I am starting a sport clothing line that would target a niche market. My network at the present time are my training partners and others who are also obsessed with the sport.

Here are my 3 options, the way I see it...

1. Should I "start out of my basement" and sort of have a grassroots word of mouth/local advertising and see if my product is viable?
Then do the whole e-commerce thing?

2. Just sell my line on an e-commerce site and virtually nothing else to keep start up costs low compared to:

3. Sell my product along with related established brands (buy in bulk) to make the store more "legit". Much higher costs.

Anyone ever have this problem?