At Blue Associates Sportswear, we work with a wide range of start-ups across multiple sporting disciplines, helping them develop products and build their brand. Through this work, we’ve identified the key components that help new brands not only launch successfully but survive and grow after the first drop.
Product development typically takes around 12 months, as so much time is invested in this phase, many start-ups fail to plan how they will evolve the brand after launch. At Blue Associates Sportswear, we guide founders through these early stages and help them avoid the common pitfalls. Unfortunately, we have seen many brands launch their collection and not actively engage in social media, marketing along with planning how they plan to keep customers engaged and coming back for further repurchases. This ultimately leads to the brand dissolving and not continue any further.
To support your start-up’s long-term success, we’ve outlined a six-phase post-launch roadmap—detailing the essential steps every brand should take to maintain momentum and build a loyal customer base.
Phase 1: Feedback-Led Quality and Fit Refinement
Once your website is live and orders start coming in, it’s vital to actively collect customer feedback. This helps you understand how customers are using your products, what they love, and what could be improved. Even though your products will have been thoroughly tested during development, every customer has a unique body shape and expectations—meaning there will always be insights you couldn’t capture pre-launch.
It’s equally important to gather detailed fit and sizing feedback. At Blue Associates Sportswear, we fit all styles on a standard size M model to ensure consistency, and we review graded size sets before bulk production. However, real-world data often reveals additional nuances.
For example, we previously supported a sports bra brand offering sizes XS–4XL. After launch, customers shared that standard under-band and cup combinations didn’t accommodate their unique proportions. Many requested “in-between” sizing to better support larger busts with smaller under-band measurements. The brand responded by expanding its size range, which resulted in glowing reviews and repeat purchases from both new and existing customers.
Finally, ensure that every order is quality checked before dispatch. We advise brands inspect a percentage of the bulk production before it leaves the factory. However, we also advise the product is checked again before shipping to the customer. For start-ups, even small errors can damage trust, especially when brand awareness is still low. Sending out faulty items not only leads to returns—it discourages customers from purchasing again
Phase 2: When Should You Reorder?
Once your first drop is selling, you’ll need to determine the right time to reorder. At Blue Associates Sportswear, typically advise placing reorders 4–6 months before you want the stock delivered, although this depends on fabric, trim, and shipping lead times.
Use your initial order quantities as a benchmark, then adjust based on sales performance. Increase quantities of popular sizes and reduce or remove slow-moving sizes to minimise dead stock.
If sales are stronger than anticipated, you may choose to increase your reorder volume. Many factories require minimum orders of 1,000 pieces per colourway—an unrealistic investment for many start-ups.
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we work with factories that accept minimums as low as 150 pieces per colourway, allowing new brands to scale sensibly. As you grow to 500 or 1,000 pieces per style orders, your long-term relationship with the factory will support better pricing and faster lead times.
Keeping stock flowing ensures your website always offers something to buy—an essential part of maintaining customer interest. A website with empty shelves will quickly lose momentum.
Phase 3: Expanding Your Range
Increasing your product offering is one of the simplest ways to attract new customers and keep existing buyers engaged. This could include:
New colourways
Adding additional colour options encourages loyal customers to purchase their favourite styles again. At Blue Associates Sportswear, we always recommend launching at least two colourways per garment to maximise your chances of converting shoppers. However, after this has launched, you can then look to re-order in new colourways to keep customers engaged.
Product updates
Small changes—such as adding a side pocket to existing leggings—create fresh SKUs without needing to reinvent the design. This saves time and money you would have spent in developing and critiquing a new style, to simply updating an existing style you know fits and sells well with a small change.
Accessories
Accessories such as caps, beanies, socks, headbands, scrunchies and water bottles are quick and affordable to develop. They can boost average basket value, unlock gifting opportunities, and be used as promotional items (e.g., free accessories on orders over a certain spend).
Fast-moving, lower-cost accessories help keep your website dynamic while your core apparel is in production.
Phase 4: Building a community.
Community is essential for any activewear brand. It helps potential customers connect emotionally with your mission and makes your products more desirable.
Lifestyle photoshoots
In addition to studio images, invest in lifestyle photography featuring models who represent your ideal customer. These relaxed, aspirational visuals help customers imagine themselves wearing your products, creating a stronger emotional connection. An example of a brand creating social campaigns through connecting communities is Nike.
Brand ambassadors
Encourage your community to share their content by partnering with ambassadors who live and breathe your brand ethos. Their real-world imagery provides authentic user-generated content you can share across social channels. One sportswear giant doing this effectively well is Gymshark. The brand first started recruiting fitness influencers and athletes who had been positing on their personal socials about their experience wearing the clothes. As these individuals were authentically reviewing the products to their audience, this allowed Gym shark to easily bring them on board and capture real-life training environments of their products. Alongside this, the brand regularly organises pop-up events and fitness meet ups. The ambassadors can interact with the wider customer base, strengthening the emotional connection.
Campaign planning
Plan marketing campaigns well ahead of product drops. Teasing upcoming releases builds anticipation and loyalty. Releasing sneak peeks over several weeks helps customers feel part of a more exclusive group. If appropriate, emphasise scarcity— “once it’s gone, it’s gone”—to encourage quicker conversions.
Otherwise, a different example of a brand encouraging quick sales is Bandit Running. Bandit
advertise their collections on social media as limited drops to increase the hype and exclusivity feel of their products. They then share direct links with their customers twenty-four hours before the product release to make the collection feel sacred and only available to a specific community. This helps them compete with larger sportswear giants.
Phase 5: Organising Inventory and Planning Financially
Monitoring your website analytics is essential for understanding performance and forecasting demand.
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we build start-up websites through Shopify and WordPress, which provide built-in analytics to help you grow your brand.
Useful inventory data includes Product performance, Sales volume and velocity, Turnover rate, Refund and return rate, Cart abandonment and Customer location.
This helps brands forecast demand accurately, reducing the risk of stockouts or overstocking.
Financial metrics such as Average order value, Customer acquisition cost, Customer lifetime value, Conversion rate, Gross margin, Net profit, and Inventory carrying costs provide deeper insight into your overall profitability. Combined with your business accounts, these metrics help determine how much you can reinvest—and whether you need to scale, pause, or pivot.
Phase 6: Scaling Sustainably
Scaling can feel daunting, especially when growth requires investment. A sustainable plan protects both your finances and the environment. Some possible sustainable scaling options could include:
Carbon offsetting
One effective method is planting a tree with every sale through companies such as Trees for the future or One Tree Planted. Customers receive a certificate showing the tree planted on their behalf—a great way to reinforce your brand values. Brands such as Reflo and Patagonia already use this approach.
Repair, resale, and upcycling schemes
Introducing repair or upcycling programmes helps extend the lifespan of your products and strengthens your credibility as an environmentally conscious brand. For example, Arc’teryx, repaired over 28,000 garments in 2024, reinforcing their commitment to longevity.
Ready to Build a Strong Post-Launch Plan?
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we work closely with founders to create bespoke post-launch roadmaps that maximise growth and long-term success. If you’d like guidance from a team that has collectively helped launch more than 500 brands, get in touch—we’re here to help you scale with confidence.