Influencers. Love them or hate them, but they not only are changing the way we see social media but also are shaping our shopping habits. And what started as a fun way to interact with followers, who at that time mainly were their friends and family, for some became their job, or even better – their business. Now, these people have thousands and millions of followers who are ready to take advice from them. For some influencers, this opened a lot of doors in the business world, and today we will be discussing some of the most prominent cases of influencers going deeper into the fashion business.
Influencer x Brand = Collaboration
Before going straight ahead into the business world, one of the smart ways is to dip your toes into these waters first. One of the ways influencers becoming more prominent is by collaborating with well-known brands. Making a collaboration is no picnic if you want it to be a successful one. You have to know your audience well enough to pass the product as well as to have a healthy and trustworthy relationship with the brand you are collaborating with. The main rule here is that every team needs a common goal. An example of a successful collaboration is Sincerely Jules x BANDIER (@sincerelyjules). Julie is one of those influencers who started their career as a beauty, fashion and lifestyle bloggers. She did it consistently and successfully to now have a solid base of readers and followers, and to maintain an effective collaboration.
Making on my own
Even the biggest stars, fashion moguls and business giants started with something small. Chiara Ferragni, who is now called " the world's first fashion influencer” and also a major brand owner, started with creating a blog. Did you know that she was actually a law student when she started The Blonde Salad? Now Chiara has her name brand, and she is also a brand ambassador of multiple well-known fashion and beauty businesses. Through this time, she got 23.8 million followers on Instagram, and it seems that there is not a single fashion lover who would not recognize her significant eye logo. What is interesting to notice is that her name collection was also started as a collaboration with Luisa Via Roma. What could have brought Chiara such a success? The Italian fashionista was, and is, very open about her life, she shares a lot with her followers: Chiara “takes” them with her when she’s working, revealing all the backstage details while getting things ready and done. She's very open about her family, and there’s no doubt that those who follow Chiara, also know who her parents, sisters and husband are. By being open about everything, she poses a question of whether being too close with what you show on your social media is a curse or a blessing for an influencer who is entering the business world.
Kuz team used the opportunity to interview their client, Lithuanian influencer and businesswoman Gintare Pietutyte Stalmokiene (@gintarepietutyte), to find out what it means to be a self-made influencer/business owner. Gintare is now a few steps away from becoming a clothing brand "LIOV" owner. She always knew that this is what she wanted to do and that now is the right time to make this dream come true. When asked what are the biggest fears leading the influencer when creating a brand, she shared that the biggest fear is that it all might fail. She believes that being known helps in this case, but it also puts pressure on one’s name.
We all like to nag about how we don’t have time for anything, and sometimes it even looks funny when well-known people constantly repeat how they don’t have time. Gintare is sure that there is enough time to work on your social media and face your creative challenges, but it gets harder when you have to juggle family and work matters, as she does. The most important thing, in this case, is that no one would suffer from all of this.
It seems that now more influencers start to create their name brand. Is it another trend, or is it a natural growth of an ambitious person? The influencer shared that scenarios vary in this case: as long as a person is on the right path of what they want to do and attract others with their content, there is nothing wrong that they can make money out of it. There is no one right answer to why people choose to create their own business, but according to Gintare, we can only congratulate people who can make a profit from their everyday life.
When asked whether she thinks about her followers when creating her business or whether it is focused mainly on her dreams to become true, Gintare said that she first thinks about what she would like to see and then about what her followers would like, but the woman is certain that they will like it as it reflects of who she really is.
As we can’t wait to see the outcome of it all, stay tuned and don’t forget that Kuz Fashion Design Studio is here to help your dreams come true too!
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