(First Post) Starting A Fitness Apparel Company: My Plan

[Dillon Carter]

Hey Everyone!

I was watching one of MJ's videos on Youtube on ideas and why you need to have so much action. In light of finding this forum and about to begin reading MJ's book, I wanted to do my first post here and become public about this new venture of mine.

Background:

Right now I am studying to become a certified personal trainer. In order to stay around this same industry I have written out an entrepreneurial "path" for me to take over the next 5 years. Each action broken down into phases.

This post however, is all about my partner and I's fitness apparel company. We are starting small with some comedic and serious "Lifting" tank tops. We have both been working out for a while and see an opportunity to build an asset that we both would enjoy doing even just part-time (Although full-time is the goal).

Our Plan:

Our plan is simple; Take our ideas and turn them into tank tops for the lifting "bro". We just purchased a small screen printer as we want to do everything in house and control the entire operation from start to finish, ensuring awesome customer service and quality.

We want to market these locally for a bit to grow the brand by sponsoring lifting competitions at local Universities and High Schools. Once the shirts are ready, I will build out the site through Shopify.com and have us up and running for the world.

Things We Need:

- First Design Screen: This should be taken care of within the next week or so. Just finding the right person to take our designs and make the frames for us.
- Validation: I have been a huge fan of validating ideas before hand but I believe in this idea and am confident we can turn this into a great valuable asset.
- Website: Although not at the top of our current list, the website still needs to be created for us to take orders easily online.

Your Feedback?

I would love any feedback on this plan or any advice from someone who has started a similar business. Our goals are simple and we are completely committed to making this work no matter the problems that surface.

Thank you for your time in reading this, it means a lot!

 

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[jakejarmel]

Good luck

BTW, what's your misc screen name

 

[TJPB]

Welcome. Have you read TMF ? Read the book if you haven't.

Validation....good. Starting small....good. There are other schools of thought though on "5 year plans", partners, and training for a slow lane job.

Regardless....good focus and direction.

 

[Gale4rc]

You should probably wait on purchases like screen printers until you already are generating revenue and know that you can make this happen. It will help minimize losses.

Short term, hurts your profits a little - Also saves you a lot of $ if you fail.

The retail industry is a hard one to crack but, you can definitely do it.

 

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[TheChosenOne]

I've been working out at the gym for about 3 years and love to wear comedy tanks. It would be nice to have better quality/fabric tanks that are less expensive.

 

[Dillon Carter]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

I am ordering the book today so I should have it read within a short period of time.

We are not looking at a retail perspective for this but a social one. Growing a brand through social activity is really awesome and I believe we would do well from simply having an online shop for people to purchase from. We would love to have our shirts in gyms and other stores but for now we are treating this as an internet startup.

There are so many people to partner with through popular fitness Youtube channels (Each video getting 2m+ views), Instagram profiles with large followings and other related sites to partner with. I know I sound like the typically 22 year old born and raised within a social society but I think we have a real shot at making this work with what we have!

As far as not spending to much on a press: The press we currently have is a professional hobby kit that costs $300 with everything we need except shirts and our designed frame. So far, that is our only startup costs as of now.

I seriously cannot wait to read this book and add more knowledge to my perception of entrepreneurship and building wealth through valuable assets.

 

[Gale4rc]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

I am ordering the book today so I should have it read within a short period of time.

We are not looking at a retail perspective for this but a social one. Growing a brand through social activity is really awesome and I believe we would do well from simply having an online shop for people to purchase from. We would love to have our shirts in gyms and other stores but for now we are treating this as an internet startup.

There are so many people to partner with through popular fitness Youtube channels (Each video getting 2m+ views), Instagram profiles with large followings and other related sites to partner with. I know I sound like the typically 22 year old born and raised within a social society but I think we have a real shot at making this work with what we have!

As far as not spending to much on a press: The press we currently have is a professional hobby kit that costs $300 with everything we need except shirts and our designed frame. So far, that is our only startup costs as of now.

I seriously cannot wait to read this book and add more knowledge to my perception of entrepreneurship and building wealth through valuable assets.

You have the right mindset - Glad to have you on the forums

 

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[parkerscott]

Alright its time to play devils advocate here and, you are probably already aware of some of the players. Doyoueven is the first one that comes to mind and, the guy who owns it is a scumbag but, hes doing almost as well as gym shark who has guys like Jeff Seid on their team who if you are familiar with is pretty popular and, I believe they sponsored zyzz as well at some point. Heres the deal with doyoueven though. I believe they have several facebook fan pages one of which is gym memes which gets tons of traffic and, they market the shirts through that page as well as their site. Plus they have a huge line of clothing. Then factor in the other people who have comedy lifting tanks as well. Its doable but, you have to do something that will really differentiate yourself and, then you have to worry about that scumbag from doyoueven ripping off your design which he has already done to another person. I think there are a few people on bb.com that are trying to do the same thing as well. Im not trying to discourage you but, im wanting to let you know there is competition that doesnt play fair. A tip I will give you though is social media is your friend. The people that buy these tanks are on social media constantly so try and build up big facebook pages and, like you said try and get in with the fitness youtubers.

 

[Gale4rc]

Alright its time to play devils advocate here and, you are probably already aware of some of the players. Doyoueven is the first one that comes to mind and, the guy who owns it is a scumbag but, hes doing almost as well as gym shark who has guys like Jeff Seid on their team who if you are familiar with is pretty popular and, I believe they sponsored zyzz as well at some point. Heres the deal with doyoueven though. I believe they have several facebook fan pages one of which is gym memes which gets tons of traffic and, they market the shirts through that page as well as their site. Plus they have a huge line of clothing. Then factor in the other people who have comedy lifting tanks as well. Its doable but, you have to do something that will really differentiate yourself and, then you have to worry about that scumbag from doyoueven ripping off your design which he has already done to another person. I think there are a few people on bb.com that are trying to do the same thing as well. Im not trying to discourage you but, im wanting to let you know there is competition that doesnt play fair. A tip I will give you though is social media is your friend. The people that buy these tanks are on social media constantly so try and build up big facebook pages and, like you said try and get in with the fitness youtubers.

I think when you're going into the apparel industry you just have to accept there will be competition and just ignore them.

 

[Dillon Carter]

Yea it is something we anticipate but luckily certain things can be trade marketed or we can even use a copy write. That would be us being crazy in love with the design though. If we notice it happening consistently, we have measures we can put into place to ensure it stops and the other party exists the playing field lol.

I know there are some really big players but we have designs and ideas we want to see come to life. If the limit to this operation is something small, so be it, still well worth the effort and enjoyment of making it happen. We have discussed the possibility of the company staying very small and perhaps automating parts of it if need be.

 

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[parkerscott]

I think when you're going into the apparel industry you just have to accept there will be competition and just ignore them.

Theres certain competition that you cant really ignore. Creating apparel is all about creating a brand. When you have your design in two places your brand is now being dissasociated. So take whatever protective measures you can, because I have seen the owner of Doyoueven do so. The kid even copyrighted a bunch of memes he didnt even come up with and threatened to sue people when they tried to use them.

 

[Dillon Carter]

###
Progress Update
###

So I have finally sourced the creation of our custom printing frame. I found someone to do it for a great price and with amazing reviews on Etsy.com. Should take around 10 days for the frame to get here. Once the frame is here we will begin getting our skills ready for production and printing of our tanks. If everything goes fine;

- we will begin handing out some free shirts to get the word out
- take as many pre-orders as possible without building a site and other social media accounts
- Get feedback and make any adjustments needed for the design of our first shirt.
- Pick our second design and do it all over again
- Once we have a few designs we will begin building the Shopify site to see online and begin playing with Social Media accounts to drive traffic and sales.

##
p.s. I really need to get more focused. All of this should have taken a week or so to complete but instead I lost focused and did not take action like I should have.

p.p.s. I finally ordered a copy of the Fast Lane book through Amazon and it is scheduled to be here on the 25th!

 

[TJPB]

Focus is key...but you are heading in the right direction man.

Take this weekend and read TMF ...the whole thing.

Have you sourced your shirts? What about them will be unique? Anything other than your artwork and taglines?

 

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[Dillon Carter]

Our shirts will be made in house by our own hands (We have some sources for the actual blank shirts). We want the "built in the garage" kind of company. Two guys who wanted something and made it happen. We are unique in our designs, in-house manufacturing and a story that we believe our customers can connect with and support. No big brand but two guys making their stamp on a large industry with what they have, starting from scratch.

 

[AubreyJ]

I think your idea is really good. The only thing I can add is that I think it is very important to find a way to stand out from the competition because this space is very competitive, and another thing that is important is to have quality fabric. I am female who works out a lot, and I am VERY picky about what I wear to the gym. I hate working out in clothes that feel heavy and dense, I love light, dri fit tank tops and tights, and I know a lot of people I work out with feel the same way. I think that your concept for the shirt designs are good, and if you where to offer these designs on quality clothing fabrics and materials it good do very well.

 

[Dillon Carter]

Dry fit is a bit out of our range for now. We want to stay within an affordable price range before coming out with the more expensive clothing. With that being said, we are testing various materials and going for something that is very breathable and light. We are using these tanks as our very own gym clothing so that must be comfortable to us as well as we will be only wearing our brand to help promote it. Our focus will be on quality material

 

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[AndrewNC]

I have a friend who designed something very similar to yours. He made it unique, got a patent on the design, and licensed it out to the big boys.... A year later, he made $500,000 in sales. I think I saw his stuff on the front page of bodybuilding.com for a while.

Following his story, his path to success is A LOT more than just the idea.

This is a whole different road than you are going, which is not a bad thing. It just shows that there is a market for this type of stuff.

 

[Gale4rc]

###
Progress Update
###

So I have finally sourced the creation of our custom printing frame. I found someone to do it for a great price and with amazing reviews on Etsy.com. Should take around 10 days for the frame to get here. Once the frame is here we will begin getting our skills ready for production and printing of our tanks. If everything goes fine;

- we will begin handing out some free shirts to get the word out
- take as many pre-orders as possible without building a site and other social media accounts
- Get feedback and make any adjustments needed for the design of our first shirt.
- Pick our second design and do it all over again
- Once we have a few designs we will begin building the Shopify site to see online and begin playing with Social Media accounts to drive traffic and sales.

##
p.s. I really need to get more focused. All of this should have taken a week or so to complete but instead I lost focused and did not take action like I should have.

p.p.s. I finally ordered a copy of the Fast Lane book through Amazon and it is scheduled to be here on the 25th!

I would put money on that you could talk to local gym owners and get them to give your product a chance..... You should start the talks before you even have the shirt, that way when you get the shirts you already have a game plan... It's also not going to be easy to get a hold of them so it might take a week even to get the call to the right person.

I would definitely start this now, start planning out what gyms you're going to hit and then a plan of attack. Also focus on small non coporatey gyms first.

 

[Dillon Carter]

Thanks for the different perception of how we could make this profitable! I would have never considered licensing our designs..... Will need to look into this.

We have talked about getting small distributors (Such as local gyms) to carry our shirts and see how it turns out.We need to figure out pricing with a good discount and margin for gyms to carry them.

 

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[RSN]

Very good idea IMO bro.
The only thing I would like to add, but you probably already know, is the in case you succeed it would be really easy for the copycats to just copy your idea and sell it for much less, witch could hurt you in the long run.
So to minimize this specific risk just focus a lot on branding and make sure your target public knows what your brand is and what it stands for. It's a known fact the people buy ideas rather than products, but I thing that when it comes to clothing it's even more so.

 

[TJPB]

Branding=Good

 

[Dillon Carter]

Every piece of out clothing will have our brand on it I am consistently beating into my partners head that we need to build a strong brand and not just some clothing company. Thanks for your input man, I couldn't agree more!

 

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[dabelge]

I have a buddy that started in his garage as well and I can tell you if he could do it over again he would start by contracting out the shirt production and focus on SALES and MARKETING. The shirts you're going to make in your garage with "starter" equipment are going to be crap compared to the good stuff. Plus you're going to spend a tremendous amount of time and money just trying to learn the manufacturing side. Of course I think this is something you're going to need to know but learn it once you have some traction.

 

[Dillon Carter]

You bring up a very good point. Eventually, with thoughts of scaling and growth, we would need to grow our production. That would mean more machines, which are not cheap and more people to hire.

What would you advise as far as finding some production for our shirts? I would really like to not go overseas right now because of large MOQs and shipping.... Or maybe this would be the most cost effective way?

My families trainer owns a piece of his family members shirt making company. Perhaps they would be willing to cut a deal.

 

[Gale4rc]

You bring up a very good point. Eventually, with thoughts of scaling and growth, we would need to grow our production. That would mean more machines, which are not cheap and more people to hire.

What would you advise as far as finding some production for our shirts? I would really like to not go overseas right now because of large MOQs and shipping.... Or maybe this would be the most cost effective way?

My families trainer owns a piece of his family members shirt making company. Perhaps they would be willing to cut a deal.

You can find a local person to do it for you no problem, start the google search and start making calls

 

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[TJPB]

Any update Dillon?

 

[Dillon Carter]

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted here in a bit, I have been studying my a$$ off for my personal trainer cert.

So we got our first design in, began printing and it was awesome! The quality of the print is perfect.

Yet, we ran into a little problem: When we washed and dried the first batch, well.... It faded just a bit which makes us worry. We want high quality and long lasting clothing. So we are back at the drawing board to fix this little problem!

We have been running a "growth hack" with social media, mainly instagram, so we can launch to a huge audience and test different design ideas we have before producing them. We uploaded our first design and people liked, commented and tagged their friends telling them how much they needed our tanks. So far so good on the home front

I will try and be more active with updates on this thread in the future! I completely forgot about it but I won't leave you guys hanging.

 

[Funky]

Hey Dillon,

I'm watching your thread for a while now. What's the news on your business? I was also wondering why you don't just buy a heat press and outsource the designs to a screen printer near by? That would be so much faster and better in terms of product quality (there is no trial and error really). It's also less expensive. The screen printer can send the printed stuff to you home. I think producing the shirts is the least of your problems. BRANDING is everything here, mate.

Which direction are you trying to go with your brand? Funshirts like Doyoueven or hardcore like GASP/ Ironville?

Hope you make it man! Good luck.

 

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[Dillon Carter]

@Funky - This is all new to us so we just learned about a heat press not too long ago. We are chatting with a local company with no minimum orders that can produce high quality shirts for us. My partner is still on the fence about outsourcing the production so I am having to battle with that for now. We are running on very limited funds, hopefully with more to come. We are already building a following through specific social media accounts that are branded which will help with our launch. Our designs are mostly funny but we have ideas for semi-serious tanks/shirts. Our target group is college students, into Youtube channels like BroScience and what not. We want to also be the cheaper shirts (shirts at $14.95).

This is taking a bit longer than I had anticipated but all is well. My main focus right now is completing my personal trainer certification (Exam on the 16th...). Once I have passed my exam, begun training with clients, I will have more capital to work with for investing in the company and enough time to spend on getting the production and site off the ground.

We still have much to do and I feel as though I am making excuses for myself. My main priority is finishing my certification and then on to building a new fitness apparel empire (I also need to finish the dam book!)

More details will come once I am able to dedicate my time and energy on this project. Thank you for asking questions, following this thread and holding me a bit accountable on the whole thing. I really need that!

 

[Envision]

What are the steps you're going through to register/ copyright your company name/designs/images. Are you gonna wait for sales before formally creating your company?