Brand building is key to stand out in any industry, and this is especially true in one as competitive as the fashion & textile industry. If your business is in clothes and textiles, you’ll either be selling to individual customers or to retail businesses. Either way, you’ll want to make sure that you have a unique brand that creates value for your customers that’s entirely independent of your products.
The key to good branding in fashion & textiles is that it be unique and that you apply it consistently across your various marketing channels. This involves educating staff throughout the company about your brand and having them transmit it to your customers.
In this article, we’ll go through some specific strategies for brand-building in the fashion & textile industries.
Don’t Neglect Personal Branding
When you hear the word ‘branding,’ you’re probably thinking of logos, slogans, tying up with movie stars and more. However, personal branding is also important. Don’t neglect to create eye-catching business cards, constantly update your LinkedIn profile, network with others in the fashion & textile industry and more.
Personal branding is closely tied to your reputation. The fashion & textile industry is extremely close-knit, and word gets around. Ensure that you act pleasantly towards everyone you meet and that you’re always fair when it comes to business dealings because there’s no amount of branding that can patch up a sketchy reputation.
You should also aim to be viewed as an expert in your field. Be the one that people come to for advice about your area of the fashion & textile business. You can do this by starting a newsletter, hosting a blog where you write relevant articles or sharing useful information on social media.
Work With Celebrities And Influencers
Fashion is both highly visual and highly influenced by trends. This is why so many big fashion brands scramble to put their clothes on the most popular celebrities. These individuals have large followings, and if their fans see them wearing a new pair of heels or a striking clutch bag, they’ll be much more likely to desire these products themselves.
You can work with either (or both) traditional celebrities, which include movie stars, athletes and musicians, or influencers, who are people with large followings on social media. If you’re a newer fashion or textile company, the latter might be more accessible for you, both because most of them cost less money to work with, and simply because there are more of them, which decreases your competition for their services.
Create A Unique, High-Quality Product
Often, people think of branding in terms of promotional activities, but your products are a vital part of building brand equity.
Product differentiation is absolutely essential in the fashion & textile industry. If you’re manufacturing clothes, you want to ensure that customers, whether they be other business or individual buyers, have a clear reason to choose your products over those of your competitors.
Besides creating unique clothes, you should also aim to maintain high quality standards. You might be producing the most striking jeans or dresses, but if they fall apart or stretch after going through the washing machine a couple of times, customers will quickly realise that they’re poor value for money.
If you own your own factories, create a rigorous quality control process. You might even want to hire specialists whose entire job is to create and maintain quality. If you’re outsourcing, it’s crucial to select manufacturers who are known for their quality. Once you’ve done this, you should also perform quality checks and site inspections throughout the working relationship.
Have A Strong Digital Presence
In 2024, businesses of all shapes and sizes are using digital channels to add value through their brand. The fashion & textile industry is no exception to this.
The first channel you’ll want to utilise is your own website. Include a catalogue of all your clothes or textile products, write an about page explaining who you are as a business and what you do and provide a way for potential customers to reach out. If you’re a fashion retailer, you can also include a way to order clothes from your website.
You also want to be active on social media. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are where you’ll be posting updates about your business and interacting with your customers. Comments on your posts and mentions of your brand/products are also great ways to gauge public sentiment and get new ideas for marketing campaigns or new products.
In an industry with as many players as fashion & textile, branding is key to separating your business from the back. It’s essential to use personal branding, work with celebrities with followings among your target audience, ensure your products stand out and are of good quality and spread your brand online.
If you haven’t given branding much thought, now’s as good a time as any to start. Start implementing the branding strategies we’ve covered today to grow your fashion & textile business.
