How does one go about selling their label online?

[Brigden]

I've recently made the acquaintence of a young clothing designer and I've been quite impressed by her product, branding, and huge potential. Her product line is exclusively women's streetwear and swimwear. Her stuff is sold in a few local B&M outfits and one online retailer, but I'm disappointed she hasn't made a greater effort to sell her goods.

She has plenty of ambition, but lacks the business sense to get the ball rolling.

I'd like to help her, but I know little of the mechanics of retail.

I turn to you guys, several of whom I know are online retailers. How does one go about getting product on a retailer's website? Can you fellas break down the process for me and help me understand the big picture?

Advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by Brigden

I've recently made the acquaintence of a young clothing designer and I've been quite impressed by her product, branding, and huge potential. Her product line is exclusively women's streetwear and swimwear. Her stuff is sold in a few local B&M outfits and one online retailer, but I'm disappointed she hasn't made a greater effort to sell her goods.

She has plenty of ambition, but lacks the business sense to get the ball rolling.

I'd like to help her, but I know little of the mechanics of retail.

I turn to you guys, several of whom I know are online retailers. How does one go about getting product on a retailer's website? Can you fellas break down the process for me and help me understand the big picture?

Advice is greatly appreciated.

If she is in NYC or LA, any major metropolis, really, she needs to beat the streets, literally. If she doesn't have the back to get into a showroom (and the costs are not trivial,) she has to do tons of legwork. Email retailers, then get on the phone, then ask to show the line. She will need great personality, salesmanship, and a good back story for her line. She needs to be well prepared, be able to answer questions about fulfillment, terms of sale, minimums, etc..., and not get intimidated. Also, she will have to prepared to spend a huge chunk of time getting rejected.

If she wants wider distribution, she will probably need to invest a fair chunk of money in either a showroom and/or attend tradeshows like Pool or Project. Booths are not cheap. And if she is going to do tradeshows, she needs to do legwork beforehand. Target retailers, send out invitations, get them on the phone, book appointments. There are literally thousands of designers at these things, and even if you think that you have the greatest product out there, retailers who have not heard of or from you before will literally give you about a millisecond to catch their attention before they move on. And this is assuming that they are not on a mission to get a specific line/meet a specific rep, etc...

Showrooms are good if you can get the showroom solidly behind your line. i.e. they have to believe that you have a saleable product for some tangible reasons. Otherwise, they will just pocket their fee, and concentrate on those brands that they think that they can make bank off of. Remember that reps depend on their sales for their living. You have to show them that you deserve a lion's share of their time.

Good to have PR too, but PR is expensive. If you get a PR firm, the important thing is to set goals and be ready to capitalize on things. No sense in being famous just for being famous.

It's like most professions. If you don't hustle, you are not going to succeed. There are plenty of really talented designers who never really get off the ground.

 

[doink]

Since I see you are in TO, and I assume she is. Here is what I would do, and have helped someone else do.

1) Call the fashion incubator, they have resources and people to advise people how to make the move from designer to production.
2) Do shows like Cabbagetown, one of a kind, trinity bellwoods. I have found that retailers prowl these things looking for products that are new and interesting. Cost for Cabbagetown and Trinity are less than $500, one of a kind is a few thousand.
3) Hit the streets, right now there are tonnes of stores that specialize in small run and local designers, visit them see if you fit, then call them or send them a CD catalogue.
4) Artscape might be a resource too.