The way you promote your garments should mirror the brand’s image and style. If you take a flick through the lookbooks of successful t-shirt brands, the style and tone of the images go further than just a picture of a t-shirt. They are selling a lifestyle, an image, and if you intend on being successful, you should do so too. The best brands and designers have a clear idea of themselves and market directly to their captive audience through their promotional images.
NW Custom Apparel
Create an Environment
Shooting images of your custom clothing in the environment that you think represents how they should be worn is a no brainer. Here are a few tips on how to create your brand’s “look and feel”.
As the first step of the process, a mood board will help you visualize and put on paper the ideas you have in your head. Then go up to your family and friends and ask them how they see your clothing brand. In next step you need to do some research to find out your target audience.
Focus on the Models
Clearly one of the biggest of deciding how to promote your t-shirt designs revolves around the choice of whether to use models or not. Just like the environment you carefully selected, the models you choose have to represent the right image for your t-shirt designs. Tattoos or no tattoos, muscular or skinny. These are questions you need to ask yourself before you start the selection process so don’t be afraid to go all Simon Cowell on your modelling hopefuls. After all, it’s your brand.
Let the T-shirt do the Talking
If all that sounds like too much to handle then maybe the best option for you is to make things simple. Often times less is more and, when done well, minimalism can be the epitome of elegance. Sometimes it is better to just let the t-shirts do the talking and present them in the most simple, but effective way. This could be laid out onto a table or other surface, or on a hanger.
Shoot a Promotional Video
A picture can speak a thousand words, but many pictures will help you sell t-shirts. Putting together a promotional video may seem a little out of reach for small brands, but with the technology currently at your disposal and a little bit of creativity there are no limits on what you can achieve. If you have the budget for it, the contacting a production company would be the best idea.
Get in touch with trendsetters and influencers
Look for the influencers in your industry. Once you’ve identified them, it’s time to get in touch with them. A good ol’ fashioned email should do, but if you don’t get a reply or can’t get your hands on an address, social media is also a good way to go about it. Take the time to draw up a well-written message. It needs to explain your brand, why you’re contacting them and what you’d expect from a future collaboration. Don’t send anything too long or you’ll run the risk of boring the reader – and have them click away halfway through.
