# [CLOTHING LINE] What do to get people to notice your clothing line??



## oakiiedoe

To start off I would say the best way is the ol' word of mouth,because what i've relieze is that word travel fast and most likely if you tell 1 thats like tellin ten heads: not to mention it's aways good to have your friends spread the word for you.


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## theCount

hmmm that´s a BIG question! 

It mostly depends on what your clothing line is "about" and before you can start getting answers you will need to ask yourself the right questions...

Lets start with: who is your target group? ...and don´t say everyone =)

Once you have answered that question you will need to ask yourself: where can I "*reach out*" to them, and how can I *impress* them?

Once you have those questions nailed down you will need to start thinking about *HOW* you can communicate with your audience: obvious place to start is word of mouth, closely followed by the Internet (blogs etc) after that you can consider stickers, sponsoring and public relations once you start in with the marketing you will quickly realize that designing a good range is only a fraction of the work needed to launch a successful line...

if you have any specific questions don´t hesitate to give me a direct message

good luck!


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## Fractured01

To get noticed I went to where I my target market normally gathers, Concerts, Bars, MMA fights, and random sporting events. All I did was get a few of my friends who where going with to wear my stuff around town with me. My shirt had the words "Ask about my shirt" written in duct tape on the back, my friends where normal. I would get on average 10 - 20 people asking me about my shirt. I did the same thing walking through conventions and trade shows. 

I also promote at local colleges and have my friends little brothers and sisters wear my stuff to school.


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## aarondkeogh

The 4 P's are key to this question.

Product. Price. Place. Promotion.

If you can do all of these and execute it well then you are 99% better off than most t-shirt brands that start out. If you start a t-shirt brand with just a few cool designs that you think people will like you will fail. I'm not saying that you won't sell any shirts but you will be wasting a lot of time in just selling your shirts here and their.

The most important thing you want to do is identify who your market is.

Sit down and think who will wear your shirts. Make a list like this.

Male
stylish
likes rock music
likes to surf
artistic 
likes quality
rebellious and etc.

This way, once you have made a list of characteristics about your market you can put all of your time and effort into finding where these people gather.

*Product*. What type of product are you intending on selling and how are you going to make it different and appealing to the customer? Are you going to offer a superior quality product or offer something totally new and unique?

Setting *price* is a key point too, price your garments too high and no one will buy them. Price them too low and people will think that the quality is poor. So setting your price right is key.

*Place*. The place you sell your product is vital to it's long term success too. If you are trying to create a brand, people only buy into a brand because they can relate to it. So you need to place your products in a place where people are their to buy that type of product.

*Promotion*, is the driving force behind someone making the decision to buy what your offering. A common promotion in t-shirts is giving them away to bands to wear. This is great for some things but not for others.
It's all a matter of getting all 4 things right and if you can get them all right then your 1 step further than most other t-shirt brands.


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## Fractured01

Yes Aaron I agree with that. In regards to who will wear your shirts, Not only do you want to know specifics like: 

Male
stylish
likes rock music
likes to surf
artistic 
likes quality
rebellious and etc.

But you want to go indepth and learn about the demographics and psychographics of your clients. What rock radio stations do they listen to, Favorite bands.

You also want to look at your competitors, what are they doing for marketing that I should emulate?


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## ElevenOTwelve

it takes time. lots of time


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## LushLoveTshirts

get a naked person well partially naked and hand out some flyers? lol =D


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## theCount

LushLoveTshirts said:


> get a naked person well partially naked and hand out some flyers? lol =D


...I presume by partially naked you mean wearing only a t-shirt *g*


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## EJR

Good info here.


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## trytobecool

haha, that can be good way to boost teenagers 




theCount said:


> ...I presume by partially naked you mean wearing only a t-shirt *g*


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## jkruse

Instead of spending money on advertising we are spending the money on our product. Printed poly mailers, printed boxes, really nice business cards, stickers, and trying to put together a CD of the bands we sponsor to give out with every order.

Yeah all of this costs money but it's all about the word of mouth. If you do things that are amazing people will talk about you.


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## trytobecool

Idea is really good but you need to reach those "good" people. can't only with help of friends unless you have thousands of them.



jkruse said:


> Instead of spending money on advertising we are spending the money on our product. Printed poly mailers, printed boxes, really nice business cards, stickers, and trying to put together a CD of the bands we sponsor to give out with every order.
> 
> Yeah all of this costs money but it's all about the word of mouth. If you do things that are amazing people will talk about you.


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## ColorSkeemz

As mentioned before, word of mouth is #1. My particular niche has been "art lovers" from all walks of life, mainly the urban, hip-hop genre. Because i have a background in graffiti it has been somewhat easy to reach out. 

I've been hand painting shirts for more than a decade now & have networked with industry insiders in my niche. Over the years my art form has taken me to places & events I couldn't dream possible like Giant Stadium, painting live in front of 10's of thousands of people, painting along side rappers like Fat Joe while he performs on stages. 

I must say getting celeb endorsements is no easy task with no connects. It took me years to get "in". Most stars are so used to getting free stuff that they are not impressed easily or if they are, in most cases you'll never know.

Now that I'm switching gears & getting ready to go into DTG, we'll see if my digital designs are going to be accepted as well as my hand painted are.


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## DANYEYI

i would recommend distributing flyers locally and even ask for a spot in your local newspaper to begin with.


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## goodtease

well I recently got a break and got my stuff on Vh1. This was purely by networking and by chance. But once your in.....it just seems to keep going. Other ways is to get on myspace, facebook, twitter and every other social network.

By far getting on TV was the best thing that has happened to me. Since then sales increased.....to the point I am trying to see when I can sleep.

So I would say networking is key  Takes lots of time but it is worth it in the long run!


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## jkruse

Do things that will make people talk. Great design and amazing prints are just the start. Custom packaging and goodies a long with the order will go a long way. If your selling at a show spend your money on an amazing display.


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## sopka

From your group of friends pick someone who is really easy going, unless that's you  ... Someone who knows to say the right thing at the right time...you know one of those natural allaround people who for some reason have it fairly easy in life. 

make that guy wear one of your shirts. Go to a place frequented by your target group but not some kind of expo with 500+ people but a place where you can get pretty social with people, where you can talk to women and get their full attention. So you and your sidekick will talk about ANYTHING but the shirts. And when the moment is right do the best advertising of your stuff...just go all out because by this time you would have the basis for it. People will be interested in buying your shirt because now they know you in person.

good luck


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## ennwhywhy

hey there..poeple..how do i save this THREAD its got good information..on here...and i would like to review and look at it again...but im scared i will loose this page,,?? what do i do??


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## Girlzndollz

ennwhywhy said:


> hey there..poeple..how do i save this THREAD its got good information..on here...and i would like to review and look at it again...but im scared i will loose this page,,?? what do i do??



Go to the top post (#16, jkruse) and see the blue bar? Click the section that says "Thread tools", then click the option that says "Add Thread to Favorites". It has a yellow star next to it. It will then be saved in your favorite threads in your control panel. 

To save just a post, click on the yellow star that is in the top right corner of every post. That will save Just the Post from the thread. You may retitle it at the time you save it, to make it easier to remember "why" you saved it. 


Hope that helps.


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## jkruse

trytobecool said:


> Idea is really good but you need to reach those "good" people. can't only with help of friends unless you have thousands of them.


Most posts here say word of mouth and that is exactly what making the best product, and going all out on everything does.

In an age of the internet word spreads quick you can spend money trying to generate this traffic or you can have others generate it for you. I've been on thrillist and the awesomer because I have an awesome product.


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## blvdhustlr

New to this but my thoughts are as follows, IM targeting streetwear peeps with a focus on skateboard, and snowboarding. 

Localy:
I think I may start with word of mouth around the town that i live in maybe throw some local skaters and boarders a couple items, support the local functions and as well as the riders. 

Web:
Google, Face Book and other ads. A dynamite site to show buyers and what not. Sales through my separate named store witch I will be working on getting some names that are already stong in the game to help push my stuff along. ( you see the stuff you know and then hey whats this its cool ill pick one of those up too) Uh lets see oh Twitter of course.

Oh if you have a famous friend tell him to put you on, Best way of getting anywhere period.


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## itsdawit

Hey GoodTease, 

This is so funny, I went on your site and thought it was a social community site and thought to myself, "I want this layout", then I clicked on men and thought, "another magento site". No harm done. If you dont mind, how many garments are you selling per month?


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## Random Obj

jkruse said:


> Most posts here say word of mouth and that is exactly what making the best product, and going all out on everything does.
> 
> In an age of the internet word spreads quick you can spend money trying to generate this traffic or you can have others generate it for you. I've been on thrillist and the awesomer because I have an awesome product.


Jon is right about word of mouth. If you put out awesome product good things will happen. People will talk! I have also been featured on many blogs just by putting out quality products.


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## muneca

hey, i like this. where were you when i was struggling w/my business plan & concepts? ha-ha! THANKS! I'm going to save this.


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## SystemVoid

jkruse said:


> Instead of spending money on advertising we are spending the money on our product. Printed poly mailers, printed boxes, really nice business cards, stickers, and trying to put together a CD of the bands we sponsor to give out with every order.
> 
> Yeah all of this costs money but it's all about the word of mouth. If you do things that are amazing people will talk about you.


Where are you getting your Printed Poly Mailers from? Are you guys buying them blank, and printing them yourselves? Or, having them custom printed in advance?


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## adoptivemom1

Having friends and I wear the t-shirts has been the best thing- I find that if I am generous about giving away baby onsies to preggo moms, they (or their families and friends) almost always come back to buy something or spread the word. My market is predominately moms and kids- and I always make sure the secretaries at my son's school have great, fun shirts. They are always wearing them and passing along my name when people ask. A teacher rule- You always be nice to the secretaries and the janitors. When you need something, they are the ones you go to.


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## adoptivemom1

We also just published our website, www.shirtabulous.com, and we made sure that we have a twitter and facebook page, along with our blog, Shirtabulous...Creative Inspirations for Positive People. We try to post every day and have interesting things like quizzes and contests. Just been up three days or so, but we seem to get some people at least looking so far. Any other suggestions about marketing your website so that search engines will find you?


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