The yoga wear apparel market worldwide has been growing rapidly in recent years. Due to the pandemic, people have looked for different ways to stay active, whether it’s been indoors, at home, or outside in nature, away from people crowds in order to keep the social distance, which means there is much room to grow for new brands that cater to unique designs and concepts.
The global market for fitness clothing boomed during the pandemic, and it’s showing no signs of slowing. Between 2021 and 2026, athleisure sales are predicted to grow about 5 percent, according to one forecast, meaning there’s plenty more room for new brands with unique and innovative design ideas and brand concepts.
Jumping into the process without fully understanding how to start an yoga wear line can be a dangerous prospect, though. Cheap merch can do more harm than good for your brand’s reputation and bottom line, because low-quality gear can compromise your clients’ trust.
Mark-up can also vary by brand. Some companies operate on smaller margins due to the quality and local craftsmanship in the hopes it will grow as the brand scales. Others manufacture overseas and make an 80 percent margin.
Do you have some great design ideas or a cool new yoga clothing brand concept? Can’t you find the styles you are looking for?? If you’re looking for the steps in launching your yoga wear line, then our guide is for you. So how to start your own yoga wear line and make it happen? We’ll give you an overview of the steps involved in starting your own successful business.
1. Starting Up
Find the idea and your unique identity.
You need to come up with an idea. Maybe you can’t find the clothes you are looking for, or you have a strong design opinion that you want to show the world. You are better off if you can connect your idea to the customer’s needs. If you strongly believe in your idea, you should go ahead and make it happen. The most important is to know who your target customer is and the yoga wear niche you are going to cover in the marketplace.
2. Market Research
After you identify a great idea for a business, the next step is to research your target market.
Research the market to determine whether your idea is unique and whether there is still room for your style in the yoga wear industry.
Check out trends by visiting stores and trying on several different styles of yoga wear. Research the global yoga wear industry by visiting websites, reading trade magazines and speaking with industry experts. Make sure your product or service stands out from the competition by defining your target customer.
Define Your Target Customer
Before entering a new market, it is important to identify your target customer. To do this, you must define your brand identity by understanding the needs of your target customer and what products you will offer them so that your customers will remember your product and can’t get it anywhere else
Business Plan
A business plan lets you set goals for the long term and helps you keep track of any changes along the way, as things usually don’t go the way we have pictured it in our heads. It can also be great in case you plan to bring investors and partners on board.
Budgeting
Just like any other business, an yoga wear line will require some budgeting to get started. In your business plan, you have made an initial budget, and you have an estimate of how much it will cost you to set it up. Have an estimated and determine how your business will be financed. You can either choose particular start-up loans or an investor to get your business the early boost it needs.
Team
As mentioned in step 1, setting up your brand will require a lot of blood, sweat, and happy;) tears. Can you do it all by yourself? Even if you can, is that the most efficient way to do it? It’s essential to have a cast of talented and motivated people behind your back in case you fall short.
3. Start to Design Your Collection
Once you land on your budget for the total project (or how much you can afford to invest in your yoga wear clothing line), it all starts with the design. First things first: Create your own logo if you don’t already have one. You may also want to work with designers to craft tangential designs like brand taglines and catchphrases. Once you have your logo, you can hone in on your yoga clothing line’s vibe.
When the foundation phase is all set, then it’s time to start designing your products. The first step here is to define your collection, a strong collection with styles that complement each other, and help the sales.
In this phase, you will also focus on choosing the right materials. Think about what purpose the products have, what problem they will solve for your customers, and the aesthetic direction you want to go in.
After you’ve defined your collection and structure, the yoga wear designer or freelance designer can start sketching and sourcing. It’s important to incorporate the inspiration, the brand image, and your target customer. The styles should fit in with the values, vision, mission, and identity of your brand.
4. Choose Reputable Manufacturer
Then, it’s time to choose your partner brands. There are thousands of yoga wear manufacturers on the market and some have much more experience than others. They also have a wide range of value systems.
Then, ask about these details to find your perfect manufacturer match:
How much experience they have in yoga wear;
The machinery and processes they use to bring their clothing to life;
Lead times, ability to source materials you plan to use, current suppliers and brand partners;
Minimum order quantities;
Sustainability practices.
After finding the top three to five potential manufacturers that align with your needs and values, ask for samples so you can perform a quality assurance check. Study the seams and the material itself, then wear and wash the garments to see how they hold up.
This stage is a vital part of the process, as even though your yoga wear looks good on paper, you’ll still want your designs to be fully wearable while looking and fitting the way you want it to and finding a good pattern based on the tech pecks.
Once you’re happy with your final sample, It’s now time to hand off the baton to your manufacturer and await your fitness clothing line’s arrival.
5. Marketing Your Brand
It is up to you as a brand to determine what sales strategies you want to implement. This is when all your efforts in research during the beginning of development come in. The image of your brand that you present out there is equally important as your products. This is how your customers get to know your brand. You need to figure out how your brand will sell to make profits and keep following your passion.
Consider other marketing strategies that fit with your brand and your clients: Would a fashion show with your instructors or trainers draw attendance if you host it after class, serve smoothies and host a giveaway? Should you offer discounts or incentives for your most frequent gym visitors? Can you team up with regional influencers to spread the news?
Hope that This 5-step overview can help you get inspired to start own yoga wear brand. We wish you great success in your journey ahead.
No matter if you are a start-up or an established brand that wants to expand your product segment, we can help you make it happen. With everything from concept, collection strategy, tech packs, and sourcing, we can also help you with an end-to-end solution. You bring the idea and concept, and we help make your idea a reality–create your own brand and bring yoga wear products to your future customers’ hands.