A clothing brand marketing agency for shirts people buy for their team or their city
Your customers buy what the shirt says. We group them by what they've ordered, so each fan hears about the gear they want, in email, texts and ads.
Free, 30 minutes, and you'll leave with at least one clear next step.
Why a general new-arrivals email misses fan customers
A Kansas City fan doesn't care about your new Nebraska shirt. Send everyone the same new-arrivals email and most of your list sees products they'll never buy. Do that every week and they stop opening.
The fix is to group customers by what they care about, and the best signal is what they've ordered. Every product gets tagged with its city, team or theme. Each order then places the customer in the right groups, and those groups update on their own as new orders come in. No list gets built by hand before a send.
Once the groups exist, they drive everything. Email, texts and Google Ads all use the same groups. A new Kansas City design goes to Kansas City fans first, and the ads follow the same people. That's how Charlie Hustle, a vintage-inspired apparel brand from Kansas City, grew its Missouri list by more than 2,600%.
Push Analytics guided us on using HubSpot to solve our core targeted marketing goals, but we got so much more.
Where fan and message brands lose sales
Brands that sell team or hometown pride keep running into these.
A hot streak arrives with no warning
A team gets hot in the fall and demand jumps for a few weeks. If the creative, stock and texts aren't ready, the moment passes.
Customer data sits in separate tools
Service runs in one tool and email in another, and there may be no texting at all. You can't see which fans buy what.
Gift buyers buy once
Someone orders a shirt for their dad's birthday and never hears from you again, even though they'll need another gift next year.
Ads get pulled over trademarks
Team names and logos belong to someone. Unlicensed use can get ads and listings removed after a single complaint.
How do you plan around a team's season?
Start with the calendar you know. Season openers, rivalry games, the holidays and the end of the season all land on dates you can plan around. At the start of a season, Charlie Hustle's fans could see a team's full range everywhere they looked, in email, texts and Google Ads.
Then plan for the run you can't predict. We build creative for a playoff push before it happens, so it's ready to go live as soon as the team gets in. Stock gets checked against how fast those designs sold last time. The text goes to that team's fans first, because they'll move fastest, and ads widen out from there.
When the season ends, so does most of the demand. Ads ease off, and the next email points fans to gear they can wear all year.
What we set up for clothing brands
Shopify connected to HubSpot
Customers grouped by city, team or theme from what they ordered, with products tagged the same way.
HubSpotEmail and texts for each group
New designs, restocks and season starts sent to the fans who care about them.
Email marketingGoogle Ads on the same groups
The fans who get the email also see the ads, so the message matches everywhere.
Paid adsSales and profit in one view
Revenue by design, group and channel, next to ad spend.
Ad tracking and reportingShould service, email and texts run from one account?
Charlie Hustle used to run customer service in Zendesk and email in Klaviyo. There was no texting and no shared reporting. We moved service and email into HubSpot and added texting there. We ran HubSpot next to the old tools first, then switched once everything checked out.
Now service staff see each customer's full history when they answer a message. They can spot a loyal repeat buyer and treat them that way. Campaign results for email and texts sit side by side.
One account isn't right for every brand. If deep Shopify email flows are all you need, Klaviyo is hard to beat. If your service team needs to see every order a fan has placed, one HubSpot account makes that easy.
The first few months
- Day 1
A free 30-minute call
We look at how your customers are grouped today and what your emails send to whom.
- First weeks
Tags and groups
Products tagged, Shopify connected, and customer groups that update from orders.
- Ongoing
Sends, texts and ads by group
Every campaign goes to the fans who care, and the season calendar is set.
Clothing brands and fan gear questions
How do you group customers by team or city?
Every product gets a tag for its city, team or theme. When someone orders, they join the matching groups automatically. The groups keep updating as new orders come in, so lists never go stale.
What should a fan gear brand do when a team makes a playoff run?
Have the creative ready before it happens, check stock on the designs that sold fastest last time, and text that team's fans first. Ads then widen to new buyers while demand is high.
Can we use team names and logos in our ads?
Only if you have the license. Without it, ads and product listings can be taken down after a complaint. We write ads around city pride and your own designs when there's no license. Your lawyer makes the final call on anything close.
Do we need HubSpot to group customers by team?
No. Klaviyo can build groups from product tags too. Charlie Hustle chose HubSpot because it also wanted customer service and texts in the same account as email.
What do you send someone who bought a shirt as a gift?
A thank-you, then a reminder before the same occasion next year. We also ask whether the order was a gift, so they don't get emails about a team they don't follow.
How long does a move from Klaviyo and Zendesk to HubSpot take?
It depends on how much data and how many flows you have. For Charlie Hustle, the project ran from December 2023 to May 2024. We ran both setups side by side before switching.
Related
Find out who your fans really are
Bring your Shopify access to the call. We'll show you how your customers split by team, city or theme, and what each group could be getting from you.