Why Register Your Clothing Brand before the First Sale?
Starting a new clothing brand is exciting, and you work tirelessly to bring your dreams to life. Regardless of your budget, you want to see some cash flow and can’t wait to start selling your goods.
But wait, is that such a good idea?
While the money and notoriety might be tempting, displaying your brand’s identity before trademarking is an offer to the competition to steal your hard-earned gains.
So, the reason for selling after you trademark your brand is straightforward and undeniable. The consequences can range from annoying to catastrophic. Here are some pointers to help you make the best choices for your organization and its position in the marketplace.
Check out That Name
Choosing a company name is your first task. You may already know the name you want, but you also need to ensure no one else is already using it. First, you want to stand out regardless of any legal concerns.
Second are the legal concerns. Trademark registration requires a unique name within your classification that consumers will not confuse with existing trademarks.
But even before that, state and local agencies will also have a say regarding the use of your chosen moniker. For all these reasons, a comprehensive search to confirm the legal use of your name is a critical necessity for any business start-up.
Your brand name will impact every item you sell, corporate communications, domain name, advertising, marketing, and packaging. Your brand name is everything to your business’s success.
This scenario highlights one good reason for selling only after trademarking your brand and for choosing Trademark Factory® to take all of this work off your plate.
Where to Start
Begin by trademarking your new name. The best practice is registering the plain text version of your brand name. Doing so protects your rights to use the name in any form. Your plaintext registration remains intact even if you change your logo. Logos change, but your name must be constant.
Don’t make the mistake of only registering a stylized or logo version of your company name. But, registering your brand name logo should follow on the heels of your plaintext registration.
The value of any brand is the trust the consumer has for it. You work diligently and will continue working hard to gain and retain this priceless commodity – trust.
Making your products easy for consumers to find with a recognizable and easily identifiable logo is vital.
Registering your company logo is the next critical step in building your brand. A slogan or tagline is another important component of your brand identity. Ideally, you can do this along with your brand logo.
Think of Nike and “Just Do It”.
Now you are ready to hit the ground running and present your brand to the world.
What’s Next?
Since we are talking about clothing brands, one of the world’s most iconic and well-known brands is Nike. If you want a quick tactile lesson in incorporating your trademark throughout your product line, what other trademarks to employ, and insight into growing your brand, spend some time in one of their stores.
You will see the brand name Nike on virtually every store item, not only as a clothing decoration. Most garments will have various hangtags indicating everything from different product lines, special garment treatments, identifying taglines, and anything Nike desires you to know. A closer look will reveal that each of them typically holds its own particular trademark.
You may not have the enormous budget of Nike or other international corporations, but you can see the importance of adequately using trademarks to protect your business. It is up to you to determine your business’s priorities and budget. Trademark Factory® is committed to assisting our clients through this challenge. To make your best choices, you need the best knowledge and advice.
Conclusion
It’s your business, your idea, your blood, sweat, and tears. You are making huge investments of your time and money. The promise of achieving your dreams keeps you going and gives you energy. Perhaps, you already have employees, which is a commitment that adds significant weight to your choices.
It’s all yours to build and protect
You can never have too many champions for your cause with so much at stake. These critical first steps in building and protecting your brand and its reputation can be daunting and are often neglected.
At Trademark Factory® our 100% money-back guarantee of trademark success means you don’t have to worry about dealing with government agencies or other impediments to establishing your brand.
Take advantage of our free consultation today.
You have nothing to lose but everything to guard and gain.