Direct-to-Consumer Fashion Marketing Case Studies
Bootstrapped Marketing done right
The Fashion Industry is far from new, but in 2020 you might consider it “improved”, as disruptive brands increasingly rely on innovation and intelligent marketing to remain competitive.
Traditionally, fashion brands have been quite far removed from their consumers, instead retailing through stores that own the relationship and act as a middle-man.
Now, as the high street declines, we’re seeing a rise in Direct-To-Consumer (D2C) and digital storefront activity from both emerging and incumbent fashion brands. Those emerging brands are choosing a “digitally-native” DTC approach and engaging directly with their audience, cutting out physical storefronts completely, and using huge online followings to foster relationships virtually.
Whilst these new brands are born online and simply manufacture and sell direct, large existing brands like Nike are reportedly intending to grow this channel by over 250%!
This seems like an especially prudent move during the on-going global pandemic. The other benefits are clear, too, including increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, improving a brand’s chances of enjoying returning customers.
Today we’re going to look at some examples I think are particularly good.
BALR.
A Dutch lifestyle brand founded by entrepreneurs Juul Manders, Ralph de Geus and football player Demy De Zeeuw, BALR. was one of these digital-native brands in 2013 when it was established that aimed to make the life of professional football players accessible to modern fashion consumers through clothing that heavily featured the colour black.
Unusually, many professional footballers started wearing the brand in 2014 without any prior affiliation — simply because they liked it — and BALR. enjoyed a surge in popularity. They shifted to instagram marketing and the usage of high profile influencers before this was a global trend, thus taking advantage of their first mover advantage and generating most of this high profile brand visibility for free.
Today, BALR. also operates physical stores and enjoys a partnership with Puma but continues to own its relationship with customers. In 2020, popular online life simulator Hotel Hideaway began to offer users the ability to purchase virtual BALR. fashion items, in an innovating marketing move from the brand.
Suspicious Antwerp
Founded by Philip Libert and Frederick Janssens in 2017, Suspicious Antwerp has created an enormous buzz around itself online and consequently enjoys enormous clout within the fashion industry.
They started their product line lowkey, with an initial capital of 180 euros but managed to build a name for themselves through handpicked influencer marketing approaches. They tried to hide their identity as founders as long as they could to create a mystique surrounding their brand.
Currently, every single product on their website is sold out! And they have created a buzz that allows them to only open their shop for sales a few days a month.
Suspicious Antwerp positions itself as a pioneer in unisex streetwear, and focuses heavily on Tshirts which have received huge visibility online by being worn by influencers such as Hailey Bieber, Gigi Hadid, Vanessa Hudgens, Rita Ora, Candice Swanpoel and Irina Shayk.
Consequently, Suspcious Antwerp enjoys an enormous and dedicated, loyal following on social media, and has recently partnered with the marketing and PR agency Frank for the brand’s first foray into fashion, creating unique Tshirts for them.
Black & Gold
This Belgian fashion brand was established in 2015 by fashion pioneers Maxim Sion and Nicolas Maes inspired by the Mexican Day of The Dead style, which they replicate in their ranges of clothing and accessories.
Whilst their striking skull designs could be considered intimidating or negative, they’re actually an inspiring message of joy and love, and the brand has even created a range of face masks for their loyal customers to use during 2020’s global coronavirus pandemic.
They started their journey with giving Latin American themed parties in which they sold their own bracelets. These bracelets quickly became more popular than the parties itself so the two youth friends started expanding rapidly. They didn’t focus on the influencer marketing and did let go of the pure DTC approach by leveraging the party scene. Working on partnerships with local beach party settings and going a more traditional route with physical retail also distributing their offer.
They did however remain loyal to their initial authenticity, all of the chosen directions lead to celebrating live to the fullest.
Thanks to their focus on hand-crafting fashion items of the highest quality, and an emphasis on treating customers like family, they’re enjoying great success as a (DTC) fashion brand.
As we can see from the above examples, direct to customer fashion brands are certainly on the rise and can become a success when bootstrapping. Given how easy it is to set up a website and online storefront, we expect this trend to continue.
That being said, the smartest, most successful brands are combining all the best elements of these different examples along with making their items available on Amazon or other marketplaces (even physical ones) whom already have traffic which can be a serious source of additional revenue through the discovery aspect for them.
Whilst digitally-native brands enjoy a lot of benefits, that’s not to say that they need to be digital-only, and prudent fashion brands will examine all their options.
