Wednesday 16 November 2016

Starting a Kidswear Brand? // A bitesize 'Branding Guide' to get you started...


Over the past few years, since starting my own business, I have helped launch a number of kidswear brands.  Clients often feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start so I have created this 'bitesized guide' to help get things kick started for anyone in this position.

BRAND NAME

People have either dreamt up a brand name and that becomes their starting point OR they have a design concept but no idea what to call their brand.  Either way there are a few simple things to consider.

First and foremost is to check the brand name isn't already registered or trade marked.  You can check this free of charge on the Intellectual Property Office.  Even if the name is registered, it may not be registered for clothing or textiles, so check out the nice classes (all explained on the website) click here to look.

Once you are happy with your chosen name you should also register it so it doesn't get taken by anyone else!  You are then safe to start buying domain names for websites and getting your Logo and branding designed.

We here at [K.I.D.S] Ltd can help you with all your branding needs - click here to email us for more details.


CONSUMER PROFILE

Decide who you are aiming your brand at?  What customer do you envisage/want to be buying from you?  

It sounds simple but be really specific - you need to get into the mind-frame of this customer (consumer profile) and REALLY understand what they want from a brand.  Where do they do their shopping?  This will determine whether you sell purely online or whether you need to have an actual store.  What are their budget constraints - your brands RRP's need to be accessible to them.  What are their values? Will you need to source organic materials and offer policies on fair trade?

It's a really useful exercise to draw up a visual consumer profile of your target customer and place it where you work so you are always reminded of who they are and who you're aiming your brand at.

KEY COMPETITORS

Where will your brand sit in the market place - who will be your key competitors?

The retail market is a volatile one at the best of times.  Brands that suceed are the ones that are most adaptable and able to evolve with the market place.  Decide who your key competitors are?  What's made them successful?  What are their strengths and weaknesses?  Most importantly - how can you compete with them, be inventive and keep up with and foresee the needs of the market and consumer?

Brands that become complacent and rely too heavily upon the success of the past, rather than being experimental and innovative with the future, are the ones that tend to stumble upon difficulties.  The brands that challenge their suppliers, take risks and are able to predict and envisage the needs for the future are the ones that remain boyant and successful.  Accept you will make mistakes but more importantly learn from them!

The consumer wants newness, something that's going to excite them AND they want to buy from a brand they value and trust.  The customer is also fickle and if they can buy a similar quality item at a more affordable competitor then they will!  Make sure you stay ahead of the game to prevent this from happening!!

This is a difficult point but it's also the key to the success of your brand!

BRAND ETHOS

Decide who you are as a brand and what you want to be known for and write a short 'brand ethos' summarising this.

This will be the core of your brand - its values, ambitions and dreams.  Set this out in a few sentences (your brand ethos) so these values stay with you and remain at the core of all your decisions and designs.  

Finally, don't stray far from these values - again, brands that see declines in sales are the ones that have often strayed too far from what their original values were and more importantly what their customers values them for!

WHERE WILL YOU SELL YOUR BRAND?

Will you have a few small boutiques, will you appear as a concession within a department store or maybe you will sell online only?

Deciding where you will sell your brand is really important.  More importantly though, as touched on earlier, is where will your target consumer want to buy your brand from or where do they shop?  It's best to decide this from the outset as a lot of your branding work will take these decisions into consideration e.g. will you need an e commerce website will you need POS designing?

There are pros and cons to selling online versus having stores and concessions.  If you go online only, then you will have more spare cash to invest in the product as you have reduced overheads - however people don't get to 'touch' the items and see the quality like they would in store - could this be detrimental to your brand?

CREATE A BRAND MOOD BOARD

Once you have decided on all the above you can start creating a 'vision' for your brand.

What influenced you or inspire you to start your brand.  What initial visions do you have for the first collections?  It's great to create a visual mood board illustrating anything that encaptures the mood and spirit of the brand.  This will also be really helpful to share with your designer once you are ready to start designing!

FIND A DESIGNER...

Maybe you are a pro with Adobe Illustrator and confident drawing CADs OR perhaps designing is NOT your forte!  Either way you will want some input from a designer.

Choosing a designer can be a daunting process - where do you start? How do you start a relationship?  Do they need to be local to you or are you happy to work remotely?  All these questions you need to ask yourself...

There are lots of places to start looking for designers but finding one thats right for you (and your budget restraints) is really important.  Stay posted for a future blog post on finding the right designer!

AND NOW...

Once you have covered all the above you may well be ready to start making your dreams a reality!  We here at [K.I.D.S] ltd are here to help you through the journey of developing your brand from a dream to reality.  Get in touch with emily at emikiddy@googlemail.com | info@kidsltd.co to start the discussion!

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Friday 4 November 2016

Spring | Summer 2018_Wave Print- For Sale!


My wave print for sale - contact me at emikiddy@googlemail.com for purchase details.

Don't forget our Spring/Summer 2018 kidswear trend publication is still availiable to purchase for £150.  Click here for more info on any of our trend publications and for contact details.


SaveSave

Thursday 3 November 2016

Autumn | Winter 2017 / 18_Bug Print - For Sale!


My Bug Print print for sale - contact me at emikiddy@googlemail.com for purchase details.

Don't forget our Autumn/Winter 2017/18 kidswear trend publication is still availiable to purchase for £150.  Click here for more info on any of our trend publications and for contact details.


Wednesday 2 November 2016

Autumn | Winter 2017 / 18_Bear Heart Print - For Sale!


My Bear heart print for sale - contact me at emikiddy@googlemail.com for purchase details.

Don't forget our Autumn/Winter 2017/18 kidswear trend publication is still availiable to purchase for £150.  Click here for more info on any of our trend publications and for contact details.



Tuesday 1 November 2016

Autumn | Winter 2017 / 18_Autumn Woodland Print - For Sale!


Here is a little autumn themed print I created in a few spare minutes I found - contact me at emikiddy@googlemail.com for purchase details.


Don't forget our Autumn/Winter 2017/18 kidswear trend publication is still availiable to purchase for £150.  Click here for more info on any of our trend publications and for contact details.


Monday 31 October 2016

Spring | Summer 2018 _ Summer Camp (Trend Overview)


We currently have three trend books for sale: Spring | Summer 2018Autumn Winter 2017/18 and Spring | Summer 2017.  Each costs £150 for the PDF and is invoiced via Paypal.  Click here to e mail me for more details.  

Below is an overview of one of the 6 trends in the SS18 Trend Book.  Each book contains over 30 separate trend boards split into older, younger and baby/layette age groups and separate boards for boys and girls.  You can preview a few pages from each of the books by clicking here and viewing in my bookshop on blurb.



Friday 28 October 2016

Spring | Summer 2018 _ Arcade Pop (Trend Overview)


We currently have three trend books for sale: Spring | Summer 2018Autumn Winter 2017/18 and Spring | Summer 2017.  Each costs £150 each for the PDF and is invoiced via Paypal.  Click here to e mail me for more details.  

Below is an overview of one of the 6 trends in the SS18 Trend Book.  Each book contains over 30 separate trend boards split into older, younger and baby/layette age groups and separate boards for boys and girls.  You can preview a few pages from each of the books by clicking here and viewing in my bookshop on blurb.



Thursday 27 October 2016

Spring | Summer 2018 _ Med-Riviera (Trend Overview)


We currently have three trend books for sale: Spring | Summer 2018Autumn Winter 2017/18 and Spring | Summer 2017.  Each costs £150 each for the PDF and is invoiced via Paypal.  Click here to e mail me for more details.  

Below is an overview of one of the 6 trends in the SS18 Trend Book.  Each book contains over 30 separate trend boards split into older, younger and baby/layette age groups and separate boards for boys and girls.  You can preview a few pages from each of the books by clicking here and viewing in my bookshop on blurb.





Wednesday 26 October 2016

Spring | Summer 2018 _ Serengheti Safari (Trend Overview)


We currently have three trend books for sale: Spring | Summer 2018Autumn Winter 2017/18 and Spring | Summer 2017.  Each costs £150 each for the PDF and is invoiced via Paypal.  Click here to e mail me for more details.  

Below is an overview of one of the 6 trends in the SS18 Trend Book.  Each book contains over 30 separate trend boards split into older, younger and baby/layette age groups and separate boards for boys and girls.  You can preview a few pages from each of the books by clicking here and viewing in my bookshop on blurb.


Tuesday 25 October 2016

Spring | Summer 2018 _ Southwold Pier (Trend Overview)


We currently have three trend books for sale: Spring | Summer 2018, Autumn Winter 2017/18 and Spring | Summer 2017.  Each costs £150 for the PDF and is invoiced via Paypal.  Click here to e mail me for more details.  

Below is an overview of one of the 6 trends in the SS18 Trend Book.  Each book contains over 30 separate trend boards split into older, younger and baby/layette age groups and separate boards for boys and girls.  You can preview a few pages from each of the books by clicking here and viewing in my bookshop on blurb.


Friday 7 October 2016

[K.I.D.S] Trend Publications - Information


Hopefully everyone is aware of my trend publications that have been growing is size and success over the past couple of years!

I currently have 3 to choose from including Spring | Summer 2017 , Autumn | Winter 2017/18 and the most recent release Spring |Summer 2018.

Each are available in PDF format for £150 with a 10% discount for multiple purchases.  You can also order the hardcopies which an additional £40 printing, postage and packaging fee is applicable.  Invoicing is done via paypal.  Click here to e mail for more information and purchase enquiries.


Monday 19 September 2016

[K.I.D.S] Spring | Summer 2018_Trend Publication - Available Now!


Our [K.I.D.S] Spring | Summer 2018 Trend Publication is now available to buy for £150 in PDF of hardcopy format.  Click here to e mail me about purchasing the PDF copy which I can invoice you through via PayPal OR you can purchase the hardcopy at Blurb (additional P and P fees apply) by clicking here.

Here are a few sneak peaks at a few of the spreads...






Like all [K.I.D.S] publications, this issue contains five separate trend stories, each split up into seven separate trendboards.  The stories beguin with a Fabric Focus board which is followed by the visual trend story boards which are split into Older, Younger and Baby/Layette and then split into both Boys and Girls boards.  Each trend is supported by a Pantone® referenced colour palette with main colours (in larger circles) intended to form the main base colours of the range as well as accent colour (which appear in smaller circles) intended to influence secondary colours and prints and graphics in the range.

SS18 too far ahead for you?

Don't worry we still have the following issues still available:

Autumn|Winter 2017/18

Spring|Summer 2017

Email me at emikiddy@googlemail.com for more information OR click here.

Wednesday 7 September 2016

[K.I.D.S] Spring | Summer 2018_Trend Publication - For Sale


It's that time of the season again...

Our [K.I.D.S] Spring | Summer 2018 Trend Publication is now available to buy for £150 in PDF of hardcopy format.  Click here to e mail me about purchasing the PDF copy which I can invoice you through via PayPal OR you can purchase the hardcopy at Blurb (additional P and P fees apply) by clicking here.

Like all [K.I.D.S] publications, this issue contains five separate trend stories, each split up into seven separate trendboards.  The stories beguin with a Fabric Focus board which is followed by the visual trend story boards which are split into Older, Younger and Baby/Layette and then split into both Boys and Girls boards.  Each trend is supported by a Pantone® referenced colour palette with main colours (in larger circles) intended to form the main base colours of the range as well as accent colour (which appear in smaller circles) intended to influence secondary colours and prints and graphics in the range.

SS18 too far ahead for you?

Don't worry we still have the following issues still available:

Autumn|Winter 2017/18

Spring|Summer 2017

Email me at emikiddy@googlemail.com for more information OR click here.


Tuesday 30 August 2016

Prints for Sale!


Here are some prints I created recently all available for purchase e mail me here if you are interested??












Thursday 7 July 2016

Tuesday 28 June 2016

Cute Club // Character Design


Over the past few months I have been involved with a really cool character project with a company called Brandart.  The first launch of products and stationery aimed at the toddler market is just about to hit chosen retailers.  Here is a peak at their promotional catalogue showcasing some of the designs...








Monday 20 June 2016

Autumn | Winter 2017/18 Kidswear Trend Magazine For Sale


My Autumn | Winter 2017 / 18 - Kidswear Trend Magazine is now availiable to purchase!  It costs just £150 and is available in PDF and Hardcopy magazine format (additional costs for P&P of hard copy)

Click here to preview the first few pages

Click here to e mail me for a PayPal invoice to purchase the PDF and in magazine format click here to purchase from blurb.com. 






Monday 13 June 2016

Kids Interior Trend // Winter Den | Multi Seasonal


We have recently moved home AND had a new edition to our family all in the past two months!  (Hence the drought in posts recently)  Our new place is a barn conversion that's been in need of a little TLC.  Our main priorities were our kids bedrooms so I have been playing around with a few trend boards to inspire some ideas - I will update with some actual pictures of the rooms once I manage to put the paintbrush down!!


Friday 10 June 2016

Kids Interior Trend // Greige Dream | Multi Seasonal


We have recently moved home AND had a new edition to our family all in the past two months!  (Hence the drought in posts recently)  Our new place is a barn conversion that's been in need of a little TLC.  Our main priorities were our kids bedrooms so I have been playing around with a few trend boards to inspire some ideas - I will update with some actual pictures of the rooms once I manage to put the paintbrush down!!


I'd love to know what you think of the post and trend - if you like it perhaps it can become a regular feature to the blog!?


My Autumn | Winter 2017 / 18 - Kidswear Trend Magazine is now availiable to purchase in PDF format (click here to e mail me for a PayPal invoice to purchase the PDF) and in magazine format (click here to purchase from blurb.com). 



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...