Fashion For Profit

The innovated mind is nurtured by experience, and real life education.

I believe that on the whole most people wishing to start their own business feel disconnected to conventional further education. Much of the courses taught in traditional institutions have major gaps when it comes to both life skills, business survival and to entrepreneurship. Conventional further education seems to be diluted and detached from the real world of business and from major commerce. This leaves the majority of people, who in fact run most of the businesses in this country, or soon hope to, less likely to survive their first year. According to research conducted by Dunn & Bradstreet, there are hundreds of thousands of small businesses started each -year; minorities and women start over half. The emergence of women in entrepreneurship in America and indeed globally is perhaps the greatest advantage to our economy, and to the world's economy. It is therefore important to the survival of these small businesses that we teach modem business practices and incorporates this into university and college curriculum.

My 30 plus years of further education within the fashion industry has been such that for the most part college curriculum does not change at the same pace as the industry.  Tenured professors and instructors don’t have real the real world experience needed to instruct students today. We are a Global industry with a Global economy and this should be an important part of the curriculum. Often making any changes to a curriculum requires extra work and effort and this is often rather over looked than addressed. 

It is my belief that you don’t need a four year college degree to learn the art of entrepreneurship.  For most it is in their blood and for others it cannot be taught. However, for trades I really believe we have to return the old method of education through learning on the job rather than in a class room. The Germans still educate through apprenticeship, which is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill, e.g. patternmaking, draping, sewing, woodwork, and electrician. Short term training and retraining is the future for trade education…. Well that is my thoughts of fashion programs that turn out too many graduates with no job openings available to them. Most are left with large student loans and end up working in a retail store to pay them off.

 

POP UP STORE-POP UP RETAILING-FLASH RETAILING

 “Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces in the United States and the United Kingdom.

A pop-up retail space is a venue that is temporary — the space could be a sample sale one day and host a private cocktail party the next evening. The trend involves “popping-up” one day(for example ((jome bazaar)) in iran), then disappearing anywhere from one day to several weeks later. These shops, while small and temporary, can build up interest by consumer exposure. Pop-up retail allows a company to create a unique environment that engages their customers, as well as generates a feeling of relevance and interactivity. They are often used by marketers for seasonal items such as Halloween costumes, Christmas gifts and Christmas trees, or fireworks.^[1]

The term is often applied to shops offering items of apparel, where the shop is intended less to transact profitable sales than to promote demand for the goods and thereby produce profitable business at other locations, or in modes other than walk-in stores.” - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some also call it “Shop n Go”. Whatever name you choose to call it, it is a blend of traditional retailing with event marketing. This original concept was based on Japanese consumer culture and its devotion to rare and limited edition products. Initially, at a moment’s notice, customers would arrive at a clandestine location that housed a particular brand, designer or product. Once the products were sold out, usually within a matter of hours, the store would be closed until the owner received more products and was able reopen the store again. The concept is simple enough: find a vacant empty space for a day, weekend, a week or a month and send private invites by e-mail with invite codes for special discounts.

It seems that temporary retailing is here to stay and this new concept in selling can be a fresh new way to sell and merchandise. With U.S. retail vacancy rates at the highest levels in a decade, there's no shortage of space. Borders Group has closed many stores and is now popping-up stores around the country, most of them in malls where the bookseller used to have a presence. This method of selling product and getting attention of the consumer is taking off. It seems that most pop-up stores are selling apparel. Like the monthly sample sales we have at the apparel marts it seems that people love to think they are getting a deal and at the same time something special. Or, you could compare it to Trunk Shows where you have a designer take their merchandise to retail stores and for one event each season show their line and sell to a select invited group. Maybe sipping champagne and munching caviar while watching professional models show the designer’s new line.

So, for a retailer this type of selling could be exciting, profitable and an alternative to the traditional methods of retailing apparel. Staging events each week with new product, or brands then incorporating new social media marketing methods could be an interesting addition to include in your plans for opening a store.

 

33 Steps Check List to Producing Apparel

1. Concept phase; an idea  becomes inspiration
2. Sketch created
3. Market niche is determined -- (along with business plan and financial plan for startups)
4. Fabrication and trims chosen
5. Design translated into specifications (flats, measurement etc.)
6. Fabrics, trims, and other components approved and sample quantities ordered
7. Pattern made
8. Sample garment sewn
9. Sample garment tested for fit, and alterations made to pattern. (note: steps 6-8 may need to be repeated but should not be more than twice or there is a problem)
10. Final sample produced
11. Production costed
12. Sales samples and color options sent to sales reps. (research and planning for next season begins)
13. Design sold to retailers. Resulting orders are then used to determine production material quantities as well as to procure funding (factoring)
14. Production quantities of fabrics, trims, and components ordered.
15. Final production pattern made
16. Production samples produced (Sew by)
17. Patterns graded
18. Marker made for each size, and keyed to pattern repeat
19. Fabric unrolled and inspected for flaws
20. Cutting tickets made
21. Fabric layered and cut
22. Garment pieces bundled with sewing tickets
23. Bundles given to sewers
24. Constructed garments sewn and finished
25. Final pressing
26. Final quality control inspection
27. Garments tagged and hung
28. Packing slip and invoice created
29. Ordered garments pulled and packed for shipment
30. Orders shipped with strict attention to vendor compliance specs
31. Invoices sent to retailers
32. Garment displayed at retail
33. Consumer acceptance

Opening a Fashion Retail Store

Opening an apparel related retail store in order to sell directly to customers is attractive to many designers, lured by the promise increasing sales and building a brand. However, like manufacturing it should be fully investigated before making a final commitment. Many fashion designers, both large and small, have become successful retailers. With the addition of a retail store the business now becomes a vertical operation; from the first sketch to the point of sale, the designer/manufacturer has control. Once you open your store, it may also be a good idea to include other product lines within the store, which would complement your own creations. These other lines could be sold on consignment, which would help cut back on the direct costs of investing in inventory. Having several options will empower you and help you to make the right decisions. Opening a retail establishment demands a significant amount of time to properly oversee every aspect of the fledgling business. If you are a designer/manufacturer do you have that time available?

Finding the right location and understanding your customers’ needs are key elements of owning a retail store. It is helpful to sell what you know!  However, if you are not familiar with basic marketing principles or the fashion industry, it will be critical to learn about and investigate the market. Becoming profitable will require continual upgrading on a weekly basis to improve and refresh your retail operation.

All of the information in my soon to be published Fashion Retailing for Profit will be very valuable information to you when planning to open any  retail store. Even if you are not going to manufacture clothing yourself, it is important to understand all aspects of producing a garment, from concept to the consumer. Some of the most important issues that will influence your success as an apparel store owner will be the same as the components necessary in becoming a successful designer/manufacturer; both your discerning good taste and your business expertise.

Questions for Retailing in a New Economy

Below are some thought provoking questions I have put together that both the manufacturer and the retailer should consider.

Is the retail depression a result of the economy or a product of the “no trend, no brand” market of today’s fashion industry?

1. Is this the Chicken before the egg? Which came first? Confusion of retailers and buyers, or no understanding of the changing trends (no trend) or the confusion of the customer, or the recession?
2. The new retail market demands have been slowly changing since before the downturn. Speed to market, immediate, open to buy, this was happening before last fall.
3. Change can be a good thing but recognizing the changing industry is part of solving the down turn problem. What should a retailer recognize and how should they adjust their buying habits?
4. How important is display and refreshing displays and new merchandise?
5. This also is important for online stores?
6. Is it part of doing business today to have web based sales and a website with ecommerce? We are seeing more and more online sales.
7. How important are online stores like eBay, Amazon, Guilt, Zapoos, Yahoo or other online marketing?
8. How important is it to research and spend time marketing through social media?
9. Customer service? Retaining your customer base. Small things do make a difference, a smile and true customer service is worth the investment in training your employees.
10. PR and marketing on a budget?
11. Software to help with operations and organization?
12. Are trade shows a dying breed?
13. How effective is buying “Made in the USA” or “organic”, “green”, “and recycled”? Do customers really care?
14. Are brands still important? Do they still drive the market as much as they use to?

Fashion is not driven by a real need but by an impulse to reward and feel good about ourselves.  Keeping the merchandise tempting seems a problem.

What is Bamboo?

 

Rayon is a regenerated cellulosic fiber made primarily from the wood pulp after chemical synthesis. The various varieties of wood pulp variations used determine the charecteristics of the viscose fibre. The rayon thus obtained from the pulp of the bamboo is known as rayon from bamboo. TEMBRO is one of the major supplier of Bamboo rayon. Till last year companies were promoting this fiber as natural fiber and we creating confusion in the market. Post a decision by US authorities they are using the revised nomenclature Rayon from Bamboo.

Rohit Chadha•

The ultimate green recycled life time reusable fabric – Polyester!

 

What is green, ecologically acceptable, sustainable, or organic?

 

How about good old polyester, micro fiber? The ultimate recyclable fabric, reusable, melt down and use again and again. Wear and wear again, remake it, it lasts for centuries!

 

What does organic really mean?  We are all trying to be the new generation of “green thinkers” but do most of us understand what this means or entails? I don’t think so.

Firstly we should really understand what organic stands for? Example, most organic cotton growth demands the use of more water to grow it than non organic. In certain parts of the world this extra water is taken away from certain indigenous tribes, which has resulted in the depletion of water for their own farming needs. This has had a devastating effect, causing starvation and misery for those tribes. And all so that the western world can feel better that they are buying organic rather than the standard cotton that we have farmed and used for many years.

 

Then there is bamboo and all the hype that goes with this natural plant that is then processed into a synthetic fiber, which we could also term rayon as it is processed and produced using the same methods as rayon.

 

Until we have a full understanding of “green” “sustainable” “Carbon foot print” “Organic” ………. Let’s not get too excited.

 

Don’t know about where you live but this summer has been the coldest I have ever known since living for 30 years in Southern California. What happened to Global warming? J

Is it Possible to Rebrand a Tarnished Brand?

Answer -  With a good plan it is possible to Re Brand a Tarnished Brand

It is interesting to observe the rebranding efforts of mega brands that have disgraced themselves, or made other mistakes that have lead to the erosion of their brands. As we know brands = $’s so once a brand has been built it is critical to retain that image. But, once the image /brand has been compromised the strategy for rebuilding has to be a well thought out plan. There is quiet a list of tarnished brands that come to mind. The most recent fall from grace being Tiger Woods and Toyota. In the past we saw the rebranding of  Martha Stewart, Coca Cola, Kobe Bryant, Johnson & Johnson and  JetBlue to name a few.

Most of us have been watching with interest the reactions of the carefully planned relaunch of Tiger Woods at the Masters Tournament this week.  Tiger’s bad behavior and arrogance to believe he could behave so badly and get away with it is astounding from someone who is a master of mind control. He must really have totally lost that part of his brain when it came to his sexual encounters. I guess this is another example that when men get sexually involved blood rushes from one head to another and this leads to unclear thinking and bad decision making! Really NO EXCUSES!

Brand threatening scandals have been seen more and more in the headlines recently. This can be partly due  to the fact that these types of brand tarnishing is impossible to hide in today’s age of immediate communications; Twitter, Facebook…..etc

The rebuilding of the Tiger brand is interesting to watch. For Tiger’s sponsors, who it has been said have lost $12 billion off the value of their shares in the wake of the scandal it is very important to rebuild his broken image. Tiger’s warm reception at Augusta suggests that he is well on his way to recovering his branding power.

So now it will be interesting to see how Toyota will handle their downfall from grace and the $16m fine from the US government for its tardiness in addressing safety concerns. Will they survive or go down. Or maybe reemerge as Audi did after their brakes failed a few times over ten years ago and have since managed to build their brand. I hope Toyota manages to save their image as I LOVE MY PRIUS!

Interestingly enough a branding crisis can in fact, if handled in the right way turn out to be a boost that allows some brands to emerge stronger as we saw with the Coca-Cola disastrous recipe change in 1985. After the outrage from customers they reverted to the original formula within three months.  They managed to turn a possible disaster into a major PR and marketing opportunity that made their brand even stronger.

 

Fashion Trends in Travel

 World Travel – Pros and Cons

 

The problem with travel is that it requires travel! This usually means you need to fly to your various destinations. Well, as most of us world travels know this can be a test of stamina and endurance. There is no doubt and a fact that flying is an amazing feat of engineering. For instance, how can a 350 thousand pound plane with 50 thousand pounds of fuel and hosting two hundred passengers with luggage fly through the air at 500 miles per hour? I know my husband, the German flight stress engineer would love to explain these facts in detail but we don’t have the time to get too detailed here! The fact remains that the logistics for those who traveling can be a test of endurance that is way too often a rather torturous event.

 

We have just spent a much needed (see last blog) pleasant change of pace and relaxing ten days on vacation in the southern Caribbean on a friend’s sail boat.  Getting there and back has been anything but pleasant or relaxing. Our outward bound flight from LAX was smooth flying with three transfers but upon arrival found us without our luggage, which it seems did not fly with us. Nothing really new here, except we had to journey on the next day to meet up with our friend and host on her sail boat. So, on landing in Grenada we not only had no luggage we also needed to stress about whether the lost bag would ever turn up and if so when, and then how it would find us in the eastern part of the Caribbean. Luckily we are seasoned travels and had carried on swimwear and toiletries. After our first night spent in a hotel we then made numerous phone calls as to where the lost bag was and if found how it would possibly get transported to us at our soon to be remote location.  Amazingly, and much to our surprise the bag was located 24 hours later and American Airlines arranged to have it sent by ferry boat so we could collect it from the dock. This in its self was a pleasant surprise.

 

Homeward bound was another exhausting stress filled travel experience that goes down in my scrapbook of travel experiences as a marathon journey! Broken plane parts resulted in a ten hour delay in Grenada, which then resulted in the domino effect of missed connections, frustrations, exhaustion, more frustration and a fascination of how, for the most part good natured people are when pushed through these extreme travel experiences. Thankfully, after 36 hours in transit found us safely home!

 

So, what does all the above have to do with fashion? People watching while traveling is for me the most interesting and a time consuming hobby. What people choose to wear for any occasion is fascinating stuff for clothes minded person like myself, but traveling internationally can be an interesting observation of what people choose to wear while traveling.

 

It seems that “Juicy” on the butt is still a popular fashion statement with some! Most of us may well ask, “why”, would an attractive, intelligent women (or girl) want to walk around with that statement so close to a bodily area that ……… well, let’s not even go there!

 

Cargo pockets are really the ideal choice for travel for men if they don’t over stuff them with everything needed for a two week vacation.

 

Pedal pushers in all styles and fabrics for women with and without cargo pockets.

 

Denim in all weights are to be seen while traveling, including; leg shapes, low raisers, high raisers, various sizes, fits, stitching details, pocket design, distressing and with multiple finishes. Nothing new here.

 

Workout gear can be seen on more travelers this season. This seems to me to be the ideal choice for comfort and practicality. Need for layering is important as you can be boiling in Miami and then on the plane freeze yourself to death sitting next to the escape doors where the draft is so severe it can make the journey miserable just trying to keep your feet at a normal temperature.

 

T-shirts galore in all shapes, styles, with a vast variety of graphics and sizes!!! Some more grotesque, obscene, confusing and stupid than the next! Then there are some who choose to wear the shorter length t-shirt that expose rolls of fat and protruding belly buttons with a confidence of the wearer that makes them seem proud to be carrying around all that extra fat.

 

Running shoes and thongs in every imaginable color, shape and brand on the planet. Personally, I prefer shoes that slip on and off for easy of maneuvering through the strip down security search blockade.

 

Color trends – Every color under the sun! Mix and match are preferred!

 

Other than the above I do not have much to report on the latest fashion trends for travelers. All very boring stuff!

 

However, we are glad to be home in southern California where the weather is beautiful year round.

 

Now back to work re-editing all my books and to expanding the Fashion Business Inc., plus planning my daughter’s wedding this summer. I need another vacation just contemplating this last sentence!

 

 

Learn From the Experts -

The end of my 2010 spring seminar marathon – for the time being! Just finished a few weeks of intensive seminars, from MAGIC International in Vegas (four seminars), Globaltex LA, San Francisco workshop and finally the FBI LA Textile Week series (15) closing with a one day workshop. To top it all off a FBI fashion show tomorrow evening at LA Market featuring the new lines of 7 FBI members. 

 

Below is the blog written by Jill Mazur for the FBI blog who is an apparel business and technology consultant. I thought it would be a good addition to my own blog.

Industry Experts – Why it’s Important

Wow!  It’s been a busy, busy week and it’s only Wednesday (as I write this).  FBI is in the middle of a week full of seminars and networking events for Textile Week and, if that wasn’t enough, we’re doing a fashion show with the California Market Center in conjunction with the Focus Apparel and Accessory show on Saturday, March 20 at 4:30 p.m. in the CMC penthouse.  

I walked the Textile show twice, once on Monday and then again on Tuesday.  One of my clients is looking to source some fabrics and trims and I was happy to help her out.  I know, I’m a sucker for fabrics…last GlobalTex show I was blabbering on about Modal© and how soft and drapey it is.  Now I’ll blabber on about Tencel© and how wonderfully absorbent it is.  I had the good fortune to chat with textile industry expert Walter Meck of Fessler, U. S. A. He took the time to show me some of the latest fabrications and discussed some of the different properties of the fibers they’re using.  I’m a huge fan of their products, especially after having visited their facilities in Orwigsburg, PA.  You know how some people like to know where their food comes from?  I like to know where my clothes come from - watching fibers spin into yarns, yarns knit into fabrics and fabrics turned into garments truly makes me smile.

I’ve had the opportunity to sit through some of the seminars this week and had a great time meeting some new FBI members at the networking event Monday evening.  Our series of seminars during Textile Week are free for members and everyone is welcome to attend.   I’m looking forward to attending Frances Harder and Dana Fried’s Apparel Business Workshop on Thursday, March 18^th.  I know a lot about the business of fashion, but I’m always eager to learn more and I know I’ll pick up a ton of useful information tomorrow.  This workshop is not a part of the Textile Week seminars, so there is a fee, but it’s one of the best investments you’ll ever make if you want to be successful in the apparel industry. 

Speaking of being successful in the apparel industry, I came in at the tail end of Staci Riordan’s “Legal Strategies for a Profitable Fashion Business” seminar yesterday and was reminded of a number of important things.  The detail that stuck with me was how important it is for businesses to build a great team of industry experts to rely upon.  If you’re dealing with a copyright infringement on one of your designs or international trademark issues with your apparel brand, seek the counsel of an apparel industry lawyer.  If you need capital for your business, find a factor who deals specifically with the apparel industry and understands your retail environment.  Want to know more about how to make your apparel business profitable?  Talk to the experts.  I wanted to know more about fabrics, so I went to one of my experts. 

The FBI has so many resources available for products, services and consulting, it never ceases to amaze me.  Membership starts at $250 per year and with the membership, you get one hour of free consulting with one of our experts along with a whole host of benefits including free seminars, discounts on many services, great networking opportunities and the chance to participate in our fashion shows at a greatly discounted rate.  Hey, if I wasn’t already a member, I’d have joined a long time ago.  Just because I’m considered an industry expert doesn’t mean I won’t jump at the chance to learn from another industry expert.  How do you think we become experts in the first place?

Jill Mazur is an independent apparel business and technology expert working with Fashion Business, Incorporated.  Email:  jill@fashionbizinc.org