Building the Boutique

Whenever I’m conversing with sales reps trying to get linesheets or information about new lines to carry, I always try my hardest not to sound like I’m not completely new to this. I’ve been to fashion school, I know a little bit about this business, and of course, I want it to show, so it’s important for me to use use the right names for things. One question that I frequently get asked through this site is “what do I ask the sales rep for?”. Hopefully this will make it easier to not only know what to ask for but how to ask for it:

Line Sheet - Usually when you contact a designer/sales rep and you’re interested in carrying their line, you’ll ask for a line sheet. I guess you could say it’s sort of like a catalog. It will usually be in a PDF format and it will have all of the styles listed, with colors, and wholesale prices, sometimes the size range, fabric content and retail prices as well. Some linesheets use actual photos and some don’t which brings us to…

Flat Sketches – It sounds like you know the fashion industry a bit better if you say “flat sketch” than “drawings”; and even after hearing this word 1000 times per day while I was at FIDM I still have to remind myself not to say drawings. These are done using Adobe Illustrator and they’re really annoying for me as a buyer because they don’t accurately show you how a garment will look. Which brings us to….

Look book - A look book is usually a small booklet and it has most of the line presented on a model, usually fully styled, similar to a magazine editorial. All of the ones I’ve seen are only photos, no information, no pricing, etc. This is a good thing to ask for if a designer only gives you a line sheet with flt sketches, but sometimes they aren’t available until closer to the date. Usually a rep will have a PDF of the look book, or they can send it to your snail mail. And it’s always nice to pick one up at the showroom even after you’re done with your buying; I have a small collection of them!

Immediates – These are pieces you can order on the spot and have sent to you right away. I’m not sure if they’re regularly stocked on the floor of a showroom, because I’ve only seen them is at trade shows, but usually you can ask a rep if there are immediates available or if a showroom is very much on the ball, they might put you on a mailing list and let you know what is available (which is something all reps should do w/ immediates as well as line sheets, in my opinion).

Minimums – This is something you ALWAYS want to ask about in advance! Especially if you’re starting out and on a tight budget. Some labels might require that you buy $1500-$5000+ per season or delivery. If that’s your entire budget for one delivery, you probably will want to hold off on that brand until you’re more established. And even if a rep says there are no minimums, there usually are some sort of stipulations that they won’t tell you about unless you specifically ask about it. For example, four styles per delivery, four bodies per style. Or maybe just the latter.

Body – Kind of self explanatory but a body = 1 garment.

A breakdown of what a line sheet looks like, basically, and how to read it.  These are imperative if you’re not buying in person, but even if you plan to do so it’s good to at least know if there’s something you’ll be interested in.

Ugh, I swear sometimes trying to communicate with sales reps is like trying to pull teeth! I’m almost convinced they don’t want to sell their lines at times. All of the reps that I’ve purchased from so far are great, but I’m trying to talk with two at the moment to pick up a couple of new lines and they have the hardest time following up. They say they’re in the process of sending something, and it never shows up. They ask me for my information so they can have the correct rep get in contact with me; nope, never hear a thing. I’m seriously considering buying from an east coast rep because playing email tag is just getting ridiculous.

And speaking of getting into contact with sales reps, that brings me to the real purpose of this post. I recently came across a website for fashion industry professionals that allows you to sign up and find the contact information for just about any line. Great, I thought since I was having a hard time find the info for one line in particular. Turns out once I signed up they want to charge me FIFTY DOLLARS for the contact information of three sales reps! Not only is it bad enough that they’re charging at all for information that you can find for free with a little bit of digging, but to overcharge to that degree is just gross. I really, really hate to think that there are up and coming buyers out there who are falling for this and giving them their money!

I’m not going to link to the site, but the site is called Find Fashion Rep. And Find Fashion Rep is a scam.

^^This site is NOT a scam!
Now a great site that is NOT a scam is ThreadMe.com. It’s sort of like Myspace or Linkedin, but connecting boutique owners with lines and showrooms. It’s pretty cool! And I’ve mentioned PLENTY of other places to find the contact information for showrooms (for FREE). The LA Fashion Directory is a great place to start,and there are more places to look in this post. I’ll try and find out more about showrooms on the East Coast. Just don’t pay for ANYTHING!

 Okay, I’m sure you’ve all enjoyed checking out the new products on OohLaLuxe.com (right? right!), but don’t think I’m going to forget what we’re all really here for!  Building the boutique is a never ending process.   I actually did my 3rd photoshoot last weekend, and my last for a while here….and for that I’m thankful.  Photoshoots just aren’t fun. Why?  Too much lifting!  I love the styling aspect but I hate having to take up that heavy mannequin and dress it.  It’s good excersize, though.  Thankfully this one was only about an hour with seven looks or so.

New Section – FAQs
You might notice the “FAQs” button at the top of the page.  This is my way of making the site easier to navigate.  So if anyone has questions that have already been answered in older posts, you can look up there and quickly find the particular post without having to wade through months and months of posts.  But its a work in progress!

Speaking of questions, a couple of weeks ago I received an email  from Latasha with a thorough set of questions about launching a boutique.  It’s basically a quick over view of a lot of things I discussed early on, but this is great for anyone who has just found this site, so check it out:

Q&A

How much do you know to order (inventory) for an online boutique, vs a actual boutique where you may have 3 of the same shirts where as online you have way more customer since you are online?
Well first off, I didn’t assume that I was going to have more customers.  When you think about it it’s more likely that you’ll have less customers because there’s no walk in traffic; you have to build your customer base from the ground up and you’re competing against EVERY online boutique, not just the ones in your town or in your area.  There’s really no set amount on how much to order.  I bought 1 or 2 in each size, and the only reason why I bought two in some sizes was because of the minimums on some lines.  I personally think it’s good to start small and not get in over your head, so I wouldn’t recommend taking in more than two pieces per size.

I know you are housing the merchandise yourself, did you ever think about letting a fulfillment house your merchandise? And with you housing the merchandise, how are you going about with shipping, packaging and that sort, are you going thru usps, fedx??

I don’t even know what a fulfillment house is!  People keep mentioning this but I’ve honestly never heard of it before.  I’ll have to look into it, but I highly doubt there’s one in my town anyways.  But I like having my things right here where I can access them in case a customer has a question about fit or if I need to do reshoots or something like that.  Plus, I’m guessing it’s cheaper and I need to save as much as I can!  I’m using UPS and USPS for international orders.

Did you ever email any of the sales reps asking to carry their lines, and if so, how did your go about asking them (what is key info to ask)?
I did, I emailed tons of them.  Just tell them what you can about your business and ask for their line sheets.  Usually they want to know where you’re located and what other brands you’re carrying.  If the line is really high end they might want to know more.  In this case you will probably need (I forget what it’s called exactly…) sort of like a press/media kit?  It would most likely be a PDF with information about your store, floor plans, square footage and a ton of other stuff. Unfortunately I don’t know too much about this since my store isn’t brick and mortar (yet )

Did you create any contracts and agreements for the reps or designers?
Not beyond the invoices, which only allows you to cancel an order up to 7 days after it’s place (I think; it might be 10 days, can’t remember exactly).

I know a lot of people say when starting out start out small and what not, but with starting out do you think its best to have a business lawyer and a business consultant, pr/marketing firm?
If you can afford those things I would say go for it.  I would KILL to be able to afford pr/marketing!  If you can only pick one out of those three, I would say go with that one.  And if you can, try and find someone you know to help with these things for free.  My dad runs a business totally unrelated to fashion, but he was still able to help me a lot with the paper work in the beginning (and the fact that he’s in financial services doesn’t hurt!) and I have a friend in PR who helped me with a press release.

How are you promoting your site??
Through advertisement!   This is the only thing I’m trying to keep hush hush, but it’s not that hard to figure out.  Online advertisement, basically.

When paying the sales reps are you doing cod or paying up front, credit??
They take my credit card at the show room and then they charge the card when it ships.  Usually they will call you to confirm the card before the ship date.

At the showroom/tradeshow, when you find the lines you want and the pieces do you have to pay up front?
No, you don’t have to. They give you a choice.  You can also do COD, or credit like I did.  I believe they take checks as well.

When you do decide on the lines you want to carry, how long is it until you receive the merchandise  Or does that depends on you and when you need the merchandise or when the site will be up and running?

Good question!   Right now the lines are showing their Fall 2 and Holiday collections to buyers; buying for Fall 1 (usually August & September) ended in April, so that gives you an idea of how far in advance buying is.  But sometimes, depending on the line, you can order immediates and have them shipped right away.  They’re basically left overs.  Voom, for example, is great with this.

And each season is broken up into two or three delivery dates, usually one per month.  So if I’m the sales rep for OLL and you’re looking to buy for this fall, there will be a different collection for October (shipping 10/15), November (shipping 11/15) and December (shipping 12/15).  That’s just an example, sometimes the ship dates are the 1st or 30th of the month.  More flexible lines will let you push back items from one shipment to a later one in order to meet their minimums. So there are ways to customize your deliveries, to a certain extent.

 So, what’s next? Hopefully buying for Fall and Spring in the coming months! I can’t wait for holiday sales, that should be a fun time.  And more importantly I can’t wait to get into the showrooms again.  Buying is seriously my favorite part of this process.  I’m looking at a handful of up and coming lines, and I’ll probably add one more well known line.

I can’t WAIT for you guys to see what Voom and Plastic Island have for Fall!!

My mannequin drama ended last week. I found this company, Joslin Display who got a pretty silver headless female sent out to me in almost no time, while just about every other online retailer said I would’ve had to wait a week or two longer. I’m really glad I made the decision to go silver, but I sure wish mannequins weren’t so scrawny. Do those even count as thighs??

So this weekend is my first photoshoot, and I have a feeling it’s going to be an all day thing with about twenty pieces to shoot, front, back and detail shots to take. I still can’t give an approximate date as to when the site will be open. But as long as there aren’t any technical snafu’s, it should be very soon.

Fall Drama
Oh boy, I’m so disappointed with so many of the Fall collections I’ve seen so far! There were a few lines I had my eye on, and I absolutely loved what they did for Spring/Summer, but everything just fell apart after that! I guess some designers are just better doing short, bright colored, sassy clothing, which makes a bit of sense.

But thankfully, my favorite line always comes through and I’m highly impressed with what they have for Fall. It’s really tough having to place an order for 7 months from now when you’re not even sure what kind of return you’ll see before then! But I’m hoping to place at least a small one, and then hope to get in on some immediates when Fall actually comes around. Here’s the catch though….I only have until next week to make a decision!

So the opening date I proposed before has come and gone.  I’ve had to delay the opening for two reasons; 1. I’ve had to send quite a bit of things back recently.  Always, always, ALWAYS check each garment, and check your invoices to make sure you weren’t charged for something you did not receive!  And also check your old invoices from the showroom to make sure you’re not going crazy and the showroom really did send you a dress in the wrong color.

The second reason is because I could not find a mannequin.  No mannequin, no photoshoot. No photoshoot, no pictures.  No pictures, no website (or at least no customers!).  But thankfully I managed to track one down and I’ll hopefully get into the studio sometime in the next week or two.  I can’t give a specific launch date this time around, but I’m hoping for early May.

In the mean time I thought I’d answer this question from Letitia:

Hey Kim,

I know you posted about start-up costs, but I was wondering if you could do a post for funding. Just how does a savvy student like yourself manage to find the thousands of dollars you mentioned to get started?
-Letitia

Thanks a bunch Letitia for all your comments, I REALLY appreciate them! So how did I get the money? While I was in school I worked as a celebrity & fashion blogger, and I still do actually. I had one particularly lucrative but unfortunately short lived gig last year; I didn’t spend a dime of the money I earned from it, and that’s what I’m using now to start my business. My parents also said they would make an investment if I needed it.  So far I’ve spent about $7500 on merchandise for the first three months (but also keep in mind that I probably won’t be able to buy much for Summer).

I’m really just lucky to be in such a good position financially that I can get this started at such a young age. I didn’t take out any loans for college, so I have nothing to pay back. I also don’t pay any bills, save a gym membership.

 I was sent this great question about planning your buying schedule, and I thought it would be helpful for any other future store owners out there:

Question:

I’m planning on opening a online fashion boutique in October and I’ve been learning a lot…your site has been so helpful! Thank you. I just realized that with the timing of my launch I should have completed, or at least started my fall buying by now. Is it possible for me to place orders closer to my launch date, or can you tell me what you think the latest date would be for purchasing fall ‘08 apparel? Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated and thanks again for the wonderful resource!

-J

 Answer:

Thanks J!  Fall buying just started in February, so I think there’s plenty of time.  It really depends on when the line closes, and there’s really no rule of thumb.  Some just closed about a month ago for summer buying, and then there are some lines that have immediate deliveries and are very flexible with their delivery dates (meaning you can buy at the absolute last minute).  I did my spring buying last October and in January so it’s definitely possible to buy 2-3 months ahead of the season.  Just check with the sales rep as far in advance as possible!

As always, if you have a question, feel free to email me.  I don’t mind at all!

Mannequin Drama

Well I announced that my boutique is set to launch April 15th in my last post.  Yesterday I spoke to the distributors of the particular mannequin I wanted and they let me know it wouldn’t be in until April 20th.  Great.   This place (called Acme Display, and I’m not linking to them!) really has terrible support and they don’t even mention on their site when things are out of stock.  So always be sure to get the full information on whether what you want will be in stock or not.  Sometimes you have to extract information from these people, because they won’t volunteer the fact that ordering before March 15th won’t necessarily get you merchandise from a March 15th shipment they’re expecting.

Luckily, I’ve found another distributor.  I just hope I can get it before my photoshoot next Saturday!

Last weekend I got the chance to check out the Designers & Agents trade show in LA. I had been in the same area twice before but I didn’t even know this existed! It’s about four times larger than the Brighte market, and it takes place at the New Mart and the Cooper Building across the street.

Sadly, I have to report that this trip was sort of a bust! All of those lines and I didn’t really find any that I would want to buy from. There were one or two clothing lines that caught my eye, and a handful of amazing accessories lines, but I doubt I’ll be carrying those any time soon.

And boy were those sales reps unhelpful! You’d think they would come prepared with line sheets or at least postcards for prospective buyers, but no. I picked up a whopping total of ONE line sheets and a small stack of business cards. Well, business cards won’t help because after a 2 hour drive back to Bako, I won’t remember anything I just saw. Also, out of all the sales reps I traded business cards with, only one emailed me with their line sheet. Well, she gets the gold star for the day.

The free bag was nice.

Last week I received three new shipments; very exciting! Here’s a first look at a few of the pieces. Above is one of my favorite pieces of the whole bunch, this top from Egoist. The camisole is built in so it’s one piece. And the bow is removable. It’s just so quirky, yet wearable, and it will go great with jeans.

A pair of shorts from Egoist and two skirts from Plastic Island. I’m so into these skirts, I might just have to keep one of both for myself. The photo does the black one no justice because it has this sort of brocade style print on it. Just wait until I get that professional photography!

WE OPEN APRIL ?? NOT SURE NOW …

I hope everyone had a fab easter!  I’ve got a big post with photos and a bunch of other stuff coming up at the beginning of next week, but I really wanted to update you guys with this first….

So far I’ve been shipped five orders from my five different labels. I didn’t have any kind of problem with any of them…except the last.  I was sort of disappointed with this label to begin with because there was one key piece on their line sheet that I wanted, but I was told that it didn’t even go in to production while I was in the showroom.  So about a week ago one of the sales assistants calls me and tells me that they don’t have color I wanted in a dress I ordered.  And let me just tell you, this dress is one of my FAVORITES out of everything I ordered for Summer, and I specifically wanted it in that color.  But no, it’s been “discontinued”.

Sigh.

So I go ahead and order it in a black print (boring!).  A couple of days later the same girl calls me once again and then I find out that they “ran out” of that color in a size Large.  But why? Isn’t this why we place orders a head of time?  I’m sure, being a small (or should I say microscopic?)  store priority was given to other buyers.  So now I have small and medium in one color, and large in all black.  Interesting.

Well to be honest, I tried on the black print and I absolutely LOVE it.  Seriously, it’s gorgeous. You know what they say, “you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need“. 

*the description of this particular item as been slightly tweaked to protect the innocent.

I received my first two shipments last week – so exciting!  It’s only four pieces so far, but it’s been cool checking them out and trying on all the clothes.  Right now everything is hanging up in my closet but soon enough it won’t all fit!  I’ve actually ordered a collapsible rack to use at home, and when I take the clothes to a shoot, as well as a steamer.  But anyways, I’m stoked forall the rest of the stuff to come in, because I really love the other two labels I purchased.

And speaking of trying all those clothes on… here I am wearing my absolute favorite piece out of the four I purchased (sorry about the editing; my room was a mess).  Now keep in mind I’m about 5′4″, and I wear a size 6/8; in other words, very far off from model proportions!  But it’s always nice to see how the clothes look on a regular girl (because my size is very close to average) and I think this dress is extremely flattering and will look good on all figures.   Now if only I had some place to wear it….

Alright, it’s been fun talking about other lines and celebrity fashion, but I think it’s about time we get back to business!  Just to update on my progress, I’m STILL working on designing the site but more importantly, I’ve found a photographer!  Her work is great, and it’s going to be a great collaboration; I’ll post more about her in the future.  My first photoshoot is scheduled April 6th and I have three deliveries coming in before then (the end of this month, mid March and late March).

Moving on, I’ve had several people ask me exactly how do you go about contacting designers and labels.  I realized I never explained this clearly, so here it is, step by step:

Contacting the Designers
Unless we’re talking about an indie designer, it’s usually not the designer him/herself who you would contact (nor is it corporate).  The vast majority of the time all sales would be handled through a sales representative who works out of a showroom.   If you’re on the West Coast, use the LA Fashion District Directory to the find out who the sales rep is for a particular label.  They have just about every line listed with the location of their showroom, suite number and phone number.

Before making contact, I would recommend getting a bit more information (showroom name, sales rep name, etc). You can usually find that as well as email contact info at the website for the particular building as showroom is located in, and there are four total:

• California Market Center
  
• New Mart
• Gerry Building
• Cooper Building

Call or email the showroom and ask them to email you (some may snail mail) a line sheet.  A line sheet should show you all the styles as well as color ways, wholesale prices, fabrication, sizing, etc. Be sure to ask about minimum order quantities as well.

Also keep in mind that buying is done pretty far ahead of the season. Right now, you would be buying for either Summer or Fall.

Trade Shows
Trade shows are like exhibits.  It’s one of the best ways to find new lines,  and you can also place orders while you’re there.  Here are the major shows:

• Brighte (LA) – Happens during the LA Fashion, Home & Gift show during market week at the California Mart.  I’ve been twice. It’s usually the same designers, and there are good labels (I found one that I bought from) but there isn’t too much to see.
• Designers & Agents  (LA) – This usually goes on at the same time as Brighte, across the street at the New Mart.  I previously was unaware of this and now I’m kicking myself for not going (although I might go in March).  Apparently, it’s  a bigger group of designers.
• MAGIC (Las Vegas) - By FAR the biggest trade show, and it’s a huge deal in the industry.  This happens in February and at the end of August every year.
• Intermezzo (NY)
• Coterie (NY)

That’s for fashion.  If you’re looking for skate/surfwear or action sports, there are completely different shows for that (I think there’s a big one in San Diego).