eBay Gym Apparel Idea

[Vigilante]

Apparel has huge barriers to entry (might be a good thing --- entry is one of MJ's commandments) but you really need to be cautious with apparel due to the high degree of regulations.

I imagine Australia is similar to the United States in that regard.

 

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[JAMES-L67]

Apparel has huge barriers to entry (might be a good thing --- entry is one of MJ's commandments) but you really need to be cautious with apparel due to the high degree of regulations.

I imagine Australia is similar to the United States in that regard.

True, especially when sourcing from China

 

[teabag]

Back to what I was saying about DYE's success - they created multiple social media pages as well before launching their clothing.

'Yeah, She Squats'
'Do You Even'
'She lifts'

and a few more pages. A couple of these have over 1 million likes.

All they do is share humour posts/pictures related to the gym lifestyle. None of their content is new, its just reposts.

Once they knew they had a large enough audience, they started selling clothing.

Also their clothing wasn't necessarily supposed to be the comfiest at the beginning. It was novelty shirts saying 'DO YOU EVEN' and 'SQUAT AND QATS'

and many more play on words. Just recently after having success, they've moved on to quality gym wear.

You have to figure out which angle you're going to approach this from before starting. Novelty cheap gym wear? Or a brand with quality fabrics and slick designs?

 

[JAMES-L67]

Back to what I was saying about DYE's success - they created multiple social media pages as well before launching their clothing.

'Yeah, She Squats'
'Do You Even'
'She lifts'

and a few more pages. A couple of these have over 1 million likes.

All they do is share humour posts/pictures related to the gym lifestyle. None of their content is new, its just reposts.

Once they knew they had a large enough audience, they started selling clothing.

Also their clothing wasn't necessarily supposed to be the comfiest at the beginning. It was novelty shirts saying 'DO YOU EVEN' and 'SQUAT AND QATS'

and many more play on words. Just recently after having success, they've moved on to quality gym wear.

You have to figure out which angle you're going to approach this from before starting. Novelty cheap gym wear? Or a brand with quality fabrics and slick designs?

My approach is a combination of the two, cheap gym wear with slick designs. This is because I feel that is wear there is a niche in the market. I know me personally (and most of my gym going friends) can't justify spending $35+ on one tank, but at the same time want a design that isn't boring or generic.

 

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[teabag]

My approach is a combination of the two, cheap gym wear with slick designs. This is because I feel that is wear there is a niche in the market. I know me personally (and most of my gym going friends) can't justify spending $35+ on one tank, but at the same time want a design that isn't boring or generic.

Bingo!

That's your market.

 

[Winning]

I would say focus on building the brand via social media, and get your name out there about your unique prints.

I think FB ads would be perfect because you can target people that like certain fitness/apparel pages.

Keep us updated!!

 

[TJPB]

Apparel has huge barriers to entry (might be a good thing --- entry is one of MJ's commandments) but you really need to be cautious with apparel due to the high degree of regulations.

I imagine Australia is similar to the United States in that regard.

Barriers, yes...there are many.
Regulations, not so much. Other than duties and a few labeling requirements, they aren't a big deal.

 

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[Vigilante]

Barriers, yes...there are many.
Regulations, not so much. Other than duties and a few labeling requirements, they aren't a big deal.

For the united states, regulations for importing textiles are crazy difficult. We actually bought a 400 page (?) importers manual on textiles, and decided it was way too big of a compliance pain in the a$$.

 

[TJPB]

For the united states, regulations for importing textiles are crazy difficult. We actually bought a 400 page (?) importers manual on textiles, and decided it was way too big of a compliance pain in the a$$.

Interesting. What type of fabric were you importing...something exotic? We've imported both triple fabric blends, and completed products composed of multiple fabrics (actually all of our products) from China without issue.

 

[Vigilante]

Basic stuff.

This is the book we bought.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1461153336/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

It is possible to fly under the radar for a while, but the complexity of compliance with import regulations required more control over the manufacturing process than we would ever have in our business model, where we do contract manufacturing and don't have a controlling interest in the manufacturing process.

Our business in that arena would focus on mass market retail, and as such they have huge bullseye targets on their backs. To get factories certified to meet US import regulations, and similar certification from global sourcing entities for the worlds largest retailers became way too complex of an undertaking for us to want to engage in.

On a smaller scale, you can fly under the radar for a while. My opinion was that once the business reached critical scale, to comply with US textile import regulations required way more energy and money than we had to give to the project.

We stay simple.

 

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[strobe]

Hi OP, how have you gone with this venture?

I have a friend who has spent over 30k on gym clothing and bags, spending alot of money on design and fabric quality from china. He spent his time and effort on the clothes and not on the marketing and hasn't sold much apart from to mostly friends and friends of friends. Now he is aiming at marketting and raising sales. It is a tough market and only one to pursue if you are truly passionate, do not do market research to your buddies.

By all means try getting 100 shipped from china to start out with and see how you go that won't cost you much but don't expect good margins, you would be lucky to make a few $$ selling for $20 after getting them made, printed, shipped, customs, ebay fees and driving down to the post office to send them.

As people have discussed, try getting them made locally first. My friend payed 3k for a shipment of gym singlets from china and they arrived 2 months later all fd up, he cant sell em! Ps there may be 4 main ebay retailers but there will be a strong presence of gym wear on facebook and instagram, people who have 100k plus followers who already have a big fan base. That is a good start if you gather a following on social media while you are waiting for the singlets, then bam, you already have a market to pitch to.