Building the Boutique

Q: I would like to open [a boutique] at the end of summer 2010. Should I be purchasing clothing now? As I do not currently have a storefront I am concerned that it will be hard to get my inventory which is obviously so essential. I love the idea of immediates, but I realize I can’t count on them. When I try to get wholesale information online from certain labels, they seem to want a location, a website or even a photograph of the store. There was also a trade show I had looked into ( The Pool Trade Show) which wanted to see two completed invoices as part of the application. I do have a tax id number, but that’s about it at this point! Any help or advice you can give would be so appreciated! Best of luck to you this coming weekend as the holiday madness begins!!

A: If you’re opening at the end of summer, rest easy for now because the Fall collections (and even though it’s the end of Summer, you’ll want to have Fall merch at this time) start showing in February (at MAGIC in Las Vegas), and will continue to show into the next month in other cities like LA.

Pool isn’t a trade show I’d recommend going to for your first time. Try getting into the Brighte Enk, Designers & Agents and some of the other smaller ones (like Transit, etc) that happen in Los Angeles all at the same time. There’s also Market Tuesdays at the California Market Center. I was able to go to these shows (specifically Brighte) before I had a website or any invoices; they basically want to see your business license and business cards. Easy stuff! A lot of times you can use a deed as well.

If all else fails, I’d recommend securing your domain name and putting up a “coming soon” graphic of some sorts. And make it look nice and creative; have your web designer do it, and put your logo on it and maybe a fun, colorful background so the reps take it seriously.

Best of luck to you too!

Here’s a great question from the comment section this morning:

Q: How do immediates work? How long does it take to get them, do all lines do immediates?

A: This is a good question, and one I get a lot, and for a good reason. It seems that a lot of people who are new to this business are interested in immediates, and it’s not surprising, because investing thousands of dollars 4-6mos ahead of time is VERY daunting. I, personally, change my mind like clockwork so it’s tough. Right now with my brick and mortar retail space I’m doing everything on an immediate basis.

Some lines have immediates and some don’t. I’m lucky to work with a couple of great labels who not only have plenty of immediates but also are VERY flexible about reordering. But what I’m hearing is that with the economy changing lines are starting to cut only what is ordered, making immediates a bit more scarce (funny story though…the west coast sales rep for a certain brand told me this, and then the east coast sales rep for the exact same line emailed me telling me there were TONS of immediates…interesting!) So you really need to get to know the line before you risk waiting for immediates. Feel them out a bit; of course ask the sales rep, but also see for yourself. Try and get on the mailing list for the showroom (if they have one) because that’s one of the quickest ways to find out whats available. Also, visit their showrooms and visit them during trade shows; usually lines will show their immediates along with the upcoming season, and it’s a good way to gage how much they tend to keep available.

The way immediates tend to work is pretty simple. The merchandise for a season will become available, and will ship out to the stores that already placed orders first. Then whatever is left over after that will become available. The amount of time it takes just depends on how long it takes them to ship out all the orders placed. Generally each collection will have a 15 day window (which is why some linesheets will say a delivery is open 3/15 – 4/01) or longer. Once they become available and you place the order, it should ship out to you right away. How quickly you receive it after that just depends on where you live. It’s great being 90 miles away from LA because I can order something and get it in stock the next day.

So if you know you’re going to want immediates, email your sales rep around the time the delivery is set to ship. Ask them to email you with what’s available when it becomes available. Hope that helps! And as always, feel free to email me with questions or leave them in the comments section!

A couple of really good reader questions came in recently and I thought I’d share the answers with everyone

Q: I live in the Caribbean,meaning, only summer clothes and shoes is what I need during the whole year. So if I go to shows and showrooms in winter time can I still get summer dresses and sandals?

A. The answer to the first question is a big, huge YES. First off, most high end lines do Resort/Cruise collections, which are usually the first two deliveries of the year (right after holiday). The idea behind it is that people with money jet off to their exclusive resorts (the Carribean is probably one of those places!) and need swimsuits, shorts and other summer clothes. And even if you’re talking October/November/December, it’s still possible to get summery clothes, depending on the brand. See, I have the opposite problem that you have a lot of times; I have trouble finding warm clothes and sweaters because all the lines I work with are selling sheer dresses, maxi’s and halter tops during this time of the year. So don’t worry, it won’t be a problem at all. Just choose the right brands!

Q: I am planning on opening an online store next summer for fall, but am wondering how early I should start contacting reps? Do you have an office space or do you run it out of your home? Also, do you ever notice some brand reps who will not work with brand new stores? Thanks so much for your advice, you should write a book!

A. Buyers generally work 4-6 months ahead of the season. The Fall collections generally will start to show in mid February at MAGIC in Las Vegas (note that NYFW is also that month) and then they’ll show the next month in Los Angeles and New York. You’ll pretty much have that Febraury-April window to purchase for Fall, but I would recommend contacting the reps ahead of time to introduce yourself and find out what they’ll want to see from you in order to buy. That way you can have it ready for market.

I run everything out of my home. I do have RETAIL space now and I keep 90% of my clothes there and the rest I keep in my home or the trunk of my car!

It’s always different with reps, and it depends on the type of lines you’re looking for, and how exclusive or high end they are (but not, necessarily, how well known they are). And I’d love to write a book someday. Hopefully I will.

Itinerary
1:30 – Kathy Walker Sales
2:30 – Agent Icon
3:30 – Bluebird Showroom
4:30 – Bright ENK

This was my fifth trip to market week and I had more appointments than ever! The first two were at the New Mart and the second was at the Cooper Building, which I had been to before but only for the Designers & Agents trade show, and the last was Voom at the Brighte ENK trade show in the California Mart.

This was also the first time I got into LA and actually had time to spare. Usually I get there 15 minutes early or something and we’re scrambling to eat before our first appointment. But this time around I had an hour just to hang out and catch the trade shows. We went to Focus, which is on the top floor of the California Mart….now I understand why I never bothered to go up there before. They had such a poor selection of vendors up there, minus one or two.

We also zipped through the Transit shoe show quickly. Now, there are TONS of shoe vendors there, and good ones too. And they’re all producing the same things. I can tell you right now that styles won’t be changing next Spring from Spring 2008. Booties, gladiator sandals, ballerina flats and strappy heels in abundance. Shoes are something that will probably be out of my budget for a very long time now.

D&A at the Cooper building was a HUGE improvement over the last two times I visited it. I found a new line that I LOVE! It’s a brand new, unknown label Kitchen Orange. It’s definitely something I would consider but I’m so weary about adding more lines that have little press.

And I’m sure some of you have heard of Fluxus. I really regret not inquiring about this line when I was creating my budget for Spring. I thought they were only about gray knit vests but they have some impressive mini dresses, coats and shrugs for Spring. Ugh! If I hadn’t gone over budget (WAY over budget) I would’ve been all over that! Definitely in the Fall though, if not Summer.

Bags are also something I’m considering later on in 2009. I’m thinking Linea Pelle or Hayden Harnett. Or who knows, something new might come around.

D&A also has a special market for Green retailers this year, which is great! Didn’t get to check it out though, unfortunately.

Showrooms & Buying
There wasn’t too much that wowed me for Spring, at least not like Holiday, but I did find a bunch of SUPER cute dresses! I got that maxi dress from Lauren Conrad that I posted about last week, as well as an adorable black and blue printed chiffon bubble dress, a couple of wraps and some cute tees. I also ordered a bunch of maxi dresses from Gypsy 05 as well as their sweat suits. Ordering for Love Quotes Spring hasn’t opened yet but the colors are super pretty, albeit the same ones from last year. Boring!

Plastic Island…oh man, I’m glad I went back to this line! So many gorgeous, fashion forward pieces and at great prices too. There are two mini dresses I picked up that I’m absolutely in love with, a great white tuxedo jacket and this amazing navy skirt with tiered strips that totally reminds me of 3.1 Phillip Lim….just half the price and just as good quality.

I’m also looking to branch my merchandise out into basics, so I stocked up on PVC/latex/faux leather/whatever leggings, tanks and tees from LNA. I know, I know…every other boutique carries LNA but EVERYONE needs tees! And any extra search traffic is welcome.

Lastly, there was Voom. Voom always delivers and their Spring stuff is especially cute! I can’t wait for you guys to see this denim tube dress they have; it’s outlined with red and white strips and it has a dove cut out on it. I think it’s going to be next hit in the way the Eva Longoria elephant dress was.

Spring 2009 Preview
Most of you are probably worrying about getting your fall wardrobes together and not even thinking about next spring, but here’s a preview of the new stuff anyways. They should show up early February.

*The red jacket will actually be in this week!
TRENDSTALKING

Hot Colors:

Pale/dusty Blue

Periwinkle blue

Violet

Lilac

Silver

Mustard yellow

Sunshine yellow

Navy

Vintage rose

Pale green

Hot trends: Fringe, florals, tiered strips (aka mini layers), tuxedo style, leggings, burn out, maxi dresses, asymmetry, zippers….blah blah blah, not really anything new.

Just as my Lauren Conrad holiday merchandise arrives, Lauren debuts her collection for Spring 2009 at LA Fashion week. The timing is perfect since market week starts this weekend and I’ll be heading to buy on Saturday. Here are a few of the piece I have my eye on, and of course, I want your input!

That maxi dress was the strongest piece from the entire collection if you ask me. It’s just gorgeous and it screams Spring! The white dress is basic but nice and clean. I would probably get that one in black; white is a bit daunting for most of us girls.

For the first time Lauren introduced chiffon into her collection with three polka dotted prints. I really love this fabric! I think this dress is gorgeous in the pink but those tiny black roses are so unnecessary; there’s something about it that just doesn’t mesh. However, it works in the blue.

More pretty pretty florals. I’m really on the fence with that second dress, the halter one. It’s cute but it’s maybe a bit…matronly? I’m not sure if many 20 something girls would want to wear that style. Love the chiffon blouse though; that should look great in pink.

A couple other looks here. That first dress….hmm, as much as I love the print the bubble hem along with the short length seems a bit unflattering. It would’ve been perfect with just a normal hem! Lauren also added body suits to the line up; I’m seeing these on several linesheets, so I guess they’re making a comeback.

I’ll figure something out here. There are definitely a few promising pieces and I’ll probably buy 8 or 9 of them. Let me know what you think in the comments section!

Check out the entire collection over at my celeb blog, GirlsTalkinSmack.com >>

Last week I got the exact news I was hoping not to get!

For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you probably (hopefully?) remember me going on and on about this new line Bryce & Bouji that I have coming in for the fall. I’ve been hyping it up quite a bit and the pieces I ordered from them were some of my absolute favorites that I’ve come across so far. Well at the end of last week I get an email telling me that they’re about to ship….yay! Then I ask if the fifth piece I ordered went into production or not (it was up in the air because the sales reps said other buyers werent responding well to it). It turns out that THREE out of the five pieces I ordered were not produced!

THREE.

That’s over half my order! And they were pieces I was just dying to try on. Sigh. Can I just rant for a second here? I don’t get what’s wrong with the other buyers. They have the weirdest taste when it comes to this line. Pretty much all the peices I absolutely loved, they didn’t, and the pieces that did well with the other buyers were hit or miss if you ask me.

I can’t complain too much though, the two strongest pieces are still coming through and I was able to exchange the two items. But there’s some very lucky size 00 showroom rep who’s rockin’ those samples.

One more good thing…the peices are coming in a couple of days ahead of scheduele, which has been a life saver, so be sure to check back for pics later this week.

Celeb Sighting!

I love it when celebs wear stuff I’ve purchased! Here’s Hilary Duff, from a couple of days ago, wearing the the Deep Teal Love Quotes scarf. This was a color that I was on the fence about but she totally makes it work. Love the leather pants too.

In case you didn’t know, when I went on my little buying trip a couple of months ago for my holiday merchandise I picked up my very first accessories line, Onna Ehrlich clutches. I didn’t even plan on buying these but the girls at the showroom showed them to me, and since they had a low minimum I jumped at the chance. I’m absolutely in love with these clutches, I could stare at them all day!

Clutches are really hot this season, so I’m thinking these should do well. I chose the first one because gold is always a hot color during the holidays; how cute would that clutch look with a holiday mini dress? And the reddish/hot pink one is just way too fierce. It’s suede with snake down the middle. These bags are great quality too; they come with little certificates of authentication as well as carrying bags.

If you were to ask me what pieces I’m most hyped about this coming season, these Onna Ehrlich make up bags would be in the top 3. Obviously, I chose them because they make great gifts and/or stocking stuffers (nice price points too). The look is similar to the hot pink clutch above with suede and patent croc. That’s such a genius mix of fabrics/textures. And I also have one in cognac (brown) coming in.

This is the clutch Eva Longoria wore on Desperate Housewives, twice actually, in this color and another. It’s rouched all over and it has this cute little tassel. It’s fun, girly and has a bit of a vintage feel. Perfect for evening year round.

I haven’t decided on the exact prices yet, but the make up bags will retail around $50 with the clutches around $200.

If you want to know when any of these items go on sale, go to the mainpage of OohLaLuxe.com and get on the mailing list! Or you can comment here and I’ll email you.

One of the readers of this blog, who I converse with quite a bit, is starting up a boutique of her own and asked me about one the most daunting (and crucial) parts of being a buyer; contacting sales reps. For those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning of the year, you probably remember all of those horror stories I mentioned having to do with sales reps. Most of that turned out to be hearsay, but sales reps can be hard to get in touch with. Which brings us to….

How do I get a sales rep to take me seriously if I don’t have a location/website or even a business card? Yeah, good question. I was in this same place right about this time last year. I was sending out emails to showrooms and I probably had about a 65-75% reply rate. Not awful, but I was flat out ignored by plenty of reps, and even now that I’m established I still get the cold shoulder from time to time.

Now, I’m not saying there’s a particular art to contacting a rep for the first time, but there are certain things I think should be included in that email. Here’s an example of what I sent:

Hello [name, if you know it]! My name is Kimberly and I’m the owner of OohLaLuxe.com, a new online boutique that will be open [whatever date], and will be based out of [location]. I would like to receive more information about carrying [line name]. Could you please let me know what the minimums for the line are, and if you would be able to send me the Spring 2009 linesheets, and lookbook, if available, that would be appreciated! Thanks, and I look forward to working with you.

Sincerly,
[full name]
[title, business name]

Now let me break this down line for line and explain why I included all the information I did…

From what I’ve seen, I’d say expect a reply within 48 hours from most sales reps. But give them time because most are extremely busy, and if it’s market week or they’re traveling for a trade show, it will certainly take long. If they don’t get back to within a week go ahead and give them a call. I had one rep email me back with line sheets a full three weeks after I requested them! Unfortunately for her, I had already found a different handbag line for Fall.

But whatever you do, don’t burn bridges because sales reps are the most important contact you have in the industry.

I’m back from a full day of buying yesterday! My dad drove us down to the showrooms and my mom and I went through and did the actual buying. It was so much fun getting to do this again, selecting the clothes is my favorite part of the process. And I got shut down on the pictures again guys, sorry! Anyways, here’s a complete recap of everything that went down:

12:00
We arrive in downtown LA and I’m SO happy because we’ll actually have time to eat before the appointments.

12:20
After parking the car, I realize that’s far from the case.

12:30 – The New Mart
We head across the street to the New Mart for our first appointment at Kathy Walker Sales. Every building in downtown LA is seriously ancient. The elevators are so old and slow and it takes hours just for them to get to our floor.

Another thing I notice….no one goes to Fall II/Holiday/Resort market week. Seriously, the other times I’ve been there (for Fall and Spring) there’s a mob of buyers waiting for the elevator at the New Mart. This time, only about a handful of people were down there.

So we got to the showroom about five or ten minutes later. It’s a pretty nice space and they carry 7 or 8 lines here (including Gypsy 05 and Linea Pelle). Each sales rep in the showroom reps all of the lines broken up by location, which seems pretty unique because I usually see a rep per brand. Anyways, after all that rushing the sales rep tells us she’s running behind and can’t take us at the moment. Now I start to get kind of worried because I spaced my appointments out by an hour plus we had plans for the evening, but I find out that there really isn’t such a thing called a “scheduele” in this industry. Oh. Okay. Good to know.

But I still like to be on time.

12:45 – Designers & Agents (Trade Show)

Since there’s time to kill, we hop on those slow-as-mollasses elevators and head on to the third floor to check out D&A. And for the second year in a row, I’m disappointed with the merchandise being shown here. I thought it was only me, but I found out that this show has a good reputation of having a pretty bad selection. Ouch! Honestly, it’s true. You’ll find a few gems (Alice & Olivia, Iro and a couple other big brands show there), some decent denim lines, and lots of great accessories, but that’s about it.

1:00 – Kathy Walker Sales
We’re back at the showroom, and the rep can take us now. She’s a really cool girl, and gives us a ton of valuable insight about the business and the lines as well. She was very honest about which pieces would sell well and which to stay away from. While I was there I took a look at two new lines for fall; one clothing and one accessories. Oh, and the rep even had to pull a few strings for me to be able to get both collections, because both of the lines were planning on cutting off distribution to online sales. And it’s understandable, since we are brand new, but interestingly the fact that we carry Voom helped.

1:45- Sway Showroom

Yup, we’re running about fifteen minutes late for the second appointment of the way. Thankfully the folks over at Sway Showroom on the 9th floor of the New Mart didn’t mind. Once again, the sales reps are super nice an friendly. Everyone says that people in the industry, and sales reps especially, are snobby but I’ve been lucky to only work with the nice ones!

She showed us the new up and coming indie line that will be on OohLaLuxe.com this fall. Okay, people…this line is GORGEOUS. I already had an idea of what pieces I wanted but so many of the pieces were just so beautiful in person. The line is young and hip, but it has a touch of elegance to it, and usually you don’t see both. I went out on a limb with a couple of the choices I made from the line, but hopefully it pays off. It’s pretty funny too because they didn’t even show me one of my absolute favorite pieces from the linesheets because none of the other buyers cared for it. I still don’t get that; I placed an order for the pieces anyways and I’m hoping it goes to production.

And before I headed out the reps show me a handbag line that I’ve never heard of. Cute, I’m thinking, but I was really weary of taking on another line that doesn’t have much press and isn’t well known. Turns out that this line has been gettin a TON of press…I’m talking Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives etc., pretty much the who’s who of stylish celebs and TV shows. How did I miss this brand? And I wanted to add some bags/clutches for the holidays. They also had a very flexible minimum, so of course I took advantage of the opportunity. I ordered four clutches and five make up bags from them. They’re super cute with this great mixture of patent croc and suede. I honestly can not wait to get them!

2:30 – Voom @ Brighte

Honestly I can’t remember what time it was, but we probably weren’t on time after having to rush back across the street and register TWICE; once for the CMC (why they need this, I don’t know) and also to get into the Brighte ENK trade show, which always takes forever. They gave us free bags though so I can’t complain too much.

I meet up with the rep for Voom who actually remembers me, which is pretty amazing since it’s been almost a year since I’ve been there. My budget is so much tighter this time around than it was last year so I had to pass up a couple of cute Voom pieces, but I’m very happy with what I got. Picked up couple of cute little black dresses and some others.

We looked around the tradeshow as well, which is smaller than D&A but they have a better selection, in my opinion.

To sum it all up, the trip was successful. I did go over budget, again, but it was a good over budget and not an “I have no self control” over budget. I picked up four new lines, which will be revealed sometime tomorrow, so be sure to check back for the Fall preview!

Market week is coming up this weekend, and on Saturday I’ll be heading down to LA to buy from the Holiday collections. Today I made my all my appointments with the showrooms, starting around noon through the afternoon. This time around I’ll be visiting two showrooms as well as the Brighte ENK trade show to buy from four different lines. And if I have time I might stop by D&A as well.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been planning my budget for advertisement as well as merchandise and just going back and forth over all of the lines and pieces available deciding what to buy. I’m feeling pretty good about the stuff I’ll be ordering! There will definitely be a better variety of merchandise all around next season; more tops and outwear, accessories, and of course, gorgeous holiday cocktail dresses. Three of the lines will be brand new to the store as well.

Still, I’m pretty bummed out about missing the deadline for one of my favorite lines. The sales rep said there would be “little to no immediates available” for fall. Boo. I’m still holding out hope that I’ll be able to get something from the collection, especially since I’m holding back on buying from their Resort collection, because only one or the other will fit in the budget. If I don’t get it, that’s fine because I’m still going to have an amazing line up come this Fall. And if I do? Well all those other boutiques better watch out! (hah!)

Check back here next Monday for the run down. I’m going to try and take more photos of the whole experience, and if I get permission I’ll post a preview of the merchandise. And of course, I’ll reveal the new lines!

Oh, and I’m so glad I spotted this trend before going to buy. I’m calling it mini layers, and I love it! It’s like a mix between dip dyes and ruffles, two of my favorite trends at the moment. Examples:

The first two are from Madison Marcus and the second is Vanessa Hudgens from the TCA’s last night. And I’ve seen more but I can’t remember where. Very cute!

ETA: The people at TFS are calling this Tiered Layers, and some designers are calling it Colorblock Oragami.