We are a small team of a half dozen creative souls who work together to bring to life positive minded clothing.
I suppose you’d like to know who I am? My name is Kyle Jarvenpaa and I am the founder of a small lifestyles brand from central Massachusetts called, Monogram Apparel. We are a small team of a half dozen creative souls who work together to bring to life positive minded clothing. No, the clothing doesn’t have a mind… however we strive to create a brand every day that will inspire you to have a positive mind. Our brand motto is, Create Yourself. We truly believe in and live every day by this motto. It simply means, you can become whoever you work to be.
When given this guest blogger opportunity I at first had no idea what I even wanted to write about. Although after a moment it came to me… What is one thing that I can bring to the table that might help someone else in the independent clothing scene? ..Insight on how to properly showcase your products online. This one detail to running not just a clothing brand but any online brand that requires product photos is a big deal and can really help or stand in the way of professionalism.
I see it all the time, brands who have what look like a cell phone shot image of a tee on a hanger stuck to the wall, or one of their friends standing next to a brick wall. Better than nothing, and in a lot of cases very sufficient however in my personal opinion its not what my eye sees as a reputable brand. Just as much as quality is the cropping of an image. If your default of a product is a 500px X 500px image, have the sub shots, or detail shots be the same dimensions. It can get really annoying when clicking through multiple images of a product and the page keeps moving around to fit to a new dimension. Consistency is key!
Insight on how to properly showcase your products online. This one detail…is a big deal.
Another thing I see A LOT of is brands using digital mocks of their items as product images. While they are all consistent and generally look good.. its not the REAL product and I personally shy away from ordering from a site like that because I cant see what I am actually going to be receiving in the mail. A printed item can look quite a bit different from a mocked up image of your artwork. This is again, only my opinion.. however I have read on many review blogs that they do not want to see those either.
You don’t always have to have your product shots on a white background, or any solid color for that matter. If it fits your theme to have your shots in an urban environment or something like that then by all means, go for it! Just keep in mind that you DO NOT want the environment taking away from the detail or attention of your shirt/product. If my eye doesn’t automatically go right to the product, the image has failed in its purpose. Don’t distract your customers. Peoples attention spans are short now-a-days so make sure its easy for them to see the target.
I used to do environment type shots as well as include the product models face in the images all the time. However I noticed myself always looking at the persons face or whatever was around them instead of the shirt, not just on my own site but other sites as well. I then decided on what you see below. I like the clean simple look of a white back ground and the real product on someone to show the size and fit. I like to leave the persons facial features out of the shots to not distract from the product
However also seen below, I will absolutely include the whole person in on sub shots that are included in each product to better show the fit of the item.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope even a portion of it was able to help out with ideas or direction for your next photo shoot endeavor. Please remember that these are only my opinions on what I think look good and have found work well for my brand. They may not apply to you, your brand or personal take on the topic.
*All items you see above are printed by Realthread.com except for the Monogram Apparel Premium tag beanie.
For more product shots and examples please feel free to visit our web store, Monogram Apparel.
Thank you,
-Kyle Jarvenpaa
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