still be able produce and/or launch your new collection.
But to do so, you need to test the skills of the factories and see what it feels like to be working with them. Don’t rely on just one workshop or one seamstress. Have several so that you can mitigate the risks. That’s what all other FMCG businesses do.
It will also give you some peace of mind, which is absolutely essential when you are a fashion entrepreneur.
Communication
Improve your client services
A good client service can do wonders. People are less likely to be angry at you or leave negative reviews on your social media.
They will also be more faithful to your fashion brand if they received good services. Of course, you should work on your client service from day 1. If you are a fashionpreneur, you are most likely the one answering clients’ questions and demands.
But what would be great for your fashion brand is to start structuring the way you address clients’ problems. You (or your team) can create templates and step by step tutorials that explain what to do if scenario A or scenario B show up.
Build and develop an engaged community for you and your brand
And if you are really in the pinch, you can ask your community for help. Ask them to pre-order, support you on your crowdfunding campaign or share your communication with their relatives. These are things that faithful customers or ambassadors would do.
But you don’t build trust in a day. It’s an every day effort to create authentic relationships with your community.
Communicate about your USP and what you do best
When in a doubt and when you don’t know what to communicate about, talk about your Unique Selling Point. What made you start and make you continue despites the Pandemic and all the hurdles it incurred?
How what you are doing right now is link to your expertise?
For instance, during the first wave of Coronavirus, many French fashion brands and designers produced masks for the nurses and doctors. Some also helped coordinating the workshops so that they could produce masks and blouses to help the medical staff.
Communicate with your employees and their families
If you have ever read Delivering Happiness, then you should know that employees are the first ambassadors of your brand (be it in fashion or in any industry).
In difficult times, it’s important to take care of your employees if you have any. Because when employees feel like they are appreciated and that the management care about them, they are a lot more productive and a real source of added value.
Don’t wait for them to ask you the difficult questions and let uncertainty and uneasiness install. They are probably scared about the situation. If you need to let go of them, tell them and if you can keep them, tell them as well. Communication is key to keeping a strong team together.
Distribution and logistics
Rethink your packaging, unboxing or click and collect experience
Is your packaging adapted to the e-commerce or click and collect experience? Now might be a good time to think about this.
Believe it or not: people do take attention to the way their products are packaged. Almost everyone received at least an absurd packaging in their life. I.e a freaking small product in a very huge box.
Try to make your packaging more ecological because it’s part of the customers’ expectations but also more lightweight and easier to manage. It will drive your logistic cost down. Luckily, they are some cool innovations for eco-friendly and lightweight packaging for fashion items.
Inspect other markets
We are evolving in an international world. Who said you just have to limit yourself to one country?
Obviously, each country has its own specificity and the standard body measures can be different. However, there might be some potential clients in other countries: some that share your values and fit the sizes you offer.
Finances
Review your business goals and desires
Since the world is going a lot slower than usual, it could be a good moment to do some introspection work.
Are you happy with the way the direction your fashion business is taking Does it fit the lifestyle you want for yourself? Or are you getting stuck into something that doesn’t match your life expectations? Was the business, before the Pandemic crisis, already struggling or was it doing well?
Analyze the results, adjust the business goals and align it with your own life goals.
Make sure you are tracking the right KPIs
When you are in your day-to-day operations and you have more work than you actually can do, it’s hard to strategically think about the business. And metrics are often part of the things that are overlooked by fashion entrepreneurs because the business of fashion in itself is very time consuming.
Sewing takes time. So does prototyping. Same for fulfilling orders.
But metrics help you see if you are going into the right direction and if you are investing where you need to. Some of the key metrics in fashion include:
User Acquisition Cost
Customer Lifetime Value
Profit margins per types of product and per channel
Turnover
Engagement rate…
Do you follow them? Or have someone follow them and report to you?
Renegotiate the contracts and apply for subventions and business contests or awards
A pandemic or a crisis is a good reason enough to renegotiate a contract (ideally to your advantage) with a supplier/ workshop, financial institution.
Also, fashion contests are projects that take time. If you have more time on your hands now, try to send your application. Professional recognition bring trust and can be a good communication tool.
Long term actions to make your fashion brand crisis proof
About the design and the fashion positionning
Find or strengthen your market fit
Do you already have a market fit? If not, keep testing until you find it. Survey your actual customers about the type of clothes they like or about their hobbies.
If you have a market fit, strengthen your position. Develop more by products inspired by your main line. Try offering new colors, new designs or even different type of products.
Have the right creative people in the right place
Do you know the saying : Hire Slow, Fire fast?
Is the person doing the design or giving the creative direction the right one for the task?
If you are doing it all by yourself and you feel you don’t quite have the right results, seek for external advice. And if you think the stylist or creative director is not good enough, change and find another person.
Be humane but don’t stay stuck because you are afraid of hurting people. Your fashion business can’t afford it, especially during a crisis.
Invest in photoshoots, videos, or user experience that can take your brand to the next level
When you are selling fashion, visuals have a lot of importance. They contribute to attaching values and emotions to your fashion brand. It’s the little magical je-ne-sais-quoi that makes people buy.
When a crisis happen, companies tend to cut marketing and communication first. However, more than ever, they need to communicate and innovate. That’s how you can get out of a crisis.
Adopt a transparency and traceability policy with the suppliers and customers
This is a huge project but I believe every fashion brand and retailer should do it. Not only is it good for communication, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one day it becomes part of the legislation.
On top of that, having a transparency and traceability policy makes all business relations more honest and authentic.
Long-term Communication
Create or optimize your editorial line for all communications
You probably are on multiple social networks and most likely have a website and a newsletter.
Are all the communications efficient and in line with your unique selling point and values?
If not, work on your editorial chart and optimize your content.
Offer a personalized customer experience through all channels and provide unique experiences
Online and offline technologies are getting more and more interconnected. Think about measures you can take to offer a seamless experience to your client.
For instance, if they visit your social network or are already on your newsletter, the day they come to a shop to buy one of your fashion product, you can use the data you have to do something that will make them feel special.
It could be as simple as greeting them with their first name and thanking them for being on your newsletter.
Communicate about your CSR
If you are implementing a Corporate social responsibility policy, talk about it and show the progress you make.
Changing packaging more eco-friendly ones can take some time for example. But if you communicate about this and explain why it takes time, people would understand and applause your efforts.
Invest in your corporate culture
Your employees and partners are your first ambassadors. Having a corporate culture doesn’t consist in putting some nice words on a manifest or on a flyer.
It’s about putting these values at work in the corporate everyday life. If you are all about transparency for instance, then organize monthly meeting where the employees can openly talk about the issues. For a fashion brand that encourage body positivism, pick non stereotyped models.
Long-term Distribution and logistics
Digitalize point of sales to offer new experiences in store
Have you ever heard of Augmented reality mirrors? These mirrors enable you virtually try any clothes or makeup without having to put them on. You can even pre-order clothes that are not in store.
How about equipping your sales people with tablets that they can use to show your online communication and connect with people?
What if you could use neuroscience to boost your experience in-store?
Develop and optimize for e-commerce
E-commerce is actually not a short-term or mid-term actions. Shifting to e-commerce tend to reshape completely a business.
In the long term, if the business has a big volume and if you don’t have it already, you could consider outsourcing all the logistics.
There are many good logistic centers that can take care of the storage, packaging and shipping of the products.
Implement demand forecast and demand sensing tools
That has always been the core issue with fashion. As a matter of fact, the more you produce, the less a product is going to cost.
But what if a collection or a specific color in the fashion line doesn’t sell? You are stuck with a lot of inventory. However, there are now demand forecast and demand sensing tools that can help you mitigate the risk. Check it out.
Deliver single view and access to your inventory across channels
How many items do you have in each retail location and in your logistic center? If you don’t know that, that could be an issue in the future.
If all your channels you have are connected and you give a precise idea of the exact inventory you have left, not only will you save time but you could also better promote your offers.
About your overall strategy
Create processes and implement tools that can help you get real time metrics
We talk about the importance of following the right metrics earlier, but having them real time could be equally important.
Being able to operate fast and in real time is crucial and will give an edge towards your competitor.
Evaluate your business risks and plan for them
No one could have expected a pandemic. But now you have a plan in case it happens again. Don’t forget to download our Pandemic management cheatsheet if you need a reminder.
There are, however, other business risks that you can anticipate and prepare your business for :
the launch of a new fashion competitor
a supplier bankruptcy
Lost shipped products
Quality issues with your fashion clothes or accessories
Social scandals…
Have contingency plans and allocate some emergency funds you can use in case they happen.
Review your capitalistic investment and your development strategy
If you want to develop an international scaled fashion brand, you need to think about having a capitalistic investment and development strategy.
Fashion requires a lot of funds. And if you want to accelerate and scale your business at some point, your organic sales might not be sufficient.
Invest
Last but not least, no business can resist if they don’t invest at some point. And that’s particularly true when facing a crisis.
The question is: what are the smartest investments you can make?
The Fashion industry is one of the sectors that got severely hit by the pandemic.
In 2020, more than 48 countries were put under lockdown. In most places, all the non-essential businesses remained closed and unable to operate. Fashion retailers and boutiques, being considered as non-essential, were closed which resulted in huge losses of sales and an accumulation of inventory.
Covid-19 definitely had an economic impact on the fashion industry but also contributed to reshape the way we work in Fashion. Things are changing and so shall we. Let’s see how.
How did the Pandemic affect the clothing industry throughout the world ?
Covid-19 is a global phenomenon that involves almost all countries in the world. While the impact is not similar in each country, there are some global trends that we can notice here and there.
Many Fashion brands and retailers are closing or going bankrupt
When you are a fashion retailer, you have huge fixed charges: the rent and all the costs affiliated with running a shop like the employees’ wages or the electricity. You also have inventory and taxes to pay. In other words, everyday you don’t sell, you are losing money.
Similarly, a fashion brand may have employees they need to pay, some fixed costs linked to production or logistics and investments to make for the next season.
With that being said, it’s no wonder why the number of bankruptcies and closures increased these past months. As a matter of fact, even if you can benefit from the governments’ subsidies, if you are in a just-in-time distribution logic and cash flow doesn’t come in, it’s hard to keep the business afloat.
In the USA, many brands and retailers filed for bankruptcy : Century 21, Muji, Brooks Brothers, Aldo, J Crew, True Religion. In France, historical actors of the clothing and shoe industry, Naf naf, Camaieu, la Halle and André also filed for bankruptcy. The fashion men brand, Celio, closed down most of its stores in Europe.
Zara, Guess, H&M and even the luxury brand, Diane Von Furstenberg, are shutting down stores across the world.
The supply chain is also suffering from this pandemic
A lot of factories had to close down because of Covid-19. The Pandemic started in China, so it’s natural that this country was profoundly impacted.
According to Apparel Resources, China’s market share in the US apparel import market alone fell to a mere 21.3% this February. Many factories were forced to close. They couldn’t operate and couldn’t even ship the garments that were ordered.
And it’s not only the case in China. The same situation has been seen in Europe or in the Usa. Many brands failed to show their new collections because the fabrics didn’t arrive in time or the prototypes were just stopped.
On top of that, many buyers, seeing the situation, canceled orders or didn’t pay for orders that didn’t get shipped. And when retailers and fashion brands are struggling to survive, they are unlikely to invest massively in research and development. When the distribution is suffering, so is the production.
It also takes time for a factory to restart. It’s like a vicious circle where everything is intertwined and has a sort of ripple effect.
A wave of discounts
Obviously, every actor of the clothing industry accumulated inventory. Covid-19 was unexpected and no one predicted that shops would completely have to close.
Clothes are not a necessary item in your daily life. On a daily basis, you need new food, new electricity but do you need new clothes every day? Statistics show that people wear only ⅓ of their closet and some garments are bought and will never be worn.
Since people were confined at home, they didn’t need to change clothes. And when life is uncertain and you are not even sure you will have a job tomorrow, you just avoid making unnecessary expenses.
So during the lockdown, sales plummeted.
As a result, many brands and shops were left with most of their winter/ spring/ summer inventory. To get rid of the stock, many actors massively discounted the items. On the internet, you could see ads, during the whole spring summer, promoting a -50 or -70% discount.
However, the flash promotions didn’t always translate into conversion as consumers were bombarded with the same types of ads during this period of time.
How can you, as an independent fashion designer, navigate and survive through this pandemic?
As we could all see, the clothing industry overall is not doing so well. And if it’s the case for major brands, what can smaller fashion brands with less media power do? Does it mean it’s over and we should shut down our brands? I don’t think so.
We just need to assess the situation, understand the changes and take the appropriate measures.
The pandemic and its consequences might last longer than we think/ and would like to
As we can all see, no one really knows how long it’s going to last. As a matter of fact, most countries are undergoing a second lockdown. The virus was said to die during summer but apparently it did not and it came back stronger.
So, we must now live with the “new normal”. In other words, we can’t just pause and think it will pass. It might not. We might have to live with this situation longer than we’d like to.
Given, it’s not easy because we must think both short term and medium term. In the short run, we need to think about what we can do to survivre right now. But, we also need to think on the medium term about what we need to implement in case the situation lasts longer.
For example, If the shops are closed, it might be time to rethink the distribution and the logistics. We might have to train the sales people how to reassure clients regarding the new practices. Finally, we might need to implement stricter sanitary measures in our process.
Consumers’ tastes changed
Working remotely has become common practice in many companies. Some workers are already asked to work from home until the end of the year. Meetings now take place on Zoom or Teams. Finally under lockdown, people are not supposed to leave home or meet with friends.
Obviously, you won’t have the same needs if you are to stay at home all day. Why wear a suit when you don’t need to physically see your managers or your clients? Because they were at home, people tend to favor comfort over looks. They were looking for coziness. Casual clothes, jogging, pajamas, sleepwear were pieces of items that were in demand during the pandemic.
Two other fashion segments were on the rise this year. The first one is athleisure, because people were working out at home in order to relax and release the stress and fear from the situation (and because they didn’t have much to do).
The second is lingerie. During the pandemic, people, influencers, brands and retailers were promoting the importance of self-care and wellness. There was a sort of “cocooning effect” that gave people the desire to treat themselves. Lingerie definitely responds to that need as you mainly buy lingerie to feel better.
The power of digital
The web traffic has never been as high as during the pandemic. With the rise of social distancing, people are seeking to connect with friends and family one way or another. The use of video chat and social media has increased exponentially. So more than ever, it’s time to be online. If clients can’t come to you, just go to where they are : online.
Of course, this pandemic benefited a lot to the GAFA. These giants are digital born and have all the logistics and communication power to easily capture clients online. As a matter of fact, Amazon doubled its profits in the second quarter and they said that third-party sales increased by 53%.
However, it’s never too late to start building a community that will favor you over Amazon, Asos or Zalando. If you are clever in the way you communicate and act, people will stick with you. That leads me directly to the next point.
Having a clear, coherent and distinct message is key
Competition online is really big. People are bombarded with promotional messages. It takes at least 7 messages to get a potential client online and you only have 3 seconds to grab someone’s attention.
And when you are an independant fashion designer going online, you are not only competing with other fashion brands but also retailers, marketplaces and other types of brands and services like food delivery, cosmetics or home decor.
So it’s vital to differentiate your brand and to make sure that the message you are showing is:
easy to understand,
can be explained within 3 seconds,
and is original enough to stand out of the crowd.
Adapting the communication
Social distancing and media is definitely provoking fear, stress and anxiety to many people. Therefore, having a reassuring voice (in terms of message and tone) in your communication is crucial. No need to add fuel to fire.
More than ever, people needs dreams and transparency. They are either looking for something that will help them evade from their dark day-to-day or for honest and reliable brands.
If sustainable development was not part of your strategies, it should now be. Ethical practices are rarely the trigger for a purchase but it could be a good additional argument to close a sale. More and more consumers want to know where their clothes are made and how they were made.They want to back brands that pushes for positive messages and values. Beyond clothes, people are buying a philosophy and a way of living.
Is mid-range clothing still a positioning to consider?
That is just my analysis but I believe that the mid-range market in the clothing industry might suffer the most from this pandemic. People fear the future and many are being dismissed because of the lack of business and sales. In some cases, the crisis is just an excuse to get rid of somebody. Whatever the reasons, uncertainty and anxiety is in the air. And generally speaking, middle-class spending tends to slow down during this kind of situation. People prefer to save rather than to spend.
In my opinion and in regards to this situation, there are 2 ways people can react. They will either go for very low-priced products or high-end ones. Low-priced because they want to treat themselves but can’t afford making unreasonable purchases considering the situation. Expensive pieces because people would rather buy something they think will last or that they truly love than low quality products.
In addition to that, you need to have sufficient cash flow to resist the crisis and make the necessary investments that will help you get out of it as fast as possible. When you are selling low-priced clothes, you can count on the volumes that will be generated by the sales. And when you have highly priced clothes, you have the margins that make it up.
However, the in-between is not the most comfortable place because you are always tight on money to pay your suppliers or even your employees. Production costs are still high because you don’t have the volume, yet, the margins aren’t that great either. You are in survival mode all the time and that can be tiring over time.
Reevaluate the distribution channels
Knowing what we know, are all business models still valid? Is going wholesale still an option? Does having your own boutique still a good strategy? How would you approach your retail strategy if the situation lasts longer? What about next year’ events? Should you participate in trade fairs? Are you investing enough on digital channels? What products or assets are more profitable right now for your brand?
Now, more than ever, is the time to ask ourselves (and our team if we are lucky enough to have one) the right questions.
Business models and strategies are not supposed to stay frozen. What was true yesterday might not be true today. The context and the needs changed. So, it’s important to remain flexible and to adapt the strategies.
Pandemic Management cheatsheet
What doesn’t kill you make you stronger
Again, I’m not an expert but this is my humble point of view regarding the situation.
As far as I am concerned, I believe that crises are always an opportunity to shine. You might need to reevaluate yourself and to undergo many changes (in your life or your business) but if you keep working hard, great things will eventually arrive.
