On February 6th, 2025, Clearco and Fashinnovation co-hosted the Strut Your Growth: Scaling Revenue for Fashion Brands webinar, coinciding with New York Fashion Week. The virtual event featured insights from Clearco CEO Andrew Curtis and the Director of Digital at Stoney Clover Lane, Sazan Sela, with moderation by Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins, Senior Reporter for Business Insider. The discussion centered around strategies for fashion brands to achieve sustainable growth by leveraging technology, effective marketing, and flexible funding solutions.

Current Industry Trends Influencing Fashion Growth

At the beginning of the webinar, Sazan Sela highlighted two major trends shaping the contemporary fashion industry: sustainability & transparency and artificial intelligence (AI) personalization. Modern consumers have increased their demand for ethically produced products and the transparency of their origins. Brands that openly share their sourcing and manufacturing processes can build stronger trust and loyalty with their audience. 

Additionally, AI is rapidly changing the shopping experience via e-commerce personalization, enabling unique shopping experiences for consumers. By taking advantage of AI tools, brands can offer tailored product recommendations, enhancing customer engagement and boosting conversion rates.

Three Essential Strategies for Scaling Revenue

Andrew Curtis emphasized that successful brands focus on three critical areas when focusing on scaling revenue:

1. Marketing Optimization

Brands must invest their money strategically when growing their customer acquisition efforts while ensuring strong retention is maintained. If a brand can balance these items effectively, it will sustain long-term profitability without excessive ad spend.

2. Inventory Efficiency

The need for new and exciting fashion trends means the industry moves at an expedited rate. Brands need to manage their inventory wisely, ensuring excess stock does not tie up capital for too long. On the other hand, too little inventory can lead to missed sales opportunities. The key is to strike the right balance between the two and implement cost-effective strategies like sales, promotions, and giveaways.

3. Flexible Funding Solutions

Traditional financing models don’t always align with the fast-paced nature of fashion. Andrew emphasized the importance of adaptable funding solutions that scale with revenue cycles, allowing brands to remain agile and growth-focused.

The Perfect Intersection of Digital Marketing & Flexible Funding

During the webinar, Andrew provided us with a real-world example of how Clearco is supporting e-commerce apparel companies in a way that aligns with the ever-changing and fast-paced fashion industry. HatLaunch, a custom embroidered hat and apparel company, started a small operation catering to car enthusiasts before expanding into a full-scale apparel business. As demand grew, they faced challenges in securing capital for marketing and inventory due to their unique e-commerce setup. Unlike traditional funding options, Clearco manually assessed the company’s financials and provided Invoice Funding, allowing HatLaunch to sustain its spend across Google and Facebook - critical channels that drive 75% of its revenue. With Clearco’s support, HatLaunch scaled from a one-person operation to a 45-member team, expanding into a dedicated warehouse that significantly improved their production efficiency while retaining independence.

Check Out the Full Webinar

From tried and true digital strategies shared by Sazan from Stoney Clover Lane to the role of preplanning data-driven revenue growth explained by Clearco’s CEO Andrew Curtis, the pair share how to stay ahead of the curve to ensure your e-commerce apparel company is successful. They also deliver insightful answers to audience questions about competitive analysis, the use of AI, and understanding capital funding for startups. If you’re an e-commerce business owner or a fashion industry professional, you won’t want to miss this webinar! Watch or listen to the full interview here.