California Apparel News

In the early stages of launching their brand, Chip and Pepper Foster had a problem most new designers can only dream of. They sold out their line on the opening day of a trade show.

“At one of our first Project shows, when we had just started out, we sold as much product as our company could produce in the first day of the show—we had to stop taking orders for a day and catch up,” recalled Pepper Foster, co-designer of the Los Angeles– based premium-denim brand Chip & Pepper.

This was not the first time the brothers had launched an apparel label, and they handled the sudden demand in stride.

“We posted a sign at our booth that said, ’Gone Fishing!’ ” Chip Foster said. “It ended up being for the best, because it created more demand—people still talk about it to this day. At that show, we learned never to underestimate yourself and always be prepared for anything.”

Almost five years after that “fishing” trip, the Fosters are heading back to Project, this time in Las Vegas, and will launch the company’s first full men’s and women’s sportswear collection.

As many in the fashion industry prepare to head to trade shows in Las Vegas and San Diego, they will be joining thousands of companies vying for exposure, buzz and sales. For many huge apparel brands, trade shows are the culmination of months of product development, retail outreach and media-awareness campaigns. But there are still plenty of opportunities for small companies—like the Fosters when they “went fishing”—that don’t have the benefit of massive marketing budgets and teams of experts helping them get their names out in the marketplace. A few basic rules of marketing can help them compete with the giants.

1. Have a plan

Many new brands begin because the designer is passionate about the product and the market. But it is essential to have a business strategy to support the company’s vision.

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking that once you get things rolling, you’re going to get that part figured out,” said Jade Howe, designer of Huntington Beach, Calif.–based menswear line Hause of Howe. He spent years working for such industry giants as Quiksilver before launching his own collection. And while the designer is quite passionate about his collection and knows his market as well as anyone, he still recommends planning for the long term.

“I spent three months with my current partners working on a 24-, 36- and 48-month comprehensive business plan,” he said. “It was a great road map to keep us on course. We’ve modified it several times over the past five years, and it’s more important now than ever.”

2. Be accurate

Bad, inconsistent and tone-deaf branding can ruin a company’s best intentions at building the brand.

In 1995, Calvin Klein ran a ’70s porn-style campaign in which barely teenage models posed suggestively in front of wood paneling. The provocative ads, which followed the company’s successful “Marky Mark” campaign, generated quite a bit of buzz. But many critics felt it did not properly represent the soul and tonality of the venerable CK brand. The strategy would have been better suited for a brand such as today’s American Apparel.

And some also have argued that high-end manufacturer St. John Knits International created a disconnect between its core brand and consumer last year by choosing Angelina Jolie to star in its campaigns. By doing so, the company may have abandoned its sizable older consumer base too quickly in pursuit of a younger, more fashion-forward customer.

3. Stick with it

Just when a company is getting tired of its branding or marketing may be just when the message is starting to sink in with the consumer audience.

Imani Lanier recommends that a brand should not abandon its marketing and product offerings too soon. Lanier is the new design director for 7Seven jeans, whose resumeacute; includes stints at Nike Asia, Blue Marlin, Levi’s Red, as well as producing his own Imani Lanier Designs and Junkies brands.

“When I was at Nike, a team of young fashion- forward designers, including myself, was brought in to reinvigorate a brand known primarily for its ’sport-culture’ offerings,” Lanier said. “We were encouraged to go very far in a fashion direction, even further than Adidas Originals, especially because the Asian market is very fast, very forward. We came out with a great, creative fashion collection, and the marketing campaigns were just as cool.

“After all of this work, passion and development, it ended up being too fast for corporate and especially for the U.S. market in terms of volume. Everything had to be scaled back and delayed at the last minute. Needless to say, we weren’t happy about it because we thought it was a ’dope’ collection.”

Lanier said Nike held off on the launch of the collection for several seasons. “[It] ended up being the right thing to do because it absolutely exploded and became the most successful season in years,” he said. “Nike ended up sticking with the product and marketing for our fashion-forward collection longer for the same reason, and it, too, ended up getting better traction in the marketplace.”

4. Be true

Although many companies find success with the next hot thing, be wary of following fads.

“Entering the market riding on the coattails of a fad or trend and not actually having a genuinely quality product is brand suicide and will prevent a brand from having any staying power,” said Joselle Yokogawa, editor/ producer for New York–based e-commerce site and e-zine Girlshop.com.

By being true to themselves, companies can differentiate themselves and provide a reason for retailers to buy.

“Retailers don’t want to see another version of one of the brands they’re already carrying in their stores—they want to see something new,” said Marty Kish, marketing vice president for Cost Mesa, Calif.–based Vestal Watch.

5. Tell the story

“Building a brand is like storytelling,” Per Welinder, chief executive officer of Huntington Beach, Calif.–based Blitz Distribution and Tony Hawk’s Birdhouse brand.

According to Welinder, every company needs to find a great storyteller. That could be the company’s designer or its merchandiser or its brand director. The storyteller needs to anticipate how the company’s market and its customers will act and react over time.

If you don’t tell your story, someone else will—and not necessarily to your liking. That was the case for 7Seven’s Lanier when he launched his own label. “For a long time, I was so immersed in the design and product side of things that I never fully understood or was aware of the importance of creating a brand story that reflected my brand vibe and resonated with my consumer,” he said. “This all changed when I started my own signature collection some years back. I did not articulate my vision well enough via my communications, and the media started referring to my brand as another streetwear company when, in reality, I was designing an extremely high-end, near-luxury product.” It took Lanier more than two seasons to correct the perception of his brand.

“It was a painful wait,” he said, adding: “I realized my brand story was an essential starting point, which then led to the need for managing that story communication on an ongoing basis. The most successful brands out there have created a story that media, retailers and consumers can relate to—and one that is totally authentic.”

Jed Wexler owns Eight-Eighteen Strategies Inc., a brand-development company with offices in Los Angeles and New York.