The Right Position

As I mentioned in the previous post Positioning is all about finding your spot in the marketplace. Finding this special spot is one of the first and most important steps in creating your brand.

Let's do a quick example. Let’s say I want to start a basic contemporary female tee shirt company Gloss Tees. I plan to sell to stores like Nordstrom and sit in their SAVVY section with designer denim and other contemporary tee brands.

Within that environment my direct competition includes James Perse known for their super soft luxury cottons and C and C California famous for their sheer layering effects and lean fit. Both are priced around the same as my company Gloss Tees ranging from the $35 to $70 price point.

Ok, great…so if I consider C and C and James Perse as my biggest competitors how can Gloss stand out?

Well, my tees are made with a special lycra that has a shaping effect for a smooth silhouette. That's my niche. I have to make a point/position this so that prospective consumers clearly understand why I am different and consequently the only option for a great fitting tee.

See, even though Gloss Tees will still be reminiscent of any basic shirt, by focusing on the shape I put it out there that while I am not the only choice for a tee shirt in the SAVVY department but I am the only choice for a tee shirt that gives you a great shape. I've crated a category of one.

That's what any good brand needs to do. Create a catagory of one. Think about how you can pull out the best in your product and create a category for your business.

Branding Fashion

The hands down most exciting part of launching a fashion business is creating the brand.

In creating your brand you are essentially giving birth to its personality and character plus building brand equity you’ll be able to cash in on for years to come. If everything goes according to plan you’re able to establish a strong emotional connection that makes your consumers feel as if they can substitute if necessary you but never replace you.

One reoccurring theme I’ve noticed amongst branding experts has been the dire importance of positioning as the first step in creating a dynamic brand.

Positioning is who you are in the context of everyone else in the picture. For example in the context of children sometimes parents inadvertently brand their kids as “the smart one”…or “the funny one.” According to my wonderful parents, I was excellent at Writing while my brother was good at Math and my sister was “The Creative One.” Now my sister was no Picasso and I’m definitely no Hemmingway but, in the context of our family, the people who mattered most, that’s was who we were. Just the same as a brand you have to find your place in the midst of your competition.

A book I highly recommend is “The Breakaway Brand,” by Francis Kelly. It details the unique positioning of some of the world’s best brands. The author describes how the Southwest Airlines staff wears khaki shirts and baseball caps to exemplify cheap no frills travel, while Jet Blue uses its leather seats, DirecTV and slightly lower fares to grab the position of the affordable luxury airbus.

In fashion when we think H and M we typically think inexpensive yet quality fashion which is further embedded by their affiliation with icons such as Stella McCartney and Madonna.

Get it? You must define yourself…make yourself special or you can very well become trivially unimportant and end up on a sale rack at Dress Barn.

So in the over-flooded world of fashion how do you start carving your spot? Start by taking a look at your competition. Who are you literally, “positioned,” with in stores and how are you or how can you become different?

We’ll talk about some examples in some of the upcoming posts. But start thinking about who you are and most importantly who you can be.