This element alone can be enough to predict the success or fall of a label before it has even spread its wings.
Everyone dreams of creating their own fashion brand. The one that everyone will be talking about for many months, the one that will be on all fashionistas’ minds. Virgil Abloh, successful creator ofOff-White also passed by Louis Vuittonbequeathed a guide named Free Game aimed at these young talents wanting to create their own house.
He reveals the 12 “exact concepts and tools he used to build his career.” Simple, easy advice that is still relevant in the current context. Seeing his success, we have every interest in following him literally: Off-White raked in nearly $300 million in 2023, and was bought by Farfetch in 2019 then partly by LVMH in 2021 – proof of its ultimate success story.
The first piece of advice shared by the visionary is simply based on the creation of the name. In an ocean saturated with more than 300 million brands (2016), it is the key element through which a label is identifiable and memorable: “The brand name is the most important part of my logic”he explains. “It’s the most powerful asset you can have.” ; THE “infinite point of reference to ‘why’ your brand exists”. It must therefore be constructed well to attract the right target.
To do this, several steps that the prodigy himself followed. The 1st? Choose the type of name: eponymous (Disney), description (Home Depot), or even abstract (which is based on the power of phonetics as Rolex). Step 2: Choose what your name says. The ideal is that it goes beyond the description and translates your “great idea” with emotion. If Nike represents the idea of victory, Off-White thus embodies “the gray area between black and white”the nuance, the bridge between two different worlds, streetwear and luxury, ultimately (in English, “off white” means “off-white”). 3rd step: check that the name is available in your territory but also internationally. In Australia, Burger King must have been called Hungry Jack’s because his name was already exploited. In the same idea, we often confuse the luxury label Valentino Garavani with the accessible brand Mario Valentino : this involuntary association can discourage luxury enthusiasts and cost a few fewer customers for the first one.
When he got into fashion, Virgil Abloh simply collected unsold pieces from defunct brands (such as Rugby), added customization elements and affixed a label with its brand name (at the time, Pyrex Vision). Certainly, his creativity and vision were the driving forces behind his success, but the name and the label inevitably played a role in his rise.
If the creator reminds us that it can be changed along the way, there is a risk of losing early consumers if it is done in the wrong way. To avoid legal receivership, the ready-to-wear brand Jennyfer for example opted for “Call Me Jennyfer”creating confusion among its most loyal customers.
