Hello everyone! This is Masha Kaganovich, I am a marketer at Western Bid, and in this article I will tell you the whole untold truth about creating your own brand and making expensive and luxurious items.
You probably noticed, and it never ceases to surprise everyone, how the same item, or very similar items, can cost up to $50. For example, I searched for Light blue cashmere, which is a cashmere sweater, up to $50. And here we see a huge variety; they are sold on Amazon, eBay, and everywhere else: $12, $15, $30. Any sweaters, used or new. And similarly, you can perform a search for the same sweater, but only write over $500. And we see that on the same page, similar light-blue sweaters appear, costing $1300, $525, $795, generally, more than $100 in any price range. You see, people ask: I want to create my own clothing brand, so I don’t have to write a lot, sew a lot, do a lot of things, but just sell such very expensive items. And you know, I found in the internet, I searched online with this question: how many tips there are on this topic! And they give great advice on how to create your own clothing brand without investing millions in advertising, without hiring a PR firm, without using famous models. And all these tips focus on the biggest pain points. Everyone understands that to develop such a brand, probably, a lot of money must be invested in advertising. And they say: no, you don’t need to, without advertising. How to develop your brand without influencers recommending you, without millions of dollars on advertising, and without hiring companies to promote your product.
And they give, you know, such great tips. For example: choose… Find your target audience among wealthy people. How about that tip number one? Or I liked this one: create a sense of exclusivity. That is, don’t sell many of your products. Let there be only one piece so that it feels like your product is hard to get. I can’t even sell one thing — very hard to get. I would be happy if someone bought something from me.
For example, I liked this tip too: find a celebrity who will like your brand, who will promote you. For example, make it so that your brand appeals to Brad Pitt or Penelope Cruz. Then you can just invite them to advertise, and they will promote your brand. It’s great that you then can sell this Chanel bag for a thousand dollars. Or even better — find some Michael Jordan. Just do it. And he will create the Nike brand for you. By the way, this will also help you focus on a wealthier target audience.
Well, in general, this is me joking about all these tips. In this article, I want to tell you the truth and give real advice about building your own brand, if you are considering this, based on my already considerable experience.
Real experience and practical advice
First, I worked in trading for a large company and started with more than one trading stream. I worked with many clients of Western Bid and analyzed their business, how they develop, and what is needed to build a successful business — one that sells little but expensive. And actually, in this material, I will use clothing as an example. But then, you will adapt these tips to what you do: painting pictures, knitting, or making something from wood. Basically, this can be applied to any craft, just I will talk about clothing sewing and fashion branding as an example.
Tip 1: It’s not a one-person job
The first thing to understand, and this applies to many businesses, is that developing such a brand and creating items that cost $200, $300, $500, $1000, $1500 is definitely not a one-person job. For example, if you take sewing, it’s not a one-person business. Even from a technical point of view, there are a lot of things to consider.
That means you need to be able to make your own patterns, professional ones, yes, technical specifications. If, for example, you send your brand or product for production, you need to understand fabrics, how these designs lie on certain textiles. That is a whole area of expertise and knowledge. You need to be able to draw, make patterns, sew, sew samples yourself to hire models and do a first shoot. You need a marketing specialist. A sales specialist. You will never have enough time to think about all this when starting or even before creating this company. That is a very important point.
Tip 2: Choose your niche
Second — it’s about niche. Mainly, each brand concentrates on its target audience. Regarding clothing brands: say, you can focus on wedding dresses. If you think this is too narrow a niche — it’s not. You can focus even more successfully on this niche.
For example, only silk wedding dresses. Or, for example, you understand there’s a gap in the market, for instance, in larger sizes: extra large, large, extra large, extra extra large. And even now, in America, there’s an extra extra extra large, so 3XL. You can focus your business on wedding dresses in such very plus sizes.
The key point is that the brand itself is inherently linked to some specific niche. Because this niche and target audience will be reflected in everything: your logo, your store name. So this narrow focus will greatly help you. The main thing is to find a gap in the market, right? That there isn’t much competition in this aspect, and there’s enough demand.
Tip 3: Create the right associations
When creating your brand, it’s very important to create associations for this target audience. When you do — it’s not necessarily advertising, it can even be free social media posts or your pins — all the seeds you plant in the ground for your future buyers so they associate with a certain idea, with an association. The people who buy your product, where they go, what they do for recreation, who they are, how much they earn, what food they eat, what their values are in life, what other brands they buy and love.
For example, Ikea uses, for understandable reasons, family values. And in all their advertising, they subtly sow the seeds of that value. For instance, Perie, their audience is more affluent, wanting to become wealthy, and this is water for wealthy people. Or, for example, associations like: I am no angel. This is the opposite of a very famous company that has very beautiful angels and perfect figures. But here, ordinary women with typical American figures.
Another example: associations of eco-friendly products, saving the planet. Warming the planet, warming you. Here, the association of jackets and water, and warming the planet, warming you. Basically, it’s an eco-friendly theme. Or an evening dress theme. Notice the background and the models, where they are photographed. What does that tell us? An association with wealth.
Or, for example, Heinz. Their advertising combines two niches. On one side, vintage clothing, and on the other, Heinz ketchup. Some people, for this target audience, love buying second-hand items. Overall, this is the association here.
Many also make such associations with things and food. People love food; it’s tasty to them, and on the other hand, there’s a clothing brand for people who like that kind of food. These are associations: food, travel, wealth.
Or let’s take Brad Pitt and Penelope Cruz. So, what do we want here? We want to emphasize elegance, wealth, a luxurious and beautiful life. All that is present in almost every brand. This target audience and these associations — your brand provides these associations for that target audience. Without this, it’s impossible.
Tip 4: Get proof of concept
The fourth tip: you need to have proof of concept. You need to test, show, confirm, and gather feedback from your target audience. What do they think? What can be changed? How eager are they to buy this item? This is your samples, your first photoshoots, models. You’ll see this when you start posting. If you don’t have clothes — paintings, toys. Asking your target audience for their opinions or just observing if they are willing to buy similar items — that’s essential.
I don’t know, the biggest problem for creative people is that they don’t understand that the buyer should like your item, that it’s not only about the effort, skill, and material cost you put into the item, but that this item must have proof of concept. These samples, feedback, tests, first photoshoots — all show whether the product has a future. And quality is what retains buyers and builds a reputation without which the brand simply cannot survive.
Tip 5: Quality above all
The next thing, without which it’s impossible to build a good brand, is the quality of items. I understand it’s hard to determine and understand just by looking at these expensive items online. You’ll never truly know the quality of that item. Even if you are sitting and watching runway shows, models walking — you still won’t see it. No video will demonstrate it to you.
If you plan to make expensive items, you should visit a boutique or contact people who produce similar items in the price category you want. Ultimately, go to stores or boutiques where small sellers or small manufacturers produce such branded items. Then you will see and understand what level you need to reach and where you should aim.
That is, the quality of the item itself, its durability, its quality guarantee — that’s very important. Because it’s impossible to build a brand with poor quality products. Even if you sell someone a poorly made item for $500, they’ll leave you a bad review or not recommend you. Or if the item is just average quality — no, it must be just fantastic.
Tip 6: Start with a small collection
The next tip: create a small collection. People think that a collection must necessarily consist of 100, 200 items. Like filling an Etsy shop. No, that’s not necessary. Have 2 items, 10 items — start with something. Don’t get hung up on these items. Maybe these products won’t find their audience. Then you can cancel them, create new ones, listen to what your customers tell you, the advice they give.
Better to start with a few items, improve them, and do more. You won’t be able to match supply and demand if the buyer initially doesn’t like the item, or just gives a like without buying. The item might be too expensive or not needed enough — you won’t be able to do anything about it. And you already have some production or inventory set up.
Make a few tests. Start testing the market with them. Let it be something unique, your own. Just a few pieces. Then, gradually, from those few, you’ll reach 10, then 20. But you will already be sure that you are heading in the right direction.
By the way, many recommend starting your clothing brand by sewing on order — I think that’s a very wise advice — start sewing custom items. Not to make a business out of it right away. Sewing on order — that’s a terrible business. But for training purposes. Just a few batches to feel things out, understand. Maybe you don’t even know where some items are; that’s where you can be better than others or see where the demand is, what gap exists in the market — you can find out from your customers who are ordering from you.
Tip 7: Delegate and control processes
And the last tip — it’s basically the same as the first one. I want to reaffirm this: You won’t be able to do everything yourself. It’s very important to plan roles, processes, responsibilities for each position, and think about which aspects you need to personally control, oversee some part of the process. And without that, it’s impossible, absolutely impossible, to succeed.
But on the other hand, some part of the process can be delegated. For example, manufacturing can be outsourced to Alibaba. This is common practice — many American manufacturers do it constantly. You can’t control everything. But you can control some parts, especially at the beginning, and gradually narrow down the control as you hire for new roles.
Conclusion
What does it really start with when creating a high-end clothing brand?
Not with a beautiful logo or advertising. It all depends on the team and skills: patterns, fabrics, fit, photoshoots, marketing, sales — it’s simply impossible to do all this alone. The brand is built on professional execution, not on “secret life hacks.”
How to choose the right niche so that the brand actually sells expensive?
Look for a narrow niche with real demand and a gap in the market: for example, silk wedding dresses or plus-size models. The more precise the focus, the easier it is to work with your target audience and build associations — they create the perception of luxury and high price.
Why is it impossible to sell items for $500–$1500 without proof of concept and quality?
Because the market doesn’t buy “the work and soul of the artisan,” it buys items that they like and that justify their price. Samples, feedback, testing, first photoshoots — all these show whether the product has a future. And quality is what retains buyers and builds reputation, without which the brand simply cannot survive.
From everything I know, these tips seem more practical, more realistic, and suitable for someone who produces or wants to produce luxurious, expensive items that are truly branded, and will stand out from the mass of Amazon or Walmart or eBay stuff. I sincerely wish everyone success, that your sweaters costing $900, $1000, or even $1500 sell well. So, thank you very much for your attention. I hope this material was useful and interesting for you. Goodbye to all!
