5 Ways Clothing Brands Should Be Preparing for the Holiday Season Now

The holiday season has a lot of money-making sales potential for a clothing brand. People buy for themselves, their loved ones, and even those they’d prefer not to buy for but feel an obligation. As a clothing brand business owner, the sooner you start preparing, the more beneficial your work day, stress levels, and business, especially if a relatively new company. Don’t wait until the beginning of December to realize you haven’t started planning at all. The following are five ways your clothing brand should begin preparing now for the upcoming holiday season. 

Get your designs set and ready

Create your holiday designs throughout the year, but if possible, you should have all or most of them completed early within the year. It helps prevent any panic trying to get them done last minute, especially while balancing your business with the rest of your life. Try and start working on your holiday line in spring so that you can have the final products ready for delivery before their release, but if you haven’t started yet, start now. Early preparation allows you to clearly think through every step, from deciding between two colors for your design to choosing which clothing pieces to purchase. 

Purchase the wholesale clothing you’ll need

Your fantastic designs aren’t as impactful if they’re only on paper instead of actual clothing, so buying the wholesale clothing you’ll need way ahead is essential. Therefore, consider ordering Bella + Canvas Unisex Sponge Fleece Drop Shoulder Sweatshirts for one of your designs. Also, reach out to learn ordering timeframes to ensure you have more than enough time to get your final pieces together.

Shipping delays are always possible, and companies can’t control what happens to packages once they leave their location. However, the sooner you place your orders, allows more of a time cushion should anything happen to your packages en route. It’s one of the fundamental reasons you have your designs done and ready to go as early in the year as possible. As a result, you’ll have time to make your design and clothing pairings and know what wholesale clothing you need to order, how much of it, and what you should charge for your final products. 

Hire help early

If you’re considering hiring someone for your clothing brand for the holiday season, don’t wait until the last minute. Many interested in seasonal work start looking at least a few months in advance. Starting the hiring process early, from creating a job listing to doing the interviews, can ensure you have the necessary help. Therefore, you’re not hiring just anyone out of desperation to fill the position. Hiring early also gives you a chance to fully train your new employee and lets them get into a good groove before balancing training with stress and a rush of holiday orders. 

Have your marketing plan in place

Marketing for your clothing brand is not as simple as writing a few social media posts or articles for your website. Your words need to matter and be memorable rather than a rushed job to resonate with customers. 

Whether you’re planning on doing videos, sending emails, writing articles, writing posts on social media, or posting photos, build a collection of how to convey your brand to existing and potential customers and when you want to do it. Marketing will help you stay engaged with the public and ensure you abide by a schedule when posting content.

When creating your posts, include information about scheduled holiday ordering, planned discounts, and shipping cut-off times. Not only does this (possibly) help cut down on the number of messages you get asking for the information, but it keeps shoppers of your clothing brand up-to-date to make better, more informed shopping and ordering decisions. 

Fill your calendar and adjust your schedule

Holiday schedules can be hectic for everyone, but as the owner of a clothing brand, your schedule becomes much busier. So take a day and write out your calendar as early as possible, not just for your business but also for your personal life. Potential options include due dates of bills, shipping, cut-off dates for holiday shipping, special holidays, and other events impacting your schedule. In addition, remember to adjust accordingly and immediately. 

Evaluate adjusting your personal schedule due to the hectic nature and likely longer hours you may experience during the holiday season. For example, suppose you typically employ a babysitter or pet sitter. Then, you may need to make arrangements to extend their hours, or if you often have a recurring meeting at a specific time and day each week, determine if that schedule will still work for you throughout the busy holiday season. 

There are many ways you can start preparing your clothing brand ahead of time for the holiday season, but complete duties early as possible. It can help decrease the chances of becoming overwhelmed, forgetting vital tasks, or not having enough time. So take a deep breath, start making detailed lists, and you’ll accomplish everything in a timely fashion.