By Carley Johnson Brand Growth January 7, 2020

Top 5 fashion consultant tips for fashion brands.

My consultancy is built of nearly 20 years of retail experience and 10 years of fashion eCommerce experience, helping numerous brands grow globally. Here are my fashion consultant tips for any fashion trying to grow into today’s challenging climate.

Brand is everything - Invest in establishing your brand.

You want to be a fashion brand, not a fashion label. The difference, you are more than just the product. In creating a brand, you are setting the personality of your business, your values, what you stand for and your purpose, who do you serve. Once you have these answers, this is pulled together through branding. Meaning no matter what medium, and where you are in the world your brand will be recognised.

If you can’t communicate who you are as a brand and the type of person who would identify with your core values and aesthetic, then you won’t be able to sell it to them.

Having a strong brand with compelling messaging helps customers connect to the clothing and accessories they wear. If a consumer relates to the brand, it creates a connection; the wearer feels as though the brand is an extension of themselves or at the least what the wearer would like others to perceive in them.

Be open to change.

This tip is extremely important for those operating a business alone. A business can be your livelihood, your life, even your baby, but you need to detach yourself from this and you need to run your business with a business mindset. This mindset should be objective. You should always consider if not seek a 3rd party perspective. This could be in the form of your customers, well-respected colleagues in the industry, even friends.

As a fashion consultant, I have seen many brands not willing to change, and take feedback on board and have run their brand from a single mindset. They have not seen success outside their own territory.

In growing your brand, you will show your collection to numerous channels globally. You need to adapt your approach to suit each new potential client and also interpret their feedback, filtering out all non-constructive, leaving you with direct advice from that market leader. Now all that’s left to do is interpret that into your brand.

Act with pace.

To be successful in the fashion industry you need to act with pace to interpret whats going on and this doesn’t just apply to trends. You need to be aware of what is happening in the industry, for example, sustainability and implement your capabilities of it ASAP. You need to be aware of what is happening in the market, for example, Bush fires in Australia, and implement your brand’s communication/actions around the topic.

As a fashion consultant, I would teach you to be a leader, not a follower. I would teach you to jump on change as soon as it is seen. The younger generation, regard this highly as one of the main reason they shop the brands that they do. This is the new generation you need to keep the interest off.

Network within your industry, read all channels from financial, climate, to industry-specific editorials to stay informed about what is happening in the world. It is so important to get ahead and plan for your brand’s success and safety.

"This tip is extremely important for those operating a business alone. A business can be your livelihood, your life, even your baby, but you need to detach yourself from this and you need to run your business with a business mindset. This mindset should be objective. You should always consider if not seek a 3rd party perspective. This could be in the form of your customers, well-respected colleagues in the industry, even friends."

Unzipped

Be able to grow, specifically within the design, scaling up your collection.

Most fashion brands have the ambition to grow. I am sure you are one of them. Therefore, my fashion consultant advise to you is do you have the infrastructure to grow? Do you have the development, design, production resources? If not you need to find it, before you engage in growing your current assortment.

I have seen brands start relationships with 3rd party platforms, launch, and see great successes. The downfall has been the brand’s ability to grow to the consumer’s needs that quickly. You need to be able, but mainly willing to grow to the consumer’s needs. This could simply be through the number of options shown, but ideally, through offering market-specific styles, meeting their consumer’s needs. You need to read each market bestsellers and invest in reinventing them. What works in your home territory doesn’t necessarily work in all markets.

If you find a new successful market globally, as a fashion consultant I would recommend that you focus the efforts of 1 of your designers on this market solely. Then you will deliver what the market needs along with the DNA of your brand.

Financially you need to support growth.

Very few fashion brands are reviewed by a 3rd party platform/store once and are onboarded as a partner. You may need to invest in meeting with a new partnership 2, 3 even 5 times before a deal is done.

Growth can be local and global. Dependent on your strategy, you will need to set money aside and invest in your growth strategy.

Speaking from experience; invest in an agent/consultant, who will directly connect you with the right buyer/business owner from the start. Always invest in the first 1-2 appointments being face to face. After that video will do. Invest in professionally shooting your collection. Invest in the right model. Focus a resource on this new market/partnership, ensuring you are delivering the right product, in the right market by completing these tasks: in-depth competitor research, pricing strategy, logistic operation.

This will either require dedicated time and financial support. Invest in your brand’s growth, if you truly want it to happen.

Let's Unzip your growth together!