# How to Find Affiliates for a Fashion Brand: Real Counts Source: https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/find-affiliates-fashion-brand # How to find affiliates for a fashion brand By the RecruitAffiliates.ai team · Published 26 October 2026 · Checked on 27 October 2026 · 10 min read Facts about other tools come from their own sites, with the date we checked. [Our editorial policy](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/editorial-policy) · [About us](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/about). In short To find affiliates for a fashion brand, start with the best-of pages that already rank your rivals, then add stylists and TikTok creators. Our first search on 6 Shopify fashion brands showed 78 people for the typical brand, not all of them promoters, and 72% were behind a review or roundup page. Public fashion programs state a median starting commission (the base rate) of 10%. Hold commission until your return window closes. Start with the "best [your kind of clothing] brands" pages that already rank your rivals. Write to the people behind them. After that, add stylists and TikTok creators who show outfits like yours. Pay a commission, but hold it until your return window closes. A fashion affiliate program is how you make that repeatable. Fashion influencer marketing is the wider habit of paying creators to show your clothes. An affiliate program is the version where they earn only when a sale happens. An **affiliate** is anyone with an audience who sends you buyers and earns a **commission**, a cut of each sale. This guide covers who promotes fashion brands, where to look, what to offer and how to protect yourself from paying on returns. The counts come from our own scan, and the full tables are on our [fashion research page](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/who-promotes-fashion-brands-2026). **On this page 10 sections** 1. [Who promotes fashion brands] 2. [Fashion influencer marketing: where to look first] 3. [What to offer in a fashion affiliate program] 4. [Returns change what you pay] 5. [Reaching them] 6. [Tell them about disclosure] 7. [Common traps] 8. [Run this on your own brand] 9. [Frequently asked questions] 10. [Sources] ## Who promotes fashion brands On 22 October 2026 we ran our software's first search on 6 public Shopify fashion and apparel brands. Three were UK shops and three were US. We typed in two rivals and three topics for each by hand, such as sustainable clothing, denim and rainwear. Then we ran the normal search. It reads web pages, podcasts, TikTok and Instagram. It showed a median of 78 people per brand, with a range of 49 to 101. A **median** is the middle brand when you line the six up from smallest to largest. Here is who they were. A **roundup** is a page that ranks several brands, such as "best sustainable clothing brands". | Type of page | Median per brand | Range | Share of people shown | |---|---|---|---| | Review or roundup page | 47 | 38 to 77 | 72% | | Blog-style page | 11 | 7 to 16 | 15% | | TikTok, Instagram or newsletter | 2.5 | 0 to 30 | 11% | | Podcast | 2 | 0 to 5 | 3% | | All people shown | 78 | 49 to 101 | 100% | "Email found" means an address was on record for that person. We did not check it. An email was found for a median of 30 people per brand (range 19 to 42), which is 38% of all shown. Each median is the middle of its own six numbers, so the medians do not add up. The shares add to about 100% after rounding. Bar chart showing review or roundup pages are 72% of the people shown, blog-style pages 15%, TikTok, Instagram or newsletters 11% and podcasts 3%. Bar chart showing review or roundup pages are 72% of the people shown, blog-style pages 15%, TikTok, Instagram or newsletters 11% and podcasts 3%. *Share of people shown, six Shopify fashion and apparel brands, 22 October 2026. Source: our first search, counted by page type.* Fashion had the most TikTok, Instagram and newsletter people of the five shop sectors we scanned (fashion, supplements, beauty, fitness and home). No other sector reached 3%. One brand showed 30 TikTok creators, so the average hides a wide spread. Six hand-picked shops, each searched once, is a small sample. Read the medians as rough ([the method and limits](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/shopify-affiliate-scan-2026)). Some of the people shown are not promoters. An AI model read the page title and address of 30 random rows from all five sectors. It judged 9 not to be promoters (30%, which could be anywhere from 17% to 48%). ## Fashion influencer marketing: where to look first Start with the biggest pool, then move down. This order fits a small team. Steps 1 to 3 follow the counts. Step 4 mixes counts with advice, and step 5 is our advice. 1. **List the roundups that name your rivals.** Search "best [your product type] brands", "[rival] review" and "[rival] alternatives". Open the first two pages of results and write down who made each page. Those writers are your first list. 2. **Add fashion blogs.** They were about 1 in 7 of the people shown. Search the style you sell plus "blog", such as "capsule wardrobe blog". 3. **Add ten TikTok or Instagram creators.** They and newsletters were 11% of people shown. Search the style you sell, such as "linen outfit" or "workwear". Pick people whose recent posts show clothes like yours, not people with the biggest following. 4. **Add stylists on YouTube.** Our first search did not read YouTube. A later test on a paid plan did, and most of the people it showed came from YouTube ([the follow-up](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/who-promotes-shopify-brands-2026)). That test was not limited to fashion, so treat it as a hint, not a fashion figure. Search "[rival] try on" and "[rival] haul". A video shows fit on a real body. 5. **Add your own customers.** Look at who tags you. A customer who already posts your clothes needs no pitch, only a code. Fashion creators also use shopping-link sites such as LTK, a site where creators link to products they recommend. That is our advice, not from our counts, so read each site's terms for brands before you plan around it. Our wider guide to [finding affiliates for a Shopify store](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/find-affiliates-for-shopify-store) has the same method for any product. If your creators are small, read [what a micro-influencer is](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-is-a-micro-influencer) first. ## What to offer in a fashion affiliate program Offer three things: a commission, a code or link that tracks sales, and a free piece. Say each one in a line. On rates, we read 168 public Shopify affiliate pages on 23 October 2026. The 14 fashion and apparel programs state a median base commission of 10%, and the middle half state 10% to 13.8%. The base rate is the lowest rate a page promises a new affiliate ([the commission data](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/shopify-affiliate-commission-rates-2026)). That is from public pages, not from our six scanned brands. Real offers are plain. Indigenous Designs states 10% commission and a 30-day cookie, paid through Refersion and PayPal ([its affiliate page](https://indigenous.com/pages/affiliate), checked 27 October 2026). A **cookie window** is how long after a click a sale still counts for the affiliate. A creator can't compare "generous commission" with another offer, so give a number. Work back from your own margin before you copy a rate. Our guide on [what commission a Shopify affiliate program should pay](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-commission-should-my-shopify-affiliate-program-pay) shows the sum. For the free piece, send it with a short card. These [gifting note examples](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/influencer-gifting-note-examples) show the wording, and it helps to ask for their size first. ## Returns change what you pay Clothes are bought by size and fit, so we think a returned order is a real risk for a fashion brand. Online returns run high in general. The US National Retail Federation (NRF) and Happy Returns, a UPS company, expected 19.3% of online sales to be returned in 2025 ([NRF, 15 October 2025](https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/consumers-expected-to-return-nearly-850-billion-in-merchandise-in-2025), checked 27 October 2026). That figure covers all online retail, not only clothes. Use it as a rough guide, and check your own return rate. Let's say you sell 100 orders at $80, and you pay 10% commission. That is $8 an order and $800 in total. If 19 orders come back, you refunded $1,520 of sales. You also paid $152 of commission on money you no longer have. The fix is a **holding period**: a wait before a commission becomes payable. Set it to match your return window. Shopify Collabs, Shopify's own affiliate app, holds commission for 30 days by default. You can pick anything from 1 to 90 ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/collabs/merchants/payments), checked 26 October 2026). Refersion, another affiliate app, marks a pending sale as approved after 90 days by default. You can ask its support team for a different wait, from 30 to 120 days ([Refersion help](https://intercom.help/refersion/en/articles/2687623), 22 July 2026, checked 27 October 2026). Whichever app you use, tell affiliates the wait before they join. A rule they see up front costs you nothing. A surprise costs you the affiliate. ## Reaching them Check the contact or about page first. Some writers list an address for brands, and some only offer a form. In our scan, about 4 in 10 people shown had an email found (38%), the highest share of the five shop sectors. Plan a contact form or a direct message for the rest. Keep the first message short and specific. Name one thing they made, say what you sell, state the offer in numbers and ask one small question. Here is an example from a made-up brand. Hi Maya, your linen capsule wardrobe post was the clearest guide I've read on what to buy first. I'm Sam at Fieldwork, and we make linen shirts and trousers in relaxed fits. We pay 12% on every sale you send, with a 45-day cookie. I can send you a piece in your size first, no strings. Would you like the details? Copy the shape, not the words. The full templates are in our [influencer outreach email template](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/influencer-outreach-email-template) guide, and the [recruitment email guide](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/affiliate-recruitment-email) explains the thinking. ## Tell them about disclosure Ask every affiliate to say they earn from the link. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says "Your company is ultimately responsible for what others do on your behalf". It says you need "reasonable programs in place to train and monitor" your network. The bare words "affiliate link" may not be understood. "Paid link" right next to the link should be adequate ([FTC Endorsement Guides Q&A](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking), checked 26 October 2026). Free clothes count too. The FTC treats free or discounted product as a "material connection". That means a tie that the audience should know about. It says a vague word like "collab" is not enough alone ([FTC, Disclosures 101](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/disclosures-101-social-media-influencers), November 2019). Add a one-line disclosure rule to your offer. [Our disclosure examples](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/affiliate-disclosure-examples-for-brands) give you ten you can hand over. Rules differ by country. This is not legal advice. ## Common traps **Coupon and deal pages.** Some pages that rank your rivals list discount codes. They can take credit for sales you'd have made anyway. See [how to stop coupon sites joining your affiliate program](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/stop-coupon-sites-affiliate-program). **Pages that are not promoters.** In our AI check of 30 rows from all five sectors, about 3 in 10 were not promoters. Open each page before you write. **Paying on every sale at once.** See the returns sum above. **A size you can't send.** A free piece in the wrong size becomes a bad review. Ask first. ## Run this on your own brand Type in your shop's website. RecruitAffiliates.ai suggests your rivals. Then it finds the websites, blogs, review sites, podcasts and creators already promoting them, ranked so the best fits sit at the top. It looks up their email and shows whether each address was checked ([what each result means](https://docs.recruitaffiliates.ai/credits#what-each-result-means)). The scan above ran no email checks, so none of the 38% was checked. Our [fashion page](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/for/fashion) shows how it works for clothing brands. The 7-day free trial includes 20 email lookups and needs no card. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do I find affiliates for a fashion brand? Search for the "best [your kind of clothing] brands" pages that rank your rivals and note who wrote them. Add stylists on YouTube and TikTok creators who show clothes like yours. Then write to each person with your offer and a free piece. ### What commission do fashion brands pay? Public fashion programs state a median base commission of 10%, from 14 programs we read on 23 October 2026. The middle half state 10% to 13.8%. Work back from your own margin before you set a rate. ### Should I pay commission on returned orders? No. Hold commission until your return window closes, which is the number of days a buyer has to send a product back. Set a holding period that matches it. Then a commission is payable only after the sale can no longer come back. Tell affiliates the rule before they join. ### Are TikTok creators worth it for fashion? Try a small batch. TikTok, Instagram and newsletter people were 11% of those shown for fashion, more than in any other sector we scanned. One brand showed 30 TikTok creators and others showed none. Start with ten, which is our suggestion. Judge them by sales through their code. ## Sources - Our scan of 6 Shopify fashion and apparel brands, 22 October 2026: [who promotes fashion brands](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/who-promotes-fashion-brands-2026) and [method, counts and limits](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/shopify-affiliate-scan-2026) - Our reading of 168 public Shopify affiliate programs, 23 October 2026: [commission rates](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/shopify-affiliate-commission-rates-2026) - National Retail Federation, [Consumers expected to return nearly $850 billion in merchandise in 2025](https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/consumers-expected-to-return-nearly-850-billion-in-merchandise-in-2025) (15 October 2025) - US Federal Trade Commission, [FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking) and [Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/disclosures-101-social-media-influencers) (November 2019) - Shopify Help Center, [Collabs payments and holding period](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/collabs/merchants/payments) - Refersion help, [conversion approval](https://intercom.help/refersion/en/articles/2687623) (22 July 2026) - Indigenous Designs, [affiliate program](https://indigenous.com/pages/affiliate) ## Keep reading - Finding affiliates ### [How to find affiliates for your Shopify store (and who to ask)](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/find-affiliates-for-shopify-store) Find affiliates for your Shopify store: who promotes physical products, how to find the ones covering your rivals, what to pay, and what a scan of 30 shops found. 10 min read - Outreach ### [Influencer gifting note: 10 examples to copy](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/influencer-gifting-note-examples) Ten influencer gifting note examples to copy, a three-line formula, and what to leave out. Short notes for skincare, food, home and more. 6 min read - Offers and rates ### [What commission should my Shopify affiliate program pay?](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-commission-should-my-shopify-affiliate-program-pay) We read 168 Shopify affiliate programs: the median base commission is 10%, the middle half pay 8% to 15%. Rates by category, a margin check and cookie length. 5 min read ## Build your affiliate army. [Find my affiliates](https://app.recruitaffiliates.ai/signup?from=blog-find-affiliates-fashion-brand) Start free and see who's out there today.