Storytelling Through Your Collection

How to Create Your Fashion Company by Jeff Staple

Now that you have developed a well-thought out brand name, slogan, and logo, it is time to apply all of this to a collection of products. Your product will ultimately be the reason people become loyal customers of your brand. The quality of the product—and connection and appreciation for the narrative—will create a loyal customer.

When you’re creating your first collection, the first thing you have to think about is your theme. In line with his Mission Statement ‘A positive social contagion,’ Staple’s collections early on were really thought-provoking, edgy and conceptual. They didn’t sell very well because they went over people’s heads. From a business standpoint, that wasn’t good. But from a branding standpoint it was, because the people who understood it conceptually, became fans for life. The way to differentiate yourself from the competition is being true to yourself and your DNA and exhibiting that in your first few collections.

Once you have your theme, you can start to research and uncover different aspects that feed into the thought process. Go to museums, travel, talk to people, Google image search—really live and breathe what your theme is. Let all of it inspire you. With every new collection, you have to depart from your last collection and learn and understand your new theme.

So how to you encapsulate this into a product? This process is called merchandising. Merchandising is how it looks to a buyer.

Often, you design pieces that you know are for press, that will look good in a magazine editorial spread or a fashion shoot, but might not look good on a kid in the mall. Usually the pieces fashion editorials or celebrities choose are the worst selling items. That’s because influencers are usually edgier than the masses. The clothes Kanye West wears often generate a lot of press, but not that many people can them pull off. Conversely, if you have a lot of pieces everyone can wear, you’re going to be deemed as not being edgy or innovative. You need a balance of both.

One trick Staple uses when he thinks about a collection is reverse engineer it. He’ll write a press release of what he’s going to send to media outlets. It will include the theme and highlights of what the theme is about and the prices. He thinks about what he wants to talk about and the highlights of his collection which then informs how he’ll fill out the rest of the collection.

When you merchandise a line, you want to showcase your prowess. Nowadays, with the Internet and the ways things are being seen and expected to blow up, there’s a bit more pressure for a brand to come out with a substantial offering (i.e., several pieces and a strong marketing campaign).