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"Getting the Clothes"
I’ll reveal more about the brands I plan to carry in the coming weeks, as we get closer to launch. I’m so hyped about the labels I’ve purchased; most of them are unknown but I really think they will be the next big thing. But it’s in my nature to always think ahead; my mind is going “what’s next?”. I can’t wait to buy for summer and I hope I’ll still be in business be able to expand and take on at least two new labels. Read on to see what lines I’m dying to get on my racks!
Well I got back from market week and the Brighte trade show in Los Angeles a couple of hours ago, and as promised, a recap!
We got there on Saturday around 1:30 and checked into the hotel before going to the first appointment. I had two that day; one at Theresa Matthew Studio the New Mart and another an hour later right across the street at the California Market Center with Voom. These appointments seemed to go by so much faster than my first showroom appointment, and for some reason I was a lot more decisive. Hopefully that will prove to have been a good thing.
By the way, if you read my interview with Lauren I mentioned the four lines I’m carrying. I actually made big changes to the line up by axing one and picking up two others; but the names will stay a secret for now! I definitely will be carrying Voom though. The idea is to get people on to the website through their name and then hopefully introduce them to some of the lesser known but awesome brands I’ll have. The sales reps with Voom were great as always; actually all of the sales reps have been super friendly and surprisingly down to earth; I was a bit scared because of some of the things I’ve heard!
Anyways, back to Voom. Fans of the line, you’re really in to something this Spring and Summer! I totally see an Eva Longoria and the now infamous elephant dress redux. Super cute pieces, and I don’t like the idea of keeping merchandise from my inventory but I might have to on one or two pieces! But on the business side, what I love about this line is that they’re always open. You an buy immediate deliveries and up to about six months in advance; they’re very flexible and they cater to the buyers, which is great. They’re also flexible about minimums.
Budget? What Budget??
I ended up with a total of 16 pieces from all three lines, and when I got home I realized I went way, WAY over budget. Yikes! It looks like I’m going to have to do some editing and cancel some pieces, perhaps one of my lines, but it’s really not the end of the world. There are pieces that I feel really strong about and some that I’m a bit on the fence with, so editing isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Perhaps I wasn’t very decisive?
One more thing! I actually found another line called Nancy Rose that I absolutely FELL in love with! Seriously, they had this high waisted mini skirt that I can’t stop thinking about. I hope to carry it sometime later this year.
Photo source: californiamarketcenter.com
I’m starting to realize that when you run a boutique you have to wear so many hats and be so many different things. Actually, I think fashion industry jobs are like this in general, because you have to be creative, tech savvy and business savvy, but rarely are people all three. One of the biggest parts of being a successful buyer is forecasting trends so you know what to buy. And sometimes this has to be done six months before the season, depending on the market dates and the closing dates of a particular designer.
Think Backwards
Trends come in and out of style in a cycle; we all know that because leggings, for instance, are in now and they were in during the 80′s. But it doesn’t always take 20 years for a trend to come back in style. For instance, I could’ve told you early last year that knee socks, asymmetry and leather pants would be making a comeback now. And I knew this for two reasons…
- Leather pants and one shoulder shirts were popular when I was in 9th or 10th grade (about 7 years ago). Pretty much all of the other trends prior to that made a resurgence, so it only made sense that these two would be next.
- Just about every other trend that I remember since I became aware of this thing called “fashion” (I was about 8 or 9 at the time) came back around except for knee socks. And considering the popularity of leggings and stockings, it was sort of a no brainer.
Just Watch the Runway
When I went to my first market to purchase about half of my inventory it was before New York fashion week, so I didn’t have that to go on. But this time around I know to look for some of the soon to be trends like dip dyed hems, sheer shirts and tribal details. Style.com has great fashion week coverage, and you can find discussions of trends spotted during them at forums like TheFashionSpot.com.
What Mood Are We In?
This isn’t something that I’ve experienced, just something I’ve learned and noticed. The mood of the country can have a big effect on trend, especially color and embellishment. Designers who put a lot of bright colors in their Spring/Summer 2002 collections felt this hard (September 11th) but after then we saw military details came in during the following fashion week. I don’t think I have to tell you why.
Subscribe To Predictives
For those who have major $$$ to spend, you can always subscribe to fashion forcasting services like the Doneger Group. Throug these services you can see all the silhouttes, themes, patterns and colors that are predicted to be in style, up to two years in advance. I used to look at these at my school and they definitely are on point most of the time. Actually, I think these services are better for fashion designers than buyers, but it could be worth a shot!
So there you have it. Being able to see the future is just one of many hats we wear in the fashion industry. And yet we still get no respect!
Hello again everyone! Things have been a bit dead around here recently and honestly it’s because I haven’t made much noteworthy progress. Of course, that will all end probably in January or February when it’s time for me to start building the site (which should launch shortly after that).
Most of the Spring collections are either closed or closing soon. I’m still looking over a few linesheets but I have my final few designers picked out, and I’ll be heading back to LA before the holiday to buy the rest of the clothes. And annoyingly enough I will probably have to refile my fictitious business name because I missed the deadline to run an ad for in the the newspaper. Great, that was totally the most fun part of this whole process…..or not.
More importantly, I’m glad that the information here is helping people! Here’s a question I received from yesterday in the comments section:
Tammy asks:
Are the showrooms giving you a hard time since you are an online store? I was told that the high end designers are very picky about who they sell to. Also, do you need your biz license & seller’s permit for them to send you the line sheets?
I wouldn’t say they’re really giving me a hard time, especially compared to what I’ve heard others have gone through. Out of all the sales reps I emailed I probably heard back from half of them, which isn’t too bad right? The important part is that the lines I was the most interested in, I had no trouble contacting them.
Two of my lines are quite well known, and the other two aren’t, but none of them are in the realm of Dolce & Gabbana, Chloe, Michael Kors or anything of the sort. If you’re going after those clients….good luck. Tammy is right; not only are they extremely picky but they also have very high minimums. And as far as I’ve heard it can be just as bad with lesser known, indie designers who are high priced. The lines I am purchasing from average about $150 per piece at retail; ones that average something like $300 per peice might be a bit harder to work with.
And lastly, no I didn’t need to send them anything at all get the linesheets. I only spoke with one sales rep who was reluctant to give me access to them. I simply asked nicely and gave them a bit of information about me and my store so that they didn’t think I was doing a school project.
Hope that clears things up!
Someone on the fashion spot once told me that all your buying plans pretty much go out the window once you actually get to the showroom. That could not be any more true.
So this weekend is market week, and the Los Angeles Fashion, Gift & Home show at the California Market Center. Actually it got started on Friday and it ends tomorrow on Monday. For a fashion buyer, this is one of the most exciting events to attend. You’re presented with a huge range of lines to choose from – the sort of thing that you know you’ll see in top fashion magazines and on sites like my-wardrobe over the coming months. The decision which are made can significantly shape the style of your outlet over the following season, which can have a huge impact on business. I’m glad I only live 1:30 from LA so I was able to drive down for the day instead of spending $150 or so on a hotel room. I got to my old stomping grounds, downtown LA, around 12:00. There was a big war protest right down the street which caused the traffic to be back up and a lot of commotion. Great timing!
My first appointment was at 1:00 with the Agent Icon Showroom. The sales reps were super nice, helpful, and most importantly honest. I ended up spending about half of my budget on two amazing up and coming lines. For one of them, I had seen the line sheet and planned out what I would buy ahead of time, but I ended up spending quite a bit more! It wasn’t a problem since I ended finding more pieces that I liked. And I’m really confident about what I chose.
I was a bit bummed though because my absolute favorite piece from the line sheet looked quite different in person. Always see the clothes in person before buying!
Meeting with the showroom pretty much went down like this:
- We came in, the sales rep introduced herself and showed us which lines they had available. Usually, the sales reps will either present the top selling pieces to you or you can look through the samples on your own and set the things you like aside.
- Collections are usually broken up into three deliveries; one for each month. Since my orders are small, I’m anticipating that my order will come at the last possible date. The samples usually have at tag that shows the color ways, delivery and whole sale price.
- I did ask the sales reps which pieces were doing well and which colorways were doing better for each piece.
- After I pulled all of the pieces I liked, I sat down with the rep, went over everything one last time and chose my color ways.
- The labels I chose had minimums such as 5 pieces per style or $1000 per delivery, or 3 pieces per style. I also found out you can’t buy just one piece from a collection (and I don’t hold this against the designer!).
- The rep filled out an invoice for me, which didn’t have a total so I had to be very careful about how much I was spending. I won’t be charged for the clothing until they ship (which is next year) and I was given the choice of COD or Credit.
That was pretty much it. I was in the showroom for about an hour (I like to look at everything several times before making a final decision).
I also got a chance to look around the trade show. I wasn’t sure how that was going to work; I think basically, anyone who doesn’t have a showroom on the West Coast (or a few who aren’t located in the CMC) are set up in the trade show area, where you can just walk around and browse through the collections as you wish. I didn’t buy anything but I did pick of up several line sheets and business cards and there are at least two more collections there that caught my interest.
After that I was pretty much done…..it was 3:00. Yeah, well, I’m not used to getting up early!
“The hardest part is getting the lines you want. Sales reps are really snobby; some didn’t even answer my emails at all!”
That’s what another poster on TheFashionSpot.com told me, in a nutshell. She too is launching an online boutique, and she answered a whole lot of questions for me.
Actually, let me back things up here. For anyone who’s wondering how you get clothes for your store, here’s a basic overview:
- All sales are handled through the designer’s showroom (unless they’re indie). Most designers are present in a showroom in LA (in the garment district downtown) AND in NY, although some are located in San Francisco, Atlanta, etc, as well.
- This wholesale business directory is the best, and quickest, way I’ve found to find who represents what designer.
- In LA there are four main buildings where showrooms are located: The California Market Center, Cooper Design Space, Gerry Building and the New Mart. You can also find the showroom websites and contact information here.
- Trade shows are a good way to see lines you like and find new ones. The biggest is Magic in Las Vegas, probably followed by Intermezzo and Coterie in NY, and several others in LA.
- If you want to see the lines ahead of time, contact the showrooms and ask for a line sheet. A line sheet shows all the designs for the up coming season along with whole sale prices, color ways, prints, fabric information, etc. Or at least, it should.
Planning My Merchandise
So the last step I mentioned is where I am now. I started contacting showrooms three or four weeks ago. Were they snobby? No, not really. Did they answer my emails? Yes, the first batch that I contacted did, however the second batch hasn’t. And I mean they REALLY haven’t….as in about 95% of them. I understand that they’re busy but sometimes I have to ask my self, do these people actually WANT business?
I’m not that worried though because I contacted the lines I’m most interested in first.
But for me, not getting all the line sheets is frustrating because I like to plan in advance. I want to know what I’m going to buy when I go in. I want to see my own stores line sheet (if that’s even what it’s called) and make sure that the pieces from different brands compliment each other. And sometimes I really need to sleep on a piece before making a final decision, I mean, a girl can change her mind! This all makes sense right? Le sigh.
I just emailed a really hip up and coming designer; she’s a FIDM alum too. Wish me luck.
First Things First
My name is Kim, I'm the owner of OohLaLuxe.com boutique and an fashion jack of all trades, so to speak. I started this blog as a guide for aspiring buyers on how to start a fashion boutique, and from there, it merged into a hybrid of a personal blog, guidebook, and a place for me to share my recent work.
