Behind the Brand "An inside look at building a fashion brand."

Behind the scenes with Garden & Gun magazine

April/May issue 2014

Styled by CBijou

Get the look

Emilio Pucci draped bow blouse, Delpozo high waisted cropped pants, Gianvito Rossi suede pumps, Auden Ronin earrings, 50's vintage velvet clutch

Transformation Tuesday!

TransformstionTuesday!

Spring 2014 Collection.... I love watching my visions come to life. The process...❤️

Pitching your brand to stores and boutiques

Once you've created a complete collection and have your samples, it's time to begin pitching your collection to boutique owners and buyers at stores. Only if this is the direction you'd like to take, I'll touch on the plus and minuses of selling your product in stores versus
direct sales in a later post. There are many different ways of going about getting your brand picked up by stores and boutiques.

Here are a couple different strategies for pitching your brand & collection.

-Hiring a sales representative.

The right sales rep can be a great asset when pitching to stores and boutiques. Sales reps are well seasoned in speaking to buyers and often have established relationships with individuals in the industry that can give you exposure and get your product into the right hands. (Sales reps normally work on commission)

-Attending trade shows.

Setting up a booth at the right trade show can give you a lot of the exposure that you need all under one roof. This is normally a two to three day event. Trade shows can be very expensive for a business that is still in the beginning stages but can turnout to be a very lucrative investment.

-Pounding the pavement.

Often for a new business this may be all you can really afford but you have to start somewhere. Call prospective boutiques and store buyers and arrange to have a meeting with either the boutique owner or buyer.

-Setting up a meeting to present at vendor day.

Major retail stores often have what they call vendor day. You can call prospective department store buying offices and set up a meeting to present, there are normally preliminary requests to be considered like linesheets, images etc. This is one day where many different vendors have the opportunity to pitch their product to a store. (Think Shark Tank) There are plus and minuses to attending vendor day. On the plus side this is an easy way to get your product in front of buyers. The minus is that buyers can often meet with anywhere from 30-40 vendors in one day. This means that more than likely the time you have to pitch your brand is cut very short in comparison to a traditional meeting. You may not have a chance to leave a lasting impression.

Do you have questions about building your own fashion brand? Get them answered here on Behind the Brand by emailing them to me at reginacwhite@gmail.com

For more about my company Cristina Bijou bags go to www.cristinabijou.com

"The Talia" Cristina Bijou Spring 2015 Collection

"The Talia" Cristina Bijou Spring 2015 Collection Subscribe to our newsletter for preorder updates at www.cristinabijou.com

Designing a New Collection

When preparing for the upcoming season there is a lot of research that comes into play. You've got to go back to the drawing board and figure out what you'd like to create next. You've also got to ask yourself some very important questions. What worked and in some cases what didn't work in your current collection? What did exceptionally well? There's always room for improvement. What are your plans to make your next collection even better than the last?

Here are a couple of things to consider when creating a new collection:

-What styles/colors are the most popular in your current collection?

(If your brand is sold in a major retailer you can easily refer to your weekly sales reports provided by your merchandise team to asses this.)

-What pantone colors are predicted for the upcoming season?

-Begin sourcing materials and notions (zippers, buttons, hardware, lining etc.)

-Create a vision board that will help guide you in the direction you'd like to take your next collection.

-Begin creating rough sketches to give yourself ideas of where you'd like to take your next collection.

-The sample process can be very expensive, consider gathering a small focus group of your target customer to see if the ideas you have in mind gravitate towards them.

-Give yourself six months at the very least to go through the sample and production process to assure that you can meet deadlines and have your product sent out to stores & boutiques on time.