Swimwear is no longer just about conservative designs and one-piece swimsuits. Creating your own swimwear collection can be a great way of starting your clothing brand, it doesn’t require much fabric and it's usually cheaper to produce than creating a dress collection for example. There are now many new independent designers out there creating their own swimwear line. There is a lot of competition out there however if you create new and exciting designs that are sustainable, getting into the swimwear industry should be exciting and likely to make you money!
There are different steps that you need to follow in order to create your own swimwear line and begin working with a manufacturer.
It can be easy to copy existing designs out there however it's best to create new designs that are different and innovative. This will ensure you stand out from your competitors. Some people think that swimwear only sells at a certain time of the year however a lot of people go on holidays throughout the year multiple times. By using what is trending out there you can design a collection that will sell rather than copying designs directly. Don’t follow trend-led looks, use the trends and twist the designs to make innovative swimwear.
Swimwear designers usually release a small collection when selling new styles. It’s important to have consistently new designs out regularly that will interest your target market. A way of making your collections blend together is to incorporate the designs together and make new ones. It's like recycling your swimwear into new designs and translating it into designs that will attract different people. To make your collection appeal to a wider market.
Understand Your Motivations
It is the most important factor. Does the market have a gap that needs to be filled? That's great news!
Are you looking to capitalize on a trend? You can certainly make this work.
Are you creating something for yourself? Or does it truly have the potential to be something others can/will desire to share?
Knowing your position (at least for now) and answering these questions will help you gain more confidence in yourself and your idea. A clear understanding of whether you are creating something that others can use (a functioning business)helps you make a better decision than something that only interests you.
You will feel more confident if you understand your motivations before starting a business or line. It will motivate you to get started. It also helps if you have a day when you need a little extra motivation (which does happen).
What inspired me to start this swimwear line? Is this something I believe will work?
Finding a Niche
Small, innovative swimwear brands have a great demand, but they're also in competition with each other. A unique style and is different from the crowd are essential to success.
I see many brands attempting to copy other labels' designs - copying someone else won't make you stand out! Aside from that, you will always be a step behind (or even more). The opportunity to start a swimwear brand is exciting! You now have the chance to create something unique and have fun designing - do not miss this opportunity!
You will not only stand out from the competition if you come up with something unique but also make the promotion process easier for yourself.
So, before you design your products and launch your company, you must understand which niche you want to target. As it turns out, the swimwear industry offers a variety of niches for you to explore. Some niches you can explore are active swimwear, body-positive swimwear, modest swimwear, and sustainability. It would be best if you also wanted to pay close attention to current swimwear trends in addition to finding your niche.
You must remember that most competitors will have the same idea, so you must find ways to distinguish yourself from them. Understand what sells well to the masses, but also understand most competitors will have the same idea as you.
Choosing the desired target market
The excitement of designing your swimwear line may be greater than the detail-oriented work of creating a business plan. Still, many entrepreneurs underestimate the value of financial planning and market strategy. It might seem obvious the answer is yes, let's move on, but pause and think about it. For your efforts to be successful, understanding your target market's potential capacity and financial requirements is crucial.
You can design swimwear that best meets the needs of your market by researching your market. This way, your potential apparel manufacturer will know exactly what you are looking for. The type of audience you are selling to can considerably impact how your brand is created. When you sell to high-income, middle-aged women, you want your business to be luxurious and showcase that through design, colours, and fonts. Luxury brands tend to go well with black and white.
Play around with different colours if your brand is not considered a luxury; for example, if you're eco-friendly, try using blues and greens. You need to know your audience before you begin selling.
Start sketching out your designs
Sketches of your designs are the first step to creating a swimsuit line, whether you want to launch a swimwear business or add a swimsuit line to an existing boutique. Putting your ideas on paper is what sketches are all about.
It will be a creative challenge for you during the design process. You'll be challenged to develop designs that are different from those available on the market.
Eventually, you'll find your signature style, favourite colours, and preferred styles. You can narrow your target market with your designs and set the tone for your brand.
You should hire a design and development company that uses digital sketching techniques if you need help with sketching.
Making a Business Plan
Making a business plan begins after you have your designs and a clear idea of your target market. Your business plan will serve as your action plan, so it needs to be as detailed as possible. A business plan should contain details about setting up a team, obtaining financing, marketing, profit margins, all costs, projections, prices, manufacturing, and production.
Social media
I learned early on that it is always best to start with an audience in mind when developing swimwear. I recommend creating an Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Tik Tok, Youtube, and Facebook account for your brand and constantly being active on those channels.
It is more likely that a potential customer will stumble across one of your social media pages if you have many accounts for your brand on social media. There might not be creating content for you to post at the beginning, and that's okay. Due to Instagram's new algorithms, it is challenging to grow your following organically without paying for advertisements.
It is much more difficult for small start-up brands these days to build their following than it was five or six years ago. In other words, you must be unique and post engaging content that makes people want to follow you rather than your competitors. Also, keeping your followers engaged on Instagram requires consistency. It is important to remember the rule of seven, which states that the marketing message should be heard or seen at least seven times by a prospective buyer before they buy.
Don't be afraid to promote your brand and get your name out there!
Sourcing fabric to make your swimwear collection:
Choosing the right fabric is crucial in ensuring your swimwear line will be comfortable for your customers. Swimwear fabrics are more complex in construction than the usual fabrics that are used for day-to-day garments.
A popular choice for swimwear is using polyester. Polyester is durable and strong which is great for making the swimwear last for a long time, especially when it's constantly in water. It’s also quick drying which a great benefit for your consumers, especially when they are holidaying. Polyester can be weaved to give you 4 way stretch another great benefit so it's comfortable for your customers and allows the swimwear to fit between sizes. Allowing you to use S,M,L sizing – saving you money on the grading costs.
It also gives the swimwear UV protection which adds more benefits to using polyester for swimwear.
Once your collection has been designed and you have sourced the fabrics for each style, selecting what manufacturing option you would like to use is the next step.
If you have sourced your fabrics yourself then it’s probably best to manufacture your styles using CMT manufacturing rather than FPP.
FPP is best for those who are new to manufacturing as we can help you from start to finish and make the process easier for you. As we have noticed that a lot of our start-up brands struggle with fabric sourcing because there are many swimwear fabric suppliers out there but is more difficult to find if you do not know how to. Therefore we can make this process of finding the fabrics you would like easier as we have a wide range of fabrics that you can choose from. We can also print on the fabrics you choose so you can fully customise the fabrics and make your designs more exciting. However, if you already have your fabrics and trims then CMT is the more suitable option to pick from.
At Swimwear Manufacturers we can help start ups or established brands with the whole process and its done all under one roof. We have all of the specialist equipment to make high quality swimwear.