Creating, growing and evolving an apparel, shoe or accessory brand is very challenging. We discuss the 6 main reasons fashion brands fail. These reasons can be applied to developing any successful brand experience in the consumer sector. These are valuable branding and marketing tips for startups, entrepreneurs and large companies alike.

1. WHY
6 REASONS
FASHION BRANDS
FAIL TO
THRIVE
Dix&Pond Stephanie Bernier 1-26

2. Creating a successful new apparel, shoe or accessory
brand is very difficult. Keeping it consistent and evolving
with the audience over the long haul is challenging.
Repairing a flagging brand experience is nearly
impossible.
Dix&Pond 2-26

3. What is a brand?
Brands are not individual products.
The products, marketing, multi-channel
experience, customer service and corporate
identity are all an expression of a greater
deliverable to the consumer.
A successful brand is a total experience that the
consumer can identify with.
Dix&Pond 3-26

4. Consumers express who
they are or want to be,
by the brands they choose.
NikeDix&Pond 4-26

5. They have an emotional
connection with their
favorite brands.
Fashion is discretionary.
The promise of a brand
must tug at a consumer’s
emotions to make a sale.
Dix&Pond 5-26

6. The Six Reasons
Fashion Brands Fail
Dix&Pond 6-26

7. #1
Niche too
narrow
Every brand concept has an
audience of a least one.
The success of a brand will
depend on the size of the
audience for whom it
resonates and can't grow
beyond owning 100% of it.
Dix&Pond 7-26

8. The most successful
fashion brands are a
“lifestyle” and reach a wide
spectrum of ages.
Classic American brands
like Nike, Coach or J. Crew
have the potential to reach
a wider audience, than
smaller niche brands like
Betsey Johnson, Helmut
Lang or Dooney Burke.
HunterDix&Pond 8-26

9. Understanding the size of
the market niche is critical
to set brand growth
expectations.
Dix&Pond 9-26

10. #2
Lack of identity
All great brands need to
have a distinct personality.
Half- baked concepts and
inconsistent messages are
dead-on-arrival.
Dix&Pond 10-26

11. What brands imply is their
identity or brand promise.
Lululemon has a clear
identity. It implies that their
customer is upscale,
active, hip, sexy and
fashion forward.
LululemonDix&Pond 11-26

12. Brands must have a soul
and authenticity.
Ralph Lauren has provided
an unwavering soul to his
iconic brand, for over 30
years.
Ralph LaurenDix&Pond 12-26

13. #3
Too many
cooks
Great brands are focused and
have consistent storytelling.
Compelling stories are not
crafted by committees, but
woven by creative and
opinionated visionaries.
Eileen FisherDix&Pond 13-26

14. Behind every great brand
you will find a strong brand
champion.
J. Crew’s Mickey Drexler,
is a great example of a
brand champion. He has a
reputation for a razor-sharp
clarity of vision and has
his head in the details for
the entire brand
experience.
J CrewDix&Pond 14-26

15. Brand champions take
fashion risks within the
context of their brand story.
Lululemon continually
delights and surprises their
customer with fashion
risks.
LululemonDix&Pond 15-26

16. A consistent brand offering
and experience is essential
to build a brand
personality.
Michael Kors delivers
consistent products within
the brand promise of
glamorous, urban fashion.
Michael KorsDix&Pond 16-26

17. #4
No unique value
Brands must have clear
points of differentiation from
their competitors.
LongchampDix&Pond 17-26

18. Tom’s shoes has a unique
value proposition. They
have added tremendous
brand value to a very
simple shoe style.
For every pair sold, they
promise to give away a pair
a poor child. They are
selling goodwill, as well as
shoes.
Tom’sDix&Pond 18-26

19. #5
Clinging to
history
Fashion brands with the
longest history often find it
difficult to find a current
relevance. Customers
evolve.
Companies can get
hamstrung by the past and
they rest their laurels on old
successes.
Dix&Pond 19-26

20. Companies often don't have
the vision to tell the brand
story through relevant
products in a current context.
They only see the brand in
terms of the individual
products that were successful
in their best times.
Sperry still sells the promise
of the coastal “good life.”
They have successfully
updated their iconic boat
shoes for today.
SperryDix&Pond 20-26

21. Coach has had to
continuously evolve over
the years within the context
of their brand.
It isn’t easy to stay fresh
and relevant for the next
generation.
CoachDix&Pond 21-26

22. #6
Don’t reach
customers on
their terms
We live in a diverse, fast-
paced culture with the added
complexity of a splintered
media.
Traditional print marketing
and TV don't have the reach
they once did.
Dix&Pond 22-26

23. Marketing has become
interactive, no longer a
one-way conversation.
Creating brand awareness
has become increasingly
complex because consumers
have so many shopping and
entertainment options.
They are bombarded with
messaging and filter to the
most interesting and
engaging experiences.
Dix&Pond 23-26

24. Brands have to be keenly
aware as to who their
audience is and engage
customers on their terms.
Kate Spade has effectively
used a dynamic website
and social media to
engage and delight
customers.
Kate SpadeDix&Pond 24-26

25. Social media gives the
customer a big platform to
promote or destroy brands.
Converse is one of the
most successful fashion
brands using social media
to engage customers. They
have over 37 million likes
on Facebook.
ConverseDix&Pond 25-26

26. Dix&Pond 26-26
CONTACT US
Dix & Pond Consulting is a Boston-based consulting company.
We do creative and strategic product development, branding and
business consulting.
Clients are apparel, footwear, retail & consumer products companies.
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