Top 10 Beginner Mistakes To Avoid When Launching Your Sportswear Brand

Transcript (auto-generated)
What's up design family and welcome to another episode of fit design TV on this episode we'll be looking at the top 10 mistakes that beginners make when starting the sports reliant welcome to fit design TV on this channel we'll explore what it takes to make it as an act of war fashion brand whilst providing tips tricks and actionable steps towards starring your own product line whether an entrepreneur look at the star your own brand or just someone interested in fitness fashion there's something for you here [Music] what are the ten main mistakes that beginners usually get into when starting to sportswear or product line I have a couple ideas that I'm looking forward to sharing with you number one is they don't have a tech pack they go at it without any technical information or that technical idea of what their product is meant to look like what are the materials what is it supposed to fit like what are the technical details of that garment they assume it's not necessary usually it's going to be necessary sketches that you make on your kitchen napkin are not gonna be enough to accurately depict what it is you're looking for and you're going to spend a lot of money trying to create samples and trying to unprofessionally communicate what it is that you're looking for and you're gonna spend a lot of time sterling you can spend a lot of effort and you're gonna spend a lot of money ultimately trying to go back and forth in order to make samples get attack back done do it yourself and just cut out the headache be direct about what you're looking for number two is they have no budget what does that mean sometimes starting off too small can be an issue if you have no idea of what your financial requirements are for a certain product because you haven't done the research ahead of time to figure out what is this thing gonna cost me what are the expenses associated with it how am I gonna be able to get this idea from something that's in my head to physical product that's in my customers hands and you have no idea of the expenses associated it's very easy to get lost or to get sucked in to your project no one's saying that you have to go ahead and invest tens of thousands of dollars starting off but have an idea of what your budget is and remember it's very important to know what your expenses are and can you afford those expenses you don't want to spend fifty percent of what your project cost and find out that you're out of money that's the worst possible way to go about it number three is they get stuck doing too many samples it gets very exciting to create your prototype your samples and to have this design turn into a physical product that you can share with your friends with your potential customers and getting caught up in making too many samples can be a potential pitfall something you want to avoid for instance so what is something that we see customers requiring all the different colors that they happen and believe it or not factories are going to charge for this sample it's a service it's not free especially when you're starting off small and the business potential is not huge they're going to need to charge for their time the development time it's gonna take to make that sample so getting caught up in creating too many samples is going to be a financial drain on your time and obviously on your bank account samples are going to cost more than actual products they're gonna cost because there's a higher labor that cannot be amortized over the many different products you would create in a bulk order so your samples are gonna cost more and again if you're starting off small chances are those samples would not be refunded there is a certain set up time and expertise that the factory has to incorporate into creating samples and they need to be able to offset that cost they can't do that when the order is not that big so don't get caught up into making too many different samples 4 is really there's unforeseen expenses not doing your research ahead of time to figure out what it is that I'm going to have to pay for and where do my financial obligations lie in this project for example a lot of people assume that the cost of creating product could be just the unit price that's a very beginner take and that's a horrible take on it there's a lot more associated with it there may be certain dye costs molding costs for logos certain types of logos that you're trying to create rubber logos high-quality screen printed logos there is some setup costs that are associated with it if you're setting up certain types of manufacturing lines for instance you have seamless manufacturing there may be a small set-up cost associated with that so it will depend on the type of manufacturing that you're doing and the different details that you're including in your product you need to be able to understand what your hidden costs are going to be and those costs also include air freight so basically the delivery cost what kind of delivery method are you taking is there for instance on a boat or a sea freight shipping cost you may have some loading costs these are all different costs that can rack up over time so doing your due diligence and figuring out what those costs are is necessary you have also customs cost once the product clients into the country that you're importing it into there is going to be customs cost associated with that product and that customs gospel' differ between country and country it'll differ according to your country in what country you're importing it from so understanding this cost is key to not get sucked in financially number five is many companies come and they have no idea of whether or not their company name is trademark are they able to trademark it their logo is it already copyrighted is there something similar that's copyrighted they invest a lot of time money and effort only to find out five six twelve months 24 months down the line that that specific trademark is taken and they're being pursued by legal action by another company and they have to completely change their brand image their brand structure and they'll lose that community or they lose that trademark or that brand foundation that they've created over the last 24 months it's very important to do a quick trademark search find out what it is that you're really trying to get yourself into from a trademark or a copyright perspective number six is expecting that the physical product that one creates would be identical to the digital designs just because you can conceive it in your head does not necessarily mean that this will translate into a physical product I see that with very complex designs that have many different fabrics trims colors details associated with it and the budget is far too small to be able to execute all those designs you have to bear in mind that every single piece of fabric of trim that is on a garment should be sourced it has its own production it may come from different factories and those factories are going to require their services to be paid for so the more complex the garment the higher your cost is going to be and sometimes things are just impossible you have pockets that are too small trims that are too expensive details that just don't physically work on that construction of the garment so expecting your garment to be exactly as the design is detailed may in some cases impossible bear that in mind and approach that with an open mind and be flexible in the way that you're communicating with your supplier because at the end of the day it is in your best interest to get your best possible product out there but you do have to get a product out there you don't want to invest all that time and effort and to end up with nothing number seven is really a lot of clients or brands don't have a marketing plan so they've gone through the trouble of creating this product having it delivered to theirs to the warehouse or their location and now they have no idea of how they're going to market that product whether it's through influencer marketing through paid ads through SEO through creating organic content they have no marketing plan and no executional idea of how it is they're gonna get the word out there bear in mind just because you have a product doesn't mean anyone will buy it the first way to get someone to buy your product is to get them to know about it exposure is everything and putting out a great product is obviously going to be your key focus but having people know about it is going to be your second focus create a marketing plan understand what your channels are and dive into it and understand that without marketing you won't be able to sell your product which means you won't have the fuel necessary to create more amazing products number eight is an amateur website your website is where your customers are going to find you that's where they're gonna purchase your designs your products that's what's gonna fuel your business so having a professional sophisticated home that is worthy of the product that you're selling is key just because they have a good product doesn't mean that your website can lack your branding and your identity should match the level of detailed quality that you're putting in your product at the end of the day the impression that your customers are gonna get from the buying experience is going to be as equally important as the impression that they're gonna get from the physical product if not more important because that's the first place they're going to entertain the idea of actually buying your products so make their experience as good as it can be number nine is a lack of packaging and trims customers go ahead and they create their products they manufacture their products and then they realize they don't have any care labels they may need a country of origin label that by law some countries will for that they meet some sizing information some fabric information they may need some hangtags in order to brand their items some actual poly mailers in order to ship out their items so you don't want to be caught in a situation where you have the raw product landed on your doorstep and no way of packaging it in a convincing in a professional way you don't want to be using those stock white pieces of poly malar bags when you've already gone through the trouble of creating a customized product from the ground up you want your packaging to match it we've done a video on packaging would love for you to check that out there's a lot of good ideas in there and a lot of awesome ways to get started in the packaging space number 10 and most importantly is too much coffee it's very easy to get sucked into the inspiration world and to see what's out there and it's always good to have a visual representation of what you may want from other brands but at the end of the day you have to bear in mind you're putting out something unique into the world that should be the core concept of anything you do related to this brand the brand imaging should be fresh the brand messaging should be something that hasn't been done before the idea the story should be personal to you why should someone buy from your brand when they can just get the same product from a billion other brands you're trying to do something different that's the beauty that's the power of creating customized apparel that's why this industry exists and that's the way you should attack it what is your personal message what's the story that you're trying to tell figure that out and find out how you can differentiate yourselves from everyone else and try not to copy too much keep your head down do your work and create something that is truly unique that's been 10 main mistakes that I see beginners make even some intermediate people that have already been in the business for a while this is your the 10 main mistakes that I see I hope you guys can learn something from that if I missed anything at all please feel free to drop it in the comments below I'd love to hear what your experience has been like and maybe I can learn as well I really sure you guys showing up check it out the video until next time guys stay awesome.