How Fashion & Apparel Brands Win In 2026

All right, Creative Con. Fashion brands love to look good, even when their ads don't work. You know what I'm talking about. Perfect lit product shots, moody lifestyle edits, and not a single piece of creative that, you know, actually converts.

Our next speaker has had enough of that. He's from Flight Performance where he is helping fashion and apparel brands flip the script, turning creative strategy from a vibe check into a real growth engine. Today, he's unpacking what everyone gets wrong about creative strategy for fashion and apparel and how to finally bridge the gap from looking good to selling better. So, if you're tired of ads being runway ready but revenue flat, grab your notebook.

This one might hurt a bit, but in the best way. Please welcome Daniel James. What's up, Creative Con? Um, hope you're all enjoying the content from today.

There's some great presentations. I'm taking all in. My team is. We're learning a lot.

Um, I'm definitely excited to dive into what I want to talk about today, which is how do fashion empower brands win with creative strategy, marketing strategy in 2025, 2026 and beyond. Um, little bit about me before we dive in. Um, so I've been in the marketing, e-commerce, digital marketing um, landscape since about 2004. I was an early employee of MySpace, if uh, if you remember MySpace, like the the first social network probably.

Um, I did a couple of different roles, but ultimately led strategy where I was working with brands and agencies on how to use the MySpace platform to grow their audiences, connect with customers, um, and and ultimately how to do that through social advertising, homepage takeovers, but also influencer marketing. Um, I left MySpace after a couple of years. I joined another internet giant of of old, um, AOL. Um I was leading strategy for the groupm agencies across the owned and operated property.

So the media sites that AOL owned as well as the performance network which was a programmatic type performance network. Um so again driving e-commerce growth for the clients that I was working with. And in 2013 I joined a company called turn which is now a moi. Um, they ultimately moved me over to the US where I worked with and and led the digital programmatic DMP, DSP activity for brands like Toyota, Adidas, Lexus, Red Bull, Disney, Craft, and a bunch of others.

Um, ultimately, how do we use programmatic digital and social to drive uh profitable growth? That led me to founding my growth marketing agency, Flight Performance, in 2020. Um, we are a customer acquisition, customer retention, growth marketing agency that works exclusively with fashion, apparel, and sports brands. Um, we help them through growth consultancy, performance, creative, media buying, email, SMS to drive profitable customer acquisition and build lasting brand loyalty.

Um, and it's it's the niche down on fashion, apparel, and sports, which is kind of informing this presentation. Based on the hundreds of millions of dollars of of media spend that we spend every year and the growth we've seen from six to nine figures and beyond brands, what is the foundation for how we have learned to think about creative strategy and how that applies to these types of verticals and these brands to drive that kind of growth. And I think the first thing to really think about with fashion apparel and um that's different to many other verticals is um you're really not selling predominantly or primarily on features, benefits, and utility or not not first, right? Fashion and apparel is it's all about identity and lifestyle and self-expression.

Um and so it's often emotional first and and rational second, right? So, it can have all the ticks in the boxes of utility and features and benefits, but if if ultimately it doesn't look good or you don't feel like it's something that represents how you want to show up in the world, you're likely not still going to buy it, right? Um, so I think utility plays a part, but it it's rarely it rarely supersedes that visual representation of do I align with how this looks and can I see myself wearing it? So the foundational thing for fashion apparel is from from a creative perspective is you've really got to try and bridge that gap between like how making someone want to buy it with that visual representation.

So as I mentioned features, benefits and utility still have to stack up against that main question of will I look good in this which is where we lead to fashion apparel really being about visual storytelling. Right? So you'll hear this often specifically within this vertical is how do you use visuals to storytell and how do you still feature those you know benefits and utility which a lot of clothing does or at least subsections of certain types of brand you think about athleisure wear right um ultimately how do you tell that story visually first and then through smart creative strategy and and how you think about things then also make sure that these other things stack up against the visual storytelling. The other thing that's really important with with fashion apparel is there's there's kind of three core archetypes of of of of fashion apparel, right?

In terms of how they operate as a business. Um, you got the core essentials, right? So this is staples, black black hoodies or essentials basically where you're selling a lot of the same thing where expansion for the brand and therefore creative strategy comes from um category expansion, right? Or just how do we get more people to buy these core essentials.

You then have the unique drop brands. So this is more like the graphic TE's and stuff like this. So each each drop is different and it's staggered. There might be a couple of drops a week or excuse me a month or it might be staggered seasonally throughout the year.

Right? So that's a different type of business in terms of how they operate. And then you've got the hybrid. You got a combination of core essentials and unique drops.

And often those unique drops become parts of the core essentials. Um why is this important to think through? Right? Because one as a as a business model, these are the kind of three different ways of how a business operates which really inform not just creative strategy but how you even think about your marketing.

Right? So the the even the metrics at which you need to hold yourself accountable to or think about when you're forecasting and budgeting for a core essentials brand versus a unique drop brand versus a hybrid band brand. it it it changes how you have to structure yourselves, structure your thinking, and then also structure your creative strategy. Breaking that down a little bit further, even more is within these three kind of core archetypes, you've got street wear, you got fast fashion, you've got luxury, you got athleisure wear.

So I think it's really important that you know as you think about a foundation for a creative ecosystem that supports the business model that you are part of um your marketing and creative strategy is heavily predicated on kind of where you fall within those archetypes and the sections of fashion apparel right anchor that back into you are either high on the list of having to sell feature benefits utility as well as will I look good in this or you're lower on that list. So, think about built, right? It sells function and fit. It's not unique drops.

It's not graphic TE's. It's it's selling core essentials and category expansion where the LTV comes from to a lot of different people. And you can't have someone buy the t-shirts too often because then the quality is not very good. So, it's also getting that balance right, but it informs how you need to think about your creative strategy.

Compare that to Kith. I don't think they actually run ads, but um they're not selling function, they're not selling utility for the most part. It's it's pure vibes and aspiration, right? So, two different business models, two different creative strategy approaches.

Um, and it's really important that you understand that when you're setting yourself up in terms of how to think about creative strategy, creative diversification, the way that supports and is reflective of the type of business you're actually doing that for. So, all that to be said, there's kind of these three pillars. So, brand heroes, this is where you're really building that initial emotional connection and identity. it it taps into the cultures and that aspirational element that of your brand and it's really playing on that do I look good in this is is this a brand I kind of have an emotional and um emotional connection with also represents the lifestyle that I either am a part of or want to be a part of right ultimately it creates affinity and and memorability at the top of the funnel um the Second one is product heroes, right?

So, you might not know this if you're a if you're a newer brand, but what are the key kind of I call them gateway drug products that you need to be leveraging heavily within your creative strategy and and marketing mix, right? Typically with fashion apparel, there are standout products, there are standout collections, there are standout things. And I see a lot of fashion brands kind of make this mistake of really not thinking through what are the product heroes. Excuse me.

Second one is product heroes. Right? So you might not know this if you're a newer brand, but if you're if you're slightly more established, you will have most likely, which is true of almost any fashion brand that we've worked with, hero products, right? The product that resonates.

It might be, you know, it might be something that's capitalizing on a trend or it might be something that you're kind of well known for. And where I see a lot of brands kind of miss when they think about initial creative strategy is they're not paying attention to how do we create like a a gateway drug product mix strategy that is reflected in our creative strategy that we can then leverage within upsells, cross sales, and everything else. Um, having this product focus as well, this product hero focus within your creative strategy, it also like drives clarity, um, and and tells consumers like this is our best product. This is what we're focusing on.

It opens up that world into everything else, all your other products. Um, so that's where it really requires that strong product and lifestyle imagery and storytelling, right? visualizing it on people and diverse types of people within your overall kind of like target market, increasing that surface area so someone can see an image of a hoodie and be like, I like the hoodie and I kind of respond to this person's look and vibe and the lifestyle that is being represented. Therefore, I can visualize myself in it.

And I think, you know, a lot of brands will use kind of e-commerce or just the same models. And I think this is where diversification really comes into play, right? Of not having everything look the same because you want to increase the surface area of people who see your product, see your clothing on someone that they have a emotional connection with in some form. The last one is collection and category, right?

So, collection ads, instant experience ads, DPAs, these are a fashion the power of brand's best friend. You just have to make sure that you are structuring it in a way that is reflective of both what you're doing from a brand, from a product perspective within your more kind of top offunnel and midfunnel creative, but they are top ofunnel, midfunnel creative opportunities for fashion brands. The real way to think through this is increasing the surface area of products you are showing to people so that again similar to how I was mentioning about the product heroes featuring on diverse kind of sets of people it increases the surface area of well I don't like that product but I like that one right but not doing that with individual images and kind of like structuring your creative that way using collection category ads and instant experience ads to increase that surface area because I might hate this hoodie in white, but I love it in black. If you're really segmenting things, you're putting too many ads out there with less opportunity to get people engaged.

Then really strategically thinking through based on your core collections, your unique drops, and how you think about structuring that, increasing that surface area so you increase the potential of someone seeing a singular ad and liking at least one of those products, right? That singular ad has more potentials at converting people than just a standalone static image potentially has. So brand heroes build that emotional connection, right? Show what the brand is about.

Get that emotional connection and drive with potential customers. Products heroes the gateway drug. How do we think about using data to support that and create that as a tipping off point to then upsell and cross-ell? Then collection and category ads increase the surface area, leverage some of those hero images within these collection ads, but increase the potential of more people buying from a single ad than they might do on some of these um individual statics.

So that's that's kind of the foundation, right? Know the business model. Know what type of business you're operating. Really think about diversification across that funnel stage and how you are leveraging very close product to creative strategy to inform everything you're doing within creative strategy.

And then some other tips that we found really helpful. Right? So people buy from people um especially fashion. As I mentioned, I see someone wearing a cool hoodie.

I I like how they look. It's in line with how I like to show up in the world. Right. I'm I'm I'm influenced by what other people are wearing if I care about fashion and and everything else.

So, I think it's really important to move beyond just a traditional influencer partnership, right? Build collaborators. Um we know this about influencer marketing anyway. Um it's the frequency at which someone is posting that increases the potential of someone else converting off those ads, right?

So, UGC and partnership ads driving that social proof and relatability across diverse types of people within your overall lifestyle and aspirational consumer base is really key. Partnership ads over whitelisting ads, there's a debate on that. Partnership ads are working way better for us, but test both. Fashion is often impulsive.

I think I think we all probably know this. Um, you see something, you like it, you don't really need it, but you buy it anyway. So, how do you capitalize on that within creative but also just your general marketing approach? It's really thinking like the the scroll is your storefront, right?

That visual storytelling, that emotional connection, that impulsive purchase, especially if your if your kind of price point is is reasonable. Um, there's less of a consideration time frame. So, social commerce, shoppable moments are great ways to capitalize on this. This is where Tik Tok is becoming so beneficial for all of our fashion empower brands, especially Tik Tok shop.

Like curate your feeds, curate your moments of how you're trying to capitalize on that impulsiveness within some of these platforms and products available within them. Personalize and gamify. This this is something that every brand should be doing and that even I think when we think about things like personalizing and gamify especially it's like is that right for our brand but even I I keep mentioning but Kith right they they gify they personalize right you get Kith points you've got a Kith card right it's increasing that loyalty um with your with your consumers um and they kind of expect things consumers these days are savvy they know how these social media platforms work, they know when they're being marketed to. Um, they kind of expect to be tailored to, right?

So, dynamic ads, interactive drops, loyalty games. How do you create an experience that builds the emotional connection and makes consumers want to come back? Um, I think is a is a base requirement for brands these days. Um, and definitely a growth leather because it just increases that brand loyalty and you're the first thing that they think about when it comes to where do I want to go for this?

If it's a product that you have, that gamification and personalization is only going to increase increase that conversion rate and that brand loyalty. The last thing is that we really think about is is distribution is a part of this storytelling that I'm mentioning. So where you show up with what creatives, right? How are they relevant for where you're showing up at what time with what touch points?

Um really helps increase that connection and that conversion, but it's also a way of like thinking about the creative strategy that you are implementing. Right? So Tik Tok is discovery and social proof. Instagram is really good at that visual storytelling again through the products they have available, the collection ads, the category ads.

It's more product focus. YouTube is brand storytelling behind the brand. So, a creative strategy foundation and ecosystem needs to pay attention to cohesiveness of where you show up and and your distribution. It can't feel fragmented.

Like the brand I see on YouTube is very different to the brand I see on Tik Tok. But tailor your creative strategy, tailor your approaches to how those platforms operate and why people are on them across these three different things, right? So Tik Tok is discovery, social proof, Instagram more visual storytelling, product focused, YouTube. If I'm consuming these different types of content on these different types of platforms, it's just building that resonance that I'm going to have with a with with your brand.

This is a big debate um and I posted about it on LinkedIn recently, but the the the discount brand fallacy. No brand wants to discount. You know, often fashion brands, especially like the more higherend fashion brands, is like it's seen as cheapening the brands. And and I really disagree and have seen so many um cases where discounts don't erode brand value, just poor positioning does, right?

So even luxury brands discount the Gucci's, right? They just do it in a different way. It might not be on their website with 50% off sitewide, but they do private sales. They do exclusive access.

Um bundles are a great way of it's ultimately discounting product. So I think fashion apparel brands, you know, from a stock perspective, right, it's it's it's difficult because you got different sizes. You're never probably going to sell out of all the extraares or extra smalls, right? So, if you are shifting through inventory and obviously getting smart about how you plan inventory based on sales history, but that surplus inventory, you're going to want to get rid of obviously.

Um, and discounting is a great way to do that. Just align the positioning with the type of brand you are that doesn't erode. It actually builds that connection with your customers because you're you're giving back, right? Everybody likes to buy things they like at a cheaper price.

Um, and even the luxury brands are doing this. So, don't shy away from discounts. Just position it that's in line with building on that connection with customers. Um, and it's a great way to, like I said, sift through that overstock inventory and kind of give back to your to your loyalists.

The last one is um I think the last one, scarcity is a strategy. Um there was a stat that 66% of the streetear brands view drops as a core growth strategy. Right? It's build up hype, sellout.

They want to sell out, right? That's not about limiting inventory. It's about really creating demand and generating future anticipation of what's coming next. Right?

So, I think it's more obvious for street wear brands, don't get me wrong, but if you're not a street wear brand, you can still lean into this scarcity element, right? So, seasonal arcs, right? How you think about your seasons and the winter collections and summer collections and everything else, right? Um, countdowns to launches, restocks, VIP access.

Kind of get creative in your messaging and think about how do we create scarcity around a product or a moment. get created to support that messaging. And obviously from a growth strategy perspective, really lean into those opportunities where you're generating heightened demand based on that scarcity element. Okay, that was a lot and I've got to keep it brief um because there's lots of other content today and hopefully this has been beneficial.

There's so much to talk about um kind of narrowing it down into a couple of slides in 20 minutes, but the TLDDR for me, the real takeaways and and again how we think about things at high performance for all of our fashion, apparel and sports brands is first and foremost know where you fall within those fashion, apparel archetypes, right? Know the business model. That will inform how you need to be thinking about both marketing and your creative model. Second is cohesive visual storytelling.

Creative layering and distribution strategy is how you maximize the full funnel. Where you show up influences how you need to show up. How you think about brand product and then category and collection expansion is really important to increase that diversification. But specifically for fashion that surface area of potentials to buy.

Third point is features, benefits, and utility matter, but they are the subplot to the main story. The emotional connection. Like I mentioned, it could have all the feature benefits and utility in the world, but if I don't like how it looks, and I don't think I'm going to look good in it, people aren't going to buy it. Visual storytelling first.

Um, scarcity, discounts, personalization, all aspects that even the highest luxury, high-end fashion brands are leaning into heavily. Positioning matters. Positioning either erodess brand trust or it builds brand connection. Thank you.

Hope that was beneficial. Um I don't know the protocol if there's places to reach out if any questions. Would love to dive in. Um hope this was beneficial and enjoy the rest of the content.