Archive | September, 2011

Is There Room For The “Little Guy”?

Where does the small guy fit in with so many stars and high end designers taking over mass retailing?

I am starting to feel resentful that these high end designers are taking over the mass market. Don’t get me wrong these are amazing designers but what about the little guy, the new bee, the up and coming designer? Where are you going to play?

Vera Wang stepped in at Kohl’s, now JLo and her ex hubby Mark Anthony have followed suit (no pun intended) with sparkly lines and ad campaigns for Kohl’s. You walk into a Kohl’s and it feels like American Idol meets a book store of large designers – Lauren Conrad MTV goddess’s line next to Daisy Fuentes, next to Vera, etc. – it’s all in the name and the marketing and they have really done it again and again (Yes Brittany is there too!)

I was amazed at the second coming of god at Target a few weeks past when Missoni, yes that high end zig zag of a design hit the mass retailer like Jesus walking on water—where were the Target inventory planners for this big day? Target sold through basically everything at the store level within minutes of store openings.  Who knew?  Someone just got fired in Targets inventory management department!

The little guys are feeling it. Retail has become lost in the masses momentarily. I am not sure where retail is headed but there is silver lining. Here is the good news – not everyone wants what they have to offer – people are individuals they like to be unique and they like things that the masses do not have. How nice is it to have a wrap that no one else has? A unique color, fabric and style designed with love and care and maybe even eco-friendly and made in the USA to boot!

So what is the upshot of this? The solution to problem is to keep on swimming – keep cheering for the little guys. If you are a small manufacturer like everything in life – things come back into bloom. The masses will not always dominate the underdog will prevail. Keep making those appointments, keep designing your lines, and keep marketing your brand, your style, your unique product. At the end of the day we may be the small guy right now but that’s ok there is room for everyone. The small vs. the large creates a balance. We cannot be everything to all customers that is where you fit in! You create that uniqueness that creates fashion trends and set’s you apart from the masses. You create the trends that dictate what the massed pick up on. Fit yourself in, find your place and prosper.

Jamie L. Novick, The Next Step Retail Solutions, www.retail-solutions.biz / jnovick@retail-solutions.biz

 

Non-Disclosure Agreements

Let’s talk about non-disclosure agreements…

If you don’t have one yet, you can find one here in our downloadable forms.

We get emails all the time from people who have ideas for products or already have the products and they are coming to us because they need help. They make the initial contact with us and then ask us to sign a non-disclosure agreement. THIS is the first indication that you are a novice.

Consider this… for everyone who is in this business of fashion, they are in process all the time with things they are working on. They don’t have time to steal your idea because they are too busy working on things that already exist, products that are real, that are going to market, products they are supplying to their buyers. You are sitting there with just an idea, now the question is… who knows what they’re doing in this and who doesn’t?

If you go to someone for help, the only way they can help you is if you tell them what kind of help you need and you have to be able to say enough for them to determine very quickly whether or not they can help you and what kind of help you might need. If, after you make the initial contact with them, you then say, “oh, and I’m going to need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement”, consider that these people are very busy, they are professionals in the industry and you are wanting their help. Do you think they care about your idea? Do you think they have the time to steal your idea? Do you think your idea is so original that someone is going to stop everything they’re doing to run off with your idea? Be reasonable, THAT is not how this business works especially when you are the one who is asking for help.

Consider this… if you are looking for an investor in your company, they have the money, you don’t… now how can you possibly think that you have ANY power in that relationship if you end up getting the money. They have the money, you don’t, you need it, they have it, you have to let go if you are going to move forward…

Consider this… you spend all kinds of money trademarking your brand name in the beginning and then lo and behold, you get some interest in the product but the buyer hates the name and wants it to be called something else. Your choice is, change the name or look for another buyer but what if that buyer is coming to you with a million dollars??? You change the name and get on with it so you can be successful and profitable. So there you spent all kinds of money on protecting something that ultimately changed into something else.

What you have to recognize is… the idea or product you have today may not be the idea or product you come to market with so the idea of having professionals in the industry sign a non-disclosure agreement so early in the process is not going to benefit you and is only going to take time away from getting to the business at hand. It also reveals that you’re a newbie.

Now, you may be thinking “what’s the big deal, just sign the NDA and then we can get on with the discussion”… well, the reality is, there are millions of people who are trying to bring ideas and products to market and there are far fewer people who are available to help them do that which means, the far fewer people are inundated with requests from people for help. If the experts spent their time signing NDAs all day, they would never get anything done and you would never get any help. Realize that an expert in this business of fashion is in such high demand that they are going to be very particular about who they’re going to work with and YOU have to make it as easy as possible for them to work with you. Remember, you need their help, not the other way around so when you make a request for help, follow these easy steps:

1. Identify the product you want to make or are making already.
2. Indicate how much money you have available to commit to launching your product.
3. Be very specific about the help you need.

If you can identify just these three things in any inquiry you make about getting help, you’ll be well on your way to getting someone interested enough in helping you. Remember, it’s not just about your product that is going to interest someone, it’s going to be YOU and you sound like someone that’s easy to work with, you’re more likely to get the help you need.

Merchandising to Maximize Profitability

Merchandising groups within your line is where fashion and business meet. Fashion merchandising involves designing and planning groups within your line so that each piece relates to other pieces within the group or line. Why is this important?
  1. 1.      To relate to your retailer who is buying for their store.
  2. 2.      It makes buying more convenient when you create a line that makes retail buying choices easy and obvious. Design your line so that when a buyer sees your line they will want to buy every piece of it. They see it and then can relate to it being displayed in their store, which will then hopefully lead to customers entering a store, or sees the store window display think “I want to buy all those fabulous pieces”!”J  Then you/the creator, the retailer and the customer are all happy!!
  3. 3.      Coordinate pieces to relate to each other. (This step is also an important part of your branding process of which I cover in Brand Building for Profit.) Having a recognizable label through the way you create your line through: look, fit and construction must all be consistent.  If your line has hanger appeal but disintegrates after washing your customer will not be returning to buy more of your label!

 Learning to merchandise a line is often one of the biggest learning curves after costing for a new creative company to understand. Fashion merchandising doesn’t center on the styles alone; it entails a keen business and trend sense. Costing is also part of your merchandising strategy and at times it will be important to drop styles that have “costed” that item out of your market niche. (This is covered in my Costing for Profit book).  Fashion merchandising calls for analytical ability. Knowing what sold well last season, in which location and then analyzing demographics will also help when planning your next season’s line.

Since you first started your business you will have identified your niche market. Your merchandise must consistently appeal to your end consumer, or your specific target group. Choosing separate pieces that can work together, mixing materials, fabrics and patterns and having an eye for color are all part of successfully merchandising a line.

 A familiarity with the prior fashion fads in different locations is also warranted. Being conscious of existing industry developments and trends gives the fashion merchandiser a leg up, since they can forecast what is to come. But the most overall important thing in merchandising is to plan for your buyer and the end consumer. Realizing we are at the moment in an item driven market is important and then relating those items to merchandise together is the key!

Lots of creative designers don’t stop to take the time to merchandise. They just cannot stop being creative!


Which Do You Need More, Creativity or Business?

Creative thinking is one thing that is critical to the success of most businesses, but in the fashion industry, it’s not enough to ensure your success. The creative part of the business is what most people want to focus on to the detriment of their businesses and it’s easy to understand why: it’s sexy and energizing, and the possibility of creating something new and exciting is a thrilling prospect.

It’s important to keep in mind that the creative part of the business is just the start of everything. Where it gets challenging for most designers and creative people is when all of the business aspects of starting and having your own fashion line enter in. If you aren’t necessarily oriented toward the business side of things or don’t have any experience with business, it can be particularly challenging to discipline yourself to focus on the all important business needs instead of the creative ones.

In all my years of experience and interaction with highly creative designers/artists, reviewing hundreds of new ideas and proposals each year, one thing is clear, people are incredibly ingenious and inventive and extremely talented and it’s thrilling to see the things that people come up with. Where it becomes challenging is when these same talented people are confronted with the business realities that they MUST attend to.

It is critical for a designer/artist to address the planning, costing, financial, organizational and logistical issues of their business upfront and create a plan that will detail how they will bring their great ideas to fruition. Nothing can be more devastating than to have great ideas that never see the light of day because they were either not viable OR the person ran out of money before they could bring their product or idea to market. This is where the upfront business planning is so critical to a start-up and where the designer NEEDS to spend most of their time. You would be surprised to know that the creative and design part of the fashion business is about 10% of the reality of what you will do in launching your line so it’s critical to invest the time needed to make sure your business is in order.

Remember, they call it the fashion “business” for a reason! To make money in this business, it’s ALL about the business!

For more insight into this business of fashion, check out my book, Fashion For Profit. It will give you the soup-to-nuts, A-to-Z, step-by-step of how you get your idea or product to market and most important, how you make money at it!

Stay tuned for my next post that will address people skills and networking critical to the success of a start-up. You’d be surprised at how critical this is!

Stay tuned…

Frances