We continue our series of articles on building a clothing brand. After the extensive introductory material Bag, Tag and Magic Wardrobe, we move on. After drawing up a business plan and allocating a budget, a young brand should think about applied things. First of all – about the name and corporate identity of the new company. Coming up with a name for a clothing store or a new brand is one of the most popular requests in our agency. In today’s article we will describe 5 approaches to naming a clothing brand and for each we will give examples from real life. Also at the end we have added a small checklist that you should definitely check before starting to develop a name for a clothing brand. It will help you save a lot of time and get the job done right from the start.
Before wondering how to come up with a name for a clothing brand or store, you need to decide on the price segment and audience. To do this, it is worth analyzing the market. To understand the picture, a desk study will be enough. You can always go deeper into the question and study the market yourself. Tools for the behavior of independent research we listed in our article. If you do not have the time and desire to be distracted from more important matters, you can contact KOLORO and we will do the research for you. After that you will have a clear idea of your consumer’s age, their preferences, desires and price segment of the future brand.
1. Apparel brand naming: a story about the essence of the brand
One of the easiest ways to do this is to bring out the characteristics of the brand in the name. American Apparel and Accessories are good examples of this approach. The first literally translates from English as “American Apparel”. And this is an accurate description of the company. The American Apparel brand’s manufacturing facilities are centrally located in LA. This is one of the two pillars around which the company’s positioning is built (the other is provocative advertising, but we’ll talk about that another time).
Accessories is the English word for “accessories”. And this is a literal description of the main product that the British brand sells. The third example is the French brand Vetements, with which Gosha Rubchinsky (the loudest name among Russian young designers) cooperates. Vetements is French for “clothing.”
It is interesting that Accessories is a classic representative of the mass market. American Aparel clothes are much more expensive, but this brand cannot be classified as a premium brand. We can say that American Aparel belongs to a solid medium-price segment. Vetements is luxury clothing. However, all three brands chose the same approach to naming. As we can see from our examples, the literal description of brand characteristics in the name in these cases works for brands of different price segments.
Photo from promotional campaigns American Aparel promotional posters
2. To name a brand of clothing: Emphasis on emotion
Building a brand image around an emotionally colored name that creates a series of associations in the consumer’s mind is another good example for a clothing brand. Such are the names of British giants Next and Oasis. The Next brand emphasizes in its name that the company is on the crest of a fashion wave. The name Oasis hints that in their stores a girl will find herself in an oasis of beauty.
Another democratic brand that uses emotion in its name is Esprit (full name – Esprit de Corp). The name of the brand means “spirit of unity” (in the abbreviated version – spirit). The brand’s clothes are positioned as simple but stylish and are oriented to a person who is already formed and knows what she wants from life (girls from 25 years old).
Promo photo of Esprit advertising campaign
3. name the shoe brand: rhyming and sounding name
Rhyming names are easy to remember and sound pleasant. Among clothing and footwear brands, the best example would be Flip-Flop. The main product category of this brand is beach shoes (flip-flops). In the name, the brand combines two techniques: sound imitation and rhyme. The sound that the flip-flops make when walking reminds of the word combination Flip-Flop. And the repetition of two words with the same number of letters and the repetition of the first and the last one completes the image.
You might like our article on creating an accessories brand. In it, we describe step by step the stages of creating a brand: from the name to the legend.
Promo photo from the brand’s Flip-Flop advertising campaign
4. How to name a brand of women’s clothing: the name of the creator
This is the most popular way to name a brand of clothing, footwear, accessories or perfume. Prada, Tommy Hilfiger, Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Tailor, Paul Smith, Marc Jacobs, Fred Perry, Stella McCartney, Michael Korsy and hundreds of other brands have received the names of their founders and forever inscribed them in the history of fashion.
Often in the name, in addition to the name or surname, the category of goods that the brand produces. For example, Ukrainian handbag manufacturer Daria Ozerianko named her brand Ozerianko Bags. Someone chooses to modify the surname by shortening it. For example, Ukrainian designer Olga Navrotska produces her clothes under the brand Navro.
If you have decided to launch a brand on the Ukrainian market, turn to KOLORO. Our team of marketers, designers, copywriters and brand managers will help you climb the Olympus.
Photo from the fashion show of the Ukrainian brand Navro
5. How to name a brand of women’s clothing: off-the-wall names
Often companies choose names that have nothing to do with the product itself. For example, Columbia Hat Company (originally the Columbia brand was called Columbia and produced only hats) was named after the river that flowed near the founders’ home.
Japanese luxury clothing brand Comme des Garcons is named after the French soldier’s song of the same name. The phrase literally translates from French as “like boys”.
On the example of Comme des Garcons, we have already told you how the release of a limited edition series can become a reason for an advertising campaign. You can read this story by clicking here.
Promo photo of Comme des Garcons advertising campaign
6. How to name a children’s clothing brand: using humor
In the naming of children’s stores and fashion brands there is always a place for humor, fiction and a good fairy tale. An example of a fun approach is the name of a fashion brand from the Netherlands, Imps+Elfs. The name translates from English as Devils + Elves. The brand’s clothes fully coincide with the name: they are playful and funny. Another brand that approached the question of how to name a children’s clothing brand with humor is 77 Kids (77 Kids ). The company helps parents to dress their children stylishly and make them different from others. The name does an excellent job of revealing the brand’s positioning.
Promo photo of children’s clothing brandImps+Elfs
How to name a clothing store: checklist
- Domain name and social media page names. Today, it’s hard to imagine a business that lives either online or offline. Therefore, when creating a name for a clothing brand, it is worth checking whether the corresponding domain name and names for social media pages are free.
- Checking with the competition. It is important that the name you choose is not used by your competitors. This probability is especially high if you choose an obvious word. For example, on the Ukrainian market there are children’s stores: detishka.com.ua, detishki.com.ua, detishki.in.ua. By choosing such a name, the company complicates its life, as one typo will lead your client to direct competitors. The second problem – the choice of an obvious word guarantees lower memorability of the brand by customers and blurring its image. Therefore, when you face the question of how to name an online children’s clothing store, research competitors.
- Phonation. The title does not have to be simple or one-word. For example, the name of the publisher “A-BA-BA-BA-GA-GA-LA-MA-GA” cannot be simple or short. That said, it is easy to read. Rhyme can be a mainstay in the name of a clothing brand, but it is not a prerequisite for a successful brand. However, there is something that is definitely contraindicated when choosing a name for a clothing brand – an unsound name that has 3 or more consonants in a row and none of them is the letter “p” (the letter “p” simplifies the pronunciation of many words). 3 consonants in a row in a brand name can kill any good idea.
- Check the connotations. We always try to verify the chosen name not only within the company, but also by interviewing outside people. Often, if you get carried away with the process, you may not notice a negative meaning of a word that did not occur to the nimers.
- Name for export. Also, clients often want to create a brand name that should be suitable for importing goods abroad. In this case, it is essential to check all the meanings of the word in the language of the country where the customer is going to enter the market. To do this, we look not only at the literal translation of the word, but also study slang and look for additional meanings of the selected term. We wrote more about creating a brand name for export in our article.
- Careful with the newforms. KOLORO often receives requests to create a name – a new word in Latin. In such cases, we involve a translator with a level of English not lower than C1 in the project. This allows us to avoid collisions and come up with a word that will not cause laughter among potential clients. When creating a brand for the Ukrainian market, this point can be skipped (although we do not recommend it), but for a brand that plans to enter foreign markets with a fictitious name, it is mandatory.
We hope that our article will be useful to you and that you will be able to come up with a succinct name for a clothing brand. We are always ready to help you if you are running out of energy. Contact KOLORO and entrust the fate of your brand to the professionals. We won’t let you down!
