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apparel Archives - The Punk Rock MBA

Finn McKenty 2
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Guides
August 20, 2017

How to make a DIY marketing plan

You know what creative people are really good at? Making stuff. And you know what they are usually really, really shitty at? Selling it! I get it - for most people making stuff is fun, selling stuff isn't (I love it, but that's why I do marketing for a living). But good products don't sell themselves, so if you want to get any kind of traction for your work - your art, book, blog, band, t-shirts, whatever - you're gonna have to get good at marketing. And that's exactly why I'm writing this long-ass article-- it's a complete blueprint for non-marketers to make a simple but super effective marketing plan that works for any kind of product or service - it's a simplified version of the same approach I've used to sell a shitload of digital products like Nail The Mix and Getgood Drums, physical products like Horizon Devices' Precision Drive or A…
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Guides
August 7, 2017

Real talk about starting a clothing company

I know a few things to be true: That many of you are interested in starting a clothing company, that the apparel business is hard as fuck, and that there is very, very little information out there on the actual tactics of building a brand or the day-to-day operations of running the business. There's plenty of fluffy interviews with vague advice like "follow your passion," but almost nothing about how to actually DO the shit it takes to get there: design the right product, build a brand, and convince people to actually give you their money. I don't have any experience working for a cool streetwear company, but I did spend about four years doing design and marketing for Abercrombie/Hollister a few years back when they were crushing it (I designed a few hundred Hollister girls shirts and spent months in Asian factories getting shit made), and I learned a…
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Alumni Profiles
May 24, 2016

Alumni profile: Chris Wrenn of Sully’s and Bridge 9

You may know Chris Wrenn as the founder of Bridge Nine, one of the most important hardcore labels of the past 20 years (and home of the infamous B9 board). But as much as I love him for putting out bands like Have Heart, Terror, Death Threat and Ramallah, the fact of the matter is that nobody (including Chris) is making a ton of cash from releasing hardcore records. What you might not know is that Chris' "real job" isn't Bridge 9, it's his apparel company Sully's. Rooted in the rich and highly charged culture of Boston sports, Sully's was among the first of the new-school sports brands (along with Homage) that have essentially reinvented sports apparel, injecting a little punk rock attitude into what was previously a fairly conservative category. Take a walk down the aisles of Dicks, Walmart, or Target and their influence on mainstream retailers is obvious. I'm really…
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Reader questions
February 18, 2016

Reader questions vol 3: How do I grow my apparel company?

Rui asks: Thanks for the input on how to start an apparel brand - I really identified with the steps you mentioned. Now that I've started mine, got some national-wide traction... how do I make it *click*? I want it to become my main job, other than a side-project. 1) Is it by getting distribution? Got any tips? 2) Is it by licensing the products? I feel like I'm over-protecting my brand by avoiding licensing to other countries where I won't know how many units they'll be producing, etc. What are the main guidelines for a licensing deal? Like I said in that post, apparel is a REALLY tough business and there’s no real magic bullet for making it “click” and unlocking growth. It takes TIME— a lot of brands that seem newish have actually been around for a long time: Supreme is 22 years old, Mishka is 13, Stussy is 36,…
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Reader questions
January 26, 2016

PRMBA Reader questions Vol 1: apparel, careers in branding, and more

C asks: This is a question out of nowhere but you seem very business savvy and to have a lot of contacts in a wide range of fields. I'm trying to pursue my dream of starting a clothing line but I really don't know where to start. I was wondering if you had any advice or could put me in contact with someone who has some. I can read articles online about it all day but that's not the same. I read your article on how small teams work well and that kind of inspired me to actually look into this and pursue the dream. I did design and marketing for Hollister/Abercrombie & Fitch for several years and a close friend of mine was the design director for Homage, so I've seen a couple versions of the apparel business. The first thing you need to know is that THIS BUSINESS IS TOUGH.…
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