January 30,
2002, #5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The addition
of the "Fashion Biz" section last week was
met with wide
approval. Several people wrote to say
that they
thought designing was just about sketching
ideas on to
paper. Nope. At least, not when you're
first starting
out. Just as a great chef knows how
to peel
potatoes and wash pots, so, too, do great
designers know
the intricacies of their crafts.
If you're
thinking about selling your designs locally,
today's issue
shows you what to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In This Issue:
Fashion Biz:
How To Sell Your Designs To Local Stores
Fashion
Trivia: Rivets On Blue Jeans
Fashion
Profile: Cristobal Balenciaga
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FASHION BIZ
How
To Sell Your Designs To Local Stores
Question: "I
have tons of designs in my sketchbook (enough
for spring
and summer collections), and I must admit, just
like one of
your readers, I thought that was enough to sell.
So since
you say I must learn what fabrics to use, make the
pattern,
and get the construction details, what do I do after
that? I am
dying to sell my designs to a department store
and don't
know how. If I have all the finished products and
easy
instructions a seamstress can follow, can you tell me
where I go
from there? Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks." --Letitia
Answer:
Whether you approach a department store, a
boutique, or a
private client, they'll generally only be interested
in buying your
designs if you can deliver the finished product.
So that means
you either:
1. Manufacture
the product in-house by doing it yourself or
through people
you hire; or
2. Pay a
manufacture to produce the products for you; or
3. License
your ideas to a third party manufacturer for a
percentage of royalties.
Since
licensing deals aren't likely to occur until you've established
a recognizable
brand name, we'll focus on the first two methods
and save the
licensing discussion for another time.
If you were a
designer for a large, established clothing or accessory
company, you
could hand off your approved designs to a pattern
maker, who
would then turn them over to the manufacturing
division, who
would then send them to shipping, who would
then pack and
send them to the retail clients that the marketing
department had
sold to.
But when you
work for yourself, you're the "chief cook and bottle
washer"
and have to do or outsource all of the steps yourself.
But you're in
fine company: everyone from Coco Chanel to Donna
Karan has been
through this startup phase, and has sewn clothes,
chatted up
clients, and packed boxes until the wee hours--
oftentimes all
in the same day. It CAN be glamorous, but there's
plenty of good
old-fashioned hard work, too. Just ask anyone
who works on
Seventh Avenue.
Anyway, once
you've put some of your ideas into sketches, pick
two or three
of your favorites and create prototypes/samples.
If you don't
sew or don't sew well, you'll have to pay someone
to do this for
you. Create a pattern, consider what sizes you'll
be able to
offer, make notes on construction as you go along,
and keep track
of all of your expenses. You'll need to know how
much it cost
you to assemble each garment (including labor) so
you'll know
how much you'll need to charge in order to turn a profit.
For many
beginning designers, creating a prototype is an eye-
opening
experience. The more complicated the design, the more
costly the
labor to produce it. Go back through your sketches and
see if you'll
really be able to produce all of those designs. Can
you re-use the
sleeve or skirt from one design and put it in
another? Can
you change the look of one garment by adding or
subtracting
trim? These are just a few of the tricks that profitable
designers use
to keep pattern-making expenses down.
Once you have
your samples, make sure they're properly finished
and will stand
up to handling and careful inspection by prospective
buyers. If
they do, get out your phone book and make a list of
the department
stores and/or boutiques in your area that sell
clothes or
accessories similar to what you've created in terms
of style and
price range.
Call the
store's buyer and make an appointment to "show your
wares".
If you're selling to a boutique or specialty store, the
buyer might
also be the owner. If you're calling a department
store, find
the buyer for the department you'll be selling to. Be
on time for
your appointment and dress professionally-nothing
too outlandish
or "artsy" that might detract from your sample
designs.
Show your
samples. If he or she is interested, they might place
an order.
Don't promise more than you can realistically deliver
by the due
date. Depending on your situation and the buyer,
you may
request that part of the order be paid up front (so
you have money
to buy the raw materials), with the balance
due on
delivery. If you'll be selling to private clients (wedding
gowns,
original designs), insist upon this arrangement-you don't
want to be
totally out on your labor and materials if the client
places the
order and then disappears.
Create a
purchase order. You can do this on your computer
(Microsoft
Office has a template in Excel) or with a form from
an office
supply store. List the details of the agreement, and
get the
buyer's signature on the order. Then go back to your
office (which
may also be your kitchen table) and get busy
filling the order.
Once you feel
comfortable maintaining one account, add others.
Again, never
promise more than you can deliver. As you grown,
you may need
to add staff or outsource all or part of the
manufacturing
process. You can find more details and resources
for this in How
To Get Started In Fashion Design,
http://www.FashionJobReview.com
So what if the
buyer doesn't like your designs? Then go back
home and call
the next buyer on your list. Then the next. If
you're getting
lots of "No's", it could be that you haven't properly
targeted your
market in terms of style or price range. Open up
your phone
book again and look for more appropriate outlets.
Need more
details on this whole process? Pick up a copy of How
To Get
Started In Fashion Design,
http://www.FashionJobReview.com
Good Luck!
--Diana
Have a
question you'd like answered in "Fashion Biz?" Send it to [email protected] .
FASHION TRIVIA
QUESTION:
Why do Levis™ jeans have rivets?
ANSWER:
At the height of the California Gold Rush in the 1850's,
miners made an
annoying discovery: mining for gold was hard on the
clothes. After
a few months of having to constantly replace their
pants, several
miners appealed to their favorite Dry Goods dealer in
San Francisco
for help. The merchant, a young German immigrant
named Levi
Strauss, took the request very seriously. He experimented
with different
types of rugged cloth, including tent canvas, before
settling on
denim, a new, durable cotton cloth from France.
The miners
liked how the denim stood up to hard work, but the
pocket seams
tended to pop when overloaded. When a local tailor
asked Levi to
reinforce the pockets, Levi came up with a plan
to strengthen
all the stress points with metal rivets. It was an
instant
success. Levi and the tailor, Jacob Davis, filed for a patent
on the idea,
and "waist overalls" (a.k.a. blue jeans) were born. This
simple
construction detail is one of the key reasons jeans have been
the most
popular heavy-duty work pants for the last 150 years.
FASHION PROFILE:
Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972)
Born in a
Spanish fishing village to a boat captain and his seamstress
wife,
Cristobal Balenciaga learned how to sew at an early age. When
he was 14, he
copied a Paris design he'd seen in magazine for one
of his
mother's clients, an act that quickly won the notice of a wealthy
local lady.
She was so impressed by his talent, in fact, that she
encouraged him
to leave home to study design, and even paid for
his schooling.
That done, she
offered him financial backing for his first design
house in San
Sebastian, and quickly recouped her investment when
his instant
popularity lead to branches in both Madrid and Barcelona.
When the
Spanish Civil War interfered with business, Balenciaga
shuttered his
Spanish shops and relocated to Paris in 1937.
The Parisians
were as bowled over by his designs as their Spanish
neighbors had
been. Considered a perfectionist, Balenciaga was one
of the few
couturiers who could design, cut, sew, and fit the whole
garment.
He understood
the female form like no other, designing clothes in
such a way
that even the frumpiest figure looked fashionable.
Socialites
adored him. In return, he gave them the "sack"
silhouette of
1953, the "middy" dress that evolved into the
chemise in
1955, and the pillbox hat. His predominantly brown
and black
clothes were eagerly snapped up by women from Milan
to Chicago,
and aspiring designers fought to work with him to
learn the
secrets he possessed. Givenchy, Courrèges, and Ungaro
all worked for
him at one point.
When the late
1960's saw a decline in elegance, Balenciaga,
disillusioned,
retired and closed his house, leaving only his small
fragrance
business intact. He died in 1972.
The Balenciaga
name was acquired by a French fragrance firm
in the
mid-1980's. Since then, it's become part of the LVMH luxury
group, with a
young, handsome designer named Nicholas Ghesquière
at the design
helm. Ghesquière's slim pants and intricate handwork
have brought
socialites back to the House of Balenciaga, so if you
haven't heard
this name before, you'll no doubt hear more about
it in the future.
You can see
the designs online at http://www.balenciaga.com .
Until Next Time,
Diana Pemberton-Sikes
http://www.FashionJobReview.com
[email protected]
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