From Drop to Download: Sidemen’s App Launch Playbook

From YouTube Icons to Streetwear Success

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Sidemen Clothing isn’t your average merch store. It’s the official apparel brand of the Sidemen — a creator collective with over 130 million subscribers across their channels worldwide. And while most influencers dabble in merch, the Sidemen built a fashion brand.

With their streetwear-inspired drops, limited-edition collabs and near-instant sellouts, Sidemen Clothing has become one of the UK’s most recognisable digital brands. But as their e-commerce empire continued to grow, the team spotted an opportunity: launch a mobile app to drive even more growth.

Of course, this wasn’t going to be just any app launch. It had to be maximum hype, maximum impact — in true Sidemen style.

The Challenge

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How do you make a mobile app launch feel like an event?

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Sidemen’s marketing team, alongside Venn Apps, set out to create a strategy that would make the launch impossible to ignore. It needed to generate buzz, drive installs, and ultimately convert fans into high-value app customers. No pressure.

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The Strategy: Build Hype, Then Break the Internet

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Step 1: Time it perfectly

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The team chose to launch the app alongside the release of their new Studios Line — a collection guaranteed to get fans talking. The thinking was simple: pair a major product drop with an app launch to create FOMO-fuelled momentum.

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Step 2: Lock it down

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To crank up the exclusivity, Venn Apps’ Lock Screen feature was deployed. The website and app were both locked ahead of the drop, and access to the new collection was granted first to app users — via a password sent through push notification. A double win for the brand: hype and push notification opt-ins before the app even officially launched.

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Step 3: Ongoing App-exclusives

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Some products from the drop were marked as app-exclusive, meaning they could only be purchased through the app. With an app exclusive banner displayed on the PLP, these products were teased on the website, nudging visitors to download the app if they wanted in. A textbook case of “you want it, you gotta earn it”.

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Step 4: QR codes, banners and download triggers everywhere

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From universal linking to slick download banners and a bespoke QR code, the Sidemen team made it stupidly easy to install the app — wherever you were. That QR code popped up across multiple digital touchpoints, especially on the one place fans live: social media.

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Step 5: A TikTok strategy to match

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Now this is where it got fun. The Sidemen team, being the content kings they are, took to TikTok with a humour-led campaign that shouted about the new app and its exclusive perks. Their signature tone — chaotic, hilarious, and entirely on-brand — made the whole campaign feel more like a skit than an ad. And fans loved it.

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Lessons for the rest of us?

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You don’t need to be the Sidemen to make this work. Even if you’re not naturally a content-led brand, planning engaging short-form videos into your app launch calendar can massively boost installs. It’s not just about “we have an app now”, it’s about why your customers should care.

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The Results

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Let’s just say… it worked.

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50,000+ downloads in the first week

23,000 pre-launch installs, thanks to the Lock Screen and early access hype

The app now accounts for over 33% of total revenue

App customers spend more too — with a 12% higher average order value
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Beyond the big numbers, Sidemen Clothing now has a direct line to their most loyal fans. Push notifications give them the ability to promote drops, launches, and sales instantly — with zero ad spend and no algorithm uncertainty. That’s a sustainable way to grow lifetime value and scale a brand. 

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Final Word

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More than just a success, this app launch is a blueprint. Sidemen Clothing used the hype engine of their brand, the power of exclusivity, and the tools in the Venn Apps platform to turn a single app drop into long-term incremental growth.

The result? A mobile app that doesn’t just sit pretty in the App Store. It converts. It retains. It drives serious revenue.

And most importantly, it’s pure Sidemen.