Blog / Beginner's handbook / How to Start a Streetwear Brand in 6 Steps
Blog / Beginner's handbook / How to Start a Streetwear Brand in 6 Steps
Are you wondering how to start a streetwear brand from scratch? Then this is the guide for you. You’ll learn to choose an audience, create your brand identity, and more.
Starting your clothing line can be scary, but in the words of successful streetwear brand Awake at Three’s owner Craig Renwick, “Just go and do it.”
The good news is it doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. You can choose to invest (time, energy, etc.) as much as you feel comfortable with. I’ll talk more about that later.
Before we dive into how to start a clothing brand from zero, let’s cover the must-know info about fashion’s biggest buzzword—streetwear.
The streetwear industry continues to play a significant role in the global fashion market. It’s projected to exceed $347 billion in 2024 and reach $637 billion by 2032. Increasingly, more brands in the fashion industry are expanding their collections with streetwear. For example, in 2024, the sportswear brand On launched a dedicated streetwear line, the IKON Collection.
Source: On
With the massive popularity of fast fashion sites like Shein, streetwear brands are expected to contrast this trend by embracing sustainability and quality. Customers will be encouraged to invest in longer-lasting pieces made of high-quality materials—which, of course, come with a higher price tag. Current customer behavior also suggests people are more inclined to invest in versatile pieces, which will affect the style preferences in the streetwear industry as well.
Another trend we can expect to see more of in 2025 is innovative fashion. With the rapid development of digital technologies, we’ll likely see these elements incorporated into streetwear clothing as well—apparel with built-in phone chargers or temperature-regulating fabrics, for example.
So, with streetwear not going anywhere anytime soon, let’s look at how you can launch your own fashion brand.
A streetwear brand is a line of clothing that’s casual yet fashionable and offers items like graphic hoodies, tees, sweatpants, and sneakers. Streetwear became popular in the 1990s thanks to hip-hop culture in New York and Californian surf style.
Initially, streetwear was worn by various urban youth subcultures. For example, many hip-hop artists would market their streetwear brands to fans.
Nowadays, streetwear brands have claimed their place in mainstream fashion. Popular streetwear merch can be seen on celebrities, influencers, and anyone wishing to make a fashion statement. Just think of Stüssy, Supreme, or Obey.
The coolest fact about these leading streetwear brands is that they all started small. This means you can too!
From defining your target audience to how to market a clothing brand, this comprehensive guide on launching a streetwear brand has all the info you need.
No brand can make sales without an audience. What’s the first step? Ask yourself who you’re selling to. For example, research shows that most streetwear consumers are young people under 25. So, a good idea might be to create a streetwear brand aimed at Gen Z, but don’t be afraid to target a wider audience.
A good way to conduct market research is to assess the competition. See what other brands in the streetwear category are doing. Analyze what is selling and who is buying. You may notice a gap in the streetwear market, like t-shirts with food puns.
Source: Etsy
Don’t forget to assess competitors’ interfaces and how they interact with customers. Research shows that 90% of consumers in the US value customer service just as much as the product itself.
Ask these important questions: what are the psychological and emotional factors that drive people to want that brand? Why would people want to buy your brand? Gathering as much data as possible will simplify the launch process.
If you need inspiration on niche ideas, check out our article on How to Find a Niche for Your Online Store, where we share over 100 ideas.
Now that you know your target audience, you need a brand identity. These qualities define a brand in the minds of consumers, like its values, personality, and overall brand image.
Start by asking yourself: what do you want your customers’ general impression of your products to be? Establish your brand’s purpose, mission, values, and target audience. Be clear about what separates your brand from others.
Conduct market research to analyze the needs of streetwear enthusiasts and identify gaps in your competitors’ offerings. Then, define the emotional connection you want your brand to create. Is your streetwear line focused on sustainability and eco-conscious materials, or does it serve as a platform for like-minded individuals to express their culture and identity?
For example, the streetwear brand Plant Faced is all about the environment, offering products made from sustainable fabrics, inks, dyes, and other materials.
Source: Plant Faced
Your brand’s personality should be reflected across all touchpoints and customer communication. Create style guidelines for your brand’s content, and come up with unique colors, fonts, and images for your branding. Use your brand identity on packaging, websites, social media accounts, marketing materials, and any other materials with direct contact with customers.
Remember that people like connecting with other people, not with a brand. The best way to build trust, increase customer loyalty, and build engagement is to have a strong brand story. Share what you do, how you do it, and most importantly, why you do it. Follow the 4 C’s of storytelling—conflict, characters, community, and confidence.
Look at the French streetwear brand Pas Une Marque, which doesn’t even want to position itself as a fashion brand—its name, translated to English, means Not a Brand. This brand’s mission is to be the place where "philosophy meets fashion," with collection names like Seams of Dissent.
Source: Pas Une Marque
Check out this Definitive Guide to Brand Storytelling for more information on creating a unique brand story.
Wondering which factors drive consumers to choose a streetwear brand? Consumers view brand legacy as one of the most important features, only second to quality/design. Brand legacy is the popularity, trust, and impact a brand creates.
Source: Statista
Below are some tips on building a brand legacy.
Create a compelling brand purpose: Your brand purpose should go beyond selling products. Decide what kind of social contribution your brand aims to make. With a strong purpose, you can create a lasting legacy for your brand.
Establish your brand’s values: Describe the core values that guide your actions and decisions. Make sure they align with your target audience’s aspirations. Be true to your values by incorporating them into your brand’s culture and operations.
Build authentic relationships: Involve your customers, employees, partners, and stakeholders in the company processes. Listen to their feedback and make adjustments based on it.
Provide impeccable customer experience: Remember how most consumers value customer service just as much as the product? Deliver exceptional customer experiences and watch how the 5-star reviews roll in effortlessly.
Give back to society: Allow your customers to be part of something bigger by donating part of your profits to a cause. For example, let them know you’ll donate $1 to save the rainforests with every product they purchase.
Have a growth mindset: Always look for ways to innovate and evolve your brand. Create new designs, follow the latest streetwear trends, improve the quality, and listen to constructive feedback.
Empower others: Be generous with the information and knowledge you share with your customers. Here at Printful, we believe in helping our customers grow. That’s why we share marketing advice on our social media platforms and endless resources on our blog.
Celebrate your wins: Whether reaching 10K followers on Instagram or making your first 5,000 sales, share these milestones with your audience. Your customers are rooting for you, and celebrating your wins allows them to engage and feel more connected to your community.
Finally, remember that building a strong, positive reputation takes time, effort, and consistency.
You have your target market and your brand identity. Now it’s time to produce some merch. Below are several production processes to choose from, as well as the pros and cons of each.
Print-on-demand
Print-on-demand (POD) dropshipping refers to a business model in which a store gets its products from a third party, which then ships them directly to end customers. Your custom designs are printed on products only as orders come in and only in the quantity requested.
This means that there aren’t any upfront costs. You’ll only be charged when a customer makes a purchase. All you have to do is set up your ecommerce store and connect it to a print-on-demand platform like Printful.
Another advantage of POD is that your printing partner carries out storing, printing, packaging, and fulfilling orders. You just focus on the designs and marketing.
That said, you don’t have complete control over the fulfillment process or the quality of the products—you have to depend on your printing partner. Plus, product availability and order fulfillment time can vary. That’s why it’s important to choose your POD partner wisely.
Ordering in bulk
Ordering in bulk from a wholesaler is a good option if you have some capital to invest. Purchasing wholesale often means you get a lower price because the supplier got a lower price from the manufacturer.
Let’s say you order one hundred t-shirts with your design for $16 each at wholesale price. You then sell them for $25 and make $9 per sale. But if you order 500 t-shirts, you can get them for $10 and earn $15 per item sold. That’s a pretty good margin.
The downside of ordering in bulk is that you may not sell everything and could end up with leftover stock. You must also consider storage costs like rent for warehouse space, utility bills, and insurance. Remember that the money you put into unsold inventory could’ve been invested elsewhere.
What’s more, ordering in bulk means you don’t have as much margin to experiment with new or trendy designs because you’re constantly worrying about whether or not they’ll sell. This isn’t the case with POD.
Products are made on demand when an order comes in, so you can offer as many designs as you like.
Fulfilling orders yourself
The most significant advantage of fulfilling orders yourself is having complete control over the entire process. You can add your personal touch to each package, like a gift card, sample, or message (but remember you can do this with Printful too). What’s more, you’re in direct communication with your customers, which allows you to build relationships and offer personalized support.
On the flip side, fulfilling orders yourself can be time-consuming. Storage and inventory management require space, organization, and staying on top of stock to avoid shortages or excess. Not to mention, you have to deal with shipping and logistics.
Also, fulfilling orders yourself doesn’t leave much room for scalability—you can handle only so much packaging, shipping, and stock. That said, it may work for you if you’re just starting your streetwear business and have more time than money to invest.
Now that you know your target audience, you’ve created a brand, and chosen a production process, it’s time to design products. But with so many possible streetwear pieces, which items should you start with?
Now that you know your target audience, have created a brand, and have chosen a production process, it’s time to design products. But with so many possible streetwear pieces, which items should you start with?
Select products
When selecting products, think about your niche and your target audience. Would your customers buy only custom t-shirts? Or do they want custom hoodies, sneakers, socks, the whole package?
According to Hypebeast, sneakers are the most bought item for many streetwear brands. But maybe your niche is tees, or maybe your own brand can offer a broader range of merch to satisfy your following. No worries! When you use Printful, you can create free mockups for any item from our Product Catalog and see what’s popular.
As for which products to select, check out how to choose print-on-demand products for your store.
Come up with designs
Once you’ve selected some products, it’s time to start designing. Here, you have several options: create a design yourself from scratch, use Printful’s Design Maker and customize our free templates, or hire a designer to do it for you.
Source: Stüssy
You’ll also want to consider the printing method. For clothing, we offer embroidery, direct-to-garment printing, sublimation, and direct-to-film printing. Each technique works best on different fabric types, so check our direct-to-garment file guidelines, our embroidery file guidelines, our sublimation printing guide, and the direct-to-film printing requirements.
Source: Nahmias
Not sure whether you should go for direct-to-garment or direct-to-film printing? Check out this DTG vs. DTF comparison.
Whatever path you choose, don’t get discouraged if your first idea doesn’t captivate the fashion world. According to Craig Renwick, you should produce at least one design per week until you’re content. Besides, your design skills will improve with each one you put out!
Get inspired by top streetwear design ideas for your clothing line.
Get samples and feedback
Whether you design the logo yourself or outsource the work to someone else, it’s a good idea to test it before listing it online. Order some samples, wear your clothes around friends, family, or coworkers, and ask them what they think. Also, post it on social media or, better yet, on the subreddit r/streetwearstartup.
By doing some research, you’ll understand which designs people prefer and how to improve your offering. Plus, wearing your brand in public or posting photos online is free advertising.
Now that you’ve created a design your fans and followers love, it’s time to launch your online store! You can learn how to start an online store with Printful here. But let me recap your options:
Ecommerce platforms
All-in-one ecommerce solutions like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce simplify the creation and management of online stores. Their features include editable templates, secure payment gateways, inventory management, and marketing tools. Plus, you get to showcase your brand on its own dedicated website.
Marketplaces
The cool thing about marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, or eBay is that they already have a large customer base. You can list your streetwear items on their platforms for a small fee instead of paying a monthly subscription (as is the case for ecommerce platforms). This makes them a good option for small brands and start-ups.
The coolest feature for both ecommerce platforms and marketplaces is that you can integrate them directly into your print-on-demand partner’s platform. Learn more about each integration here.
Social media platforms
Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok let you set up a store directly on their interfaces. This can be an excellent option if you already have a significant online presence on these platforms. We’re currently partnered with TikTok, so you can turn your followers into customers in the blink of an eye.
How can you penetrate the streetwear market? Let’s look at some effective marketing strategies for advertising your streetwear brand.
Crowdsource inventory ideas
Research shows that about a quarter of consumers buy streetwear to demonstrate their social status. But where do they turn to for trustworthy opinions on what’s hot and what’s not? Social media, of course. In this space, consumers drive trends, not brands.
Source: Statista
There are ways you can track these conversations and learn about the current consumer preferences in streetwear fashion. Use social listening tools like Mention or Google Trends. Once you spot a trend you like, hop on it and create a design that beats the competition.
You can also offer customers the option to pre-order items. That’ll give you an idea of whether there’s a demand for your product.
Build a community
As you can see from the Statista chart above, about a quarter of customers buy streetwear clothing to feel part of a community. Whether that’s a Facebook group, TikTok following, or YouTube channel, online communities help customers build an emotional attachment to your brand.
They’re also a great way to gain consumer insights and offer exclusive access to new drops (because people like to feel special). Here’s a useful guide on how to grow your online community with organic traffic.
Source: Prideletics
Another benefit of building a community is that this can be an excellent source of user-generated content. You can use customer reviews, posts they’ve made on their social media profiles, and other content in your marketing efforts. This type of social proof is invaluable, especially if you’re still a relatively new brand and need to convince your target market to trust you.
Use influencers as social proof
Remember how people turn to social media to know what’s in style? You can set trends by teaming up with influencers to market your clothing brand. According to Sprout Social, 49% of customers make regular purchases because of influencer posts. That’s a pretty good conversion rate.
Remember: be sure the influencer’s style aligns with your brand. This will not only ensure credibility, but you may also be able to offer free merch in exchange for exposure.
Show customers how to rock your streetwear looks
Besides hiring influencers to showcase your products, you can attract potential customers with style guides. Post different ways to style your clothing on your website and social media platforms. People like to see real-life examples of how to style a piece into an outfit.
Plus, you might just spark the need to buy another item to finish their look.
Source: Instagram
Create exclusivity with product drops
According to Drew Eric Whitman, one of the eight basic human instincts is the desire to be superior, win, or “keep up with the Joneses.” Use this to your advantage and create a feeling of exclusivity with product drops. Add purchase deadlines and limited items to make people feel like they’re in on a special, select deal.
Source: Charlie Hustle
When choosing a marketing strategy, consider how much time and money you’re willing to invest. The good news is starting costs don’t have to be extravagant—you can even market your online store on a $50 budget.
Also, you can use free content creation tools and social media for marketing. Plus, if you choose the print-on-demand dropshipping model, you pay for the products only as orders come in. All you need to do is set up your online storefront or list your items in an existing Marketplace.
Some other costs to consider are shipping, outsourcing if needed, and business taxes. You should check with your local tax authority and consult a tax professional to determine your tax obligations and what permits and licenses you may need. This way, you ensure you comply with all the necessary laws.
To find out how to set up your store’s taxes in 3 simple steps, check out our guide to Printful taxes.
These brands all started from scratch but are now über-popular. They all have two things in common: originality and quality. Check out some more successful print-on-demand store examples in this article.
Now, here are three streetwear brands for inspo.
Source: MISBHV
This now multi-million dollar label started as a side hustle. Designer and founder Natalie Maczek was studying law while she began making nightclub outfits for her friends. A few years later, in 2017, the brand held its first show at NYFW. You can still see the underground music scene’s influence on MISBHV’s aesthetic.
Source: Snow Milk
Founded by 42-year-old Doobi Duke Sims, this brand takes upcycled clothing and turns each garment into a one-of-a-kind t-shirt, trench coat, etc. Every piece is unique and numbered so that people can express their individuality
Source: Johnny Cupcakes
What started as a funny nickname became a successful business when Johnny “Cupcakes” Earle put the now iconic cupcake and crossbones logo on a t-shirt. His brand stands out from the crowd by being the first-ever t-shirt bakery. The brick-and-mortar stores look and smell like bake shops, but they only sell clothing (which is a lot healthier, Johnny adds).
Starting your own streetwear brand can be a fun and exciting endeavor that could turn into a profitable business. Of course, as with anything worthwhile, it takes time, patience, and consistency. Remember to use all the free tools at your disposal for designing, advertising, and conducting your market research.
Plus, you can choose how your apparel is produced and how much to spend on your virtual storefront. The print-on-demand dropshipping model allows you to launch your business without money or inventory. This means you can experiment with different designs until you find the one (or more) people like.
So, get out there, find your audience, build a brand image, and start selling your clothing line with your custom prints and logo. There’s no better time than now to enter the world of streetwear.
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Zoe Amora Iranzo-Lauriņa
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Zoe is a creative writer, multilingual translator, and certified yoga instructor with a passion for learning, traveling, and global cuisine. When she's not typing away at her PC, you can find her teaching yoga in the park, reading on the couch with her cat, or plunging in the Mediterranean.
Zoe is a creative writer, multilingual translator, and certified yoga instructor with a passion for learning, traveling, and global cuisine. When she's not typing away at her PC, you can find her teaching yoga in the park, reading on the couch with her cat, or plunging in the Mediterranean.
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