Building the Boutique

 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….