How to start a clothing line

Why start a clothing brand?

Building a creative career is always challenging, but there’s good news: there’s a clear ongoing demand for fashion, and room for growth within the industry.

In 2023, the fashion industry was worth US$351 billion in the US, US$39 billion in Canada, US$82 billion in the UK, US$4.5 billion in New Zealand, and US$21 billion in Australia.

So if you’re a fashion-conscious creative and want to have your own clothing line, begin researching how to start a clothing business.

Steps to start your successful clothing line

To successfully launch a fashion brand you’ll need to follow a thorough and comprehensive process.

Learn how to create your own clothing brand, from honing your design skills to growing your brand, through our ten steps to start a clothing line:

1. Develop your design skills
2. Choose your clothing business model
3. Complete a clothing brand business plan
4. Analyse your customers
5. Analyse your competitors
6. Adapt to fashion trends
7. Develop and design your clothing line
8. Set up your inventory and manufacturing process
9. Build an online clothing store
10. Grow your clothing brand

1. Develop and maintain your design skills

Before making your own clothing brand, develop your design skills to find your own personal style and build fashion expertise.

Formal education

This is the traditional route. Attending a college or university with a strong fashion programme will give you access to top-tier equipment, software, and studio space. Or, add a reputable diploma to your name to boost your prospects. Check out your local providers like NZ School of Art and Fashion, Australia Premier Design School, London College of Fashion, Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Design to see if applying to a formal fashion programme is the right choice for you.

Online courses and self-teaching

Of course, you don’t have to go back to school. There are plenty of online courses and tutorials to give you hands-on skills to design your clothing line. To start, check out Coursera for courses on areas of fashion you’re keen on.

Fashion internships

Look for internships or work experience in fashion to gain experience and to explore other specialisations – like merchandising, marketing, journalism, or styling.

No matter which direction you take, ongoing learning will keep you up with seasonal trends and consumer shifts.

2. Choose a business model and sales channels for your clothing line

Before diving into the financial and legal prep when starting your clothing line, first you’ll need to decide on your business model, which includes your established value proposition.

Alongside your regular business model, you’ll need to consider where to sell your products and how you’re going to make them. You might choose to keep it simple when you start your clothing business by selling your clothing through a single channel; or to increase your clothing line’s sales, you could set up multiple options.

And as your business grows, you could tailor your business model further to increase your brand’s availability and to find options that best suit your client base.

Here’s a look at the main sales channels.

Bricks-and-mortar retail store

Physical bricks-and-mortar store is where your clothing line can be tried on and bought. ‘Hands on’ stores make direct customer interaction and immediate purchasing possible, and showcase a variety of your products. But they can have high overheads and mean you’ll rely on foot traffic, limiting your customer reach to those who live nearby.

Online retail store

Selling clothing online through an ecommerce website allows you to sell your clothing line 24/7 across the globe. Instead of hosting customers in store, they can browse online and make purchases themselves, and have their orders shipped to them.

Ecommerce has lower overhead costs than physical stores, and a wider customer base. But you’ll need to invest in developing a website and in digital marketing, and factor in potential shipping issues. Customers could also be more likely to return items due to the lack of a tactile experience.

Pop-up shop

These are fun, temporary retail spaces to showcase your products without having to commit to a physical retail store. They’re great for special events, seasonal sales, or brand promotions, and are a perfect way to create buzz.

Pop-up shops are a cheaper way to retail your clothing line and are flexible in location and timing. But this flexibility brings extra logistical challenges, as their short-term nature means you have to relocate and you have limited time to build a customer base.

Subscription box service

Subscription box services allow customers to receive regular shipments of curated items.

Subscription models provide reliable recurring revenue, a personalised customer experience, and can boost customer loyalty and retention. But you need to manage your inventory well, and customer dissatisfaction with your selections could complicate your logistics.

Wholesale

You could sell your clothing line wholesale in bulk to other retailers or businesses. This allows for high sales volume, consistently large orders, and smaller marketing costs. However, selling wholesale:

• Reduces your profit margins per unit
• Makes you dependent on retail partners
• Could put your cash flow at risk

Custom clothing

This sales strategy allows you to create and sell made-to-order items based on a customer’s specifications – think personalised tees or tailored suits.

This unique selling proposition (USP) can deliver high profit margins and strong customer loyalty, but can induce labor-intensive production processes, higher production costs, and slower delivery times.

3. Fill out a business plan for your fashion line

Before starting a clothing line, create a strong business plan that outlines what you aim to achieve, how you’re going to do it, and the core concepts of your business.

It should include:

• An executive summary: Sum up the main points of your business plan in the executive summary. See more info on this below.
• A marketing and sales plan: Explain who your target market is, how you’re going to reach them, and what sales levels are achievable. Start by doing market research to understand your target customers and how to reach them.
• A financial plan: Show how your business will be funded and link to any supporting documents. Take a look at the different financing options.
• Cost considerations: Think about all the costs involved in starting a clothing business, including for product development, manufacturing and production, marketing, and legal fees.

A well-thought out clothing line business plan is a blueprint for your business development and will help you secure funding. Find out more about writing a business plan.

Tailor your executive summary to any audience

Your executive summary should be a compelling overview of your company that succinctly summarises how you will start your clothing business. Write it last, once you’ve nailed down the rest of your business plan – this makes it easier to write something engaging for the reader that truly encapsulates your clothing line.

You can adapt this section to the audience you’re pitching to. For instance, you could present a finance-focused summary to an investor, or a product-focused summary to a supplier or manufacturer.

Xero’s business plan template lets you quickly edit your executive summary and create multiple copies ready to go.

4. Find your fashion niche – know your customers

Market research will help you to identify how to position your clothing line and reach consumers.

Analyse your consumer base in the following ways:

Identify your target market and their needs

Research the different types of consumers and decide who is your key audience. Create a character profile of them including their demographics, psychographics, and buying behaviours.

Use surveys, focus groups and interviews to understand how your consumers make purchasing decisions, and to identify gaps in the market your brand could fill.

Assess market size and growth potential

Judge the size of the fashion market and its growth trajectory. Identify areas that are set for high growth and niches that align with your clothing line.

5. Analyse your competitors

Just like understanding your customers, you’ll need to thoroughly comprehend your competition.

Do this in four key ways.

Identify your competitors

Make a list of competitors within your fashion niche and split them into direct and indirect competitors. Include everyone from established brands to emerging designers so you have a strong grasp of the competition.

Analyse competitor offerings

Examine your competitors’ products or services. Consider their pricing, the quality of the clothing line and their USPs, and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Think about where you would fit in this landscape.

Evaluate marketing strategies

Review your competition’s marketing tactics, including their social media, influencer partnerships, and advertising campaigns.

Assess online presence

Check out your competitors’ websites, ecommerce platforms and online customer reviews. Think about what works and what doesn’t within the user experience, product presentation and customer engagement.

Performing detailed competitor analysis helps you pick up useful tips and tricks on how to reach your audience and sell to them.

And don’t forget: keep an eye out for areas and trends your competitors haven’t yet discovered!

6. Adapt to fashion trends

Fashion continuously evolves, so to keep your offering fresh, you’ll need to keep up with trends and figure out how to incorporate them into your clothing line.

The best way to do this is to build trends into your designs and brand. Figuring out the most adaptable trends that are relevant to your brand and your customers, and remembering to focus on your own strengths and USPs, will keep your fashion line’s business plan on track.

Here are some ideas.

• The world’s climate emergency is an opportunity to build environmentally friendly clothing lines. Eco-friendly production techniques could provide a marketing niche for your business and strengthen your supply chains too!
• Notice trends among your customers. For example, though it may be winter where you are, your customers might be looking for a summer wardrobe for their winter-sun holiday. Allowing some flexibility within seasons gives your customers year-round options to suit their lifestyles.
• Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to your advantage. AI is changing the game in every industry and learning how to use it could enhance your creativity. But relying solely on AI could lead to bland designs and ideas, so blend AI tools with your own unique talents.

Just remember to balance trends in your clothing line with your brand’s individual style. Well-curated collections include both trendy pieces and classic items to cater for all customers.

7. Design and develop your clothing line

To create a product that sells, you’ll have to thoughtfully develop every element of your clothing line.

So turn your doodle into a must-have product: learn how to start designing clothes.

Plan your fashion line collection

Clothing brand startups are notoriously short on cash but still need to make an impact when launching. Starting a clothing business under financial constraints means keeping your initial clothing line simple so you have the money and time to get each piece right.

Design a brand to launch online first, instead of through traditional retail. This allows you to start with just a few designs so you avoid the headache of extensive styles, line sheets, and samples required for retail distribution.

Seasonal collection planning

Every fashion collection has a balance of both evergreen and seasonal, on-trend pieces, and yours should too. You’ll reach a broader audience, and keep your clothing line relevant.

Evergreen pieces are timeless, versatile items that remain relevant and desirable regardless of current trends – things like classic denim jeans, basic tees, and little black dresses. Include these essential evergreen pieces to give your fashion brand security while it gets going.

Seasonal pieces should coincide with fashion seasons so your products hit the market at the right moment. To stay up with trends so you can incorporate them into your lines, monitor fashion industry trends through tools like WGSN or Trendstop, and keep up to date with fashion weeks, key influencers, and industry news.

Use design programs

Design software like Photoshop and Illustrator allows you to create professional clothing designs and edit them.

Access design programs through Creative Cloud.

Work with designers

If design isn’t your strong suit, find designers and creatives through platforms like Fiverr and Upwork to bring your ideas to life. A professional helping hand from expert artists with experience and expertise helps your designs meet industry standards.

Create branded labels

Branded labels give your apparel a professional, unique, and handcrafted finish. This helps build your brand identity and recognition with customers.

Enhance your products

Think about enhancing your clothing with features that add uniqueness and a premium quality to your clothing line. For example, embroidery – now stitched using vector graphics instead of by hand – will give your items a high-quality, professional vibe.

Let others look after fulfillment and shipping

Use a fulfillment company to streamline your shipping. The company takes care of the packaging, shipping, and efficient delivery of orders so you can focus on starting your clothing line.

8. Manufacturing and production: manage your inventory and control quality

When you first start your clothing line you might produce your clothes yourself. But if you scale, you’ll need to find a manufacturing and production partner. It then becomes important to manage your inventory, and exercise quality control.

Managing your inventory helps you find the balance between producing enough stock and creating too much. To avoid over- or underproduction, you could use the print-on-demand method, which allows orders to be fulfilled quickly as customers make purchases, lowering costs and risk. This, coupled with high quality and efficient production, allows you to focus on your clothing line and competitive advantage.

Using Xero’s inventory management software can streamline the process further.

Establishing clear quality standards early on will set the tone for the entire production process, from branding through to finished product. Prioritise high-quality materials and test them for durability, colour fastness, and comfort to create a product your customers will love, and choose a reputable manufacturer with a proven track record.

Why screen printing is the best printing method for your clothing brand

If print designs are a key marker in your clothing line, finding a trusted screen printer could save you precious time – and boost your profits.

Screen-printed designs use thick inks that produce vibrant, true-life colours that can be matched using the pantone process. Screen printing also lets you add value with fun customisations like puff and glitter prints, or you could choose to use environmentally friendly water-based inks. Though other printing methods are hot on its heels, screen printing remains a firm favourite among consumers, brand owners, manufacturers, and designers, due to its high quality, versatility, and ease of use.

Together, these advantages help set you apart in the crowded fashion market. Your customers will notice when high-quality methods are used – perhaps giving you room to charge a premium price and increase your profits.

And don’t forget: outsourcing your inventory management, like screen printing, lets you focus on other aspects of your business, boosting your efficiency and productivity.

9. Build an online clothing store

Follow these steps to start your online clothing store:

1. Set up your ecommerce platform

Decide on a website platform, like Shopify, to host your ecommerce site. Choose either a preset theme or set up your own, and input your brand colours, fonts, and logos to customise it. Xero’s ecommerce software seamlessly integrates with Shopify to streamline your accounting.

2. Write critical pages

The essential pages on your site provide more information about your business, such as an ‘About us’ ‘FAQs’ and ‘Contact’ pages.

3. Photograph your products and create product pages

Capture high-quality pictures of your clothing line.

• Use natural lighting to showcase the true colours and details
• Include multiple angles and close-ups
• Use models to show how the product fits and moves

Don’t forget to add detailed descriptions to the images on your product pages to help the photos sell your product.

10. Grow your clothing brand

To keep your business growing, keep learning new processes and adapt to the latest developments in fashion to keep your clothing line relevant. Note innovations within fashion for fresh inspiration, and network with other professionals, especially those within your fashion niche, to boost your development.

Accounting software can help you to take care of the financial side of your clothing line so you can focus on innovation, as Xero customer, Amy Yueng, explains:

Accounting software can do the repetitive tasks for you while you focus on honing a competitive product and creating beautiful clothing.

Clothing brand FAQs

How much does it cost to start a clothing line?

Although you’ll need upfront capital when starting a clothing line, the specific amount varies depending on the type of fashion business you’re establishing.

You’ll need to budget for:

• Design and development costs
• Production and manufacturing expenses, like the cost of fabric and hiring equipment
• Marketing and branding, like paying for your website domain
• Legal and administrative fees

Explore how to finance your business.

How do I name my clothing brand?

A brand name should be simple and something that resonates with your target audience. Make it reflect your brand values and aesthetic, and memorable enough for consumers to remember.

Check your preferred names aren’t already trademarked and the domain name is available. That way your heart won’t be set on one that’s already taken, and your brand and website name can match.

Once you’ve chosen a name, trademark it to legally secure it. Now, no one else can use it to name their own clothing line!