The lines between workout clothes and daily apparel have become blurred over the last decade. Living a balanced lifestyle that prioritizes wellness is higher than ever. Consumers from every walk of life are choosing comfort over buttoned-up. If not every day, after hours and on the weekends. As a result, closets have never been more eclectic.

Below we dive into how to find your athletic apparel niche, determine which staples to place in your collection, and the 5 essential steps for launching your athleisure brand.

#1 Pick Your Niche

The artist inside wants to dive into the creative process, but the most successful designers know they need a strategy. So, the first step is performing market research to determine your niche.

Begin by browsing top athletic wear brands.

• Browse their social media to see which pieces have the most engagement.
• Read their online reviews to see what consumers like and don’t like about their collection.
• Take detailed notes to identify trends.
• Create an inspiration board of trends that resonate with you as a designer.

Buyer Personas

Once you know what trends you want to target, it’s time to create detailed buyer personas. Understanding who your consumer is, what motivates them, and the problems your apparel solves is the foundation for all ongoing business and brand decisions. 

Most brands begin with at least 3 distinct buyer personas. When it comes to workout clothes, you may want to create a set of 3 buyer personas for men, women, and children—or whichever is relevant to your collection.

This should include:

• Age
• Gender
• Budget
• Interests
• Motivation
• Pain points

#2 Create Consumer Pain Points

Wondering why pain points are essential when learning how to launch a gym clothing brand?

As a creative mind, it’s easy to think that the innovation of your designs will be enough to build a successful brand. Competition is fierce so you must walk the fine line of being on-trend and differentiated. 

To achieve this, you must know who you’re designing for in terms of performance and style. For example:

• Streetwear for everyday attire.
• Athletic-chic everyday attire.
• General gym and workout clothes.
• Functional sport-specific clothing.
• Activity-specific clothing, such as yoga.
• Casual t-shirts, tanks, and leggings.
• Options that are sustainable.
• Plus size or options for curvy women.

#3 Determine Your Collection Staples

Now that you understand who you’re designing for and what pain points you’re solving, it’s time to determine what your collection will consist of. More specifically, what your staples will be.

For example, brands that specialize in yoga pants are likely to have 3 to 5 different options. This might include:

• Different waistbands.
• Capri length or full-length.
• Straight leg, tapered, or wide leg.

Yoga brands often offer their collection in solid neutrals and a range of bold colors and prints. Additional staples may include matching sports bras and tank tops. Seasonal and rotating items may include layering items and sports bras with keyhole cuts or different straps.

When determining how to launch an athletic clothing brand, you’re likely to select a combination of the staples below:

• T-shirts
• Sports bras
• Tank tops
• Yoga pants
• Multipurpose leggings
• Compression wear
• Joggers
• Baggy shorts
• Fitted shorts
• Layering jackets
• Hoodies
• Sweatshirts
• And more

#4 Design

Now that you know what garments your collection will feature, it’s time to begin designing!

The creative process is entirely up to you. Since you’re an athleisure brand you have a few unique considerations before you begin. 

Neutrals: Even if they aren’t a solid color, most consumers are looking for neutrals that they can mix and match with other athletic items. So, black, white, gray, and navy options are a must.

Statement pieces: On the flip side of neutrals, consider if your buyer persona wants to stand out. From bold pops of color to mesh, custom prints, matching sets, and maybe even a bit of sparkle. 

Performance and functionality: Consider how your design will look on materials that stretch or have sweat-wicking properties. Also consider functional factors such as weight, weatherproofing, reflective strips, and pocket placement.

#5 Identify Your Production Partner

Sourcing the right production partner can make or break your activewear business. Yet, sourcing is one of the most underestimated factors when considering how to launch a gym clothing brand.

Without the right partner, you could have designs that your consumers want and need—but dismal sales. Or worse, your brand may not even get off the ground! 

It’s easier than ever to find a production partner, but between quality control, communication, and high order minimums—it’s extremely expensive to get started. Production partners like Alibaba are hit-and-miss. They work with a variety of third-party suppliers, some of whom don’t have the attention to detail your brand deserves. Even if they can deliver the quality you require, it costs at least $10k for most brands to get started.

Where most production partners fulfill your pre-paid purchase orders, Hightrast invests in your success. Hightrast isn’t just a production partner, we’re a brand success partner. To get started, all you must do is submit your designs and pay your sample costs!

Our services include:

#1 Mentorship

We’re a tenured team of industry insiders who understand the most common roadblocks to establishing a new fashion brand. Your success is our success, so we provide mentorship and guidance every step of the way.

#2 Samples

Not every production partner has the attention to detail required to bring your vision to life. To ensure quality and design integrity, we produce samples for you to review our work prior to production.

#3 Free Professional Photographs

Once your samples are approved, we create a small-scale production run of about 6 pieces per garment. Then we take high-resolution, ad-ready photographs of every product in your collection. 

#4 Free Marketing and Promotion

We add every single piece we produce with you to our online retail store Hightrast. Hightrast is a global retailer that targets both store buyers and direct-to-consumer sales.

#5 Free Production and Automated Stocking

No need to worry about funding your next production run! We handle all fulfillment and proactively monitor and replenish your Hightrast stock.  

#6 Monthly Payments

Communication and transparency are at the core of all we do. You’ll receive detailed sales reports at the beginning of each month, along with a payment for your percentage of sales. This activates a steady stream of income!

#7 And More!

Partnering with Hightrast expands your global reach, helps you network in your niche, and provides ongoing strategies to scale your athletic brand.

All of this would cost at least $10k with any other production partner!

#6 Build Your Brand

Learning how to launch an athletic clothing brand requires strategic storytelling. So, while you’re waiting for your samples and production, curate your brand identity. Feel free to reach out to a branding expert to create your brand guidelines. Your brand guidelines will be crafted to speak to your chosen demographic and let them know why you’re the athleticwear brand for them.

Your brand guidelines will include your:

• Vision statement
• Mission statement
• Brand name
• Brand story
• Brand colors
• Aesthetic style
• Tone of voice
• Logo
• Social media icons
• Typography

#7 Choose and Build Your Online Platforms

Now it’s time to determine where you want to sell your collection! Be proactive, ensuring that the same website URL and brand name are available on all platforms and sales channels you select. Don’t forget to set up local-area-compliant taxes for each of your sales channels.

By partnering with Hightrast, you can sell on the channels below without the added expense of bulk ordering, shipping, payment processing, third-party fees, fulfillment, storage, and other fees. Once an order is placed on the channels you set up, simply place your order through Hightrast!

Your online channels might include: 

Website: Every brand worth knowing has its own website. This can be a Shopify store, a Wix website, or a WordPress website with a WooCommerce plugin.

Social media: Social media isn’t only for marketing, as clothing is a category that can be sold through many social media platforms.

Etsy: An Etsy store is fast and easy to set up and allows you to sell globally. At least set up Etsy while your website is being built.

Amazon: Amazon is another excellent place to sell. Just like Etsy, Amazon has global reach and built-in marketing.  

Why so many sales channels?

More isn’t always better, but learning how to launch an athletic clothing brand requires a strategic approach. There are best practices for selling on each of the channels above, so outsource the setup to a channel expert—or do your research to ensure you have trending but low-competition keywords in your website content, product titles, and product descriptions. 

#8 Marketing

Marketing is essential for standing out in the competitive online marketplace. As a Hightrast partner, we take care of marketing on your behalf! We market your garments in our online shop and work behind the scenes to expand your industry connections. All you must do is market your external website and sales channels.

This might include any combination of:

• Posting daily on Instagram and other social media platforms.
• SEO optimizing your website and creating a backlink strategy.
• Pay-per-click ads to drive targeted traffic to your website.
• Social media ads that generate followers and engagement.
• Social media ads for lead generation and sales.
• Creating hyper-targeted email marketing funnels.
• Partnering with influencers and other collaborators.
• Posting internal blogs and external articles.
• Online and offline local-area marketing.

Now That You Know How to Launch an Athletic Clothing Brand—It’s Time to Source Your Production Partner!

Now that you know how to launch a gym clothing brand you might be looking for a production partner. We’d invite you to consider Hightrast!

Bulk production is a roadblock for most new fashion brands. Hightrast eliminates that roadblock. Our unique production process accelerates the rate at which you launch, grow, and scale your athleisurewear brand. Your success is our success, which is why you pay for your samples—and we pay for production, storage, order fulfillment, restocking, marketing, images, and posting to our online store Hightrast! 

Reach out today to learn more!