Every iconic brand has an origin story. A clothing line that may dominate today’s department stores may have started as a small business run out of a fledgling fashion designer’s living room. While launching your own clothing line is challenging, thanks to e-commerce and online marketing, it just might be possible to turn a brand that began in a small online store into a clothing brand that’s beloved nationwide.
The great brands of the clothing industry weren’t cobbled together in a piecemeal fashion. Even when trial-and-error was involved, these brands almost certainly followed a business plan and continued to scale at a sustainable pace. Use this step-by-step guide as a way to help structure your own business model.
Be prepared for peaks and valleys as you embark on your clothing business journey. Starting a new company from scratch is never easy, but it’s certainly possible. Remember that all of today’s iconic brands got their start somewhere.
TO ACHIEVE YOUR BUSINESS DREAM, YOU HAVE TO GET STARTED!
That’s the motto of Mr. Vishal Jain— Ludhiana-based founder of apparel brand TAB91. Vishal started his career in the fashion retail sector with great enthusiasm. In 2013, he took the bold decision to leave his job and start his own clothing brand for men and women. With a modest investment, he built the TAB91 brand from scratch on both online and offline platforms. In less than seven years, his turnover has grown to a whopping Rs 22 crores with a presence in more than 650 retail stores and on leading online marketplaces.
Overview of Tab91
According to Vishal Jain, the motivation behind the establishment of this venture was my love for fashion apparel. I am proud of my journey from a salesman to the founder of a company and from an employee to a job creator.
TAB91 is a one-of-its-kind start-up, it started in 2013 with a capital of Rs 5,000 and now has a turnover of over Rs 22 crore within a span of 6 years. The brand has a presence in 22 states of India with 650+ points of sales. Soon the brand will be expanding its wings to other states as well to make the brand available on a pan India level. Tab91 has vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities at Ludhiana. New-fangled machinery, trained professionals, and a strict quality assurance system culminates in the finest designs stitched to perfection. As of now, the brand has a capacity of manufacturing 1,500 units in a day.
TAB91 has been the forefront runner in adapting the latest technologies in its business. We started doing online sales through e-commerce marketplaces in 2013 and have been awarded time and again for excellence in services from Flipkart and Amazon.
TAB91 redefined the casual wear market and became a big hit with shoppers
TAB91 redefined the casual wear market by introducing an extremely trendy, young, and colorful collection which became a big hit with shoppers. The brand has been built and grown on a simple philosophy of the 3Fs – Fabric, Fit & Finish – and strives to deliver only the best to its customers. In line with the brand’s massive popularity, it has been awarded the Flipkart Star Seller award for its high number of sales on the platform.
Tab91 offers a wide range of menswear including t-shirts, track pants, shorts, capris, Bermudas, loungewear, nightwear, winter jackets, windcheaters, pullovers, sweatshirts, and fashion accessories. Its womenswear range includes tops, tunics, western dresses, loungewear, capris, shorts, digital and sublimation printed tops, plus size tops, woolen cardigans, pullovers, sweatshirts, woolen tops, jackets, ponchos, shrugs, and a wide assortment of fashion accessories like caps mufflers, hand gloves, and woolen socks.
Tab91 success is about having a strong business plan and marketing strategy
The secret to running a successful online apparel business is having a strong business plan and marketing strategy that can be executed by you and your team. Maybe you created both of these when you launched your brand, which is great. The important thing to keep in mind, however, is that these are not set in stone.
AS YOUR BUSINESS GROWS YOUR GOALS WILL CHANGE AND YOUR STRATEGIES WILL HAVE TO ADAPT TO BE ABLE TO MEET THOSE GOALS.
This doesn’t mean that you are changing the purpose, or mission of your business, rather it means your goals will change in order to continue to meet your mission in an ever-changing market. Start also with one product line and begin climbing the ladder to success through it. You develop the brand from one product line so as to focus on it, maintain the consistency that carries the design-forward and concentrate on the things that need improvement.
Also, setting a decent price fit for your product is paramount to attaining success. You must be able to understand the needs of the customers, how much they would be willing to pay and how much you can spend on materials without sacrificing the quality of your product. You must know and understand the system of dealing and bargaining with suppliers, creditors, retailers, and customers.
It may be difficult at the start. However, it is essential to understand the process because it serves as the backbone of your business. Moreover, it is important to transact with suppliers, retailers, and customers in the most professional way.
Tab91 differs from its competitor
Convenience, discoverability, affordability, and creativity is the model on which we are working. The company runs on an Asset Light Model and uses the latest technology and innovation for its entire operations. We do not work on a product push strategy, rather we follow a customer pull strategy. We listen to our end-user and all the links in the supply chain and put efforts to make the product as per their expectations.
“We are operating through our own website and all leading online marketplaces like Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart, etc. We have a great response over here too and in all categories, we hold a very strong position,” says Vishal Jain
Establishing your own business is no piece of cake and when the success rate of your industry is less than others, you ought to be more careful and well planned. The reason pertaining to this low success rate might be attributed to the high rate of competition, changing fashion trends, and lack of prior business experience as the owners are mostly designers. But among all these hardships and obstacles, if you have designed proper steps for your business, you are definitely going to succeed.
The fashion industry is constantly changing with no day the same. The ability to think on your feet and make a decision in a split second is key. Of course, this can be extremely stressful. It is important to know how to destress in a quick and timely manner. While you could be working a normal 9-5 job, you may also work overtime or odd hours. Starting your own brand only adds another level of intensity as you are attempting to establish yourself in an industry that has been around for centuries. Presumably, you will do your best work if you aren’t overly stressed and are able to be flexible at all times.
Tab91 Made Their Fashion Brand Stand Out from the crowd
- It is essential to understand the purpose of your brand.
Is it meant to sell clothes for all age groups or just a specific subset of people? This applies to different customer groups based on their ages, genders, hobbies, etc. Determining your target helps you hone in on your unique selling point, which you can use to further make your brand stand out among others.
- Have a consistent brand image
For fashion brands, it is important to stick to a consistent image. In addition to the target customers, fashion brands should determine which style they want to do. It can be an overarching style of the whole brand or a specific look for a collection. Having a consistent brand image is crucial to tell consumers that you are different from competitors. A report by Lucidpress shows that consistent presentation of a brand can increase revenue by 33%.
- Don’t lose focus on product quality.
Before being ‘bold’, a brand must fulfill the basic requirements first. No matter how excellent you are in promoting your brand, it will do no good if the quality of clothing is not up to customer expectations. Don’t forget to carefully check the quality of your products from the earliest stage of production, and even when you have achieved good growth in terms of popularity and growth.
- Spread your market
With the boom in retail in the last few decades, India has embraced consumerism and fashion consumption has grown manifolds, even in smaller cities across the country. Smaller retail locations are transforming rapidly and offer great potential for brands and retailers today. The buying pattern of these consumers is changing as they are becoming more aspirational and slowly coming at par with their urban counterparts in terms of awareness about fashion and the latest trend. Echoing similar sentiments, Jain from Tab 91 adds,
“Earlier Tier I and II markets were ignored by retailers, large format stores. But with the advent of internet accessibility, I am surprised with the focus these cities are getting from all business houses. In the current market scenario, almost 30 percent of sales are coming from these markets which are likely to grow with the coming times ahead.”
- Timely technological advancements
In this developing world, technology has become an essential part of running any business. Garment manufacturers must introduce timely technological advancements in order to ensure product quality and sustainable growth. In most cases, an automated machine reduces manual intervention, thus resulting in direct cost savings because of the reduction in labor costs. In addition to the reduction in manual labor, some additional benefits of automation include better quality, energy-saving, reduced breakdown, and inventory control.
Tab 91 has an in-house R&D division to create new winter wear product designs and identification of appropriate fabrics. This season, the brand is focusing on the lightweight theme with innovative fabrics and fancy yarns that have been specifically developed to appeal to the youth.
“This season we have especially focused on using Griddle, Scuba, Tensely, Modal besides regular fabrics. In the knitted range, we have concentrated on a range of lightweight yarns and blends in cardigans which have been developed especially for our brand,” says Vishal Jain.
- Customer service
Customer-centricity is no more just related to the services sector; rather, it is transforming most of the manufacturing businesses. For garment manufacturers, it is important to not only manufacture the right products at the right time, but also cater to the changing requirements and have a service orientation such as customer resolution management, being flexible and adaptive to new designs, and having internal quality audits. With changing buyers’ demands such as short product life cycles and a high number of stock-keeping units, manufacturers must form long-term partnerships with brands to ensure that they are both aligning and upgrading themselves as per buyers’ needs.
Success and failure go hand to hand in the journey towards success
It is human nature to be afraid of putting yourself in a vulnerable situation, especially when you are placing your own creativity on the line. Which, to an extent, can feel even more personal. Because of this, you must handle failure in a positive manner. In the fashion industry calculated risks are imperative to coming out on top. Sometimes it won’t work out and you will experience the bitterness of failure. Instead of looking at it as a step back, look at it as a step in the right direction. Failure usually goes hand in hand with rejection. So, it is important to respect the fact that your vision won’t always be accepted. Especially if you don’t sell your own line, you will have to recognize that the business may choose to go in a different direction. They are doing what is best for their brand, it’s not personal.
Share three things that are instrumental to anyone’s success according to Vishal are:
- The conception of the right idea at the right time There was no such arrangement of after-sales service in the garment industry. We are among the few who started developing and listening to our feedback channels and I think customer feedback has played a pivotal role in our growth.
- We believe in developing our human resources as assets, not merely like the group of people working together. I think such an approach has indeed helped us grow at a faster pace than our competitors. We are proud of our team and people feel proud of getting associated with us.
- We at TAB91 are firm believers that honesty is still the best policy whether it’s product quality, product delivery, product design, and product performance.
TAB91 vision is to offer contemporary products with a keen sense of style
The young and stylish wear segment is a lucrative segment poised for high growth. It is also an untapped segment as compared to other apparel segments. Having said this, brands and retailers who are going to spend a larger share of revenue in making their back-end strong to understand customer convenience, needs, and the current fashion and market trends, will champion the growth story.
2021 passed on many learnings to the fashion industry before merging into 2022 –yet another year which is going to be a mix of challenges and opportunities, hopefully, more of the latter. Each step taken forward by the apparel fashion industry in the New Year must be a calculative one. The fashion players will have to manage the demands of digital, sustainability, and the supply chain. Customers are expected to stay pliant as they had been throughout the past two years. In the recovering economies, fashion demand will only grow in 2022 and beyond. Hence, fashion companies will have to focus on unlocking growth, engage with customers, understand changing needs, and intensely concentrate on building profit margins.
TAB91 mission is to deliver the best value in terms of Fashionable Products, Customer service, and Practice. Their vision is to offer contemporary products in the casual range for the Men’s & Women’s with a keen sense of style. The fashion industry can be a chaotic place, whether you are starting your own brand or simply attempting to climb the ladder. It can be hard to establish yourself, as with any trade, the fashion industry seems to be at another level. That being said, it is an incredible industry that brings like-minded, creative, individuals together on a daily basis. As you move forward in your careers, no matter what path you choose, keep in mind and remember although overtime and stress are a given, as long as you are following your passion it’s worth it!
