The challenge of starting and running fashion brands

Fashion industry in Bandung – Part 2 

6 local brands, Mantra by Sense, Pix and Stacy, Collage Kit, Doshoes, Legam and Opsy, share their insight on consumers and industry players in Bandung.

Facing tough and selective consumers base in Bandung, brands have to maneuver the right strategy in effort to thrive in the industry. Each brand has different approach but the goal is the same, to make sales without losing identity. Like Opsy founders Cindera Nandasetya and Pratiwi Rahmani said, “as idealistic as we are, we have to earn money.”

Image: Pix and Stacy

Building brand value

Knowing the consumer’s habit of trend hopping, brands have to create a unique identity to set themselves apart from other brands. Each brand featured here has its own art direction and characteristic.

Mantra, for instance, is selling to a niche market. The theme of the brand is magic. “We know that not everyone will understand our concept. We eye artist influencers, people in creative industries like designers, photographers and musicians,” said Mantra co-founder Sin Aditya.

Pix and Stacy, Collage Kit and Opsy, on the other hand, are vibrant and playful. However, all three represent different kind of mood. Pix and Stacy’s products are more decorative. They make great statement pieces with colour blocking acrylic. Opsy has casual design that is wearable on every occasion. Collage Kit applies 90s vibe to its branding. The brand co-founder Firdaus Santana said that they target hypebeast minus the hefty pricetag.

Unlike the rest, Legam has monochromatic and elegant look. “We want the design to look exclusive but with inclusive price tag,” said Legam co-founder Fadli Julistia.

In summary, there is no point in following other brands according to the founders. Brands have to understand what they are launching. “If you blindly follow others, you won’t find solution to what the market needs. Brands that preserve their idealism will stay,” said Collage Kit co-founder Firdaus Santana.

Shaping the market and the products

Quoting Pix and Stacy co-founder Patricia Citra’s words, a brand has to have the capacity to shape the market. “Creators have their own concept for the brand but we can’t deny that trends come and go. The consumers are constantly fed with references,” she explained. The best way for Patricia is to inject the trend into the collection.

Meanwhile, Collage Kit has different approach. “The question used to be who would look good in our clothes but then it changed to how would our clothes compliment the consumers,” said Firdaus. “Market shapes our products.”

Balancing supply and demand

Mantra and Collage Kit have different approach when it comes to inventory. Mantra goes after the exclusivity by producing small batch while Collage Kit wants to launch affordable, mass-produce collections. Mantra’s idea of exclusivity is countered with the frequency of launch. That is to find balance between small quantity and revenue.

In contrary to Collage Kit, although Opsy is in mass-produce category, the brand opts to produce small amount of inventory instead. The move is crucial in preserving exclusivity among the brand’s consumers.

Engaging with consumers

“Brands have to be alive. What’s the activity?” said Firdaus. “There’s big event twice a year during Hari Raya and Christmas. We can do promotion on e-commerce marketplace like Shopee or Tokopedia. We have to keep on creating and innovating.”

Collaboration between brands like what Legam and Mantra did on ‘Black Magic Collactive.’ The brands partner with local coffee shop to host their pop-up. Small activity like pop-up increases brand awareness and trust. “A lot of customers want to see the real product before buying,” said Fadli.

That also includes sponsored post on social media. Online presence drives offline presence. When consumers are interested in the products they see online, they will proceed to offline location.

Working and connecting with the industry

Starting out without any connections in the industry is challenging. It can be expensive too. Legam entered the industry through Bekraf, a creative economy organisation initiated by the Indonesian government. Through one of the organisation’s programmes, IKKON, Fadli and his co-founder were placed in Padang, West Sumatra to find local resources to work with.

For Opsy, one of the brand’s marketing channels is through retailers like Happy Go Lucky or The Goods Dept. Although they posted high revenues on some retailers, the founders admitted that some retailers were often late in delivering the sales commission. This could hurt cashflow.

Believe in the process and be patient

Pix and Stacy started in 2011 while Patricia and her co-founder were in university. During the process, they worked at interior design firm to accumulate capital in order to build the brand. It was in 2017 that the brand gained recognition at Jakarta Fashion Week.  

Doshoes founder Lambang Pranata went through a rocky start too. He launched Doshoes in 2014 and paused the operation from 2016 to 2017. “I think the concept doesn’t resonate with the customers,” said Lambang. During the brief hiatus, he branched out to manufacturing until he’s ready to launch his brand again in 2018.  

It may take a while to get the brand up and running, it takes even longer to see stability in operation and revenue. This is the reality that many brands cannot handle. There is no instant success and it can take years to achieve.