The Pitfalls to Avoid When First Starting Your Brand
Time to read: 8.5 minutes
A clothing brand founder reviewing samples to avoid costly startup mistakes.
Launching a clothing brand is one of the most exciting ventures for a creative entrepreneur. You get to bring your vision to life, see customers wear your designs, and build something truly your own.
But here’s the hard truth: the fashion industry is unforgiving. Many promising brands don’t make it past the first two years—not because the founders lack talent, but because they fall into avoidable traps early on.
Below, we’ll help you sidestep the most common pitfalls. So you can launch with clarity, confidence, and staying power.
1. Underestimating the Research Phase
Researching trends and analyzing market data before product design.
One of the biggest pitfalls is jumping straight into designing without understanding the market. Fashion is a business before it’s an art, and successful founders take time to validate their ideas. Before spending a dollar on ads or inventory, prove that people want your product.
Mistake: Designing what you like, or what you *think* customers want, not what your customers *actually* want.
Why it hurts: You risk creating products that don’t sell or are hard to sell, leaving you with unsold inventory and burned cash.
How to avoid it:
Define your target customer—demographics, lifestyle, and spending habits.
Research competitors: What are they doing right? Where are they failing? Where are the gaps?
Find a proven problem: Search Reddit, Facebook groups, or LinkedIn for real customer pain points to map common themes—look for high-importance, low-satisfaction needs. Identify your unique selling point (USP)—why should customers choose you?
Prove desire: Launch a waitlist, early-access page, or no-cost webinar and track sign-ups, drop-offs, and engagement. Run small focus groups or surveys to test product concepts before sampling.
Prove willingness to pay: Run pre-orders, letters of intent, or A/B price tests. Use a short “willingness-to-pay” survey to confirm the pricing range.
2. Ignoring Fit and Product Development
The fashion team is testing the garment fit on a model during product development.
Fit is not just a technical detail—it’s the foundation of your brand’s reputation. A poorly fitting garment is the fastest way to lose a customer.
Mistake: Rushing into production without testing fit thoroughly.
Why it hurts:
High return rates and shipping costs
Lower margins
Bad reviews that damage credibility
Customers who write off your brand entirely
How to avoid it:
Work with experienced pattern makers and technical designers.
Develop a detailed size chart based on your target customer’s body data.
Understand your fabric—how it stretches, drapes, and recovers.
💡 Pro tip: Consistency builds trust. If your “Medium” always fits, customers will come back again and again.
3. Choosing the Wrong Suppliers
Fashion founder visiting a manufacturing partner to check fabrics.
Your manufacturing partner can make or break your launch, or even your brand. The process should be approached from a business perspective and a matchmaking perspective. You’re not looking for anyone who can do it; you’re looking for the best match.
Mistake: Choosing the cheapest or first supplier you find, without vetting.
Why it hurts:
Inconsistent quality
Missed deadlines
Poor communication
Being a tiny fish in a big pond
Costly errors
How to avoid it:
Vet factories—request samples, check references and certifications.
Choose partners experienced in your product category.
Visit factories or use trusted sourcing agents.
Prioritize long-term quality over short-term savings.
💡 Pro tip: Treat your factory like the long-term reliable partner they are, rather than a disposable vendor. Work on your relationship to reap the rewards in product, better lead times, and pricing.
4. Trying to Do Everything Alone
Independent fashion founder multitasking between design, marketing, and production.
Many founders underestimate how many hats they’ll wear—designer, marketer, accountant, and production manager.
Mistake: Believing you can run every part of the brand solo, or that you can’t afford any help yet
Why it hurts:
You lose time on low-value tasks and work that doesn’t generate income.
Core areas (like tech packs or marketing) suffer in quality.
Mistakes can be extremely costly: Defects, fines, lawsuits, etc.
Setbacks take a lot of time and energy to fix
Burnout sets in before the brand gains traction.
How to avoid it:
Outsource technical tasks like pattern making and grading.
Hire freelancers for branding, photography, or ads.
Make sure you have the professional advice you need: Trademark lawyers, customs brokers, etc.
Focus on your strengths—let experts handle the rest.
5. Neglecting your Brand
Small fashion brand team creating marketing content for their product launch.
Even if you have the perfect product, it won’t sell if no one knows about it. Even once you make your product known, why would someone buy your version over a similar option from somewhere else? This is where investing in your brand pays dividends.
Mistake: Launching without a clear brand strategy.
Why it hurts: Customers never connect with your brand—and your stock sits unsold.
How to Build Your Brand
Have a distinct POV: Repel the wrong audience to attract the right one.
Devotion over attention: Loyalty beats clickbait.
Cults as moats: Build communities that can’t be copied.
Watch subcultures and early adopters: follow the edge. once a trend is mainstream, you have limited time left
6. Strategic Design & Merchandising
A capsule collection showcasing how connected products.
The best brands don’t sell products in isolation—they build ecosystems. Each item solves another layer of the same customer problem, creating devotion and long-term value. Think about how you can sell add-ons, top-ups, and seasonal accessories for core products.
Design “essentials,” not one-offs: Create products customers use daily, not occasionally. Think about their daily routines and how you can solve for their core needs that are frequently used.
Think about “better,” not more: Grow through depth, not endless SKUs. How can you offer the same product again but different? Is it seasonal colors, different lengths, or new fabrications?
Starting a clothing brand isn’t easy—but avoiding these pitfalls sets you apart from 90% of new founders. Ready to launch your brand with confidence? At Tech Packs Co, we help emerging founders avoid costly mistakes and develop products that fit, sell, and scale.
Author Bio
Tech Packs Co founder Belinda is a technical fashion designer from London, now based in Los Angeles. Belinda had her first job in fashion at the age of 15, fixing swatch cards together. Since then, Belinda has been designing & creating tech packs for more than a decade... for household name brands and independent designers alike.