Top 10 Mistakes Beginners Make When Starting an Activewear Brand in 2022!
Running an activewear business involves more than what meets the eye. This article will provide tips, tricks, and actionable steps toward starting your own activewear brand.
There is something for you here. Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking to start your own brand or just someone interested in fitness fashion.
What are the 10 main mistakes beginners often fall into when starting activewear? Most beginners make mistakes in the tech pack, budget, samples, expenses, and company name. More mistakes occur in the physical product, marketing plan, website, packaging, and inspiration.
Interested in learning how to avoid beginner mistakes? We have a few ideas that we look forward to sharing with anyone looking to start their own sportswear brand. Keep reading!
1. The Tech Pack
New business owners who don’t have a tech pack lack some important information. They may not have adequate tech info and ideas of what their product should look like.
A tech pack is an essential document in the design process. It gives designers and the production team detailed information about the product.
A new member of the production team may not be aware of what material should fit in. But, the member manages to keep up with the help of a tech pack.
Beginners and even experts may assume the importance of a tech pack. This leads to communication breakdown and numerous mistakes.
It may take less time to create samples without a tech pack. It is also very unprofessional for any beginner aspiring to run an ODM/OEM apparel company.
You will end up spending a lot of time, energy, and money correcting the design mistakes on your garments.
Come up with a complete tech pack at the beginning of the production process. Do it yourself or get professional assistance. Get rid of headaches, and see first-hand what you’re about to create.
2. The Budget
Sometimes, starting too small can be an issue if you have no idea of your financial requirements.
Not knowing the price range of a certain product because you haven’t done the research ahead of time could mess you up.
What are the accompanying expenses associated with it a particular product? What are the possible hidden costs?
You need to ask yourself several questions. Does my budget allow me to transform my idea into a physical product?
It’s very easy to get lost or stuck in your project If you have no idea of the expenses associated.
No one’s saying that you have to go ahead and invest tens of thousands of dollars starting. But, have an idea of the budget estimate.
Remember, it’s very important to know what your expenses are and, can you afford those expenses?
You don’t want to spend 50 percent of what your project costs and find out that you’re out of money. That’s the worst possible way to go about it.
3. The Samples
You may get stuck doing too many samples. It’s exciting to create your prototype samples and to have a design turn into a physical product.
Creating great samples that you can share with your friends with your potential customers is the goal. But, getting caught up in making too many samples can be a potential pitfall.
Avoid oversampling. This is a rule that will save time for the designer or the ODM/OEM manufacturer.
Bokamoda offers the best suggestions and advice to you before making the samples or before even starting.
We see customers requiring all the different colors that they have in their tech pack. Believe it or not, factories are going to charge for this sample.
Most companies consider samples as a service it’s not free. This is especially when you’re starting small and the business potential is not huge.
Some manufacturers will charge for their time to develop the samples. Getting caught up in creating too many samples will be a financial drain on your time and your bank account.
Samples will cost more than actual products. This is because there’s higher labor that cannot be amortized over the many different products you would create in a bulk order.
Your samples will cost more. Also, if you’re starting, small chances are those samples would not be refunded.
The factory has to incorporate certain setup time and expertise into creating samples.
The factory needs 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 in making too many different samples.
4. The Expenses
There are unforeseen expenses not doing your research ahead of time. You need to figure out what it is that you will pay for and understand your financial obligations.
Outline where the obligations lie in the project. For example, a lot of people assume that the cost of creating a product could be just the unit price. That’s a very common beginner assumption and a horrible one.
There’s a lot more associated with expenses. There may be hidden costs such as die costs and molding costs for logos.
The different types of logos such as rubber logos, high-quality, logos screen printed could be more expensive.
Understand what your hidden costs are going to be, and those costs also include air freight. For delivery, what kind of delivery method are you taking?
You may incur loading costs for boat and sea freight shipping. These are different costs that can rack up over time. Doing your due diligence and figuring out what those costs are is necessary.
5. The Company Name (Trademark)
Many upcoming companies have no idea of whether or not their company name is trademarked.
You need to ask yourself several questioning as a new company. Are you able to trademark your logo? Is it already copyrighted? Is there something similar that’s copyrighted?
You may invest a lot of time, money, and effort only to find out 5 6 12 months 24 months down the line that a specific trademark is taken.
You face the risk of being pursued by legal action by another company. The only option you have is to change your brand image and structure.
You should be ready to face the worst; losing your community, trademark, or brand foundation that you have created over the last 24 months.
It’s very important to do a quick trademark search. This will help you avoid unnecessary legal consequences from a trademark or a copyright perspective.
You can check your name here https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search(CHECK YOUR COMPANY NAME BEFORE EVEN START DO YOUR BUSINESS)
6. The Physical Product
Expecting the physical product that one creates will be identical to the digital designs may disappoint you.
Just because you can conceive it in your head does not necessarily mean that this will translate into a physical product.
The complex digital designs have many different fabrics and trim colors details associated with them. The budget is far too small to be able to execute those designs.
You have to bear in mind that every single piece of fabric or trim that is on a garment may come from different factories.
Those factories may require their services to be paid for, so the more complex the garment, the higher your cost.
Sometimes things are just impossible. You have pockets that are too small, trims that are too expensive, and details that just don’t physically work on that construction of the garment.
Expecting your garment to be exactly as the digital design may in some cases prove impossible.
Approach the physical product aspect with an open mind. Be flexible in the way that you’re communicating with your supplier.
At the end of the day, you need to produce a product that will fetch you profits, not losses.
Avoid being over ambitious on the product by spending all your time and money matching the digital designs with the physical product.
7. The Marketing Plan
A lot of clients or brands don’t have a marketing plan. Having a solid market plan helps you strategize how you will sell your products.
Clients who have no marketing plan go through the trouble of creating a product. Having it delivered to their warehouse or location in good time is another cause of headache.
But, after having the final product at hand, they have no idea how they’re going to market that product.
Whether it’s through influencer marketing, paid ads, SEO, or creating organic content.
They have no marketing plan and no executable idea of how they’re going to get the word out there.
Bear in mind that, just because you have a product doesn’t mean anyone will buy it. The first step to getting someone to buy your product is to get them to know about it.
Exposure is everything, and putting out a great product is going to be your key focus. But, having people know about it is going to be your secondary focus.
Create a marketing plan, understand what your channels are, and dive into it. Understand that without marketing, you won’t be able to sell your product.
Having reliable clients due to effective marketing will fuel you into creating more amazing products. Activewear is wide and has a big market, you would want to make the best of it.
8. The Website
Your website is your home that represents your brand. It fuels the growth of your business in a very significant way. That’s where your customers are going to find you and buy your products.
Create a professional and sophisticated website that represents the product you’re selling.
Just because you have a good product doesn’t mean that your website can lack your branding and Identity.
Match the level of detail and quality that you’re putting in your product with your website. The impression your customers get from their experience with your website is equally important as the impression that they get from your products.
Make your customers’ experience with your website great. Have a decent and easy-to-use website containing your brand name and logo. Your website matters.
9. The Packaging
Beginners may forget to order custom packaging for their products. They manufacture their products only to realize that they don’t have any care labels.
You may need a country of origin label that some countries require according to their laws. You may have to indicate the sizing or fabric information.
You may need to use hang tags to brand your items on poly mailers when shipping out your 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.
It is unprofessional to use those stock white pieces of polymer bags. Not after you’ve already gone through the trouble of creating a customized product from the ground up.
Bokamoda offers custom packaging for our clients. Our team will help you create packaging that matches your brand.
We’ve done a video on the packaging. There are a lot of good ideas in there and a lot of awesome ways to get started in the packaging space.
Check our packaging video here > WHERE CAN I FIND THE RIGHT YOGA CLOTHING FACTORY?
10. Inspiration
It’s good to have a visual representation of what you may want from other brands. But, don’t copy what they are doing. Bear in mind you’re putting out something unique into the world.
Come up with a fresh brand image. The tagline and brand messaging should be something that hasn’t been done before.
The story behind your brand should be personal. Be authentic and make your story relatable. People love something that can relate to.
Why should someone buy from your brand when they can get the same product from a billion other brands?
Trying to do something different and offer something unique is the beauty of it all. That’s the power of creating customized apparel.
The apparel industry already exists. What new thing are you introducing? What’s 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. Try not to copy too much. Create something truly unique.
Final Thoughts
We have clearly outlined the 10 main mistakes that we see beginners make, even some intermediate people who have been in the business for a while.
We hope you guys can learn something from that. If we 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 we can learn as well. We really appreciate you. Stay unique and stay awesome.
