It might sound crazy but the design of your clothing isn’t as important as you think. Brand identity is the single most important thing in streetwear. If I simply print the words “DOGSHIT” in helvetica across a gildan hoodie and somehow manage to get Justin Bieber to wear it I will have a successful streetwear company. It doesn’t matter what your design is it matters who wears your design.

The easiest way to a build brand identity is to pay people to wear your clothing. The most effective way to do this is to pay influencers to promote your clothing. You will start off paying people to wear your clothing but eventually you will have those same people paying you to wear your clothing.

saint pablo tour merchandise.

Kanye West’s saint pablo tour merchandise is a great example of this. The merchandise is printed on gildan shirts and the designs are simple, but they are cool because they are associated with Kanye West. Kanye West is cool.

Keep your designs simple and focus on marketing. This might not have been what you envisioned when you got the idea to start a clothing company but if you want a successful brand this is how you have to start unless you get extremely lucky. Once you have an established brand you can start focusing on the designs. Fake it until you make it. No one wants to buy clothing from some kid in his garage. Make your brand seem bigger than it is.

The saying “If you build it, they will come.” is wrong. I could make the coolest design in the world but if I don’t market it correctly no one will buy it. Many people believe if they make a cool design they can become the next Supreme. Anyone can make a shirt, but its difficult to make a brand as timeless as Supreme.

And now after telling you that designs don’t matter I’m going to tell you designs matter. I’m not saying you need to make unique or even interesting designs but streetwear trends such as stylizing “havoc” as “hxvoc” don’t hold up in the long run and you would be wasting your time trying to build a brand solely off of a trend. You will sell a few t-shirts doing this and capitalizing on these trends can be a good way to jump start a brand because you’re piggy backing off an already established brand image. But in the long run if you don’t pivot off your small success and start creating your own brand and identity your streetwear company will ultimately flop.

Don’t print 100 shirts before you have any sales. Preselling is your best friend. Thanks to the internet its easier than ever to print and ship as orders come in, you don’t want to get stuck with a bunch of shirt no one wants to buy. Finally, the small amount of money you get from selling your first shirts should go straight back into marketing for your brand.

tldr; designs don’t matter and market and the fuck out of your brand.