SUCCESS STORY – 2 Unusual Ways To Break Into The Fashion Industry

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Hi Guys,
Today we are going to go through unusual strategies used by two now thriving fashion companies to break out in the fashion business.

The two examples  selected are no classic profiles. They did not graduate from a facny fashion school. They did not launch with an insanely glamorous fashion show. They did not have a massive budget to spend on advertising. They are both very different. Each company has its own personality. One is from France, the other is from the US. But they both leveraged the power of social media in a smart AND organic way: we are talking about French brand Le Slip Français and US platform The Red Dress Boutique.

BRAND N°1 – LE SLIP FRANCAIS

For those of you who do not speak French, Le Slip Français litteraly means “The French underpants”. And in French, this word “slip” is not the nice sexy version. Nope! In French the word slip is the ugly old fashioned version of underpants. Today the founder who originally worked in an organic store chain is one of the favorite success stories in France.
The story tells that the founder Guillaume Gibault made a bet with his friend that he would make underpants fashionable.
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He ordered 600 underpants and started the adventure.

The brand signature is: French made and audacity – audacity which is also a trait French people are famous for. The waistband has the colours of the French flag. And all the products are made in France, which is also a guarantee of quality;
The big breakout occurred in 2012 on French election. One of the candidate had a catchphrase that said “The change is for now”. The brand le slip français twisted the message with a video “The change of underpants is for now”. (I will let you watch it in the replay of our live video on top of this post – it starts at 05:33).
Needless to say that this campaign made a massive organic hit on social media. People shared it because it was bold and funny. And audacious.
It was worth sharing.
Besides he always stayed cohesive with the identity of the brand. For example, he also gave typically French or even Gaul nicknames to each product, like names that you would have read in this French comic book: Asterix the Gaul – “The Intrepid” “The valiant”…

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Here are the best lessons that you can take out of this

#1 – Know who you are

The usual and favorite Fashion FXF advice: have a strong DNA. For that, you don’t have to have a necessarily complicated identity. On the constrary – Stay simple but true to who you are. In this case they Chose Underpants French Audacity. That’s it. And everything is aligned to that: design, production, tone of voice used in communication.

#2 – Use or twist something that is trending right now

Then you know what people are eager to share and talk about right now – You can go on websites such as Medium to see what’s trending – And use that for your communication. Of course, you have to be careful of the potential complaints. In this case, none of the candidates complained about the twist
Also be careful to not use any kind of news. Just use the ones that make sense for your brand and that can speak to your target audience. In this case, it made sense because it was the French elections and let’s admit it: the candidate’s message was just perfect for an audacious joke!

#3 – Share messages that are worth sharing

Lots of brands just dump posts on their audience…
Honestly have you wondered, how you change people’s life? Have you thought about the people at the other end? How will your product change their lives?
So from now on, what you need to do is to think of ways how your product can contribute to your audience’s life and lifestyle.
Inspire. Teach something. Make people feel something.
In this case it was funny but it doesn’t have to be funny. It can be comforting, motivating, whichever feels right for your brand identity and your audience.

Contribute to your audience’s life and well being.
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BRAND N°2 – THE RED DRESS BOUTIQUE

The Red Dress boutique is an online e-commerce website and brick and mortar shop that sell cute and affordable clothing for women. They are from Georgia in the US. The company was founded by Diana Harbour.
At the beginning, she targeted students of the University of Georgia.
She got people’s attention by keeping her audience updated about upcoming items and re-stocks. It was the beginning of Facebook…and no other retail store was doing that.

And here is the trick (which still works today
She constantly asked for customer feedback. Her engagement is very high. So for example when she is on her buying trips to curate new items, she asks for feedback from her target audience to know if they’d like it or not. And depending on the answers obtained, she adjusts the quantity of items to buy. So she only gets the most wanted items in, which also decreases the need for markdown. Smart, right?
The same goes with the pictures she posts – She worked with students who posed for her pictures. But for example if the picture did not get much engagement, she changed it a little bit and posted the one that got most engagement.
To finish, the identity of the red dress boutique can be summarized in one word: caring. The founder genuinely cares about her customers. She cares about their opinion but she also cares about their life. She thinks of them – each package is wrapped like a gift and there is a handwritten note. Here is what you can read when you go on the website:
“I also wanted to create this place that would bring color and confidence and happiness to a woman’s day. Sometimes just having that one fantastic new outfit is all a woman needs to turn a bad day into a good one, to give a woman the confidence she needs going into an interview or to give that stay at home mom a reason to smile after that rare moment she treats herself. So I started handwriting all the thank you cards that went in our orders, packing it up like the present that it was and sending it off in hopes that it brought a smile to the woman it went to.”

That’s how much she cares about her audience and from all the engagement she gets from people and the way she keeps listening to what her audience has to say, it is so sincere that she made a business model out of it.
So what kind of lessons can you take from this?

#4 – Care about your customers

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Start bonding with them. We have a fantastic opportunity with social media, stop ruining it by dumping your products on people.
Ask their opinion. Find out how they live, give a damn about what they are going through and how your product makes them feel.

Today you cannot just dump your posts on people: you have to engage. So start engaging.
And I am not only talking about putting green hearts and emojis on people’s posts. (ughhh…I have that account on Instagram that keeps posting that same green heart over and over again).
Share something useful that could enlighten that person’s day. Because guess what they are going to do once you care a little bit about them: they are going to check your profile and interact with you. Tadaaaa.
Plus social media totally loves and favors posts that engage.

#5 – Test until it works

It is applicable for the photos you use on social media but also for your posts. You need to find that tone and content that your audience best reacts to.

#6 – Ask for customer feedback

A lot of designers out there stay in their bubble and do not engage. with their audience. But how are you going to know what works if you stay in your bubble? You have to go out there and ask what they think about your product. How they like it, where they wear it, how it went, how it makes them feel.
Because all this is information that you will be able to fuel back into your marketing.

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BRANDING: 6 Common Mistakes Designers Do When Defining Their Fashion Brand DNA

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Hello guys,

Fashion brand DNA: what makes a brand unique.
I’ve had some quite passionate discussions with some of you about the DNA of your fashion brand. Lots of the designers I exchange with now start understanding that this industry is not only about designing good looking pieces. Now you are more and more aware that the fashion brand DNA is a vital foundation of your business and that it is the number one thing you should start working on when you launch a fashion brand.
So some of you sent me their fashion brand DNA descriptions. Since I have been so swamped lately, I was not able to deliver you an individual feedback. So I did this live video yesterday with the common mistakes you guys do when defining your fashion brand DNA.
Historically the fashion brand DNA is not the core thing that I am known for in this business. What I am really known for is writing business plans for fashion businesses. After having drafted some fashion business plans for emerging brands, I have written a book about exactly that: Fashion business plans.  I also teach fashion business planning at the ESMOD Paris fashion school.
However the reason why fashion brand DNA came up so frequently in the fashion FXF blog posts, our live videos and so on, is because I found out that it is the key ingredient of your success, even to get funding. And lots of fashion brands fail because they have not sufficiently worked on that part. In the framework of my work with fashion brands, I had opportunities to exchange with different actors of the fashion industry: fashion press experts, fashion buyers, fashion event managers and I found out that what actually made a fashion business interesting for all those people, even what made a fashion brand interesting to fund, was the impact that it delivered. Because impact means sales which increases your chances to make more profits. And the brands that delivered the strongest impact were those with a very well defined brand DNA. Maybe you have seen our last live when we talked about using Instagram to get featured in the fashion press: Sara who shared her expertise started her work by defining the brand DNA.

So starting from there and observing the successful brands, I came up with a method to generate a cohesive brand DNA for a fashion business. It is all in the book I wrote. And the good thing is that after discussions we had on that subject, you guys start giving it a thought from the beginning. I know it can be a tough exercise for many of you.
So here are the common mistakes designers do when describing their fashion brand DNA.

Mistake # 1: No Fashion Brand DNA

Not having a fashion brand DNA is a big mistake. I know a designer who had great intuition. He was doing high end street wear. He designed amazing pieces, he had lots of talent. He had a real gift in crafting a nice shape for women’s body. But he never took the time to do any introspection and understand what made his work so unique. Plus he had lots of imagination so his designs went all over the place. And he lost himself. And since he never took the time to understand what his signature was, the sales decreased, the success vanished.
why me crying GIF by Team Coco
So to avoid having that kind of one time success that you did not do intentionally, work on your DNA first.

Do things on purpose.

Mistake # 2: Defining a fashion brand DNA for the sake of defining one

It shows immediately: you see sentences that are there for no reason. This is not an exercise where you have to fill in the blanks. You are not telling a story just to tell a story. It has to really mean something and be perceptible for your audience.
For example I saw on one designer who wrote that “she did a cruise in the Caribbean island for some time”. Then I checked the designs and I did not see the Caribbean influence at all. Why do you put that there if there is no link with your design? If you add a sentence into your brand DNA, make it really mean something. What you say should really mean something to the aesthetic of your band and what you say in your fashion brand DNA should systematically be visible on your designs. If you say it is a conservative design with a discrete crazy twist, then each time you create something a bag, a scarf, a hat, trousers, antyhing, you should design something conservative and add that little crazy touch you talked about.
Your fashion DNA description is the promise that you deliver to your customer.
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Mistake #3: Lack of personality

Some designers used generic words such as chic, elegant. I tend to grow allergic to those terms…
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You have to go the extra mile and spice up the words you are using.
Add some personality to it. Is it “Bon chic bon genre?” is it daring? Is it conservative? Is it audacious? is it whimsical? Dig deep into yourself and make it sound exciting.
It is FASHION, you are here to dazzle and wow your audience.

And the way to do that is to do as if the brand was a person, with its personality traits, the little details and the flaw that makes its charming. Give some depth to your DNA.
Some designers are not inspired and have difficulties describing who they are. In the fashion business plan book, you have a workbook with all kinds of adjectives that you can use to qualify your brand. We use it in our individual workshops as well and the designers I worked with love it in the end because they can really see if they resonate with that.

Mistake #4: A gap between what you say you are, the design you show and your visuals

I guess some designers always dreamt of a certain image and once they start their own brand, they used the words they were dreaming to become one day.
For example, I had a streetwear brand calling its pieces timeless…
fresh prince GIF by mtv

This does not go together! Timeless is a classic design. So it should not be used just because you like the sound of it.
One other mistake I saw is the use of symbols in the logo that had absolutely nothing to do with anything. The brand was selling women’s workwear made of wax fabric but there was an odd shoe in their logo. And they did not even sell any shoes! So why would you use shoes in a logo if your brand is not about shoes?
Another one gap I saw: one designer wrote he was selling luxury design. But the site did not deliver the luxury effect and the logo was not luxury at all. The font was very weird, in a weird blue color. Ideally the graphic design and the visuals should be done with professionals. But in doubt, use a very sleek font, a variation of Helvetica or Lato. But do not use complicated handwritten fonts for your logo.

Mistake #5: too technical descriptions

I see lots of sustainable businesses that do that mistake. They get too caught up in the technical details of what they do. They strongly believe in what they do, which is okay but they totally forget to make their customers dream.
A fashion piece should ALWAYS be desirable. Do not forget: your customers will buy from you firstly because they think the designs look good and your pieces make them feel something special. Of course, your beliefs and the ideas you defend are important. But saying that you are an activist against animal testing or waste should not make you forget about the style.

Style and personality should always come first.

Mistake #6: lack of cohesion

Sometimes designers put too many different adjectives together. As a result, the brand DNA description becomes incoherent and cofusing. Sometimes they are afraid to miss out on sales and they try to target everyone. So the fashion brand DNA becomes this mix of words that do not match.
But who are you? and what is your brand about?
confused jamie foxx GIF by Beat Shazam
In my fashion brand DNA workshop, I help designers generate a cohesive image. Since some designers do not necessarily have the words to express who they are, I offer individual workshops in which we go through styles but also a huge list of words that describe a personality. And they pick three of them that they feel most correspond to them. And during this exercise, it is sometimes difficult to get designers to focus because some of them want to talk to everyone.

One designer picked exuberant and sleek in the same brand DNA description. It does not go together. Is it exuberant or is it sleek?
Pick one. And preferably the one that corresponds to your design.

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Interested in seriously working on your fashion brand DNA? 

Here is the tool you need to get for yourself. The fashion business plan starts with a workbook on the brand DNA and explains how the DNA can build up to a tailored strategy for your fashion business.

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BRANDING: How Strong Is Your Fashion Brand DNA?

WORDPRESS (6)
Hi Guys,
we have been posting and talking a lot about fashion brand DNA these last weeks: why it is essential for your fashion business, how to use it to adjust you business strategy. 
We also shared six untold steps to help you create your fashion brand DNA from scratch!
So now it is time to see what you have learned.

Click the button below to test the power of your brand
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You do not understand your result? Drop us an e-mail with the answers you gave and we will discuss.

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 Find out how you can get a better score. Get your copy of our free guide with the 5 steps to go through to create your fashion brand. It also includes a checklist to guide you through your fashion brand DNA definition.

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SUCCESS STORY: 4 Fierce Lessons That Led To The Nasty Gal Phenomenon

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Hey guys,

Last week we published an article with the lessons emerging designers could learn out of Nasty gal’s bankruptcy.  After having briefly analyzed what lead the fashion wunderkind to bankruptcy, I wanted to remember the effervescence of the beginning.

From a simple eBay account to nearly 100 million dollars in sales in six years: in spite of the tragic turn of events, Sophia Amoruso certainly did a few things right.
So what could emerging brands learn out of that?

#1 – Rather than selling what works, sell what you are excellent at

Sophia Amoruso is excellent at one thing: bargain buying hand picked vintage garment. She has a real skill in seeing an old garment’s potential, how it can be revamped and where to get it for an interesting price.

It’s a combination of very specific skills actually.   
By following that formula she did not try to copy other existing fashion stores, she built something out of something she was excellent at.

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS:
Think about which fashion skill you are really good at. Maybe it is the way you work on leather, jeans, the way you drape a garment. Or the way you hand paint on fabric or leather?
Really think of what you’re excellent at and think how you can apply it on your own fashion business.

#2 – Three words: Branding, branding. And branding

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When Sophia Amoruso started  Nasty gal, she built a proper fashion branding right from the start. 

She immediately gave a certain vibe to the store. The name she chose to begin with, was inspired by soul singer Betty Davis’s song. The photos all had this vintage rock feeling. It was well thought and cohesive from the beginning.
Some beginner brands I have worked with either are not aware how branding vital is to a fashion line or they struggle a bit to achieve a cohesive image. For example, they want their brand to be about glamour and luxury but in reality when you watch the collection or the visuals, it fails to give the sophisticated look it aims for. 

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS:

This free resource explains what you should work on to start a clothing line. The branding concept is the first thing you should start with. Explore the first chapter of our free ebook to shape a proper branding for your own fashion business. 

#3 – Have the humility to learn what is key for the fashion industry

Let’s take an example from another industry. When you buy a smartphone, companies compete by promoting the quality of the photos/videos it takes, the size of the screen, the possibility to unlock it using your fingerprint etc. However none of the phone company has ever promoted the ability for a smartphone to make proper calls. It is a given! when you buy a smartphone, the phone function is expected to be excellent.
In the fashion industry, it is the same. There are a few basics that are expected from the start:

  • a good fit
  • proper finishing
  • professional photos
  • a good looking website

Fashion IS about image. You cannot skip that one. Your visuals have to look no less than STUNNING.
Sophia Amoruso did not have any fashion designer education. However she made Nasty Gal a success and she was willing to learn what it would take to thrive.
She was humble enough to acknowledge she did not know and learn about it. She read books to learn how to run an eBay store. She also learned how to take photos.

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS:
Ask yourself what is important in this industry. Figure out what you still need to learn.
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If you take care of your own website and photos, do they reach the expectations of the industry? Or maybe you need to learn basic SEO techniques or how to run a business?
Find out in which key area you need to improve and either hire someone to take care of it or learn about it.

#4 – The power of tribe

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Sophia Amoruso grew her tribe using My Space. She first identified Nylon magazine gave a similar feeling to Nasty Gal. She thought their followers would most relate to her auctions. So she engaged with them. She meticulously answered all their comments.
WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS:
Which already existing community would be interested in relating with your brand? Go on social media (especially Instagram, Twitter, Facebook). Check the communities and where you feel you find a similar vibe as yours, engage with people.

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