PRODUCT _ NAMES

 TEA COLLECTION _ SEASONAL STYLES

With 8-10 new deliveries of clothing styles produced each year at Tea Collection, and hundreds of skus per delivery, product naming was a significant part of my job. When I first began my role as Copy Director, I named every single item of clothing. I soon realized naming was a full-time job in and of itself, and so hired and supervised a crew of freelance copywriters who named all the products and wrote product descriptions.

Naming can be complex, as you’re not just coming up with a name for the print (which, at Tea, needed to match the international inspiration of the collection), you’re also naming the actual style of the garment—swing dress, wrap neck dress, playwear pants, etc. And the prints may change from season to season, but that style name needs to be considered and consistent.

Then there’s the matter of SEO and search terms. I was often consulted by merchants and marketers to draw up a list of likely search terms for print names, style names, and more general words shoppers might use to try to find a certain garment.

TEA COLLECTION _ STORYTELLING TEES

One of the more unusual projects I worked on was a set of graphic tees that told a story. The story was either printed inside the garment or on the back of the shirt, and gave deeper meaning to the graphic on the front of the shirt.

TEA COLLECTION _ MARKETING NAMES

Naming clothing is not limited solely to figuring out what to call a specific item of clothing. Sometimes it also involves figuring out how to market it. At Tea, merchants would bundle complementary shirts, pants, dresses, and/or leggings together to create multiple outfits the customer could then purchase for a discounted price. I was asked to help the marketing team come up with the name we called these groups or bundles of clothing.

CARR’S _ SOUNDS AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS

Anytime I work on a naming project, I’m reminded of my very first naming assignment as a young agency copywriter in Chicago. Our client, Carr’s, had a new line of chocolate cookies that needed a name. I must have run through over 500 names before the client was finally satisfied with “Imperials.” I also submitted my first reimbursable expense on that project—a giant thesaurus, which still sits on my desk (and gets regular use) today.