Clothing brands of all kinds often struggle in the fashion industry. If you are trying to understand why certain clothes fail, we must tell you there are multiple factors at play here that need your consideration.
Mirror images of the massive fashion industry do not depict its true image and reality is far different than it seems. Every one of the brands has a story behind it, an exciting journey that reflects their current position in the market. And no doubt, when running a whole clothing brands, there are several number of things that you look out for.
There is no surprise that there are several companies whose ideas and plans fail. The awesome thing is that if we take care of the process and efficiently adopt the necessary strategies and methods, you can win the race and be a successful brand in the industry.
We can’t deny the fact that there is much competition in the fashion industry, which raises a number of challenges for every competitor in the market. The fall might be due to the company’s financial backing, fewer customers, tough competition, and more.
But we have also seen some brands with the best designs, vast numbers of social following, and some with killer marketing strategies, but sometimes that’s not enough to stay alive and active in the clothing market.
Let’s Figure it Out Why Clothing Brands Fail?
In this article, we will break down all the reasons why Apparel brands fail. So, if you are running a clothing brands or somehow associated with it, this article is a must-read for you. So let’s jump in:
Please note that this article holds no intention of demotivating you from opening and running your own clothing brands. To simplify things for you, this article also focuses on methods and strategies that could help you grow efficiently.
Lack of Strong business plan
This is one of the primary reasons behind the fall of the brands. Most business startups and entrepreneurs are so excited to enter the fashion industry that they forget to fulfill their basic needs.
Having a solid business plan is one of those critical persecutes to have. Not having leadership or improper management leads to failure in the long run. This is why the business owner must develop a business plan that defines all the working standards and procedures of your business in document form.
A strong business plan in the early stages of your business development will help you stay on track and refer to it for any kind of reflection on your brand’s goals, mission, and vision.
Learn more about what a clothing brand business plan should look like.
Waste of investment on Unnecessary Things
When you start initially, you don’t have to get into details. We know a brand that was a startup. All the things were in favor of this brand. But it decided to trademark the brand’s design. Well, the trademark has its importance but at the right time.
We worked with a startup brand, which spent around $2,000 on trademarking, making them run short on production costs and affecting the business. Getting your clothing business trademarked is essential, but without it, you can’t legally claim that you are the first person or entity to print this design with proof if you spot someone stealing your design. But when you are initially starting your business, there are the same chances of getting your design stolen.
So it’s essential to know the factors that should be your top priority to focus on.
Working With a clothing manufacturer
A familiar story in the clothing fashion industry. We have heard many stories about the brands getting shut down because they chose to work with a bad supplier to produce their clothing line.
But, hold a sec, are the supplier to blame? It could also be the design team and the manufacturing choices that brands or suppliers make during the production.
You can’t blame the manufacturer if you are working with an expert in t-shirt manufacturing and producing a swimsuit line for the sake of money and business. That’s unjustified.
We would say it’s critically important to choose a good manufacturer that works parallels according to your needs and the specifications you want on your brand. It’s essential for you to work with clothing manufacturers who have expertise in your desired type of manufacturing. Furthermore, it is important to consider several factors like pricing strategies, minimum order quantities and turnaround times as they relate to clothing manufacturing companies. Related Reading: Find out the essential factors that you should look for when choosing the clothing manufacturers
Fails to achieve the value Preposition
One of the biggest reasons is that startups and small brands fail to achieve the value proposition of the product they sell. The clothing industry is big, so there is cutthroat completion in the market that will stand against you.
The value proposition refers to the quality of the product, like the product you are offering should be comfortable, high quality, easy to wear, and up to fashion and styles that are trending in the market. And another most important thing is that it should be affordable for the audience that you are targeting.
Customers are looking for a high-quality product at affordable costs and will buy it from anyone who offers them the right quality within the correct pricing. So it’s essential to focus on achieving the value proposition up to your brand value so that your brand comes under your customer’s attention.
Inability to use social media effectively
The revolution of the e-commerce industry has greatly influenced us all. After the online e-commerce store, it is tough for any clothing brands to stand alone as a brick and mortar store. A brand must have its online presence marked in the fashion business.
Most startup businesses invest much over brick-and-mortar stores without realizing that setting up an online clothing store is as essential as a physical one. An online presence is more important and beneficial for a clothing brands.
Online presence and having a website allow you to make the most of the social media platforms by which you can market your brand online. There are several traditional methods of marketing through social media channels to reach the target audience.
The e-commerce and social media platforms marketing has made it possible for the brands to stay more active and create endless possibilities to market the brand. So, brands should make the most of these platforms to sell the brand properly with the help of a proper Clothing Brand Marketing Strategy.
Lack of Knowledge about the Fashion Industry
It’s understandable to have a basic knowledge of the industry you are working in. But having just adequate or basic knowledge is not enough. When selling in the market, you should have deep industry knowledge about the niche you are working on.
There is a number of industry terminologies and business operations that you should be aware of when working in the clothing industry. It’s common in the case of startups that they start rushing towards the manufacturing and setting up of the store rather than gathering full knowledge about the industry first.
Most of them don’t analyze the need in the market and basic factors like whether customers are willing to pay or even buy the products you are selling.
Having the product idea is not essential, but having proper knowledge about the product is critical. You should know the details about your target audience. Connecting with the right apparel manufacturer will also help you. You can ask them for industry advice as we have been working in the clothing industry for a while, so there are chances that we can provide you with genuine industry advice and knowledge to help you grow.
Uncompetitive Pricing Doesn’t Match
This is the first thing the customer considers, and the customer needs quality and style at reasonable prices. So pricing your products is something that you should do after detailed research.
The pricing of the clothes depends upon the different clothing lines, varying the cloth raw material and other internal and external components used. If your customer feels like your products’ prices are higher, then you should have a justification as to why it is higher in price.
So, therefore you need to set the prices accordingly to the product’s specifications.
Strategies to grow, evolve and be a successful fashion startup in the fashion industry
- Building a network
No matter what industry it is, every business works better when it is connected and shared amongst the right network. By making connections and networks in the industry, you can efficiently use communication strategies and contracts. By building a brand network, you can easily connect with your target audience, business partners, and anyone who benefits your business.
You can build strong communication channels and relations with fashion designers, which will help your brand to bring innovation and enhancement to your business. With their support, you can work on new ideas for your clothing lines and offer customers something creative and unique.
- Compete for your competition
Your clothing brand competition is your best source of learning. Although you will be competing against them but still being rivals, you can learn much from your competition. For example, you can look at what product line they are selling and the type of consumers they attract. How they attract customers towards their brand, and what strategy they use to appeal to the customers.
Also, you can rethink several factors for your brand by looking at your competition, such as designing of clothes, styling, fabrics usage, pricing strategy, promotion and marketing strategy, and what kinds of variety they are selling. All of these factors are important to consider.
- Work on new challenges
The new challenges are new pathways toward success, so you should never worry or overthink before taking a new challenge. The more challenges you take, the more you learn how to handle a clothing business. Production of clothes seems to be a pretty much challenging task for startups, but being a clothing brand, you must start from somewhere, and that’s why you should work with a professional clothing manufacturer for your brand to have a high-quality clothing line for your brand. As you get exposed to different business out there, you’ll learn how to deal with other business partners and convince your customers towards your brand.
Wrapping up
These are a number of reasons behind the fall of the new brands coming into the market. As we mentioned above, there are a couple of things that you must take under consideration, like prices, licenses, knowledge about the fashion industry, how it works, trends knowledge, marketing methods, etc.
These are not just the reason but also a lesson for you. You can do as advised in these steps to ensure the growth of your clothing business. We are sure that these are the best tools and methods you can easily focus on and achieve.
we hope this article would be helpful to you, also remember that once your business starts doing well in the market its equally essential for your brand to focus on brand strategy, objective and business objectives for now and coming years. Set your goals, reach your marketing plans, create a vision and plan for big. That’s how industry giants do in the fashion industry.
