Finally Launched!

[businessbaybee]

Ugghhh, that sucks! Are you pretty active on it? Posting new designs often, or whatever you'd need to do in your case...

Ya I try and post two or three times a day. My likes went up again to like 150. So I really have no idea how instagram does it, seems really random, but I'm not complaining!

 

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[Xeon]

May i ask you..did you bought the tshirt mockup or found them on the web ?
As i'm waiting for the sample from my supplier (went to see him yesterday), i don't want to lose time and wanted to modify some mockup.psd but can't find a good one for free or even afordable..

Visit google.com, type in "free t-shirt mockups". Or if you've US$6 to spare, go to graphicriver.net and buy some packs there.

I was average like 150 a post and now my engagement went way down. Now I am at like 50 likes a post. But I did not change anything, so I don't know if thats one of those algorithm things.

First of all, your website is amazing! Most websites look crappy but yours look so sweet I just wanna put it in my mouth!
It looks promising for sure. You might also wanna check out izzyandliv.com for inspiration. She's also targeting people in niches and her branding looks neat.

Regarding the shipping fees critique which someone mentioned as a bit high, maybe you can consider free shipping for US customers if your profit margins are high enough to absorb it (build about US$2.77 - US$2.90 for USPS First class free shipping into the price).

I'm launching my own line next year, and will be watching this thread. There's another guy here (@ChapoJR) who also has a fashion thread which provides some good insight (though it's men's fashion).
You're good in that you're using print-on-demand to launch the site, so in terms of upfront costs, you are already safe (unlike me ).

As for Instagram, I've the same issue. I started it in Apr 2017, and had average 5 - 10 comments with 100 - 200 likes even though my followers' count was less than 1000. After that, some posts got 500 - 2500 Likes, but since Sep 2017, something happened, and although I've 4K followers now, there's less than 2 comments (usually 0 - 1) and Likes average less than 200 within 24 hours. I need to pay US$6 to promote the post for it to reach 2x the Likes. I'm looking into running giveaways with people in my niche to boost follower count.

One quick and dirty way to boost follower count fast is to visit competitors or people who like your niche, then view their followers, and manually follow 50 per day. Some will follow back, some won't. You'll end up at the 7500 Following Limit, but your followers will be around 3 - 4K.
Then you can either manual unfollow all, or just use a service for these, and repeat.

You can also convert your Instagram to a business account to view your statistics (it's free).

I was on your site for 10 mins, not sure if there's some bug with the sales popup ("Someone in XXXXXX just bought...."), but it popups that every 5 - 10 seconds. Assuming it's accurate, then:

8,640 pop-ups in a day (86,400 / 10 seconds interval) * US$15 profit per item sold = US$129,600 per day
US$129,600 * 30 days = US$3,888,000 per month

US$3,888,000 = "What color of pagani do you want? Will rainbow do?"

Just kidding, good luck!

PS: You're a girl but you've bigger balls than most of us, we don't dare to post our website here LOL

 

[sparechange]

Great execution, have you considered opening up a retail store inside a mall? I think it could be a good "risk" to take, you could be exposed to thousands of customers in an impulse buying state of mind instantly. Also if you expanded into activist shirts that could be a good strategy aswell, ( #stopbullying) #stopracism etc etc. something that you could create a large "movement" with. When you are building a brand you want people to FEEL like they are part of a culture. Just like this forum. Mj could sell out fastlane forum pencils I bet, why? This forum is a culture/brand. Strongly recommend you study the greatest brands like Nike, Adidas, under armor etc. learn they're marketing and strategies. build a culture, not a store.

 

[Xeon]

Mj could sell out fastlane forum pencils I bet, why? This forum is a culture/brand.

I would prefer a 60" x 40" canvas print with MJ's smiling face on it with his signature, if you will. Will frame that on my bedroom wall above my bed.

 

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[sparechange]

I would prefer a 60" x 40" canvas print with MJ's smiling face on it with his signature, if you will. Will frame that on my bedroom wall above my bed.

. It's gotta have an inspirational quote to

 

[ALC]

As i am myself building a clothing brand, related to a luxury / premium lifestyle, do you think these kind of boxes will be a better packaging (even if impacting the margins) than just sending the clothes in plastic bag ?

I mean everyone knows that the packaging is very important, even more if it's premium, so i told myself why not deal with a chinese supplier to create 100 of those customized with my brand on them, any thoughts ?

Thanks.

 

[Beijing]

OP, you are getting sales, even if only about one per week. You've stated that the traffic you've received has been minimal, so that suggests that your conversion rate isn't bad.

The only question now that if you boost traffic by spending a bunch of money on ads, whether your sales will amount to more or if the money invested into the ads will be more.

If it's the former, the more money you spend on ads, the more money you'll make and you should poor every penny into ads that you have.

Of course, don't do this right away, but do put $1000 or so over the next month into various types of ads to test conversion of traffic resulting from ads.

 

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[Xeon]

As i am myself building a clothing brand, related to a luxury / premium lifestyle, do you think these kind of boxes will be a better packaging (even if impacting the margins) than just sending the clothes in plastic bag ?

I mean everyone knows that the packaging is very important, even more if it's premium, so i told myself why not deal with a chinese supplier to create 100 of those customized with my brand on them, any thoughts ?

Thanks.

If you're building a premium/luxury brand with your clothing line, it's not just the packaging you need to look into, it's the material of the clothing (t-shirts in your case) and the printing quality. If you want retail-level top of the line clothing blanks to print on, print-on-demand (they use direct to garment printing) will not cut it, you'll need to get them screenprinted with plastisol/water-based inks (and that means paying upfront costs to order 24 - 50 t-shirts per design).
As for material, you need to be looking into 100% combed ringspun cotton or better. The normal 100% cheap cotton t-shirts from china are too filmsy and scratchy. Meaning, you'll need to get samples from them and see/touch them for yourselves.

As for packaging, some food for thought is to consider the costs. 100 pcs for these kind of boxes is too low of a quantity and will result in high cost per box, meaning your margins will be affected. The cost of shipping those 100 boxes from china to France will REALLY surprise you. If you're gonna be printing your logo on the boxes, they'll most probably charge you for the plate setup as well. Add these upfront costs up (plate + shipping + cost of 100 boxes) / 100, you'll be shocked at the price per box.

Also, some factories might sell you 100 boxes, but they might not do printing for small orders of 100 boxes. Maybe if you try hard enough, you might find one.

Some food for thought

 

[ALC]

@Xeon
I'm actually dealing with my local supplier which is actually a 30yo POD business and with multi million machinery.
As he's now able to make any embroidery i want and saw that nobody was doing embroidery, we have been able to get awesome results on every clothes we tried (hoodie/sweat shirt, t-shirt,hat..), they've been using different brand and are able to deal with Alibaba sellers too if i want to.

It means that if i want to bring a jean and put labels on them, they can do it.
If i want to custom any support, they can.

They also have the latest technology for the screenprinting or hot transfer, the result are perfect and can drop a huge number of unit in 1 hour (full system is auto')

In short, they do everything from A to Z, even the shipping. I just have to bring my ideas, put them on a cloth with them, deal the quantity and the customization, the prices and after that it's my job to put that on the market.

But the truth is, those boxes are so expensive for a little quantity (as you said) but i want them so badly because it's imperative for my brand, i don't want to send high-end clothes in a plastic bag..but a large quantity would cost me too much i don't have that money.

 

[ALC]

Does any of you know where i can get some premium packaging for clothes for less then 2 euros please ?
Because even on Alibaba it's expensive, they told me that i need to order at least 1.x.x.x units to be under 2 euros..

Well, it's also due to me because i'm searching for 200 units not more, so logically it's supposed to be more expensive for the production but 3.5 euros by units it's way more than i expected.

Thanks

 

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[Blaise84]

@businessbaybee
Dig your brand! Cool niche. An "About" page would be cool. Something that reinforces the energy of your brand. As I look at your site (nice site), I'm wanting to know the person behind the brand.

 

[B. Cole]

Hell, I'm a dude and I'd wear the "So Horny" unicorn tee!

Are you engaging your followers to be part of it instead of watching it, like a phrase competition that gets them free shirts, or other incentives for engagement? Perhaps targeting famous social media accounts with free product/money for shoutouts? There is an awesome thread on blowing up an Instagram account.

 

[Puppy]

@businessbaybee, I'm wondering if you are using polyvore or if it might help you have another platform to sell/reach your audience.

I don't know a lot about it but I know its used to put outfit ideas and look books together. I think it might be clickable to link people to your store.

Possibly be able to leverage affiliation for yourself or with other brands. At the very least you can show your clothes and designs as they could look as an outfit. Its not my field but I know that kind of layout is big in fashion circles. Crossover your sets into Instagram and encourage some impulse buying

 

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