When we’re picking out any outfit for our day, colour is definitely
majorly important.
I know some of us started our January ‘ New Year, New Me’ , probably traded in all your jeans for gym leggings or joggers and have spent the last three weeks living in active wear attire but Spring is slowly creeping on us and we’ve got to have a quick Love Island chat about what colours are trending this year!
We all have our go to colours, whether they complement our complexion, enhance or illude our figure; or just simply we live and breath our favourite colours so have to wear them everyday there’s never any harm in keeping an eye out on what’s trending and new ideas to keep you one step ahead as a current fashionista.
Like always most our colour trend palettes are inspired by the runway, what current fashion trending celebs are wearing and top designers. Spring/summer 2022 will offer a variety of different shades that will ultimately revamp our wardrobes if we dare to explore.
In no particular order and of course just some of our predictions based on the current runways from New York to Paris we have seen some very warm and soft colours such as Lilac and yellow which come very close to the light blue and cream shades we also have here at Branded, our team is always one step ahead for you guys! The more dare devil and bolder colours being royal blue and hot pinks will be head turners for sure.
As quickly as trends and colours recycle it'll be interesting to see what colours you guys choose to explore and step out with this Spring/Summer.
Well, What can we say... 2021 brought us some great trends and colours such as oversized tracksuits and different variations of the NUDE shade.
2022 is destined to provide a variety of new trends that will swoop us off our feet. One of these trends that we know will be very popular is the SHELL TRACKSUITS. These tracksuits debuted in 90s and was very popular in the American market amongst very high profile rappers and entertainers. They would wear them in music videos and to big events.
Soon it hit the UK scene and all the leading brands at the time began to sell these tracksuits with vibrant colours, shapes and panels. You could hardly wear one of these tracksuits and not be noticed from the other side of the room. All the leading brands of the 90s jumped on the wave and it was a sensation. They were oversized, really comfortable and really bright
Example below
At Branded Plain we anticipate just like all great historic trends, Shell Tracksuits will do a complete 180 turn and come back into fashion this year. However like TRAPSTAR and CORTEZ, it wont be as vibrant as the shell tracksuits of the 90s rather the complete opposite.
We anticipate that the Shell Tracksuits relaunch will follow the colour palette of 2021 and forgo the bold colourful theme of the 90s.
Thus, we will be dropping the SHELL TRACKSUITS in Black, Grey and Khaki and they will be available at the end of February 2022. These will sell out very quick so grab yours when you get a chance.
When manufacturing or starting any type of business, sampling is important to test your product. Sampling can be managed in many different ways. When manufacturing clothing from scratch, sometimes it's good to find stores that sell products that are the same shape or quality that you are trying to achieve. I've also known people to tailor their clothes in the UK and send them abroad to replicate, this can be expensive but will be worth it when you get the finished product.
Sample clothes will always be more expensive than bulk/wholesale clothing, which is why branded plain clothing have reduced their sample prices to wholesale prices to make it easier for you to check out the quality of the plain hoodies, t-shirts, joggers and caps before committing to a bulk order. Samples are a great way to launch your products before receiving the bulk order and to also check out the quality of product, almost every manufacturer and wholesalers will offer samples to their customers.
Depending on the business and the product you are working on, many businesses operate in different ways. When ordering some companies take orders for samples and some don't, just because they don't take individual sample orders this doesn't mean you won't receive a sample. If this is the case the manufacturer will supply you a sample before they start the bulk production, not every manufacturer works like this but i find this more cost effective but can also be a risk if the manufacturer struggles with your design concept. To avoid this from happening, spend some time creating tech packs with clear sketches and details about the product you are creating so that way you are eliminating any room for error.
When manufacturers and wholesalers offer cheap samples this runs the risk of new companies constantly ordering samples to fulfil customer orders, this is like drop shipping. This slows down order fulfilment times and also increases expenses, the point of sampling is to see a product before you place the bulk order or the bulk order is started.
Branded Plain Clothes have launched their very own luxury plain peak caps in 3 different styles starting with the cotton cargo strap back, cotton mesh snapback and a suede mesh snapback. Brandedltd.co.uk offer wholesale prices as well as sample prices on orders under 20 units, sample prices are always more expensive but also minimizes the risk of ordering thousands of pounds worth of stock and not liking fit or the quality.
As a thank you to our customers for the support over the first few months and a successful launch Branded Plain Clothes are offering 1 sample cap for free to every customer. This is a great way to review the product and to see if it will work well with your brand. The caps available are part of the luxury collection with a faux leather peak on all caps and a leather strap on the strap backs. The discount will apply when you take the product to check out, although the cap is free shipping from an external company unfortunately is not free. The shipping price covers the packaging and guaranteed shipping. At branded we use systems to guarantee fulfilment and returns and DPD to take your clothing from door to door.
Caps are a perfect accessory to finish off a great outfit, and these black faux leather caps aren't as common amongst UK streetwear brands. Clothing has been accessible to street wear brands with plain clothing brands like fruit of the loom being rebrandable with tear away labels, but unfortunately plain caps haven't been as accessible till recently. Brands like New Era, Mitchell and Ness and Nike were dominating. The only way brands could introduce custom caps to their range was with extremely high MOQs from factories in Pakistan or China. Fortunately companies like Branded have plain caps available with MOQs as small as 20.
Branded Plain Clothing have finally launched their Plain Flat Peak Caps with a plastic adjustable snapback, these plain caps were popular during the early 2000’s. They was the evolution of the new era fitter caps which were worn by rappers and athletes in America, these caps were mainly sports associated with team logos from the NFL, NBA and NHL. Most popular was the Miami Heat, Las Vegas Raiders and Chicago Bulls, with brands like New Era and Mitchell & Ness heavily dominating the fitter and snapback market there wasn't much room for start up brands to release caps like these.
Later on caps and accessories became more accessible to start up brands, clothing like hoodies and t-shirts were easy to come by with brands like fruit of the loom and gildan but caps not so much. Until the Plain Cargo Distressed Strap Backs were introduced to suppliers in the UK and Flat Peak SnapBacks were not as popular, but now it seems that snapbacks are again growing in popularity amongst the streetwear community. Caps are a great way to compliment an outfit, hats allow you to make a statement without saying a word
Branded have 9 colourways available in these new Flat Peak SnapBacks, starting with the popular Black, Grey, Navy and White these colours are for everyday wear and can work well with almost any outfit, logo or colour. Also stocking vibrant colours like Red and Royal Blue these are commonly associated with the american flag and are rapidly growing in popularity amongst the streetwear community, adidas have been big advocates for these colours with the Adidas Originals SS Tracksuit becoming popular after Stormzy wore it in his Shut Up freestyle reaching 100 Million + views on his own channel.
As some of you may have seen, Branded Plain Clothes had a massive campaign shoot for their brand new oversized collection which will be releasing this autumn. The shoot looked to be a massive success with ecommerce and lifestyle photos being taken with a range of models to show how the collection will look on different shapes and sizes. The new collection consists of oversized hoodies, scrunched joggers and oversized hoodies. These are all plain clothes made for your business to rebrand with your desired designs and logos, while still maintaining the interchangeable items these new products can still be worn with the essentials collection which has been a massive hit since the release in early July 2021.
The campaign shoot was at a great location in the heart of london with a fresh new studio called WN Studios, with a great team of photographers and videographers bringing Branded ideas to life. The amazing Sahara Santos was styling the models and retouching their makeup, this shoot shows that having a great time surrounding you anything is possible. The ecom shots are important to products, with great 360 shots of all the clothes and plain accessories on a plain white background, these same shots are consistent with the 360 shots originally used for the essentials collection which can be seen via our website. Branded Plain Clothes are all about producing great quality clothing and also using great content to engage with their audience which is why these campaign shoots are important to show brands what these clothes look like without their logo and how great shoots can turn out if they apply the same time and effort. There were also lifestyle shots, trying to follow the luxury theme but also having fun with it branded and WN Studios teamed up with both a white cove shoot and a black cove shoot with led neon lights.
The oversized collection is currently in trend with colours and designs, the team recognised some of the most popular trends around. There was a surge in the Fear Of God essentials collection when they released their oversized tracksuits and t-shirt, this was released in the iconic black and grey as well as the new trendiest colour beige and brown. Branded plain clothes have recognised this and adopted the colour Beige also known as Tan or Nude to the new oversized collection along with the grey and black which has proven to be popular in branded essentials collection. Although Branded have hoodies and joggers already released this collection is different as the hoodie is a 2 panel hood rather than a 3, also has no string or holes with longer and wider arms. The joggers are similar but have unique differences that aren't found in any of the popular plain clothes wholesalers, rather than the common elastic cuffs and elastic waste band used in the essentials collection branded have used scrunch bands on both the waistband and leg cuffs making them unique, stylish and hard to find elsewhere.
Along with the oversized collection, there will be some additions to the accessories. Adding the Original snapbacks that are growing in popularity, after almost 10 years these caps are coming back to the streetwear community. Joining them will be the foam mesh back which has been highly demanded, also coming in colours that aren't available in most of the styles currently available on the website like Neon green, neon orange and pink with a white foam face.
Branded still being a relatively new company have shown the importance of a campaign shoot, with production and imagery you would expect to see from brands like Missguided, Boohoo and Asos who push their branding very well with marketing campaigns that you see on tv, bus stops, billboards and train station screens. If you want to compete with the best in the business you have to do what they are doing (within your own budget).
Wondering what print method you should use? Or wondering the difference between printing techniques? Here is the place to be! I will be showing you the ins and outs of each technique and linking you to some great videos to check out. There are a variety of different techniques to use depending on your logo or design including screen print, dtg, print & cut, 2D & 3D embroidery, various vinyl print, chenille and patches.
Let's start with screen printing, before computers and machines screen print one of the oldest methods for clothing dating back to the 1900s. This method is great for 1/2 colour simple logos but can also be used for a variety of colours. The reason why screen print is preferred for 1/2 colour logos is because of the way screen printing is done, each colour is placed on the garment individually. So when using multiple colours this method becomes more time consuming, which increases the cost per unit. Back to how screen printing works, unlike most other techniques there is a set up process. Which is why you should always place bulk orders in high volume to save yourself money on overall costs. Set ups fees typically cost around £25 but can vary depending on the size of images, the set up fee covers the cost of the custom mesh screen with your logo. When ready to print the ink is placed on the top of the mesh screen and dragged from top to bottom with rubber squeegee, this is called flooding. This is how the logo is transferred onto the garment. When ordering in high volumes screen printing is the most economical option.
Moving on to digital printing, this has a few different names like D2G or DTG meaning Direct To Garment. Invented in the early 1990s making printing easier and more efficient, this method is similar to a printer you have at home, with digital files and ink you can directly print onto garments like you would on paper. The process for digital printing is much easier as the only set up for this is to get the file onto the computer connected to the machine which in the 21st century is as easy as breathing. Once you have the logo loaded there are a few manual things that need to be done, any dark coloured garment needs to be sprayed with a liquid called pre-treat in the areas that are going to be printed on. This is a white liquid which looks like pvc glue, this helps with the white ink to sit in the garments material so it lasts after many wears and washes, after pretreat this needs to be dried using a heat press. Then the garment is framed onto the machine to be printed, when printing is complete the freshly printed garment is then placed back on the heat press to dry the ink into the garment. Digital printing is perfect for multiple colour prints and designs as it recreates the exact image colours and shading from the original files.
Vinyl printing is great for 1 colour logos and offers many different textures and colours, vinyl is also a great way to finish a digital print design as it can sit on top of the ink. With reflective, suede and glow in the dark available, vinyl is a great way to separate your brand or business from the competition. Vinyl is a heat transfer print so works like a long lasting sticker if you follow the washing instructions. To start the process, logos are cut out using a plotter cutter. The needle in this machine slightly traces the logo on the roll of vinyl. Which is then peeled off leaving a transparent sheet and the remaining logo, this is then placed on to the garment and heat pressed so it sits on the garment. This method of printing is quick and great for different styles if you want to use suede or reflective. Raised vinyl is also great to help your logo stand out, remember to always wash vinyl on a cold wash and preferably inside out this keeps the vinyl intact, never tumble dry or apply direct heat to the vinyl.
Like vinyl, print and cut is also a heat transfer print; it is kind of like a hybrid of vinyl & digital print. The print & cut machine prints the design onto a roll of vinyl then traces around the logo to cut it from the blank vinyl. To then get this on the garment the vinyl cut out needs to be transferred onto a sheet so the sticky side of the vinyl is facing up. This is then placed on to the position of the garment, to protect the vinyl from the heat like regular vinyl its best to cover with some heat transfer paper. This is a great alternative to digital print, and should also be washed with delicate care on a cold wash and without excess heat.
One of the best and long lasting prints is embroidery, embroidery can work on all kinds of garments from caps, hoodies to shorts. It also works on simple and complex logos, 3D embroidery is great for simple logos to make them stand out. Most badge logos use 3D to separate the inside badge from the outer lines. Like screen print, embroidery has a set up charge. This is to digitize the digital logo into a stitch format so the machine knows how the logo looks and where the stitches should sit. The cost of digitizing varies depending on the company but usually costs around £20/£25 per logo. The cost of logo embroidery also varies depending on the size of a logo usually varies from small, medium or large. For larger logos like badges it may be better to use heat patches; it doesn't typically last as long as standard embroidery but has been used and proven to work for many brands.
Chenille print is a relatively new print method brought to the scene by trapstar, the chenille print is a carpet/rug effect. This can be done with heat patches or regular patches sewn into garments, usually made abroad as custom pieces; it has recently been introduced to the uk manufacturing scene.
