Tag: fashion brands

From Launch to Legacy: How PR Shapes Every Stage of a Fashion Brand’s Growth

In fashion, success is never static; even the most iconic brands are constantly evolving to remain relevant. From debuting the collection to becoming a household name, the journey of a fashion brand mirrors a lifecycle familiar to anyone in business: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline, and, eventually, Obsolescence.

While creative vision and product innovation fuel the artistic side of fashion, a strong public relations (PR) strategy is what ensures a brand not only enters the market with impact but sustains momentum over time. Strategic PR doesn’t just complement the design process—it drives perception, demand, and longevity; it’s the through-line from launch to legacy that consistently keeps a fashion brand in the minds and on the feeds of consumers.

Each phase of a fashion brand’s lifecycle demands its own approach to building awareness, shaping perception, and influencing consumer behavior.

We’re breaking down how PR can evolve with a business, ensuring that the public sees, believes in, and ultimately buys into the fashion brand.

Stage 1: The Launch — Building Buzz and Awareness

Objective: Establish a strong brand presence in the market.

For early-stage fashion brands, PR is all about planting seeds. This is the make-or-break moment when the right storytelling can generate enough curiosity to attract those all-important first customers, media hits, and stockists.

Key PR Activities:

  • Crafting a compelling brand story that differentiates the label from others in a saturated market.
  • Securing early press mentions in trade publications, fashion blogs, and niche outlets covering launches and emerging talent.
  • Partnering with micro-influencers and tastemakers who resonate with the brand’s aesthetic and values using affiliate marketing to incentivize mutually beneficial collaborations.
  • Hosting a launch event or campaign to create a splash and generate newsworthy events for a young, new brand, whether through a pop-up, intimate press preview, or virtual showcase.

Outcome: Brand awareness begins to build, the media starts paying attention, and the first wave of consumers is introduced to the brand.

Stage 2: Growth — Solidifying Brand Identity and Expanding Reach

Objective: Transition from a “new” brand to one with a recognizable identity and loyal customers.

Once a brand is on the radar, the focus shifts to reinforcing what it stands for and establishing industry authority. This is where PR helps shape how the brand is perceived and ensures it remains top-of-mind as competition intensifies.

Key PR Activities:

  • Refining media relations to include features in major publications like Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar.
  • Expanding influencer collaborations to include mid-tier and macro-influencers aligned with the brand.
  • Launching partnerships and capsule collections that build credibility and expand reach.
  • Generating consistent press coverage through interviews, editorials, and event activations.

Outcome: At this stage, a fashion brand begins to take on a stronger identity in the marketplace, with press and consumers associating it with distinct values, aesthetics, and a growing presence.

Stage 3: Scaling — Becoming a Market Leader

Objective: Shift from a growing brand to an industry leader.

This is when a fashion brand has traction. Now the goal is to scale impact while navigating the increased scrutiny that comes with success. Strategic PR ensures growth is matched with polish, authority, and authenticity.

Key PR Activities:

  • Cultivating deep relationships with top-tier editors to secure long-lead features, cover stories, and fashion week spotlights.
  • Launching large-scale campaigns around seasonal drops or high-profile collaborations.
  • Managing potential crises with well-thought-out reputation strategies.
  • Positioning brand executives or designers as thought leaders through op-eds, podcast interviews, and industry panels.

Outcome: The brand becomes known not just for its products, but for its cultural relevance. Not only does the brand earn a spot among the top players, but it also becomes a part of the broader fashion conversation.

Stage 4: Legacy — Sustaining a Timeless Brand Presence

Objective: Ensure longevity through cultural relevance and commitment to core values.

Legacy isn’t just about time; it’s about building an enduring reputation and making a lasting impact. At this stage, PR helps the brand stay relevant while honoring the values and vision that brought it here.

Key PR Activities:

  • Increasing brand reach by executing global PR campaigns to support international growth and align messaging across regions.
  • Celebrating brand milestones (major anniversaries, runway retrospectives, museum exhibitions) with PR activations that reinforce the brand’s journey.
  • Maintaining a consistent tone of voice across all channels, including earned media, social platforms, and internal communications.

Outcome: The brand becomes more than a label—it becomes a legacy. It earns cultural capital, consumer trust, and long-term brand equity.

PR Is the Common Thread

From the moment a fashion brand introduces itself to the world to the decades it spends influencing trends and culture, public relations plays a critical role at every step. While design captures attention, it’s PR that ensures the world keeps watching.

The brands that succeed long-term are those that treat PR as a non-negotiable—a strategic partner in shaping their narrative, connecting with their audience, and evolving with purpose. As fashion continues to move faster and consumer expectations shift, a great PR strategy is more than a support system—it’s the very foundation on which enduring brands are built.

For brands seeking not just visibility, but legacy, PR isn’t just part of the plan. It is the plan.

PSA: Digital Marketing Isn’t the Same as Sales

One of the greatest frustrations we often hear from fashion brand owners is that their ads are not providing the ROI they would like to see. Many new brand owners assume that pumping money steadily into a generic marketing funnel through a platform like Meta will instantly provide a significant ROI before the brand has made even one sale organically.
 
While the dynamics of digital marketing and sales are intertwined, the terms are not interchangeable. Despite their interdependence, it’s crucial to recognize the nuances that differentiate digital marketing and sales. When these two essential components of business growth work together in a comprehensive strategy that accounts for the unique objectives and goals of each, fashion brands can flourish into successful businesses.
 
Digital Marketing is integral to brand growth and success, but at its core, is an amplification system and not a sales generator. By using the data that is already in your system (for example, customer data in Shopify from your existing customer base) an effective campaign will find more potential customers who resemble your existing customer base. While an optimized digital marketing strategy can lead a brand to grow from $1,000 per month in revenue to $150,000 in revenue per month in a relatively short time (we’ve not only seen it, but we’ve done this for multiple fashion brands), there must be data available to use as a starting point for that scaling to begin.
 
While Digital Marketing is about amplifying what’s already working, the focal point of a sales strategy revolves around converting prospects into paying customers. Through strategic engagement and persuasive techniques, the sales team’s aim should be to generate tangible revenue. Sales is a more tactical approach tailored to the final stages of the consumer journey, emphasizing transactional outcomes.
 
While digital marketing undoubtedly plays a pivotal role in amplifying brand visibility and driving consumer engagement, it’s essential to acknowledge its limitations as a standalone sales creator. Simply put, the goal of sales strategy is to convert prospects into customers and the goal of a digital marketing strategy should be to reach new potential consumers that can be converted into customers.
 
So, if digital marketing increases sales and makes selling easier, how does a new fashion brand make sales to begin with? For a fashion brand to make sales, it’s crucial to implement a comprehensive strategy that includes organic, earned, and paid tactics, such as public relations, paid media placements, affiliate marketing, product placement, community engagement, social media marketing, and live events.
 
By aligning the complementary roles of digital marketing efforts with sales objectives in a comprehensive brand strategy, fashion brands can not only drive revenue and foster sustainable growth but also cultivate meaningful connections with consumers, amplify brand resonance, and propel themselves towards enduring success in the increasingly competitive fashion industry.

There’s no one “thing” that a new brand can do to magically reach profitability. When the complementary roles of digital marketing and sales are integrated into a comprehensive brand strategy that includes paid and organic tactics, their collective powers can drive revenue and foster sustainable growth for fashion brands of every size.