Running a business can feel overwhelming and complex. You only have 24h/day and can’t and shouldn’t do it all yourself. There are tons of tools, services, and products out there for you to use, but how do you know which ones are good and which ones are much better for you?
We have curated a list of helpful tools and resources that we strongly recommend, for building and growing your apparel business.
Apparel Business Downloadables
The Apparel Entrepreneurship Member Zone contains a wide range of templates, cheat sheets, and checklists to facilitate your everyday work and hustle. You can find design tech packs, cost sheet, product price matrix, croquis templates and much more.
Graphic Design
When you need help with e.g. logos, web page design, infographics, pamphlets, leaflets, printing on t-shirts, jersey, sweatshirts, and hoodies, or designing labels for various products, 99designs.com can be an option for you. You are essentially hosting a contest online where you will be able to attract a lot of great graphic designers that will submit their concept to you on the website, and you’ll be able to provide feedback and pick and choose out of many different concepts.
Domain, Web Host & E-mail
Blueshost is powering over 2 million websites worldwide. It is the #1 recommended web hosting by WordPress.org. Every account features 1-click WordPress installation, and they have hosting starting at $2.95/month.
Design Assets
Creative Market is an online marketplace for community-generated design assets. The company sells graphics, WordPress themes, stock photography, and other digital goods for use by web creatives. With over one million users and more than 250,000 purchasable items, there is a big chance you can find something to help you in your creative process.
Online Shop
Shopify is an out of the box solution to create and run your online shop. It is based on a subscription model where you let Shopify handle the maintenance, support, hosting, tech, and even design. This is an easy solution if you want to spend as little time as possible running your e-com site. Click the button to start a free 14-day trial period.
Shipping
Shipstation is a shipping software that can help you if you are selling your apparel online. You can import, manage, and ship your orders in an efficient way. Shipstation works in the US with the most popular marketplaces and shopping carts using all the top carriers. We have heard great things about Shipstation, but we haven’t used it ourselves. You can try it 30 days for free by clicking the button.
The Building A StoryBrand Book is a must read for all business owners, designers, and storytellers that want to better connect with their customers. It’s about learning how to shift from talking about you, your product and your brand, towards your customers’ needs and what your products can do for them. It gives the reader a 7 framework setup for how to achieve this.
Key takeaways:
– The customer is the hero, not your brand. Your main business purpose is to solve your customers’ problem.
– Never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. You must tell them through great stories.
On the back of it says: Your product will only survive in a crowded marketplace if you stop advertising and start innovating. This is a must read!
This is a book every designer and apparel startup entrepreneur should have in their studio! As they describe the book – The ultimate fashion bible. Fashionpedia is a visual fashion dictionary covering all the technical terms from style to materials to production with illustrations and infographics.
It it was it sais in the title. Follow the 22 laws and have a winning brand. A classic book in the marketing segment, quick read, that you will pick up over and over again.
Find your niche and dominate it. Going into a “busy” market will mean less atention and less customers. I strongly recommend this book to not only sportswear brand startups but anyone that’s thinking about starting a company.
For all creatives out there this is an extremely powerful book on unleashing the creativity that lies within all of us.
Want to boost your creativity? Read this book! If you steal from one artist it’s stealing, but if you steal from 100 artists it’s called inspiration and reasearch. Nothing is original and what makes the work yours is the remix and the YOU seasoning you add to it. All the best artist steal?
This book is a must read not only for business purposes but for your entire life. The title says it all – mutitasking doesn’t work, focus on one thing at a time.
This is the book that inspired me to start my first brand. I really resonated with the fact that you can run a clothing business your way. It’s a fantastic example of how you can live a life doing things you love and working with things you are passionate about. The Patagonia “purpose” is much bigger than just some clothes. They inspire and motivate for more sustainable businesses.
A fantastic quick read! Not only for startup entrepreneurs, but for all creatives out there!
This is a book about doing good and starting something with a purpose.
Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with all of these resources, and we recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.
