Three selling models in a clothing brand
Branding your clothing line can vary depending on the business model you choose. However, there are universal strategies you can apply across three primary models:
- an e-commerce shop,
- a retail fashion store, and
- a hybrid model that combines both.
You could also opt to sell your products through a boutique that showcases multiple brands in one location, though this would limit your control over certain aspects of branding.
Before diving into the key components of branding for your clothing line, let’s review these three models.
E-commerce
E-commerce involves shipping products directly to customers, making it an ideal starting point. You avoid store maintenance costs, employee wages, and other overhead. Moreover, there are numerous online tools available to help streamline your operations.
For instance, consider Zalando, a German marketplace for clothing stores, which focuses exclusively on online sales. Their use of bubble mailers, poly mailers, and custom shipping bags in the UK exemplifies effective, branding-conscious packaging.
Retail Store
Selling clothes in a physical showroom opens up different possibilities. You can engage customers with a multi-sensory experience, leveraging sight, smell, sound, and touch to build a unique brand presence.
Additionally, you can foster a local identity by hosting fashion events, designer meet-ups, or supporting the local fashion scene. Take Monokel, a German brand that specializes in tailor-made menswear, as an example. With a luxurious shop interior in the heart of Berlin, Monokel emphasizes a personal touch that simply cannot be replicated online.
A Mix of Both
Many e-commerce brands eventually open showrooms to diversify sales channels, attract new customer segments, and receive first-hand feedback.
While each business model offers distinct opportunities, several universal factors influence branding in the fashion industry. Let’s explore the most crucial points.
Key Elements of a Branding Strategy
Although branding strategies may vary from one company to another based on their business model, three core elements influence your brand's image:
- The tone of your communication with customers.
- Your visual identity across ads, social media, and consistent design.
- Your packaging solutions, whether you're using bubble mailers, poly mailers, or custom shipping bags.
Tone of Communication
How you communicate with customers is fundamental to your branding.
Start by defining your ideal customer through a buyer persona. Answer questions such as:
- How old are they?
- Where do they search for your products?
- What do they value most about your brand?
- How can you convey your unique selling proposition?
Once you’ve developed a clear buyer persona, focus on how to engage them. Most modern brands aim to minimize the gap between them and their customers, becoming a “shopping partner” rather than just a business. Happy Socks, for example, does this effectively.
In an e-commerce model, this boils down to having strong, engaging copy on your website. The goal is to be concise, direct, and encourage customers to explore your offerings. Girlfriend Collective, an American apparel brand known for its eco-friendly ethos, exemplifies this approach. From the materials used to create their garments to their shipping bags made from recycled materials, everything aligns with their brand’s tone—down-to-earth, authentic, and environmentally conscious.
Visual Branding
The visual elements of your brand—such as colors, fonts, and symbols—play a significant role in how your brand is perceived. This includes not just your website, but also your physical store, product tags, and even packaging such as bubble mailers or poly mailers.
Take H&M, for example. Its logo, dominated by red—a vibrant and energetic color—didn't resonate with everyone. In contrast, Zara’s darker, more sophisticated branding evokes feelings of elegance and calm, aligning more with premium expectations.
The visual branding extends to everything from website design to product packaging. Hien-Le, a Berlin-based designer, meticulously crafted a raw, minimalist branding approach that encompassed the packaging, showroom interior, and product display.
Packaging: The First Physical Impression
A common mistake made by clothing brands is underestimating the importance of packaging. Whether you’re using bubble mailers, poly mailers, or custom shipping bags, your packaging communicates who you are as a brand.
According to a 2017 study, 59% of U.S. consumers stated that poor packaging design negatively influenced their purchasing decisions. Packaging, especially in e-commerce, is the first physical touchpoint between your brand and the customer.
What does your packaging say about your brand? Are you minimalist, creative, or colorful? Packaging is more than just a protective layer—it is a part of your brand story.
For instance, Shore, a Polish apparel brand, used their packaging to creatively connect with their brand name. Their boxes feature calming images of seashores or mountain ranges, depending on the product seasonality. This clever design makes their shipping bags not just functional, but memorable and distinctive.
Your packaging can also serve as a social media marketing tool. Encourage customers to share photos of your branded shipping bags, poly mailers, or bubble mailers using specific hashtags. This helps spread your brand’s name and associate your packaging with the quality of your product.
Seth Hartman, a blogger from My Creative Look, regularly features stylish men's wear packaging. For instance, Urbanebox’s use of custom-designed shipping sets gained attention on his platform.
Kuyichi, a Dutch organic denim brand, uses recyclable packaging materials to align with its sustainable, slow-fashion ethos. Their poly mailers are a conscious extension of their mission to "fix" the clothing industry by rejecting fast fashion trends and opting for circular production.
With these strategies in mind, you can build a strong, consistent branding strategy that aligns with your business model—whether e-commerce, retail, or a combination of both.
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