Perfect for a clothing brand

HOW TO START YOUR BUSINESS

IN THIS GUIDE, WE WILL BE GOING THROUGH HOW TO START

YOUR BUSINESS. THIS WILL BE IN DIFFERENT STEPS. I’VE MADE
SURE TO PUT THEM IN ORDER, BUT IF YOU WISH TO DO THEM
IN A DIFFERENT ORDER THAT IS COMPLETELY FINE. BUT JUST
BE AWARE THAT IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOT MISS A STEP AND
TAKE IN ACCOUNT THAT SOMETHINGS NEED TO BE DONE
BEFORE THE OTHER.

AS AN INTRODUCTION, I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT START IN A

CLOTHING BRAND MAY SEEM AS THOUGH IT IS DIFFICULT, BUT
IN FACT, ONCE YOU START GETTING THROUGH EACH STEP,
YOU WILL SEE THAT IT ISN’T THAT HARD.
PLEASE READ THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE TO READ MORE ON
SOME TIPS AND ADVICE.

1. THINK OF YOUR BRAND NAME

Make sure your brand name is unique and different, has meaning.
Understand that your brand name can’t be changed so it should be something you
see yourself having long term.
Check if your brand name is NOT taken and already used…. But … it is okay if the
name is used for a different company. An example of this would be, your idea is
‘DRIPSZN’ but a car business is called ‘DRIPSZN’ it is actually okay for you to use the
name because you are not in the same category, in most cases.
 You can check if your business name idea is taken by searching on
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company , if your name is taken
already DO NOT use that business name. This will save you a lot of hassle in the
future.
 Next, check if the name isn’t taken on all social media platforms. Be AWARE you
may come across some accounts which are not active, you can check if an
account isn’t active by looking at how many posts they have, when they last
posted, and by their profile display picture. If you find the name is already in use
 for a clothing brand, but it isn’t taken on company house, you can still use the
name and overtake their name in the future.
 Check if your business name idea is not already taken on TRADEMARK , here :
https://www.gov.uk/search-for-trademark , if you find that it is In fact
trademarked do not use the name!
Adding ‘UK’ ‘LONDON’ ‘CLOTHING’ At the end of your brand name
i. It could be an option for you to use these when your name has been taken, or
to make your name longer character.
ii. You can use these at the end of your brand name but don’t necessarily have
to register the name with them.

2. MAKE A VISION BOARD - PLAN

You want to make a vision board so you have an idea of exactly what you’re going to
start. Your vision board should consist of clothing ideas that you like. Photo shoot
areas. How much you’re going to start with. What you’re going to spend your money
on, And how you want your packaging.
 You can make your vision board on your notes app, PowerPoint, word or you can
get creative and do it in person. Print out images and do it in a book. It’s your
preference how you make your vision board.

3. MAKE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS

Now you want to make your social media accounts on all platforms. It’s important for
you to do this incase someone takes your idea.

When making your social media account name, you want to make sure your not adding
any numbers (unless your business name consists of numbers) or anything
irrelevant like “ / - . ! “

Example which is good: DRIPSZN , DRIPSZNUK , DRIPSZNCLOTHING

Example which isn’t good: DRIP1SZN_ , DRIP-SZN10

• you also want to make sure your username is the same on all platforms

Platforms to make your social media accounts;

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  Instagram
 Facebook
 Twitter
 Tiktok
 Snapchat (if you wish)
 YouTube (if you wish)

4. MAKE BUSINESS EMAILS & BUY DOMAIN

Now you want to make your business emails. There is different types of emails you
will need. I’m going to walk you through each and why, also where you have them
made.
Separately, A ‘ domain ‘ is your website name. For example ‘DRIPSZN.COM’ this
would be your rightful domain name. It isn’t not the website it’s self, but the website
link name. Which you NEED.
THIS IS NOT MAKING A WEBSITE BUT ONLY BUYING THE RIGHTS TO THE
WEBSITE NAME FOR WHEN YOU DO ACTUALLY MAKE YOUR WEBSITE

BUSINESS EMAILS:
Customer service emails (example)
Contact@DRIPSZN.com / help@DRIPZN.com
 This is going to be used for your customers to contact you relating to orders or
customer service help.
Personal email (example)
Ceo@DRIPSZN.com / donny@DRIPSZN.com
 this is going to be used for when anyone wants to reach out to you directly, or
for when your contacting manufacturers, or to talk to business people, or to talk
to influencers or artists about collaborations, or for when you purchase anything
related to your business and you checkout with the email, or when making any
account / subscriptions, or when you get a bank account , or for models to
contact you
You will need both a customer service email and a personal email.
These emails are NOT BY OUTLOOK OR HOTMAIL they are professional emails for
companies which is why you buy them (starts from £0.90) along with your domain
which is next….
Domain
You will need to buy this incase someone takes it.
DRIPSZN.com / DRIPSZNCLOTHING.com

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 You can get both your business emails and domains from : https://uk.godaddy.com/

5. DESIGN LOGO , BUSINESS CARDS , THANK YOU CARDS

If you are not creative, you can find a graphic designer to create your designs and
artwork for you. Or you can challenge yourself to doing it yourself. This could save
you money by doing it yourself.
You can use apps or computer softwares which are good for designing such as
photoshop.
There’s different types of logos you can make…
 text base logos
 Picture logos
Decide which type of logo will be good for you, but REMEMBER this logo will be your
branding, on the website , on your clothes, and on your social media account. So try
not make your logo too complex and make it easy to remember.
People tend to remember brands by their logo so make sure it’s something
identifiable. For apple off white , Nike, Adidas , their logos are rememberable.
Business cards and thank you cards
Business cards are good to use for when you are at meetings or our and about and
want to share with people your brand, it should consist of your brand website, the
social media’s and what you sell.
Thank you cards are meant for putting into your package when someone orders a
product from you. This lets the customer know that you appreciate the sale. You can
also add a discount code on the back of the card as an extra thank you (tip: this will
make your customers come back and spend again)

6. ORDER YOUR BUSINESS & THANK YOU CARDS

Now it’s time for you to order these.
They are not expensive to be made and you will only need around 100 of them to
start with, then as you go on you can get more.
You can use websites such as aliexpress to get your business and thank you cards
made or searching on google for your local business cards printing, depending on
your location.

7. DESIGN CLOTHING
You have now reached the step of designing your clothing.

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 This is something which is your choice how you want your clothes.
Each brand has different styles so you need to figure out which style your going for.
Look at other brands for inspiration, take notes, and gather your own personal ideas
and create something from your vision.
Again, you can either design your pieces yourself or pay for a graphic designer.
If you are not good at creating or art it is highly advices to pay for a graphic designer
as this is your business… you want your designs to be professional.

8. ORDER PACKAGING
While your waiting for your designs to be created , it’s time for you to order your
packaging.
Your packaging should have your logo on it so customers know who they are buying
from. Examples of packaging would be Nike having their logo on the box, or JD
having their logo on their black bags.
This part is for your branding. Everybody has different branding, you don’t want to
copy another brand with this because you should have something which is
DIFFERENT. Customers need to be able to differentiateFrom your brand to another
brand not just by name but by style and colour.
Different types of packaging:
 Custom polly mailers
 Bags
 Boxes
 Hat box
 Personalised stickers
 Personalised tape
 Satin ribbon bags
 Custom carry bags
 Envelope plastic bags

LINKS
￡31.18 32％ OFF | 50PCS PINK HANDLE EXPRESS ENVELOPE BAGS COURIER
POLY SHIPPING MAILING COLOR PACKAGING PARCEL STORAGE CUSTOM PRINT
LOGO
HTTPS://A.ALIEXPRESS.COM/_VMFM4M

￡5.04 41％ OFF | 5PCS/10PCS/KRAFT BOX WHOLESALE COLOR PACKAGE

CARTON SMALL GIFT BOX WIGS BLANK 3LAYER CORRUGATED BOX CUSTOMIZED
SIZE PRINTED LOGO
HTTPS://A.ALIEXPRESS.COM/_VSEVMO

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 ￡12.82 15％ OFF | BIODEGRADABLE CUSTOM PRINTED BEIGE COURIER BAG
LUXURY TRANSPORT BAG MAILING BAG CLOTHING PACKAGING
HTTPS://A.ALIEXPRESS.COM/_U6JACK

￡29.89 | 50X CUSTOM LOGO PAPER SHOPPING BAG WITH RIBBON HANDLE FOR
CLOTHING GIFT PACKAGING BAG
HTTPS://A.ALIEXPRESS.COM/_UJ9ZDA

9. DESIGN CLOTHING TAG

Now you should design and create your clothing tags.
These are tags / labels that hang from your clothing.
Think about when you go to the shop to buy some clothing, for example you go into
gucci and you see the tags. What information do the tags have ?
 Brand name & logo
 Clothing item name
 Price
 How to take care of the clothing (wash on cold ect)

Having this information on your clothing will improve how your business presents .
You will look more professional and customers will have a better shopping
experience rather than you just throwing clothing items in a bag and shipping it to
the customer. You need to start understanding that you are a business. Think of
yourself like an already big, established company. You wouldn’t see Nike doing that,
so you don’t do it either. Take pride with the presentation of your clothing. Think
like your selling your product to the owner of gucci, would you present your clothing
without a tag or label on it? No. So make sure you design something good and have
them on your clothing. Even if you are producing tracksuits or T-shirts, it doesn’t
have to be high end clothing for you to add a simple tag. They are always needed.

When I get my tags how do I put them on ?

 You can purchase a tag gun from Amazon here
 Tag Gun, lnkey Clothes Label Tagging Gun + 5 Replacement Needle +1500 Tags
Barbs 50mm Price Labels Tags for Clothes Socks Hat Fashion Store
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07C7XF6YH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_PR
MS70S82YJ74AVDKT1E?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

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  Or you can punch holes in your tags and use these ….. Hang Tag String SENRISE
Nylon String for Hang Tags 200pcs Disposable Black Price Nylon Hang Tag String
with Snap Lock Pin for Clothes Brand Tag Price (Beige)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PY6L3CB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_9C1
0X89PNNNFXRYANG45?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
These are strings which you attach to your clothing tag. These are two options for
you.

Where do I get my clothing tags made ?

 You can get your clothing tags made the same place you get your business cards.
Clothing tags are the SAME SIZE as business cards (most times) so you can just
get business cards size and add your clothing tag design to it. Or alternatively
here…..
 ￡76.66 | 1000 Sets Customized Printed Hang Tag 2pcs Cards with Opp Bag /
Clothing Hangtag Garment / Hanging Label / Swing Price Tag OEM
 https://a.aliexpress.com/_vOgupQ
 ￡8.59 41％ Off | Custom Rectangle Hang Tags, Clothing, Brand, Fashion, Label,
Accessories, Merchandise, logo, design, hang, tags
 https://a.aliexpress.com/_vDxgHO
 ￡3.15 40％ Off | 300gsm coated paper garment Clothing Clothes Hanging Tags
Swing Tags Brand Name Labels Fashion Design Stock Cards Wholesale
 https://a.aliexpress.com/_vbbKUU

10. ORDER CLOTHING

Well done ! You have reached the 10th step. This means you are closer to setting up
your business!
This step is complicated because everyone is different, so apply this to what suits
you best.
• When you start a clothing brand, you can start with around £300, but not
everyone might have £300 to put into clothing, so you have to put in the amount that
you have got. If you’ve got more than £300, that’s absolutely amazing. Personally, I
started by putting in 1000 pounds.

• There’s a few things that you need to know before you actually place the order
with your manufacturer. Firstly, you need to make sure that you have a sample. A
sample is something that you see before you make a bulk order.
So before you go and spend 1000 pounds, you would pay approximately £30 for one
hoodie SAMPLE just so that you can see how that hoodie is. This is very important

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because it saves you a lot of time wasting money and it also lets you know which
manufacturer is best for you.

During the times of you making your sample, there’s a few things that you want to
take in account.
 Making sure that your manufacturer replies to you in a good amount of time.
 Making sure that your manufacturer understands your needs.
 Making sure that your manufacturer is willing to make changes for you.
 Making sure that your manufacturer ships out product in a timely matter.

These are all important things that you need to take in account and make sure
that you are noticing about your manufacturer. Your manufacturer will be
working with you long term, so these things that you need to point out and if
they aren’t good then do not work with that manufacturer.
What should you do when you get your sample? You need to put through a lot of
stress with this sample. What I mean by this?Example, you’ve got a sample which is a
hoodie. A sample is basically a tester, just like when you go into a makeup shop or a
perfume shop and they have got their products lined out for customers to see how
they smell. And how they look. Another example of the sample, would be clothing
which is on the rail before you buy it.
 Wash your And see if the clothing shrinks or if the design washes away.
 Iron the hoodie and see if the quality still remains.
 Get opinions from friends and family and ask them how they think the sample
looks and feels.
 Look at how the design was printed or made and see if the quality is good
enough for your liking.

After you have your sample and have put it through this stress and got the
reviews from your friends and family and now you have decided you like the
sample and the service you got from the manufacturer….
You can now proceed to make a book order with your manufacturer.

Sizing:
 This completely depends on how many quantity you have ordered with your
manufacturer. Here is a good tip. Customers tend to buy more side, small and
medium. And there fewer by large and extra large. So when you’re ordering, it is
good to get more small and mediums.

Keep reading ..

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Example order

“ hi manufacturer, I have 1 hoodie design, here it is.

 show them your design…..

“ I want to order 20 tracksuits.

Small- 6
Medium- 6
Large- 4
Extra large- 4 “

This is an example or ordering your sizes.

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 When I send my design to the manufacturer how do I do that?
 Your design needs to have a CLEAR , TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND (called png
– look it up)
 You can put your design on a plain tracksuit to see how it looks (like the
template shows above of the tracksuit) , so your manufacturer knows how to
print your design and where you want it

11. PHOTOSHOOT
At this stage you would have placed the order with your manufacturer and now
you are waiting for your goods to be made.
It may take a while for your manufacturer to finish making all your products. So
now you have some time to plan the photo shoot.
Like discussed earlier, you should have made a mood board about your photo
shoot.
But if you haven’t got to that yet, that is completely fine. You can make your
mood board now.
What you need to do is go on Instagram and have a look at other clothing brands.
See what type of photos they are taking and acknowledge which ones would be
good and suitable for your brand.
You want to make sure all your photos are professional, so the photos you’re
picking out need to be ones which are by already established brands such as
Nike Off, White, Adidas. Or even upcoming brands which are really high quality.
This will give you a lot of inspiration about what you can do with your brand.

There’s different types of photo shoot that you will need to do.

The first type of photo shoot you need to do will be in the Studio.
 This photo shoot in the studio. Will be for the website product photos. You’re
probably thinking what is a website product photo?
 You will also need to Take content photos.
The circled BLUE are product photos

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The circled RED are content photos

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 The product photos are to present your products. This is so customers can see
what they are buying. It is a clear representation of the items. Remember you
are selling online so customers can not see and feel with the eye and hands, but
can only see through the computer so you need to be able to sell your products
through a computer. So each photo you are taking needs to be high quality and
has different angles some close up some far, some from the side.
 Product photos will be used on your website but can also be used on your social
media pages. These photos will be indoors and in the studio.
 You can have different types of backgrounds , white, black, pink, grey, whichever
suits your branding the best.
 You will lay your clothing on the floor and take a photo from an up higher angle
in order to get your product photos.
 And you can do some product photos shots with a model wearing it.

Content photos
 These photos are for content purposes. They are to bring excitement , interest to
your brand. Like the ones circled in red above. You can style your model wearing
your clothing and do the photos outdoors in cool locations.

Camera
Because you’re just starting out you may not be able to afford a high quality
camera.
You can take photos on your phone, but just be aware the quality may not be as
good as a proper camera.
These are the different types of cameras which are good.

https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/technology/cameras/c:30168/
brands:canon/?cmpid=gg05x&&_$ja=tsid:11675%7Cacid:790-190-
9882%7Ccid:10139367020%7Cagid:112208270083%7Ctid:dsa-
422267815607%7Ccrid:481010470683%7Cnw:g
%7Crnd:4836253549192539720%7Cdvc:m%7Cadp:%7Cmt:b
%7Cloc:9044966&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=101
39367020&utm_term=&utm_content=text&utm_custom1=112208270083&utm
_custom2=790-190-9882&cmpid=GG05X&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqp-
LBhDQARIsAO0a6aJhznwVZ5bMlJydqGQYogfVFg-d-tGi4EX0PShoE2nY1-
PjAg0_kfUaAmMREALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Taking photos-

When taking your photos, you want to make sure that the background is clear
and everything looks very professional. You want to get your models prepared
for the photo shoot by having their hair done. Makeup done if needed. And outfit
looking nice. It is good to not rush your photo shoot, so make sure you have

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 enough time to prepare everything. Get the models ready and to do the photo
shoot.

12. MAKING THE WEBSITE

When you have completed your Photoshoot and have all your pictures edited and
ready. It’s time for you to make your website.
If you have no experience making a website then it is advised to pay someone to
do this for you. Creating a website when you have never made one before may
take you days or even weeks. When you’re paying someone to make your
website, make sure you tell them everything that you want down to the colour
scheme and the branding logo and the images. Website builders have different
charges, so each of them may have a different cost. But pick one which will be
suitable for your financial situation. You can find them from as cheap as 100
pounds.

If you’re building your website on your own, then make sure that you have the
patience and time to do this.
When you make the website, make sure that you include all the correct
information.
 Information pages such as…
 Contact
 Privacy policy
 Returns and refunds
 Delivery times
 Covid updates
These are all the information that you will need to make sure you have at the
bottom of your website, which is called a footer.
Then you need to make your menu.
 Shop all
 T-shirts
 Hoodies
 Tracksuits
If you have different products to these listed then you will make your menus
according to what you’re selling.

About you page.

You need to have a page which explains what your brand is about, who you are as
an owner so that customers have a personal approach, an know what they are
shopping and why.
Here’s an example

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Once you have made all the correct information and pages. Now you need to make
your products.
Each of your products should have all the correct information such as
 Size guide
 What size the model is wearing
 Clothing material / how the clothing fits
 Any other information such as “fits true to size”

Congratulations your on your last step!!!!

LAUNCH 🚀

Now that you have completed everything and you have done everything that you
needed to. You should have received your stock. From your manufacturer and you
should be all ready to begin your brand. These are the things that you’ll need to do in
the lead up to your launch day.

 LET EVERYONE KNOW YOUR COMING !

Tell your friend & family to respite your page so that other people know about this
business your starting !
 Post on your social media
Make a post on your social media, this could be a photo from the shoot you did, with
a caption like “launching next week!”
 Make your website live for people to either pre order or sign up to your
newsletter
Having people sign up to your newsletter is beneficial because you can send
promotional emails which will bring in sales.
Let them know when you launch and give them a discount code , example “we are
launched now here’s 10% off”
 When you launch you can do a giveaway of 2 hoodies (example)
This will bring in the extra pump of website traction and people knowing about your
brand !
 Have a sale!
Do 10% off first orders, this will make people want to buy

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 Doing all these things will lead up to a successful launch day and as long as your
products are good then you could potentially sell out !

Your business running….

You have now gone through all the stress with starting up, your business is now
live. How do you feel? Amazing right? I told you!
You did good 👍.. but the stress isn’t over yet, now you need to do your
marketing !
I know… I know… this is a guide for starting your business not for running it ?!?
But!! I had to give some tips.
Shhh. 🤫🤐 don’t spill the beans 😔
Here’s some nice tips for you!

 Promote your clothing with artists rather than influencers, rappers have a solid
fan base that will increase your sales more than influencers, but her! Using
influencers is still great for brand exposure!
 Be consistent on Instagram, if you run out of things to post, this means you need
another Photoshoot! 😌 but wait… why don’t you be smart and do a content
day?😙 imagine, a day full of shooting lots of content so you never run out of
things to post! That means… you can always be active! Wow.
 Use shopify. 👀 I’m just saying… wix is cool and all but… for better website
usage , engaging, analytics, customers, marketing, shopify is literally the goat ..
literally!!
 Want to know how to have returning customers? C-u-s-t-o-m-e-r service! Your
customers will love you way more if they get their products fast, efficiently , and
the quality is good!
 Tiktok. Ok ok ok last one. Tiktok. For real! Your sleeping on a game changer. Fine
you want to go, let me hurry up and tell you that tiktok is the leading platform
for small business fast growth in not only engagement but SALES, what! I know,
imagine you making a big percentage of sales through tiktok .. why wouldn’t
you !

Extra tips;

 Make sure you keep all your finances in check !

 Get a business bank account !

 Register your company on company house!

 Use Royal Mail shipping!

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Okay. I’m done. If you want to check out more cool and fun tips , help, more, stay in
tune with my website for more releases on e-books.
Here’s the Instagram growth one, your missing out….
https://donnykkeiko.com/products/how-to-grow-your-business-instagram-e-book

Thanks for learning with me !

USEFULL THINGS YOU MAY NEED ( WITH LINKS )

 Printer
 Label printer for orders Dymo LabelWriter 4XL Label Printer, Prints up to 10cm
Wide Labels, USB Connected
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002YNVSN4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_WQ
9PT86WG26JX8KMNY04
 Shelves to keep your stock on - Himimi 6-Tier Wire Shelving Unit Metal Free
Standing Shelf Units,Heavy Duty Racking Shelves for Storage with Adjustable
Leveling Feet 21.3 x 11.4 x 63inch(L x W x H),Black
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0771NKK2C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_CV
M451KN7V2P6G2SYTAZ
 Folders - M&K Direct Plastic Wallets - Pack of 10 A4 Folders -13 x 9.2 inch
Assorted Colours with Label Pocket and Snap Button-for Home, Office, School
and Travel.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08DLVGKRW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4F
Z1Y3DYXME0TCCVTMAJ
 Shipping bags - Sabco - Mailing Bags – Self Adhesive, Waterproof and Tear-Proof
Postal Bags – Small to Large Sized Grey Plastic Mailing Mail Post Postage Plastic
Bags (12 x 16", 100)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08D11SYSY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_43Y
QM6GSMHA8P4PHCK8P
(Check the size)

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