Archive | August, 2011

MAGIC – The Mother of All Shows

Just back from LAS VEGAS—The breadth of goods on display at the recent Las Vegas trade shows was astounding—from juniors merchandise to contemporary and misses, menswear, action-sports apparel, streetwear, accessories, shoes, and sourcing resources spread across 20 shows and six venues.  Too much for anyone to take in during the three days! Besides WWDMAGIC, Pool, Project, Slate, Sourcing, there were the other independent shows: MRket, Moda Las Vegas, Curves, Off Price Winn, ENK, AccessoriesTheShow and too many other names to list or let alone remember!

The taxi lines were humming when I arrived into Vegas on Sunday. From the airport, I was whisked off to the Info POD in MAGIC Sourcing. Here, Susan Power and I answered the many start-up questions from new entrepreneurs that came to the show.  (Susan has a great resource guide to help with domestic sourcing for fabrics and sewers “Sourcing Guide”.) Between us, we had a steady flow of people with ideas and new business ventures.  It has been interesting to note the number of new apparel businesses that have started since the start of the depression. Many have been laid off from years of working in a wide variety of jobs and they are now looking to realize their dream of one day owning their own label, taking and using their hard earned savings to invest in themselves.  The bravery is truly amazing as are the ideas!

Additionally, through my non-profit, the Fashion Business Inc. (FBI) and MAGIC, we collaborated as partners to organize the new MAGIC Launch Pad for twelve (12) new emerging designer labels. Through this collaboration, our juried first time designers were able to exhibit for a really good affordable first time rate in small booths in the Mandalay Bay, Men’s section of the show. The Continuous Line won a free booth space in the Slate section for next February show, having been recognized as exceptional for their presentation at MAGIC and the coordinated and aggressive approach they took to selling at the show! This is a must and the guys from Continuous showed everyone how it should be done! Well done!

While at MAGIC, I presented two seminars to attendees, “From Rags to Riches” and the “Global Industry Changes”. As part of the seminars, attendees got to hear from three very successful CEO’s who talked about their journey from starting their own brand to where they are today. One of the CEO’s was Alicia Estrada from the Stop Staring clothing line. Alicia noted that they had buyers at their booth by 8:30am, even before the show opened. In addition, her booth was  swamped with buyers during the first couple of days, an indication of how strong her product and brand are, not to mention that the buyers were in a mood to buy! A good sign that not all is “gloom and doom” in the economy right now!

Overall, the show was good, with many exhibitors reporting being pleasantly surprised by the traffic! Perhaps we ARE turning a corner, regardless of what the media says!

So now, after a few good nights rest, we’ll be off to the races for the many new and exciting events on schedule for the next couple of months! Stay tuned!

Frances

A First Time Exhibitor’s Experience at MAGIC

For many small start-up companies and designers, exhibiting at MAGIC is like the Holy Grail! And so, this past week, my company exhibited at MAGIC for the first time.

Here are my observations…

If this is the first time you’re doing MAGIC, do NOT spend your life savings on a booth! A tiny 10×10 booth will set you back a minimum of $5,500 and that doesn’t include any of the extras and it doesn’t include all of your travel expenses include shipping all of your product to the show. So, the best way to do it the first time is as one of the Emerging Designers that is a joint effort of the Fashion Business Inc. (www.fashionbizinc.org) and MAGIC (www.magiconline.com). Total cost of a 5×5 space… $800. For a first time exhibitor, THIS is the only way to go!

Next, do not go into your first exhibition thinking you’re going to get any sales. Keep your expectations in check! You’re there to figure out how everything works, to get feedback on your product and MOST IMPORTANT, feedback on your pricing! What a shock it was to find out what buyers were willing to pay for our product relative to what we have been wholesaling for! Completely different ballgame!

If, during the first day of the three day show, you get feedback that your pricing in too high, go back to your hotel room, or do it at your show table where you’re exhibiting and rework ALL of your numbers to figure out if there is any way you can reduce your pricing. Accept the fact that whatever your pricing is, it will be too high for the buyers at MAGIC. Once you determine if you can change your pricing, you’re ready for the second day.

Be prepared to change your selling strategy on the second day. If you can get a buyer to look at your product, ask them straight out, what do you need to pay for this to carry it in your store. Recognize that these buyers are looking at thousands of products and while you might want to negotiate pricing with them, remember, you’re new, you have no “street cred” as they say, your brand is unrecognizable and you NEED to get your product in their stores so if you can get them to give you a price and you can make it work, ask them how many they’d be taking at that price. Put together several of these verbal commitments (because you’ll likely just be getting a business card and calling them the following week) to determine if you have enough quantity to place an order with your factory. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the numbers will add up and be pleasantly surprised that you can actually produce your product because you now have people interested in buying and are ready to place an order.

Realize that YOU have to do the selling which means you get out from behind the table, you stand in the aisle with your postcards and you try and make eye contact and smile at anyone you can get to notice you. You HAVE to be aggressive and if you’re not, you can forget about it because the buyers won’t notice you, no way, no how!

Recognize that buyers are not going to come to you, you have to go to them which means you have to make every effort to get their attention which means you’ve got to have something interesting happening in your booth! It might be a large screen TV, some goofy looking costumed person, loud music, just about anything that will get people’s attention because remember, it’s you against 5,000 other booths!

On the third day, you will barely be able to stand up because you will be so tired and the show has significantly slower traffic BUT the traffic that is there, can be very important. Most people walk the show the first day just to see everything. Second day, hoardes of people are there buying, third day, buyers will circle back and zero in on what they want to buy and/or new visitors will be more serious because they only have a bit of time left in order to see anything so if they’re looking for your type of product, you just might land a sale out of it on that third day!

On the third day, this is when you will have the time to go and look at and talk to other exhibitors. You’ll be in close proximity to other exhibitors just by having a booth there and they are generally really friendly, especially to people who are newcomers, so don’t hesitate to ask questions. Ask them about their experiences, how the show has been for them, how the economy has been for them and their buyers. Look at the product that is being sold at the show and see how your product fits in and compares to what else is there.

BRING SENSIBLE SHOES! Forget about fashion, the buyers are in sensible shoes, you should too, otherwise you are going to find yourself collapsing off those high heels!

IF you have been aggressive about trying to engage the buyers in the aisles, you will get a LOT out of your first experience at MAGIC. You will have been able to talk to REAL buyers and find out what does and doesn’t work about your product. You’ll get critical feedback on pricing and you’ll understand more about what’s REALLY going on in the buyer’s and retailers world right now! This information will help you to leave MAGIC and return home with a lot to think about and a lot that will help you make decisions about what you need to do next.

For me, this was one of the most valuable experiences I’ve ever had and will most certainly be heading to MAGIC the next time, better informed and knowing what I need to do to be successful at the next show.

Arlene Battishill, CEO, ScooterGirls, Inc. (www.gogogearla.com and www.scooter-girls.com)

Everyone Wants Your Money!

Let’s talk about how you see your money vanish before your eyes!

Every consultant, vendor, seller, whatever, gets word that you’ve got something going on or that something’s happening with your company and you will not believe who and what will come out of the woodwork. Your phone will ring off the hook with calls from everyone from the credit card merchant account services people to the phone company business service account manager to public relations companies to branding companies to printing companies to graphic designers to photographers to lawyers and accountants and business consultants and companies that provide “factor” financing and the REASON they all come calling is because they all think they can make money off of you.

After you get done paying some or all of these people, you’re going to wonder what happened to all of your money and THEN, you’re going to be in a situation where you don’t have the money to produce your next garment and there won’t be anything you can do about it.

THIS is all by way of saying… BEWARE when you pick up the phone or answer an email! You’re going to have all kinds of people blowing smoke up your ass and telling you how great you are or how incredible your product is and it’s the coolest thing ever or whatever it is that they’re saying to try and establish a relationship with you. Reality is, this is business and everyone wants your business because they think you’re successful and think you have money and they’re more than willing to help you spend it, presumably on them.

This is not to say it’s a bad thing, it is only to say that you have to be VERY CAREFUL about how you spend your money and with so many people out there willing to help you spend your money, you have to act like the bank is closed and was just robbed the night before. The standard answer to everyone, should you choose to answer the phone or an email is that you don’t have any money. Quickly, people will go by the wayside once they believe you don’t have any money and it’s THOSE people who are still around when they don’t think you have any money that you might want to consider working with (assuming of course they know what they’re doing, which is entirely a different matter).

Oh, HELL NO!!!

 You probably know the Hells Angels as a scary motorcycle club. What you probably didnt know is that they actually own a trademark registration for the mark HELLS ANGELS. So this bunch of motorcycle guys isnt just your run of the mill club, but a real association that has the right to allow or prevent others from using their trademark.

In fact, the Hells Angels even have a lawyer! And their lawyer has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.Com, Wildfox and others that produced and sold a t-shirt only with the words My Boyfriend is a Hells Angel and wings on the back that are slightly similar to wings used by the Hells Angels. So what does all of this mean? According to the Hells Angels attorney who filed the lawsuit, their purpose in doing so was not necessarily to punish the infringer, but to educate the public and make them aware that HELLS ANGELS is a trademark.

So what does this mean for the small business owner? It means PAY ATTENTION! When you are coming up with trademarks or slogans or taglines for your products, make sure that you arent using something that belongs to someone else. If you come up with something reminiscent of something else, chances are that you are infringing on someone elses rights. Lawsuits are expensive and equally expensive to defend yourself against. If you are unsure of whether you are infringing on someone elses rights, seek the advise of an attorney. It may seem like a large expense but it could prevent you from having to defend a lawsuit which could cause you to go out of business. Another tip if you are just a retailer, either online or brick and mortar, make sure you know what you are selling and make sure you have a written agreement that will allow indemnification in cases such as this.

Know your rights and know what you are getting into it before you do it. And always seek the help of someone who is in the know.

Farah Bhatti, Trademark Attorney

The Little Color That Roared!

So, last week there was quite the hullabaloo about the whole red bottom saga! In a court case that has all sides seeing red, no pun intended, the United States District Court for the the Southern District of New York said that Christian Louboutin, the French maker of luxury shoes worn by stars such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Scarlett Johansson and Halle Berry will likely fail in its effort to stop other shoemakers/competitors from producing high-heeled women’s shoes with red soles.

Essentially, the judge refused a request by Christian Louboutin, who brought the suit, to stop the sale of women’s shoes with red soles by competitor Yves Saint Laurent S.A.S., another French company based in Paris. Though the ruling came at an early stage of consideration of a lawsuit, the judge said it will probably be tossed out.

So why, might you ask, did the judge say this?

He said that Louboutin’s ownership claim to the red sole would harm competition not only in high fashion shoes, but potentially in the markets for other fashion articles as well, “putting makers of dresses, coats, bags, hats and gloves in fear of lawsuits”.

Next he said, Louboutin would not be able to defend an “overly broad” trademark. By this he meant that a monopoly on the color red would hinder competition among other manufacturers. He gave a great quote….”It would be as if Picasso had sued Monet, saying he painted his water lilies with a distinctive indigo that Picasso used on his images of water”.

Finally, effectively trying to trademark a particular shade of red would invite endless legal challenges and force judges to become “an arbiter of fashion design.” The judge went on to say “What about hostile color grabs in the markets for low-fashion shoes? Or for sports shoes? Or expanding beyond footwear, what about inner linings, collars, or buttons on coats, jackets, or dresses in both women’s and men’s apparel?”

So bottom line in all this drama that has had the fashion industry all in a tizzy lately? One of the lawyers perhaps put it best… “No designer should be able to monopolize a color in fashion,”

This is the kind of stuff that comes up in trademark lawsuits, especially for very big and famous brands and when there is THIS much money at stake, there’s no question that no expense will be spared in attempting to win this fight.

This is not the kind of thing that is likely to happen to a little start-up company but you have to remember, little companies turn into BIG ONES with BIG problems like this one, so you always have to be thinking about who you are today and who you just might be tomorrow!