Do you need to create a website for your new clothing line? A lot of clothing lines today live and die by their websites, especially for lesser-known brands. In many cases, this could be a customer’s first experience with your business model.
Thus, you need to make sure it’s one worth memorizing. Similar to the brand itself, your website needs to be well designed to wow the audience, while also being easy to navigate and SEO friendly.
Today, I am going to cover the steps you need to take to create a clothing line website.
What Should A Clothing Line Website Include?
The primary goal of every clothing line website is to show off your brand to visitors.
Thus, the website needs to have a big focus on images. And as I’m sure you are aware, images of people wearing the clothes are going to get better results. You may also want to be able to sell those items online.
Thus, you need to create an online store to sell your products.
I say “may” because there are some brands that try to be…exclusive. They claim that the in-person experience is part of their brand. Thus, some may not want to sell products online, but in most cases, the pandemic has forcibly erased this behavior.
Before you begin, I encourage you to make a list of the feature you want to include and the goals of the website.
How to Make A Clothing Website to Show Off Your Brand
Step 1: Choose A Web Hosting Company
The first step of building any kind of website is to find a web hosting company. For those unaware, a web hosting company will rent you a web server to store your website on. They are responsible for maintaining the website so it runs 24/7.
Every time a visitor connects to your website, they are actually connecting to that web server.
As an essential part of every single website, there are a ton of options at your disposal, but they are anything but equal. As you might have already guessed, the quality of your web host will directly affect your website’s performance.
Thus, you need to pick the best one possible, and that’s exactly what we offer at GreenGeeks. Don’t just take my word for it either. GreenGeeks was voted one of the top web hosts of 2021 for the incredible service we provide customers.
Not only do we achieve some of the fastest speeds in the industry, but we manage to do it without impacting the environment. We accomplish this by carefully calculating all of the energy a website we host will use and purchasing three times that amount in clean energy.
As a result, the websites we host are actually carbon negative. That’s pretty rare in the web hosting industry.
Step 2: Choose a Building Platform (WordPress)
Before you can create a clothing website, you first need to actually choose a platform to build it on. And just like web hosts, there are a ton of choices that you may want to look at and compare, but let me save you some time and just focus on WordPress.
WordPress is an open-source CMS that you can use for free. The only cost associated with it is the mandatory web hosting fees that every CMS needs. It is versatile enough to build any website and it is usable at any skill level.
Thus, it is the perfect choice for beginners. And this may be the biggest factor in why it dominates the industry.
Did you know that WordPress has a market share that exceeds 40%? Or in other words, 40% of the websites on the internet are built using WordPress. Due to its popularity, you will find a ton of helpful resources to help you get started.
Step 3: Choose A Theme
One of the key aspects of WordPress is its theme system. A theme is a collection of stylesheets and templates that dictates the appearance of your website. Or in other words, a theme is directly responsible for how your website looks.
And there are well over 4,000 free themes to choose from and thousands of premium themes. This gives you a huge amount to choose from, and it’s very important to choose correctly.
Let’s not beat around the bush, your clothing line is not the only thing that needs to impress visitors. The website itself also needs to wow customers and the theme is a big part of that experience.
Thankfully, with so many to choose from, there are plenty of themes that focus on fashion.
Simply visit the WordPress theme directory and search for your niche. Just make sure the theme you choose is responsive, customizable, and fits your brand.
Step 4: Choose Some Plugins
The other main component of WordPress is the plugins. These are small software packages that add a specific feature or set of features to your website. The easiest way to think of them is like apps for your smartphone.
You install the plugin, it adds a feature. If you don’t want it anymore, you delete it. It’s really that easy.
For example, you may want to add a slider to your website to show off multiple outfits or the same outfit in different settings. You can do this by installing a slider plugin. Each one has different settings and customizations.
Thus, you need to pick the one that suits your needs the best. And this is true for every plugin as there are always multiple options available.
If you are interested in selling your clothing line online, which you should be, you’re going to need an e-commerce plugin, and when it comes to WordPress, there is no better option than WooCommerce.
It is a free plugin that transforms WordPress into an eCommerce-ready platform, and it currently powers over 5 million online stores. It has everything you need to run a clothing store and there are tons of add-ons to customize the experience further.
Also, you have access to all major payment gateways (PayPal, Stripe, etc.). It’s the perfect choice for running an online store in WordPress.
Step 5: Add Your Clothing Line to WordPress
At this point, all that’s left to start a clothing line online is to actually add the clothing line to the website.
Odds are, you already have some images of models wearing your brand to show it off in different environments. If not, you need to do that. These images need to make your brand look good because this is going to be the only way they see it in an online environment.
You might also want to create some content about your brand. Explain why you made it or perhaps where the idea came from. For example, many newer brands are starting to focus on how they are making their product line to be more “green” or eco-friendly.
In fact, not being green can actually scare away some customers. So if that is your identity, really give green web hosting a thought. Also creating blog content can help improve the SEO of your website, which helps attract more customers.
Step 6: Market Your Brand
All that’s left is to begin the marketing process to promote your brand to the world. And honestly, this is the hardest part.
On the surface, marketing is pretty straightforward. The first step is to build up a social media presence to raise brand awareness and connect with your audience. But to be honest, the fashion world is a little more…intense.
You typically want to work with influencers to promote your brand.
For example, one of the most common ways this is done nowadays is to work with a big Instagram influencer. They will create content of themselves wearing your products.
Obviously, this is not only going to cost you products but money as well. But this is just one way to go about marketing.
You could also try to use the power of video and start a YouTube channel. Hire some models for a photoshoot to create video content showing it off. It pairs nicely with other social media websites.
The bottom line is that you need to show the world that your brand exists and that it looks great. But since fashion is so competitive, expect to spend money.
The First of Many Fashion Lines
Odds are if you find success, you will create more clothing lines, and those will probably need separate websites.
The good news is that you already know how to do it, and you’ve probably learned a few things to watch out for the next time around. However, let’s be honest and admit that finding success is going to take time.
There’s a good chance it could take months for your business to even break even let alone make a profit. Be patient and really focus on marketing.
What plugins did you install? Did you do anything creative for your marketing strategy?
This is very helpful! Thank you for sharing this. I’m planning to make a website for my new clothing line. My clothing line would be mostly leatherware. Any more tips?
I’m glad it was helpful. Just remember that content like reviews, lists, and how-tos work exceptionally well to drive an audience to your website. Maybe start with a few tips of how to care for your leatherware or lists of the best things to wear for certain seasons? The possibilities are virtually endless. 🙂