A true measure of a brand’s effectiveness is its wearability.
YES… fashion…
How can such a disposable and fickle medium like clothing be important to building your brand message? Simple… exposure
A true brand encompasses the values of an organization and reflects its beliefs, personality and values. Solid brands understand their worth and pay endless attention to maintaining consistency as they know time is power. Brands are built over years of consistent messaging…
In the world of oversaturated messaging and information overload, clothing is a medium that is always there. Other than some beaches and clothing-optional communities, people wear clothes, regardless of their economic or social situation. That is a media base of over 8 billion potential walking messages around the globe.
One of the most successful industries that understands how to harness the power of wearable brands is the music industry.
For decades, iconic logos, album covers, posters and slogans have graced T-shirts, hoodies, knapsacks, hats and more. These brands have filled high school halls, college parties, clubs and stadiums. Long-gone bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Elvis, Ramones… the list is endless, but these iconic bands continue to have merchandise fly off the shelves. Everyone who wears one of those items continues to add brand value through exposure and thereby keeps the brand alive.
From packaged goods characters, like Tony the Tiger, to Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, to STP motor oil… every brand is wearable.
How can such a disposable and fickle medium like clothing be important to building your brand message? Simple… exposure.
What brands do you wear?
To understand the power of a wearable brand, all you have to do is to take a look in your T-shirt drawer and discover what brand you are the media placement for… the funny thing is you’re not being paid to wear it… you probably paid a lot to show your support.
Here’s a peek into my drawer and my investment:
3 Maple Leafs jerseys = $10,000+
(when you factor in the tickets to the games)
4 John Varvatos rock t-shirts = $25,000+
(when you factor in the trips to NYNY & Vegas)
1 Super Bock beer t-shirt = $5,000+
(when you factor in the trip to Portugal)
1 JEEP t-shirt = $75,000+
(when you factor in the Jeep Wranglers we’ve owned)
and so many more…
A wearable brand is a key factor in the decision-making process for an organization creating or evaluating its branding program.
The best evaluation of how wearable your brand is is simple: just look at how many strangers who are not connected to your organization but are promoting your brand by wearing it proudly…
A brand should be planned to wear… is yours?
Che Guevara tshirt display from Adobe Stock
Grant’s t-shirt collection from his iPhone