Starting an apparel brand is a big investment, and taking the time to validate your idea before jumping into product development can save you time, money, and frustration down the road.
As the launch of my book The Business of Apparel is right around the corner, I want to be sure you have a solid foundation for your brand before reading about how to start your business. I'm walking through the essential research I recommend doing before launching an apparel brand. I explain why researching your idea, understanding your potential customers, and creating a business plan can help you enter the apparel industry with a stronger foundation and a clearer path forward.
📝 Today We're Covering:
- How to vet an apparel product idea before investing in development
- What questions to include in customer surveys to guide product development
- How competitor research can help you understand pricing, products, and opportunities
- Why every apparel founder should consider creating a business plan
- How a SWOT analysis can help you identify your brand's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
- Why thinking like a CEO from the beginning can set your apparel business up for long-term success
If you're still developing your brand idea, or if you're looking forward to reading my new book The Business of Apparel, you need to know these practical steps in order to validate your concept, understand your customers, and build your brand with a stronger business foundation.
➡️ Your Next Steps:
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🤝 Meet Rachel:
Rachel Erickson is a Fractional COO, Apparel Industry Consultant, and founder of Unmarked Street and The Business of Apparel. With 20+ years in technical design and product development leadership, she sat at the executive table of a $25M apparel line and helped scale it to $60M in one year.
After decades working inside major fashion companies, she learned the truth behind billion-dollar brands, and it's not about chasing trends or pumping out endless products. It's about building clean processes, tightly edited assortments, and obsessively focused customer targeting.
Rachel helps founders and CEOs of performance apparel brands:
✅ Build lean, profitable product lines
✅ Streamline operations for growth
✅ Replace overwhelm with executive clarity
✅ Create garments that fit bodies in motion
Whether you're just hitting $1M in revenue or trying to break through the $10M ceiling, Rachel will join you as an embedded operations and product partner—running fittings, line plans, tech packs, and vendor communications so you can get back to leading.
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-erickson-pmp/ and visit her website at www.unmarkedstreet.com.
