8 Ways You Can Get Paid to Wear Clothes

I’ve heard of some pretty interesting ways to make money over the course of the last few years, but getting paid to wear clothes is probably one of the more unique ones.

But strange as it sounds, I assure you it is a real thing.

The fashion industry is gigantic, with new outfits and trends released every season. Competition is fierce.

Clothing companies know that word-of-mouth advertising is the best type of brand awareness money can buy. Naturally, they would find a way to make the most of that, which means great things for anyone who’s looking to make a few bucks on the side.

I looked into the various ways you can start generating an income by wearing clothes and found a few options, which are listed below.

But keep in mind that the fashion industry does rely on a touch of vanity so most of these options require someone with an outspoken personality who isn’t afraid of putting themselves out there.

Do People Really Get Paid to Wear Clothes?

Yes!

In fact, it’s nothing new.

Celebrities have been receiving huge checks for years by simply going out and being photographed wearing certain clothing brands.

With the rise of the internet and social media, this sweet gig isn’t limited to traditional celebrities anymore. Anyone who puts in the effort (in a smart way, of course) can end up getting paid to wear clothes.

You just have to know where to look for the right opportunities.

However, it’s still important to keep realistic expectations.

The examples I provide below will help you get started on a gig that can get you paid to promote clothing but remember that there’s no guarantee.

The fashion and marketing industries might be big but as I’ve mentioned, that also means there’s plenty of competition so I won’t try to fool you by saying that you’ll make it if you just work hard enough.

There’s still an element of luck, and it helps to be in the right place at the right time. That’s not something you can learn by reading a blog.

You Might Not Actually Wear the Clothes

Some people do get paid to wear clothing with advertisements or brand logos on them and I do provide examples of those below.

But by far the largest pool of opportunities I found involved promoting the product or brand. This almost always involves some sort of social media following. So the easiest way to find this type of side gig is via affiliate partnerships.

This means you’ll have to work quite a bit at building a following before you’ll reap any rewards.

Plus, in many cases, people don’t get paid with cash but do receive the clothing for free in exchange for promoting the clothes or brand.

It might not get you rich, but hey, it’s free clothes!

3 Companies That Do Pay Cash

If you’re interested in testing out other products, the following 3 sites will pay you, in cash, to give feedback on brands.

8 Ways You Can Get Paid to Wear Clothes

If you’re keen on getting paid for the clothes on your back then check out these examples of the different ways you can get paid to promote clothes in 2021.

1. Get Paid to Wear a T-Shirt

There aren’t many gigs around where people will pay you just to wear a t-shirt, but it can happen.

Companies and organizations have t-shirts produced with their company and logos exactly for free advertisement, so why would they pay you for wearing them?

It’s a matter of wearing a t-shirt and being seen wearing that t-shirt by the right audience.

So instead of them going to you, you’ll need to go to them.

Contact your favorite brands and ask if they’ll be willing to sponsor you to wear their branded t-shirts and upload them to your social media platforms, like Instagram or TikTok. You can also offer to wear them to busy places and events to promote their brand.

If you know how to design and create t-shirts, you might even want to offer to design and create a t-shirt for them, and maybe even get paid for it, aside from wearing and advertising their shirt.

This is more of a rare occurrence than a steady thing, however, and you definitely shouldn’t bargain on making any sort of steady income out of this. At best, you could get the occasional few bucks and a free t-shirt.

Note: If all else fails, you could always make your own t-shirts and sell them online.

2. Become a Brand Ambassador

If you’re going to increase your social media following and contact companies anyway, you may want to aim bigger and become a brand ambassador.

The occasional free t-shirt aside, you’ll have a much bigger shot at getting paid to promote clothes via a social media account with a steady following.

It doesn’t matter which social media platform you choose, though Instagram and Pinterest seem to be the most lucrative choices here.

The world of fashion and marketing is steadily migrating away from big splashy advertising gambits and towards more natural connections with their audience through brand ambassadors on social media.

It’s a great time to get into this industry because there are plenty of success stories but it’s still new enough that you have a shot at carving out some space for yourself.

You can reach out to your favorite brands yourself, as I’ve mentioned above, or you can join platforms like Octoly or For Bloggers Only who can connect you to these brands and companies.

You don’t have to have a huge social media following to get some of the same perks that celebs do.

More often than not, companies are on the lookout for micro-influencers who can help promote their products. A micro-influencer is someone who has between 3,000-15,000 followers within a specific niche like fashion, games, sports, outdoor activities, etc.

If you have an active community, even better.

Marketers are looking for people who have a strong back and forth with their followers. You could also look at joining an influencer marketing platform that can help you get noticed by companies who want to market their clothing or brand.

3. Become an Affiliate Marketer

Another way to get paid for wearing clothes is to become an affiliate marketer.

Affiliate marketers are bloggers and content creators who post specially marked links on their blogs or social media. These links lead to pages where customers can buy products or avail of services. When a reader clicks on these links and results in a purchase or subscription, you’ll get a commission.

If you’re only beginning to blog or building your social media following, establishing affiliate partnerships is easier than becoming a brand ambassador.

In fact, being a successful affiliate and increasing your followers can help you be on your favorite brands’ radar. Before you know it, they may be contacting you to make a brand ambassador deal.

If this interests you, I’ve written a guide on how to get started with affiliate marketing.

4. Get Sponsored Posts

If you’ve become a popular affiliate marketer or a popular content creator for a while, but have yet to be contacted by brands to become an ambassador, pitching sponsored posts, to your favorite brands may be another way to gain their attention and get paid to wear their clothes.

The good thing is that whether you run a blog or are more active on social media, you can still get sponsored by your favorite brands.

First off, you need to make your content attractive to brands. Your content should always provide value to your audience, whether it’s informative, instructive, or purely entertaining.

If you haven’t yet, create some posts featuring honest reviews of clothes from brands you actually buy from and like. Make sure to include gorgeous photos of yourself wearing those clothes.

Then, create a Sponsor page on your blog, letting prospective brands and advertisers know that you’re open to sponsored posts. For social media, it can be as simple as including a line saying something like “For sponsorships or partnerships, email me at [your email address]” in your profile or About Me section.

Though you’ve set up your sponsor page and contact information, you don’t need to wait for companies to notice you. You can start pitching your ideas for sponsored posts by contacting and emailing your favorite brands and expressing your ideas.

After perseverance and hard work, if you’re lucky, you can get paid a few times to wear clothes and create content about them. You may even get free clothes out of this!

Don’t limit yourself to the usual editorial, text + photo post. You may want to create posts teaching ways to wear a certain clothing item, how to accessorize, or even a music or dance video featuring yourself wearing the featured clothes.

5. Show off Your Athletic Side

If you’re already an athlete, then you have a pretty good chance of getting a sponsorship from an athletic brand.

You don’t have to be a professional athlete to sign up with OpenSponsorship but you do need to be in the public eye when you do your thing.

Plenty of businesses in your area or state are looking to get their company in front of as many eyes of their target audience as possible.

OpenSponsorship is essentially a database of athletes, teams, and events, in which brands can look at athletes and read all about them to know whether they’d be a good fit for their product and their target audience.

Brands can then contact the athletes’ agents directly and negotiate with the goal of coming to a sponsorship deal. This process works the same for businesses of all sizes.

Thus, OpenSponsorship makes it simple for businesses of all sizes to connect with athletes to sponsor with their clothes and other athletic gear.

6. Become A Blogger

Starting a blog, specifically a lifestyle blog, can become a great way to get paid to wear clothes. You can even do the first 5 things on this list—wear t-shirts, become a brand ambassador, promote affiliate links, publish sponsored posts, and getting sponsorships from top athletic brands—a lot easier if you have a blog.

Sponsors actually prefer brand ambassadors and influencers who have a blog aside from their social media account, and a big reason for that is a blog is your own space; social media platforms rise and fall in popularity all the time and influencers can’t control these platforms’ policies on posts.

Blogs, on the other hand, are under the control of the owner of the blog: that’s you. And for as long as your blog is active, the sponsored posts you create are out there, searchable, and can be found and shared by potential customers.

Aside from getting paid for wearing clothes, blogging opens up a world of possibilities that you can earn passive income for years to come.

7. Approach Local Businesses

If you have the guts to take matters from your online presence to your physical space, then you can certainly approach your local businesses and sell the idea of you walking around wearing their brand and essentially promoting them locally.

Most local business owners are always looking for the cheapest and most efficient way to get noticed and they might find your approach novel enough to go for it.

There’s a good chance other business owners in the area will see you and be interested in doing the same thing.

Note: If you’re reading this while the Covid-19 pandemic is going on, make sure to take the necessary precautions, such as wearing a mask and observing social distancing, to keep yourself and others safe.

8. Work As A Runway Model

Okay, this one is definitely out of reach for most people, but I still need to include it here.

Runway models most definitely get paid to wear clothes as they showcase both their beauty and whatever new trends that fashion designers can conjure.

Female runway models make considerably more than their male counterparts, but both are needed in the fashion industry.

You can get started on the small stage and make a few hundred bucks per show. The bigger the event, the more you can get paid.

If you think you have the looks, love of fashion, and moxie to make it, here’s our guide on how to work as a runway model.

The Bottom Line

There are plenty of unusual side hustles out there, especially if you know where to look (like I’ve Tried That).

Getting paid to promote clothing may sound like a strange gig, but who cares when you’re laughing all the way to the bank, right?

Are you intrigued? Or maybe you’ve experienced getting paid to wear clothes? We’d like to know your thoughts! Hit us up in the comments!