Merriam-Webster defines a niche as a place, employment, status or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted.
Niche in the fashion industry refers to all the selection processes involved, and choices made towards the choosing of a suitable conserved and well-defined space in the multiple sectors of the fashion industry. Simply put, it is the selection of a specific segment in the fashion industry.
Niche processes involve the production of sartorial emblems that on high demand, but experiencing very low supply. Besides the obvious benefits of increased profits, reduced marketing costs, greater trust, and credibility, and reduced competition, the transparency and organized projection of the brand churns off confusion on the ends of consumers, as it integrates successful and effective brand management.
Notwithstanding, Niche Marketing can be a very thoughtful process; and although a lot of people dismiss the idea of niche selection because it “holds them back”, strategic planning and thoughtful volition of these multiple choices even helps you create valuable commodities in a saturated market as fashion industry, whilst also finding and exploring new ideas.
Of course, every business started off as an idea, and the further implementation of these ideas with carefully created prototypes gave rise to these big brands the industry presently records.
Find below, a few of the important steps needed to be deliberately examined, before settling for your brands niche.
Ideas: Businesses and brands inaugurates from thoughts, which overtime graduates into ideas. The need to thoughtfully conceive well realistic ideas, and map out possible ways to follow these ideas through could never be overemphasized. Select a template to govern this affair, and follow through, piece-by-piece
Passion: As clear as possible, define the area [not areas] you are passionate about. One huge misconception about the fashion industry is that quite a number think it ends just in the manufacturing of clothes/garments. The fashion industry is such an elaborate market. It also cuts across the manufacturing of accessories such as shoes, bags, earrings and necklaces, hats, socks, etc. It even also involves the apparel market such as fabric manufacturing, fabric dyeing, fabric knitting, etc. This really liberal industry provides you with loads of varieties to choose from. Select the one closest to where you find passion, then bloom!
Streamline Your Passion: After successfully selecting from the wide array of list on what you are passionate about, it is time to carve out excesses, and further delve into what passion about the fashion industry drives you. As earlier stated, the fashion industry is elaborate, and each of the sub-sectors is just as magnanimous. The shoe industry provides you with male, female, and even children shoes. The female demography could even be further divided into wears such as Wedges, Flats, Pumps, Kitten heels, and even Stilettos. The garment industry provides you with demography to focus on. Even women’s wear could include hospital uniforms, party clothes, maternity gowns, office wear, and a whole lot. Create an audience from your selected demography, and thrive.
Select Brand Values, And Choose Your Identity: This is especially for anyone seeking to delve in the world of manufacturing and production. Brand value selection is such an essential process, and choosing is a not so hard task. This simply means creating an idea of what you want your brand to be known for. It could vary from Brand Theme Colors to Fabric Choices, Silhouette, Aesthetics, etc. Furthermore, a lot of people are starting to buy into the ideals of Gender Fluidity, Sustainability, Transparency, and even the support of local communities. Brands have successfully trademarked their names with these signatures, and people identify them by it.
Research: Of course this is almost the most crucial step in creating a niche. A lot of time and resource has to go into effective research. You have to know and identify who your competitors are. You have to know about thriving and ‘must-faced’ issues in the industry, and the closest possible ways to overcome such. The power of research grants you with prior knowledge on how to navigate the industry, and how best to successfully create a space.
In all, the brand you are trying to project to the industry has to be a solution to an establishing problem. If you are willing to thrive in the industry, your brand has to be a bridge, planning on how to successfully fill a loophole. It is practically one of the easiest ways to thrive in a really large market like the fashion industry.
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