How to Sell Clothing Online: Channels, Strategies and Platforms for Emerging Brands

A few weeks ago, in our style office in Gallarate, an up-and-coming designer - let's call her Sara - sat in front of me with a beautiful collection. Twelve garments, Italian fabrics, a capsule collection carefully constructed, with its defined brand code, clear positioning, a story to tell. Everything was perfect. Except for one thing: he had opened a shop on Zalando, invested EUR 4,000 in commissions and logistics in the first three months, and had not sold a single item.

The problem was not the collection. The problem was the channel.

Sara had opened an e-commerce on Shopify because “all brands use it”, had uploaded products to Amazon because “there are millions of customers”, and had spent weeks trying to get into Zalando's Partner Program - not knowing that Zalando selects brands by invitation and does not accept just anyone. Sara had done what the 90% of emerging brands do: she had chosen the channels before understanding who her customer was.

And her customer - a professional woman between 30 and 45 years old, sustainability-conscious, willing to spend EUR 120-180 for a garment with a story - was not on Amazon looking for Sara's name among a hundred thousand other brands. She was on Instagram, on TikTok, in downtown concept stores, at weekend design markets. It was everywhere except the places Sara had invested all her money.

That meeting confirmed to me, for the umpteenth time, that the most dangerous question for an emerging brand is not “how do I sell” but “where do I sell”. Because if you ask it before you have answered much more important questions - who you are, who you speak to, what makes you unique - any answer will be wrong.

And it's not an uncommon mistake. It's the most common mistake I see in emerging brands, week after week, year after year. The reason is simple: platforms invest millions in marketing to convince you that the solution to your problems is to join their platform. Amazon tells you “sell on Amazon”. Shopify tells you “open your shop on Shopify”. Etsy tells you “reach millions of creative buyers”. And they are right - for them. For you, the answer is different.

I am Corrado Manenti, founder of Be A Designer, Italy's first independent style office specialising in supporting emerging designers. For over 14 years I have been working side by side with those who want to turn their passion for fashion into a concrete business - and to date we have launched over 200 brands. I have written two books on this path, "Do you also want to be a designer?" e “The Designer's Journey“, and I developed the Fashion Business Designer Canvas at the Bergamo Polytechnic, a tool that has helped hundreds of people structure their fashion projects.

Be A Designer is part of a group with a turnover of approx. EUR 25 million in the fashion production industry - which means that when I talk to you about sales channels, margins and distribution strategies, I do not do so as a marketing theorist. I do it as an entrepreneur who produces, sells and distributes fashion every day.

If this is the first article you read, welcome to Be A Designer: the home of up-and-coming designers. If you have been following me for some time, you know that I do not tell you fairy tales.

What you will find in this guide is not the usual list of platforms with screenshots and affiliate links. You won't find advice on how to sell used clothes on Vinted or how to empty your wardrobe online. You will find the perspective of someone who builds brands by trade and knows exactly which channel works, for whom it works and - most importantly - at what point in a brand's journey it makes sense to activate it.

“Where do I sell?” and the wrong question

I repeat it in every consultation, I write it in my books, I tell it to anyone who sits in front of me with a fashion project: first the brand, then the channel.

It is a mantra that seems simple, almost obvious, but which 90% of people ignore. Because the temptation to start from the platform is so strong. You open Shopify, you open Etsy, you sign up on Amazon, you create an Instagram Shop - and you already feel “in business”. You have a shop, you have online products, you have a link to send to friends. But you don't have a strategy.

The sales channel is not a technical choice. It is a strategic choice that depends on who you are as a brand, who you speak to, how much you are willing to invest and what stage of your journey you are at. Selling on a proprietary ecommerce and selling on a marketplace are two completely different sports, with different rules, different costs and - a not insignificant detail - different margins.

Before choosing where to sell, you must have defined your Brand Code - that 30-40 page strategy document that in our method we construct in six counselling sessions. You need to know who your ideal client is. Not “25-45 women” - but a real person, with a name, a job, a way of dressing, values. You need to know your price positioning. You must have defined your Collection Pyramid - which garments are your Aspirational Product, such as the commercial heart, such as the entry point.

Only afterwards - only when you have the answers to these questions - does it make sense to talk about channels.

And the good news? In 2026, there are more channels available for an emerging brand than there have ever been. Let's look at them one by one, with the real numbers, the pros, the cons and above all the truth that no platform tells you in its onboarding.

If you want to learn more about the complete path to building a brand before choosing the sales channel, I recommend reading our guide on how to create a clothing brand - and the starting point from which everything else descends.

Proprietary e-commerce: your home, your rules

Let's start with what I consider to be the fundamental channel for any brand that wants to build something lasting: proprietary e-commerce.

When I say “proprietary e-commerce” I mean a website that is yours. Not a shop hosted on a third-party platform. Not a profile on a marketplace. A site with your own domain, your own design, your own data, your own customers. The difference seems subtle, but it is huge.

With an e-commerce of your own, every visitor that arrives on the site is data that belongs to you. Every email you collect is yours. Every sale takes place on your terms, with your margins, without commissions that someone else has decided for you. If tomorrow you decide to change your strategy, to launch an offer, to make a pre-order, to create a reserved area for VIP customers - you can do it. Nobody has to approve anything.

And here we come to a question I get asked all the time: WooCommerce or Shopify?

Let me tell you frankly what I think - and I know I am going against the grain of what you read everywhere on Google.

Shopify and convenient. It sets up in an afternoon, it has a clean interface, it works well. That is why everyone recommends it - because it is easy to recommend. But there is one fundamental problem: you own nothing. Your Shopify shop is not your shop - it's Shopify's shop where you pay rent. If Shopify changes its policies tomorrow, if it raises prices, if it decides that your type of product is no longer welcome, your shop disappears. And with it all your data, your customisations, your structure.

WooCommerce on WordPress is the choice we recommend at Be A Designer for brands that want to get serious. Is it more complex to set up? Yes, a little. Does it require its own hosting and some extra technical expertise? Yes. But the site is yours. The data is yours. The customer database is yours. You can customise anything without limits imposed by the platform. You can change hosting, change graphics, add functionality - without asking anyone's permission.

As I often tell my clients: your brand deserves to own its online space, not rent it.

One fact you should keep in mind: the average conversion rate of a fashion e-commerce and the’1-2%. Which means that for every 100 people who visit your site, one or two buy. This is not a fault of your site - it is the industry norm. But it does mean that to generate 100 sales per month you need to bring 5,000-10,000 visitors per month to your e-commerce site. And to bring that traffic you need content, SEO, advertising and a social strategy. It takes investment, time and method.

Proprietary e-commerce is not an “easy” channel. It is the channel that gives you maximum control, maximum margins and maximum freedom - but it requires you to do the work of bringing people to your shop. Nobody does it for you. That's the price of freedom.

Practical advice: do not open e-commerce on day one. Open e-commerce when you have your sample book ready, professional photos taken, at least 10-15 items to show and a strategy to bring in traffic. An empty e-commerce - or one with three products and photos taken with a phone - does more damage than good to your brand perception.

There is also an aspect that many underestimate: the SEO of your e-commerce. In 2026, Google remains the most valuable source of traffic for a fashion e-commerce - because someone searching for “women's linen jacket Made in Italy” on Google has a much higher purchase intention than someone scrolling through their Instagram feed. With WooCommerce on WordPress you have full control over SEO: you can optimise each product page, create an integrated blog that attracts organic traffic, build an internal link structure that Google rewards. With Shopify these possibilities exist, but are more limited and less flexible.

A well-built proprietary e-commerce is like a boutique on a thoroughfare: at first you have to attract customers with the shop window and word of mouth, but once the flow starts, it becomes an asset that works for you 24/7. And unlike a physical shop, it never closes.

In our method, e-commerce is not the last step - it is one of the first. Because in 2026, a brand without its own digital presence does not exist. You can have the most beautiful sample collection in the world, but if the buyer types your name into Google and finds nothing, you have a problem. E-commerce is your digital business card, your permanent showroom, your point of contact with the world. And it has to be yours.

The world of marketplaces: Etsy, Amazon, Zalando and the price of visibility

Marketplaces are the polar opposite of proprietary e-commerce. Instead of building your shop and bringing customers to it, you go where the customers already are. Etsy has millions of visitors every month. Amazon dominates global e-commerce. Zalando is the benchmark for fashion in Europe.

Sounds like the perfect choice, doesn't it? A sea of customers ready to buy, and all you have to do is present your products.

That is why it almost never works for an emerging brand.

The first problem and the commission. Every marketplace takes a slice of your turnover - and it is not a slice. At Etsy let's talk about the 6.5% on sale plus EUR 0.20 per advertisement. At Amazon the commission in the fashion category and the 15% on the selling price. At Zalando the commission varies but is in the same range, plus logistical costs if you use their fulfilment.

Let us do the maths on a garment sold for EUR 100 with a production cost of EUR 25.

On your proprietary e-commerce, after payment gateway fees (approx. 2%), you are left with 73 EUR gross margin. On Etsy: 68 EUR. On Amazon: 60 EUR. On Zalando: EUR 55-60. The difference, per 100 items sold, is 1,300-1,800 EUR - the equivalent of a professional photo campaign or a month of advertising on Meta.

But the real problem is not commissions. The real problem is the loss of control over the brand.

On a marketplace your brand is one among thousands. The customer searches for “women's jacket” and sees your product next to that of Zara, an unknown Chinese brand and a Romanian artisan. There is no storytelling, there is no brand experience, there is no emotional journey that turns a visitor into a fan. There is just a picture, a price and an “add to cart” button.

The second problem is that the customer is not yours. When someone buys on Amazon, they remember that they bought “on Amazon” - not from your brand. The customer's data stays with the platform. You cannot send them a newsletter, you cannot offer them the new collection, you cannot build a relationship. Each sale on a marketplace is an isolated transaction, not the beginning of a relationship.

The third problem and the dilution of positioning. If your brand is positioned on a premium price - EUR 100-200 per garment - and you sell on a platform where the average price is EUR 30, your positioning suffers. The customer perceives your product as “expensive” not because it is, but because the context makes it seem so.

Having said all that, there are cases where a marketplace makes sense for an emerging brand.

Etsy It works if your brand has an artisanal soul, if your products are perceived as “unique pieces”, if your target audience is the kind of person who goes to Etsy looking for something special. If you make handmade leather bags, designer jewellery, garments with visible craftsmanship - Etsy can be a good complementary channel to your e-commerce. Never the main channel, but a good complement.

Amazon hardly makes sense for an emerging fashion brand. The Amazon customer is looking for comfort and price, not history and craftsmanship. The only exception is if you have an entry-level product - a t-shirt, a low-priced accessory - that you use as an entry point to bring the customer then to your proprietary e-commerce.

Zalando works differently from the others: you cannot simply sign up and start selling. Zalando selects brands through its Partner Programme, and access is by invitation or after an application process that evaluates the brand, volumes, logistical structure and positioning. For an emerging brand in its infancy, Zalando is not a realistic option - it is a goal to aim for when the brand is established, has significant volumes and a structure that can handle the demands of the platform.

More on how choosing the sales channel right according to the stage of your brand, read our dedicated article - where we go into detail about the decision-making strategy.

There is one last point about marketplaces that deserves some thought. I have seen up-and-coming brands use marketplaces as a “springboard” - the idea is: I sell on Etsy to make myself known, then take customers to my e-commerce. In theory, it works. In practice, it almost never does. Because the customer who buys on Etsy remembers Etsy, not you. Because Etsy doesn't allow you to put promotional materials in the package. Because the customer who searches on Etsy stays on Etsy - they don't leave the platform to visit your site. The trampoline, in most cases, becomes a trap.

The only exception is when you use the marketplace strategically and consciously: as a complementary channel, with entry-level products different from those of your e-commerce, and with the knowledge that the customers acquired there will not be easily “transferred”. The marketplace and a shop window in a shopping centre - your e-commerce and your boutique. They are two different experiences, and the customer knows it.

Social commerce: the revolution that changed the rules of the game

If there is one channel that in 2026 has rewritten the rules of selling fashion online, it is social commerce. And I'm not talking about putting a link in the bio on Instagram and hoping someone clicks on it. I'm talking about selling directly within the social platform - without the customer ever leaving the app.

Instagram Shop and was the first serious attempt to bring commerce into social. Does it work? Yes, but with limitations. Product discovery is organic - the customer sees your item in the feed, clicks, buys. But Instagram's algorithm in 2026 heavily favours video content over static images, which means that to sell on Instagram Shop you have to produce constant video content. And conversion, though higher than a link in bio, remains limited by the complexity of checkout.

But the real earthquake is called TikTok Shop.

Let me give you the numbers, because they speak for themselves. TikTok in Italy counts 23.9 million monthly active users. The average daily stay is 58 minutes - almost an hour a day spent on a platform where the content is almost exclusively video. L’80% of users claims to have discovered a product on TikTok before buying it. And the statistic that got me out of my chair: conversions on TikTok Shop are up to 10% - against the 1-2% of a traditional e-commerce.

Ten per cent. Five or ten times the conversion rate of your website.

The reason is simple and powerful: on TikTok the customer sees the product worn, in motion, in a real context. Not a still life photo on a white background - a video where someone is wearing that garment, moving, telling why they chose it. The transition from discovery to purchase happens on the same screen, without leaving the app, without typing data on an unknown site. The friction is virtually zero.

I am telling you this from first-hand experience. With My Scarf in a Box - my own personal brand of scarves - I tested TikTok Shop myself. Not as a consultant, as a brand owner. And the results were superior to any traditional sales channel I had ever tried. The combination of authentic video content + instant purchase is something that simply did not exist three years ago.

The committee of TikTok and the 5% per transaction - less than half of Amazon, less than Etsy, much less than Zalando. And unlike marketplaces, the customer discovers your brand through content, not through a generic search. Which means that when they buy, they know who you are. And much more likely to come back.

To learn more about how TikTok Shop works and how you can use it for your brand, read our article on TikTok Shop for fashion brands - where I also detail my experience with My Scarf in a Box.

But it is not just TikTok. Social commerce as a whole is experiencing explosive growth. Pinterest launched its integrated shopping functionality and has become an attractive channel for fashion brands with a strong aesthetic - because the Pinterest audience actively seeks visual inspiration and has a higher purchase intention than the social average. WhatsApp Business and has become a surprisingly effective direct sales channel for small brands - the one-to-one communication, the integrated catalogue, the possibility to finalise the purchase via chat create a “personal shopping” experience that premium customers appreciate enormously.

And then there is the live shopping - the live video sale, where you show the items, answer questions in real time and the customer buys with a click during the live broadcast. In China it is a market worth billions. In Italy in 2026 it is still in its infancy, but brands that have already tried it - even small brands, even emerging brands - report impressive conversion rates. Because live shopping combines three powerful elements: authenticity (it's live, it can't be faked), interaction (the customer talks to you, asks you questions, feels part of an experience), and urgency (offers are only valid during the live event).

For an emerging brand that has the personality and stage presence to stand in front of a camera - and if you are a creative with a passion for fashion, you probably do - live shopping can be a surprisingly profitable channel with minimal investment.

There is one important caveat, however. TikTok Shop works if you have something real to show. A product with a story, a fabric you can see, a detail that is striking. If you sell a generic blank with a graphic printed on it - the typical product print on demand - TikTok amplifies mediocrity. If you sell a garment with a strong identity, TikTok amplifies the value. It is an amplifier, not a creator of value.

Wholesale and B2B: when you are ready for the big leap

There is a moment in the journey of an emerging brand when the direct channel - e-commerce, social commerce - is no longer enough. Not because it does not work, but because the brand is ready for a different kind of growth: wholesale distribution.

Wholesaling - selling to shops, boutiques, multi-brands - is the channel that separates the “small but beautiful” brands from the brands that build a presence in the territory. It is the channel where your garment ends up in a window in the city centre, where a buyer selects it for his assortment, where a customer discovers it by touching it with his hands before buying it.

But beware: wholesale is not for everyone and it is not for all phases.

To sell wholesale you need a few non-negotiable things. The first is a sample. Not photos, not mockups, not renderings: physical garments that the buyer can touch, try on, evaluate. The sample book is your business card in the wholesale world, and without it you don't exist. The second is a wholesale price list with margins that work. The third and one production capacity that allows you to fulfil orders within the agreed timeframe - and in the wholesale world, timeframes are not suggestions, they are contracts.

The margin mechanism in wholesale is crucial to understand. The standard markup in the industry is x2-2.5 from the wholesale price to the retail price. Which means that if your garment costs EUR 25 to produce and you sell it wholesale for EUR 60, the shop will resell it for EUR 120-150. Your wholesale margin - before deducting fixed costs - is EUR 35 per garment. On your e-commerce you sell that same garment for EUR 120-150 with a margin of EUR 95-125.

Different numbers, different logic. With wholesale you sell higher volumes but with lower margins per piece. With e-commerce you sell fewer pieces but with much higher margins. That's why I always tell you: wholesale does not replace e-commerce - it complements it.

To enter the wholesale circuit there are several routes.

Le trade fairs are the traditional and still the most effective channel. In Italy, the main ones are Pitti Uomo and Pitti W in Florence, White Milano, Micam for footwear, Mipel for leather goods. Internationally, there are Premiere Vision and Who's Next in Paris, CIFF in Copenhagen. Participating as an exhibitor costs between EUR 3,000 and EUR 9,000 per edition - between stand, set-up, sample book, travel and materials. It is not cheap, but if your brand is ready and the sample book is solid, a trade fair can generate orders that repay the investment many times over.

The showroom are an alternative that works for brands that do not yet have the budget for trade fairs. A showroom is a space run by an agent or agency that represents different brands and proposes them to buyers. The agent works on commission - usually 10-15% on orders generated - which means you have no fixed costs but give up a slice of the margin.

Le digital B2B platforms are the novelty of recent years. Faire and the best known: it works like a marketplace but for wholesale, it connects brands and shops, handles payments and logistics. NuOrder e Joor are more oriented towards the premium and luxury segment. Faire is also accessible to up-and-coming brands - you sign up, upload your catalogue, and shops can discover and order from you. The commission is 15% on the first order from a new retailer and drops on re-orders.

A piece of advice I often give in consulting: don't jump into wholesale until you have at least two seasons behind you with your e-commerce. Wholesaling requires punctuality in deliveries, the ability to manage reorders, solidity in the contract manufacturing. If your production chain is not yet broken in, a wholesale order not fulfilled on time becomes a reputational damage that can close your doors for years.

Let me tell you a case that illustrates the concept well. One of our clients - an outerwear brand - attended White Milano after only one season of e-commerce sales. The buyers were enthusiastic, it collected orders for EUR 45,000 wholesale. Beautiful, no? The problem came later: he didn't have the production capacity to fulfil all those orders on time. The lab he was working with had a three-week queue. Result: delayed deliveries, two shops cancelling orders, reputation compromised.

The lesson? Wholesale is not a channel you “rehearse”. It is a channel you prepare for. You need a solid sample book, a reliable supply chain, working capital to finance production - because in wholesale, payments take 30-60-90 days, but you pay for production immediately. You need maturity. But when you are ready, wholesale can be the channel that explodes the growth of your brand.

Pop-up and physical retail: where the brand comes to life

There is one thing that digital cannot give you: physical contact. The moment when the customer touches the fabric, tries on the garment, feels the fall on the body. In the world of e-commerce we are obsessed with online conversions and we forget that fashion is a sensory experience. Your garment has to be touched.

For an up-and-coming brand, opening a physical shop is out of the question - the costs of rent, staff, utilities and warehousing make traditional retail a luxury you can only afford when the brand already generates significant turnover. But there are much more affordable and, in some ways, more efficient alternatives.

I pop-up store are the perfect solution for an emerging brand that wants to test retail without long-term commitments. A pop-up and temporary shop - lasting from a weekend to a month - in a space rented for the occasion. The cost varies enormously depending on the location: from EUR 500-1,000 for a weekend in a creative coworking space to EUR 5,000-15,000 for a week in a street in the centre of Milan.

But the real opportunity for emerging brands in 2026 is not traditional pop-ups. They are the unconventional spaces.

I am talking about beach clubs, resorts, concept stores, wine bars, art galleries, yoga studios, spas. Places where your target audience already is and where your brand presence tells a story consistent with your positioning. A sustainable clothing brand displayed in an eco-friendly concept store. A resort line sold in the trendiest beach club on the coast. A minimalist collection in a contemporary art gallery.

These spaces often do not charge traditional rents but work on consignment - they give you the space and take a percentage of sales, usually 30-40%. Which means zero risk for you and zero risk for them. And the customer who finds your item in that context perceives it in a completely different way than they would on an Amazon shelf.

The pop-up also has a value beyond immediate sales: it is a marketing tool. Each pop-up generates content - photos, videos, stories - that you can use on social media for weeks. It generates local word-of-mouth. It allows you to meet customers in person, to gather direct feedback, to understand how the garment is perceived when someone touches it and tries it on. This information is pure gold for improving the next collection.

And there is another aspect that emerging brands underestimate: the pop-up is a way to testing a city before committing to a stable distribution. If you want to enter a local market - Milan, Rome, Florence, a coastal town in summer - a weekend pop-up costs you a few hundred euros and tells you more than any market research. If the pop-up works, you know that city has an audience for your brand. If it doesn't work, you have invested little and learned a lot.

An episode I like to recount. A client of ours - a brand of Made in Italy swimwear - started selling in beach clubs on the Amalfi coast. Zero e-commerce in the beginning. Zero marketplace. Just ten beach clubs displaying his swimming costumes next to the deckchairs. In the first year, he invoiced EUR 45,000 - more than most emerging brands invoice online in the first two years. Why? Because the context was perfect: customers with high spending power, at the exact moment they needed a swimming costume, in an environment that communicated accessible luxury. The channel was not “retail”. It was “retail in the right place, for the right customer, at the right time”.

And I want to emphasise another fundamental aspect of physical retail for emerging brands: the real-time feedback. Online, when a customer doesn't buy, you don't know why. Maybe they didn't like the colour, maybe the price was too high, maybe the size wasn't available. In a pop-up or physical space, you see the customer's reaction. See which garment he picks up first. See if the price tag makes him hesitate. See if the size M is too tight or too loose. This feedback is worth more than a thousand analytics reports - because it is real, immediate, and tells you exactly what to correct for the next collection.

Pre-ordering and crowdfunding: selling before producing

This is the channel that most of all should have been invented for emerging brands. And perhaps the least used, for one absurd reason: the fear of asking the customer to wait.

The pre-order It works like this: you show your collection - with professional photos, videos, detailed descriptions - and the customer orders and pays before you produce. Once you reach a minimum number of orders, you launch production and ship. If you don't reach the minimum, you refund everyone and no one has lost anything.

The benefits are enormous. Zero risk of unsold - only produce what you have already sold. Positive cash flow - receipts before spending on production. Actual validation - if 50 people pay for your boss before they even touch him, you have concrete proof that the market wants him.

The crowdfunding and the structured pre-order version. Platforms such as Kickstarter e Indiegogo allow you to present your project, set a collection target and collect funds from supporters. The advantage over pure pre-order is visibility: crowdfunding platforms have an audience of “early adopters” who actively seek new and innovative products. The disadvantage is that you have to create a convincing campaign with videos, storytelling and rewards at different price levels.

In our method, pre-order is one of the pillars of the launch strategy for emerging brands. Because it eliminates the biggest problem for starters: having to invest thousands of euros in production without knowing whether the market will respond. With pre-order, the market tells you “yes” or “no” before you spend a penny on production.

As I often repeat: don't guess. If you can get real data - people who pay, not people who “like” - before you produce, why not?

There is one variant of pre-order that works particularly well for emerging brands in 2026: the limited edition drop. Instead of keeping all the garments always available, you launch a collection - or a single garment - in limited quantities and for a limited time. Whoever wants the piece orders it in the launch window. You collect the orders, produce exactly those quantities, ship. Then the drop closes and that garment is no longer available - or at least not until the next drop.

The psychological mechanism is powerful: scarcity generates urgency, urgency generates action. And from an operational point of view, it eliminates the risk of unsold items and allows you to produce efficiently. Brands like Supreme have built an empire on this model. You don't have to be Supreme - but you can use the same logic, adapted to the scale of your brand.

A key practical aspect: pre-ordering only works if you have high-quality visual material. The customer buys something he cannot touch - the only way to convince him is to show it to him in an irresistible way. You need professional photos of the sample book, videos of the fitting, details of the fabrics. The sample book, in short, is the prerequisite. You cannot pre-order with a rendering - well, you can try, but the conversions will be very low.

The multi-channel strategy: how to combine everything without going crazy

If you've read this far - and it's already several thousand words, which tells me you're really interested - you're probably wondering: OK, but which channel do I choose? The answer is: it depends on where you are in your brand journey. And it's almost never just one channel.

The sales strategy of an emerging brand is not static. It evolves over time, season after season, as the brand grows, the community expands and resources increase. What works in the first six months is not what works after two years.

Let me tell you how we structure the channel strategy in our method, step by step.

Phase 1 - Launch (months 1-6)proprietary e-commerce + social commerce. Full stop. You don't need ten channels. You need two, done well. The e-commerce and your base - the place where the customer lands, where the brand story lives, where the purchase is completed. Social commerce - Instagram Shop and TikTok Shop - is the discovery engine, the channel where people find your brand for the first time. At this stage the goal is not sales - it is building the community and validating the collection.

Phase 2 - Consolidation (months 6-18)Add pre-orders for the second collection to the channels of phase 1 and start exploring collaborations with physical spaces - pop-ups, concept stores, events. If your brand has an artisanal soul, open a channel on Etsy as a complement. At this stage turnover grows, data accumulates, and you start to realise who your customer really is - not who you thought they were, but who they really buy.

Phase 3 - Expansion (month 18 onwards)time to explore wholesale. Participation in trade fairs, contact with showrooms, subscription to B2B platforms such as Faire. The sample collection is broken in, production is reliable, you have at least two seasons of sales data. In parallel, you strengthen your social commerce - maybe enter on TikTok Shop if you haven't already done so - and evaluate more ambitious pop-ups in premium locations.

Stage 4 - Maturity (from third year)Full multi-channel. E-commerce as a base, social commerce for discovery, wholesale for physical distribution, selected marketplaces (Farfetch, not Amazon) for positioning, retail partnerships for the brand experience. Each channel has a specific role: social commerce brings new customers, e-commerce builds loyalty, wholesale reaches them in the territory, retail excites them.

The key is this: do not open all channels at once. Each channel requires specific time, resources and expertise. Better two channels managed excellently than six channels managed mediocrely. Mediocrity is unforgiving in 2026. The customer has too many alternatives.

A mistake I see a lot: emerging brand opening e-commerce, Etsy account, Amazon profile, Instagram Shop and TikTok Shop - all in the same week. Result? Five channels with three products each, different photos on each platform, copy-and-paste descriptions, zero consistency in communication. The customer who finds you on Etsy sees a brand. The one who finds you on Instagram sees another. The one who arrives on e-commerce sees a third. And the feeling is not “this brand is everywhere” but “this brand doesn't know who it is”.

Brand consistency across channels is not an optional extra - it is a prerequisite. Each channel may have a slightly different tone - more informal on TikTok, more polished on e-commerce - but the identity must be the same. The photos, the tone of voice, the packaging, the experience. Everything has to tell the same story. And to tell the same story on multiple channels takes resources. That is why I say to you: better two channels done well than five done badly.

Budget per channel: the real numbers

Here is the section you have been waiting for. Concrete numbers, without mincing words. Because in the world of emerging brands, “how much does it cost” is not a secondary question - it is the question that determines whether your plan is feasible or a daydream.

The minimum budget for an emerging brand that wants to start with a serious sales strategy - e-commerce + social commerce + pre-order - is around 15,000-25,000 EUR, which also includes the production of the capsule collection. And the same range we recommend for the overall brand launch, as we explain in our cost guide.

I know, these are not figures you can find under your pillow. But as I always say: creating a fashion brand is not a hobby. If you treat it as such, it becomes an expensive hobby at best. If you treat it as a serious business investment - with a plan, a method, a partner to guide you - it can become something extraordinary.

The Be A Designer method for sales strategy

In fourteen years of working with emerging brands, we have developed an approach to sales strategy that starts from a simple principle: the channel follows the brand, never the other way around.

In our journey, sales strategy is not an Excel sheet with a list of platforms. It is a chapter of Fashion Business Designer Canvas - the tool I developed at the Polytechnic of Bergamo during my master's degree in Textile Engineering and Processes. The Canvas has a section dedicated to distribution where four variables intersect: brand positioning, ideal customer profile, available budget and stage of the journey.

When a new emerging designer comes to us, we define the sales strategy together in the Brand Design - before you even touch a fabric. Because if you don't know who you are selling to and where you are reaching, you risk producing beautiful garments that stay in the warehouse.

Our method consists of six phases - Brand Design, Concept and Design, Prototyping and Production, Shooting and Media, Strategic Coaching, E-commerce and Digital Adv - and the sales strategy runs through all six. It is not an add-on at the end. It is the thread that connects every decision.

In the phase of Brand Design We define the positioning and identify consistent channels. A brand positioning itself on a premium price (EUR 120-250 per item) will have a different channel strategy than a brand positioning itself on an affordable price (EUR 40-80).

In the phase of Prototyping and Production - which takes place in our supply chain between Varese and Como, in the heart of one of Europe's most prestigious textile areas - we calibrate the quantities according to the planned channels. If the plan includes wholesale, the quantities will be different from an e-commerce-only plan. Thanks to the fact that Be A Designer is part of a group with a turnover of around EUR 25 million in fashion production, our customers have access to discounts and conditions that a single brand could never achieve.

In the phase of Shooting and Media We produce optimised content for each channel: still life for e-commerce, video for TikTok Shop, lookbook for wholesale, lifestyle shots for Instagram. Each channel requires a specific visual language - and using the same photos everywhere is one of the most common mistakes I see in emerging brands.

In the phase of E-commerce and Digital Adv we build the online presence and activate digital channels. It is here that the plan comes to life - and from here that the first sales begin.

All supported by the tool we make available to all aspiring designers: Easy Chain, our database of over 130 verified Italian suppliers. Because the world's most brilliant sales strategy is useless if you don't have the supply chain to back it up.

One aspect of our method that makes the difference is the’integration between production and sales. Many consultants help you build the brand and then leave you alone at the point of sale. We don't. Because we know - from direct experience, not theory - that sales strategy influences production and vice versa. If the plan is wholesale, the minimum production quantities change. If the plan is pre-order, the timeline adjusts. If the plan is TikTok Shop, the type of content and shooting is different.

In our style office, the team that works on sales strategy is the same as the team that follows production. There are no watertight compartments, no lost handovers. And this continuity - from the idea to the finished garment to the sale to the customer - is something that is very rare in the market. Most emerging brands put together three, four, five different suppliers who don't talk to each other. We offer an integrated path where each piece of the puzzle fits together with the others.

And it is no coincidence that the brands we follow with the complete path have a significantly higher success rate - measured as break-even within the first year - than those that manage the various pieces independently. The method works because it is a system, not a list of tips.

Seven mistakes I see repeated when choosing a sales channel

In fourteen years and over 200 accompanied brands, I have seen the same mistakes repeated with a constancy that sometimes discourages me. I tell you about them not to scare you, but because if you know them you can avoid them - and save time, money and frustration.

Mistake 1: start with the channel instead of the brand. I've said it before, but it's worth repeating. “I want to sell on Shopify” is not a strategy. “I want to reach 30-40 year old creative professionals with sustainable garments at a premium price through social commerce and pop-ups in concept stores” is a strategy. The difference between the two phrases is the difference between a hobby and a business.

Error 2: Open all channels simultaneously. The emerging brand has limited resources - of time, of money, of energy. Spreading them over six different channels means doing everything in a mediocre way. Better two channels managed with excellence than six managed with superficiality.

Error 3: Not calculating the actual margin per channel. I showed you the numbers before: selling on Amazon at 15% commission and selling on your e-commerce at 2% gateway commission are two different worlds. If you don't do the maths channel by channel, you risk finding out at the end of the year that you worked for free - or worse, at a loss.

Mistake 4: confusing visibility with sales. “On Instagram I have 5,000 followers, why am I not selling?” Because followers are not customers. Views are not conversions. Likes don't pay the rent. Visibility is the first step, but without a conversion strategy - clear CTAs, smooth checkout, irresistible offer - it remains vanity.

Mistake 5: neglecting the customer after the sale. The cost of acquiring a new customer is 5-10 times higher than the cost of retaining an existing customer. Yet the 90% of emerging brands invests everything in acquisition and zero in retention. A simple follow-up email after purchase, a basic loyalty programme, a personal thank-you message - these are actions that cost practically nothing and can double your turnover.

Mistake 6: being ashamed of the price. If your garment costs EUR 25 to produce and you sell it for EUR 120, you are not “ripping off” the customer. You are financing the design, the story, the quality, the sustainability, the service, the next collection. If you are ashamed of your price, the problem is not the price - it's that you haven't yet defined the value you offer well enough. And that is solved by Brand Code, not by discounts.

Error 7: Do not measure anything. “It seems to me that Instagram works better than TikTok.” “Seems to me” is not data. Install analytics, track conversions channel by channel, measure the cost of customer acquisition for each traffic source. Data-driven decisions trump decisions based on gut feelings - always.

Every month you should be able to answer these questions with numbers, not impressions: How much does it cost me to acquire a customer on each channel? What is the net margin per channel after all commissions? What is the customer return rate per channel? Which channel brings customers with the highest average order value? If you can't answer that, you are driving in the dark. And in the dark you hit the walls.

The questions I receive most often about selling clothing online

The right channel does not exist. There is the right channel for you now

If you have come this far - and this has been a long journey - you have probably realised one thing: selling clothes online is not a technical matter. It's not about choosing Shopify or WooCommerce, Etsy or Amazon, Instagram or TikTok. It's about understanding who you are as a brand and building a distribution strategy around that identity that allows you to reach the right people, in the right way, at the right time.

Sara - the designer with whom I opened this article - finally found her way. She closed Zalando. She opened an e-commerce on WooCommerce. She started creating video content for TikTok where she showed the behind-the-scenes of her production - the fabric coming in from the supplier, the prototypes just out of the workshop, the packaging she designed. She participated in three pop-ups in concept stores in Milan. And after six months, her turnover had surpassed what she made in a year on Zalando - with margins three times higher and a community of customers who followed her and came back to buy.

He had not changed the product. He had changed channels. He had stopped going where “everyone goes” and had started going where his customer was.

This is the most important lesson I can leave you with. The sales channel is not a technical decision - it is a strategic decision that reflects who you are as a brand. And like all strategic decisions, it can be the difference between a brand that grows and one that dies.

The online fashion market in Italy continues to grow - fashion e-commerce grows by +12.5% per year, new channels such as TikTok Shop opening up opportunities that did not exist five years ago, consumers are increasingly willing to buy from independent brands with an authentic story. There has never been a better time to launch a fashion brand. But there has never been more competition either. To stand out, it is not enough to have a good product - you need an intelligent, targeted distribution strategy that is consistent with your identity.

At Be A Designer, every week we meet aspiring designers and emerging brands who are exactly where you are right now. They have a collection - or the idea for a collection. They have the passion, the creativity, the drive. What is often missing is the method to turn all this into real sales. And the method starts with the strategy, not the platform.

If you want to understand which sales strategy makes sense for your brand - or if you want to build a brand from scratch with the support of someone who has been doing it for fourteen years - we are here.

And if you want to start exploring the Italian supply chain in the meantime - because without a real product any sales strategy is a castle in the air - take a look at Easy Chainour database of over 130 verified Italian suppliers, for less than EUR 100. Or start with the book "The Stylist's Journey - where I recount the whole journey from the first idea to the first sale, with the same frankness that you found in this article.

The perfect moment does not exist. There is the moment you decide to start.

Good luck!

Corrado Manenti
Founder of Be A Designer