It is easier than ever for small businesses to build desirable brands. The internet provides an easy way for businesses to sell, and it also offers the ability to reach a large audience as you build your brand. For many small businesses, this opens the possibility of selling branded apparel as an additional revenue stream. 

Modern consumers not only want to support the brands they love, they also want to represent them in their fashion choices. With a little effort, almost any business can start developing and selling branded clothing. With that said, it will require some work to get the operation up and running.

Understand Your Niche or Audience 

You might need to perform a little market research as the first step. Maybe you have an idea of what you are going to sell, but you need to refine your ideas. Start by thinking about your brand and what it represents. Does your company already have an established customer base? Consider the type of people you want to attract to your brand.

Learning about your customers and what they want will be the best way to ensure success. As an example, think about the types of clothes they might like. Maybe most of your customers are in a specific age range. It could also be people from one area of the country. Certain design choices might appeal to different audiences, and you need to account for that.

Choose Your Products

With a little market research, you should understand the types of clothes that will appeal to your customers. T-shirts are an obvious choice for many brands. Ball caps might be another option. Maybe your audience would like sweatshirts or jackets. You could even consider accessories like tote bags depending on your audience.

Find a Printing Partner

Most business owners will not have the time to handle the work of printing branded apparel. Furthermore, it is unlikely you will have the skills or equipment. The answer to this is to work with a printing company that can do the work for you. 

Beyond printing, many of these services can be useful in a number of ways. First, they can print the products as you need them. You won't have to keep items in stock or find storage space. Many of them can even handle shipping as a part of the deal.  A good printing service can streamline the operation and take much of the workload.

Source Products Responsibly

Going with the cheapest products is one way to handle acquiring items like t-shirts and caps, but you could choose to do more. For example, you could consider working with suppliers that offer sustainable products. Another great idea is to look for union made clothing. With a union workforce, you know the people making the clothes get a fair wage and that their rights are protected. 

Beyond being a responsible choice, options like union clothing and sustainability can be selling points. Today's consumer is socially conscious. They want to know where their clothes come from and that their shopping choices are not leading to environmental harm or the exploitation of workers.

Create Designs

This is another point that is going to go back to your market research. Your logo might be a good place to start for some of the items, but you can do more than that. Develop designs that reflect your brand values or style. Consider the types of messaging and imagery that will appeal to your customers. 

As for creating the designs, it is something you could do yourself if you have the skill. You could also work with a professional designer. Your printing partner might also have designers on staff to work with their clients.

Set Up an Online Store

Selling online will be the simplest option for most small businesses. Fortunately, it is easy to set up an online store. You have several options for ecommerce platforms. Many of these platforms allow you to build a store with little to no technical skill. They also come with built-in services for things like shopping carts and payment processing. 

While it is possible to build the online store on your own, it might be a good idea to hire someone to help set it up. An expert will be able to create an online store that looks great and performs well. They can create pages to list your products, help you with images and build a store that drives conversions.

Once you have your store up and products for sale, make sure to spread the word. Post about your products on social media and send emails to your customers. You might even want to consider paid advertising to build a little steam early on. After a while, track the results of different products, make adjustments and develop new offerings to keep people interested.