Our Brands Group

HOW TO START A SPORTSWEAR BRAND — updated 2021

Do you want to start a sportswear brand?

Do you have some great design ideas or a cool new apparel concept?

Can’t you find specific styles you are looking for?

Now is a great time to start your sportswear brand, but where do you start?

How do you go about to make it all happen?

If you want to set up your own clothing brand, then this article is for you. We’ll give you an overview of the steps involved in starting your own business, information you have to take action on and sources to help make your dream brand a reality.

Starting Up

Step 1. Idea & Customer Need.

It all starts with an idea. Maybe you can’t find the clothes you are looking for, or you have a strong design opinion that you want to show the world. You are better off if you can connect your idea to a customer need. If you strongly believe in your idea, you should go ahead and make it happen. The most important, is to know who your customer is. Get clarity and guidance in how to find your target customer and brand niche.

Step 2. Market Scan.

You have a great idea for sure. The question is: is it unique? Perform a thorough market scan. Search the web, visit shops, read relevant magazines and talk to potential customers. You want your brand to stand out in the competition and find your target niche. If another brand already has your brand idea or product concept, you will always be number two.

To help you find that special spot on the market that only you can fill, check out the FIND YOUR BRAND NICHE AND UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION Workshop.

Step 3. Business Plan.

It can be great to have a business plan if you want to bring other people on board, e.g. investors or partners. But primarily, the business plan is for you. It forces you to ask yourself those tough questions and look at your business venture from different angles. The business plan is a living document that will change and evolve over time. A strong brand and business adapts with time, and the forever changing apparel industry.

Writing a business plan is fun. You don’t have to write hundreds of pages and if you don’t know what to do, how to start and what to include, check out this How To Write A Business Plan Workshop, including apparel industry templates and 1,5 hour video class to get you going right away.

Step 4. Branding.

Put a lot of time and thought into your brand identity. There are many brands out there so you need to make yours stands out. Create brand awareness and loyalty that connects your customers to your label. It is important that your brand ties together with your actual products.

If you haven’t come up with a brand name yet and need some extra help, this is something we teach in the HOW TO START A PROFITABLE CLOTHING BRAND course. For hands on workshops to make sure you find your brand DNA and unique selling points, contact KrissCo — the world leading apparel design and product development agency.

Step 5. Money.

Nothing is free. Nor to create a sportswear brand. In your business plan you’ve made an initial budget and you have an estimate of how much it will cost you to set it up. How will you finance it? Can family or friends help you? There are special start-up loans as well as investors to turn to. Going to an investor early on means giving away a certain % of your company, but the upside is that you can launch your brand and enter the market much faster and stronger.

Having a solid business model and a detailed business plan in place is crucial for finding suitable investors. Taking the time to dive deep in this phase is going to make your life easier, save you time and money, plus raise your chances to find your investment — KrissCo facilitates such workshops for teams and solopreneurs.

Step 6. Entrepreneurship.

Running your own business isn’t a 9 to 5 job. It’s not the hours you spend in the office that matters. What matters is what you produce. You are your own boss and you need to make it all happen. You will live and breathe your brand, working 24/7. All people have great ideas. The differentiator is that the entrepreneur makes them happen. It will require you to put in the work and follow through on your dream. Are you cut out for this or not? Is it really what you want?

To help you figure this out in a structured manner, answer the questions in: 23 Questions — Get Ready To Launch Your Brand

Step 7. Team.

As mentioned in step 6, setting up your brand will require a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Can you do it all by yourself? Even if you can, is that the most efficient way to do it? Make sure to liaise yourself with talented and driven people that can help you out where you fall short. If you are a designer find a good business partner, and if you are a business person find a good designer. No one can do it all and you shouldn’t either.

Read: WHO DO YOU NEED ON YOUR TEAM? to help you figure out what you can do by yourself and what other roles you need to fill, to succeed with your clothing brand.

Product Development

Step 8. Define The Collection.

Leaving the foundation phase behind you, it’s now time to start the product development, the process of making your garments. The first step here is to define your collection. Focus on your brand identity, your vision, and the products you wish to create. Make sure your collection is clear and has cohesion.

In this phase, making a mood board helps clarify your vision. It helps put it into pictures, words, colors, and simply get it in front of you and out of your head. This phase is a lot of fun, you can almost start to see how your brand is going to be. Remember that what you put on your moodboard later needs to be distilled down into products that are on brand. They also need to fit your target customer and have unique selling points to stand out in the market place. Don’t know how to do this? Get some help here.

Step 9. Design.

You have structured and defined your collection and the designer can start sketching. Get back to the inspiration and the brand image, and the customer you want to have. The styles should fit in with the vision and identity of your brand. To help visualize your ideas, sketches are created where you can see rough ideas of your products. Second step is to have tech packs created (the blueprint of each product) so the factory can clearly understand what you want to create. In this phase you are also thinking about details, materials, fit, and solutions.

It’s a good idea to get help from an expert when it comes to getting the tech packs done. This is the foundation for your creations — a bad tech pack equals a bad prototype — a bad product — time wasted — money wasted….

Sportswear design takes a lot of experience and knowledge due to the nature of sportswear — technical materials, manufacturing, and solutions. This award-winning agency will help you with the design and product development.

Step 10. Sourcing.

Sourcing means finding factories, materials, and accessories. Materials is a science by itself. If you know your price points, performance requirement, and quality level, it will help you narrow down your search for the right materials. Accessories can be cords, zippers, pullers etc that you want to include in your garments. Then you need to find a factory that suits your needs, can produce your styles according to your price points and quality, plus believe in your concept.

Today, it’s important to incorporate sustainable materials and ethical manufacturing in everything you do with your brand. Customers of today are very environmentally conscious and make sustainable choices when shopping for sportswear. Finding trusted suppliers and manufcaturers is key in a successful business. We have an extensive database of sustainable material suppliers and reliable, vetted manufacturers that can provide you with high quality solutions.

Another great source is the AE Membership Platform with a database of over 500+ manufacturers and 200+ suppliers globally, plus resources, calculators, tools and much much more to help you run and scale a profitable brand.

Step 11. Pricing.

When you worked on your business plan, you had a first look at the costs and the prices for your styles and production. Now when the collection is defined, you‘ve sourced materials, found factories, gotten a rough idea of your costs, you need to check your product pricing again. Does it add up? Will it be profitable? Will you have the margin you need? Review all the posts in your budget and see how you can recalibrate it. In the end you want to live and work, doing what you love. You don’t want it to be an expensive hobby that you poor money into. Plan for profit from the start!

Use the product and collection calculators inside the monthly AE Membership Platform to help you nail your prices, make predictions and plan. For in-depth business strategy sessions — let’s work together.

Step 12. Pattern & Prototype.

This is a very crucial part. Even though you have great designs on paper, you need to transform them into garments that look and feel the way you want. Based on the tech packs, a pattern maker or the pattern department in your factory will create patterns for your products. This is done mostly digitally or by hand on paper. The pattern is made in your wanted sample size and will later be graded to fit several sizes. With the pattern, the factory will start making your prototypes. In between every prototype you will measure, fit, and adjust the pattern to improve your garment. Typically you will need 2–3 prototypes per style before you have a sample ready to show/sell.

As you can see this is the most important part — where the designs are made into actual physical products, that you can test, till you reach your intended creation. KrissCo will use it’s 20+ years of design and product development experience to help you create outstanding products.

Step 13. Production.

Once you have arrived at your final prototype (sales man sample), you can start planning the bulk production. Discuss this with your factory as early as possible. They need to plan in your production in their schedule. They of course need to know how big your production will be, the number or styles and sizes per style. We suggest you write an agreement with the manufacturer stating delivery times and quality requirements.

A Terms of Agreement contract will help a great deal when it comes to manufacturers keeping deliveries, producing what is expected to the quality that you have agreed on etc. Basically, a factory can’t fool you with a contract in place. We’ve got a Terms of Agreement Template as downloadable inside the monthly AE Membership Platform.

Step 14. Shipping.

You have the bulk production ready and need to get your fantastic garments to your customers. Depending on your sales strategy you can have one or more customers. There can be online shops, end-users, wholesalers, agents, distributors and marketplaces. Take a look at your logistics, negotiate with transportation partners, and plan how you will repackage the goods to suit your designated customer.

Marketing & Sales

Step 15. Marketing.

Let the world know your brand’s story. Marketing is your products, your meetings, your communication, and everything you do in you business. Be honest in everything you do, let the customers understand why you do it, and what your brand is about. You want to get your message out, not just talk about your products. Tell the world what differentiates your collection pieces from the competitors.

Step 16. Sales.

It doesn’t matter if you have the best products in the world with the best story, if no-one buys them. In the end it all comes down to sales. You want your garments to sell, so you can reinvest and develop your collection and keep doing what you love.

People make big parts of their purchases online, so starting your own webshop from the start should be obvious. Shopify is a fatastic choice for a headache free webshop and site. If you want to sell your products at retailers, and go the wholesale route, the traditional way is to show at trade fairs or to take your collection in garment bags and visit the shops. This way you end up having multiple mini presentations and demonstrations of your awesome collection. Remember, not all buyers are open to new things, so don’t get discouraged when it gets tough. Believe in your brand and keep going.

If wholesale is one of your sales strategies, make sure you read this: 14 WAYS TO SECURE MORE WHOLESALE ORDERS FOR YOUR APPAREL BRAND

Step 17. Order.

The manufacturer usually has minimum quantity requirements for producing your garment. This should at least be your selling target. Sell, sell, sell, and collect your orders to meet those minimums. At the same time, keep track of your minimum requirements for materials. How much fabrics are on each roll that you buy? You don’t want to buy too much fabric that in the end turns into left over. A good recommendation is to only produce the garments you have orders for. Don’t stock up, unless you have an online business, and therefor need your own stock.

Step 18. Customer Service.

Take care of your customers. You make your garments so that your customers can have them for their intended need. Don’t disappoint them, put yourself in their shoes and just see how you can help them. How will you handle complaints, returns, delays? Talk to your customers, put your ego aside, and use the information to make even better products in the future.

This 18 step overview gives you an idea of what is involved in starting up your own sportswear brand. Visit and get tools, resources, courses and guidance for a DIY approach of starting a profitable apparel business. If you need help with business strategy, design/product development and sustainability implementation visit KrissCo — the internationally renowned apparel business & design consulting firm. We’ll help make your idea into successful products, create tech packs, source materials and manufacturers or deliver a turn-key solution, a one-stop shop where you bring the idea, and we make it happen. If you have any questions, please drop me a line at

Full Service Fashion Design, Production, & Ecommerce

Transcript (auto-generated)

What's up design family and welcome to another video on this episode we'll be looking at the FittDesign beginner's guide on how to start your own sports wear or lifestyle brand. I'll be taking you through step by step and running you through what is required to get your own brand up and running. I hope you guys are ready this is going to be an amazing video.

STEP 1

When starting your brand is you need your logo there are two components of a logo to consider number one is the word marks the actual word and number two is the emblem or this symbol it's very important not to skip over this step as your logo is your icon it's what people will recognize you by for many years to come so come out the gate swinging there are many ways to make a logo but the easiest way would be to use one of the many free logo makers that you can find online that allow you to make a basic logo with a great font and a nice icon. You can make a free logo using one of the many free logo makers out there or if you want it to make something a bit more advanced you can look at tools like procreate for iPad and Adobe Illustrator on any Mac or Windows machine and you'll be able to put together some form of symbol and word mark together some fonts to look at for this year that our trending are definitely sans-serif fonts bold sharp and wide I have a couple up on the screen with the actual names of the fonts that you guys can look at and that would be a great starting point. Or you can pay someone to make a professional logo for you.

STEP 2

Step two when starting your product line is your items your actual physical product what are you going to make the best way to go about this would be figure out what time of year you want to launch it obviously fashion is somewhat dependent on the time of year we wear for the environment that we're in so if you're gonna launch the winter it's very different than if you're going to launch in summer figure out when you're gonna launch and then roll with it from there once you know when you're gonna launch to figure out the different types of products you want to put out let's just say you want to launch in winter you're gonna have a nice pair of fleece joggers you're gonna have to zip up and you want to have a long seat crewneck all four men already you've laid out your three different items that you want to design from their inspiration creating your own visual mood board is a great place to start it's like an image search engine where you can go and search certain terms and just give you a ton of images and you be able to essentially build a mood board for every item that you have in mind based on reference images and inspiration images so it's as simple as this you go on Pinterest create a board for every single you know for each product you have for the hoodie for the joggers for the long seat and then pin by searching on Pinterest pin images that you like that relate to that product to that board and from there you'll build like a visual directory of all images that are related to that board and it's free and you don't need any tools all you need is laptop all you need is an iPad whatever it is and you're able to build a visual board once you have your ideas or designs you want to build a tech pack.

STEP 3

What is a tech pack? I'm not gonna get into too much detail because that's a entire other topic for an entire different video but a tech pack in short is a construction document that tells the factory how to make this customized apparel because that's what we're making we're making customized apparel not off-the-shelf stuff that you're just printing a logo on a great place to put together a tech pack is and you'll be able to essentially lay out the different boards required in the tech pack I'll run you guys through what a tech pack typically contains and that should serve as the basis for your tech packs you need to have some form of markup in there the material specification you need to have the colorway schedule the different colors that you're using some form of sizing chart a technical sheet with some idea of the technical details of the garment on a spec sheet that has all the different detailing as well off the garment the zippers what types of zippers what trims that are used all that information is very important and it should be included in your type pack you want to make sure that one you say detect back to the factory it's as accurate and as thorough as possible so that they don't make any mistakes that's why I pack is key

STEP4

Now that you have your tech back you want to find a supplier to make the garment according to your attack pack this is probably the scariest part for most and I can see why but it doesn't have to be there are a couple places to find reliable suppliers a great place to start despite what you may have heard is WWE Baba comm you can sort through the suppliers based on the rating their trustworthiness you can even check out some reviews obviously read the reviews you want to make sure that those reviews are not artificial and from there you're even able to request a sample sometimes they have stock samples of their products that they've already made that they can send to you or you want to get them to make this customized sample my opinion always get them to make customized samples why is that some suppliers may play sneakily and they may send you examples of the work that are not actually don't work so the benchmark of quality that you have in mind is very different and you only see what the real quality is like after you place your order so always get a sample of the goods to make sure that they can create what you're looking for there's also another website called wWOZ that has a ton of great information on there in terms of suppliers and their their locations it's just a matter of finding the right supplier for you at this stage since this is the beginner manual you want to go for a cut and sole supplier that can also supply you with the fabrics the any trims that you need and any packaging and label so you don't want you wouldn't be able to go out and get that yourself that is a whole other video in itself as well so stay tuned for the advanced manual where I'll run you through the intricacies of creating a supplier Network and essentially killing the supply chain but here we're just focusing on the cut and sew supplier that's who you want to work with they're minimums will range you'd be looking at somewhere between 100 and 500 in the lower end so minimum order quantity what is that I'm sure that that's a term that you've heard before and the minimum order quantity or the MOQ is what the factory will require of you in terms of purchasing in order to honor a specific given price or even in order to be able to accept an order and that number is based on this style style refers to a specific color of a specific design of a specific product so that's what style refers to once you've communicated with the factory request a quotation based on the 10-pack you've sent them and the MOQ that you're requesting approve the quotation make sure to get a quotation first before purchasing any samples that way you know that what prices are giving you is in the price range that you're willing and comfortable Payne once you receive the quotation asks for a fit sample most factories will charge for this and that's fine you'll want to pay them for it there is a certain amount of time and labor involved in creating a customized sample so you'll find that there's a balance of what you're paying for and what you're getting you want to ask for a fit sample so that you can receive this garment see your customized design and try it on a person and then from there you're able to make any changes that you need communicate those changes and from there you'll be able to place your order for the dog or once you have that order in the typical time will differ from factory to factory in our experience it's around two to three months and that involves obviously the fabric sourcing time because very mind the factory's sourcing your fabric in this case so they will be able to start cutting as soon as you place your order they'll have to place an order from their own supplier for whatever trims packaging and fabrics they have for your specific order so that's something to bear in mind once your order is finished there are a couple ways to get it delivered to where ever you are the main two would be shipping and air freight at a smaller scale where you don't have the luxury of time and the luxury of pre-planning you want to go with the air freight it's gonna cost more per unit but at the lower quantities you're really not gonna see as much cost-saving and you're gonna benefit from the faster times from there you want to know where you're gonna store it you're gonna store it at your apartment you have a small warehouse wherever it may be get it into there.

STEP 5

Now the next step is get a website up and running an e-commerce store. You want to look at getting a simple-to-use ecommerce store there's a ton of different platforms that are free to use and obviously you may pay for customized features or whatever maybe but websites like W Shopify calm Squarespace all offer great options or you can choose to work with a customized design agency that's able to give you something that is a hundred percent äôt so it obviously depends on what you're looking for at the time once you have your website up and running you'll want to register with some form of third-party label generation app because once your order comes in you'll want an easy way to print out a shipping label so that you're not having to fill those out by hand based on your customers order details and where their shipping address is there are a couple great options and I'll put a couple up on the screen right now so that you guys can try them out see what they have to offer

STEP 6

Is your shipping partner who are you going to be shipping with now that you have your product you have your website your going to make sales you want to get this amazing product to your customer so that they can try love it and order more and tell all their friends about it obviously there are a couple of great options depending on where you are the most global are DHL UPS TNT if you're in Europe FedEx USPS in the US they all vary depending on their location their efficiency their pricing but you'll want to meet with a corporate manager from there to discuss rates beforehand a pro tip is to always negotiate your race with these shipping managers they will always promise you that these are the best rates that you can and they can give you but it just takes a little bit of finessing and a look a little bit of back and forth and you're able to negotiate on this rate it's very important to not take the first rate that they give you as they be all end all.

So that's a wrap guys these are the six steps towards starting your own customized brand seems like a lot of work and in reality it is but believe me it is super worth it and you'll be so thankful that you actually did it until next time guys thank you so much for tuning in stay awesome and we'll see you in the next video.

Our Brands Group

Whether you’re commuting to work or wandering the globe, rest assured we’ve been there, and have used these moments to design our products with sustainability and style.

We inspire you to chase adventure, stay active in your own unique way, and always look good doing it. We strive to responsibly outfit those journeys with respect for the planet and its people. We commit to education and exploration in the name of progress, so we can all create positive change.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

We believe our work has meaning and is connected to a higher purpose. prAna’s unique company culture is a top priority and each of us is responsible for nurturing it as we grow. Our core values guide us in all we do.

WHY WORK AT prAna

When you come to work at prAna it isn’t just a job, it is a fulfilling lifestyle we hold dear and value deeply. Our culture is a unique blend of high performance and casual – and your talent and energy can create positive change and directly impact our success.

prAna is located in beautiful Carlsbad (San Diego), CA. We are close to the beach, the mountains or the desert so you can enjoy outdoor activities year-round. Oh, and we allow dogs at work which is pretty cool, too.

“Our culture here at prAna is collaborative, inclusive and rewarding. This company is unlike any others I’ve ever experienced working for and it is something I’ve really loved about prAna.“ – prAna Retail

“I love working for a company that is both environmentally and socially responsible in the way we do business. It is a responsibility that extends outside of the workplace that will have lasting impact long after I am gone from the face of the earth. It is worthwhile and meaningful to be a part of that.” – prAna HQ

“prAna truly cares about both my professional and personal growth while also promoting self-care. Upper management understands that a working environment which allows for lunch times spent being active and a focus on mindfulness and service (SEVA) enables employees to consistently produce their best work. The people that work here feel more like a big group of friends than simply co-workers and that makes roaming the halls feel much more welcoming than any other office.” – prAna HQ

“I am always learning, growing and challenging myself and I can confidently say I am a better person now than who I was when I first started in the company 4 years ago and I love that I can say that.” – prAna Retail

“The number one thing for me has been the amazing prioritization of work-life balance. The encouragement to always take your lunch break, and to leave on time, has been such a 180 from jobs I’ve had in the past, where if you left on time you were side eyed and seen as not working hard enough. prAna genuinely and holistically cares about their employees’ time and you can feel it in your day to day.” – prAna HQ

“I am inspired by prAna’s commitment, and its people-driven culture, where we are valued & empowered.” – prAna Retail