Category: Fashion

Modern factories are sophisticated. They used to be in Hong Kong and China, and now they are everywhere. They are available almost 24 hours a day. They take your design, turn it around as quickly as they can, and get it back to you.
Most people don’t understand how the factory economy works. It’s very similar to the airline industry. If an airplane is one-third-full, it loses money. When it’s about half-full, it makes money. At three-quarters-full, it makes a lot of money. And if it’s running at 100%, it’s making a ton of money.
The word factory in the fashion business refers to textile mills and sewing factories. A sewing factory traditionally is a CMT – Cut, Make, and Trim. They take the raw material and put it on the table, cut it to shape, and assemble it. They deliver a finished garment to you.
A textile mill is different. It has three functions. They spin the yarn, weave or knit it to shape, and then add the dye.
You deliver that raw material to the CMT factory. Designers will frequently tell the factory, “You buy the raw material for me.” The process becomes a little easier. But, remember that if you provide better inputs, you get a superior product. So, the designer should go to the textile mill and get the correct material. Because if you use sub-standard material and assemble it into a beautiful garment, no one may buy it.
You take a similar risk in the CMT when cutting the raw material. How well you cut the cloth, and how much utilization you get from the fabric is a significant part of this online fashion education course. How you assemble the garment is also an important part of the course.

One of the most popular fashion parlor games is figuring out who the consumer is. In the past, brands would construct a profile.

Suppose I were interviewing a CEO or a designer as a journalist. I’d say this: “Who are you trying to sell to? Who is your target audience for this?” And they’d say things like, “We imagine our customer to be Sally, a 20-something-year-old woman who has recently relocated to the city and is working her second job in advertising or the creative arts. She also wants to wear something appropriate for the office, go on that date, and then meet up with her friends afterward.”

They would invent this person in their head.

They would spend all this money on targeting. And find it. Then try to design something for that person. Finally, they’d hope that there was a large enough portion of their target audience to communicate with.

From Gen X to millennials to Gen Z, we’ve been following these diverse generations. People are continually trying to figure out who’s out there. The responses we receive when we ask that question and look at the consumer base, I believe, are so often just too simple.

It’s always been too simple.

If a brand had a vision of its ideal consumer 20 years ago, that person might’ve been out there. But how many of them were out there? We have no idea because people are now trying to speak with 10,000 people at the same time. You won’t be able to accomplish that either.

I’ve always disliked the idea of Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. I don’t believe in generations. It’s sort of like a big thing that people talk about, in my opinion. You have a way of making sense of things.

Millennials are people who are between the ages of 25 and 38. That’s a really broad age range. There are many life cycles between those two points—from someone starting their first job to someone having their third child.

Because it’s such a significant change, and I’m personally skeptical, can you draw all of the conclusions that everyone does? The world is a confusing place. There are people from various walks of life. They’re on the go and doing all these things. Brands are attempting to find some way to think about it and who they can sell to.

Fashion merchandising has the ability to create and transform a retail store’s environment. Whether it’s selecting light wood furniture for an airy, beachy vibe or going with a darker wood to convey a more serious tone, small details set the store’s scene and invite customers to explore. It’s an extension of the design of the garment on display. What is the environment you envision that garment in?

It’s important to lay store merchandise out in a way that’s going to guide the customer around the store. Rather than having potential customers come in, see the first rack of things and leave, merchandising encourages the customers to stay. In the fashion business, you want customers to end up at the back of the store so they then have to make a circle through the store to view all of your merchandise.

Merchandising ties in fashion education and has a creative, theatrical flair that draws attention. When someone stops in front of your store’s window and takes a picture, you’ve already captured the interest of that person who’s now a future potential customer. Writing on the windows and displaying your Instagram QR code means people can scan it and easily go to your Instagram.

From there, a customer can get an online fashion education of sorts on the store, view the store’s Instagram highlights, learn more about the founders and their story, and find out what’s in store and what’s coming soon. All of these tactics are interactive for the client. We want to provide them with ways to interact with the brand and the store before they even step inside. This is something that’s really important in today’s digital age where consumers want to be more educated and conscious about where they shop.

Brand packaging for an ecommerce fashion business is very important.
It’s discouraging as a customer when you get something in a standard plastic shipping envelope and dig inside to find the product you ordered rumpled at the bottom in a plastic bag. You would be turned off if you went to a restaurant where you know the food is good, but it’s spilled all over the edges of the plate. The same is with your packaging. It’s all in the presentation.
Everything your customer touches and sees is your brand. Do not treat packaging, labelling, and branding as an afterthought. If you want someone to love your product, put some care and attention into your packaging. It’s synonymous with the quality of your product and the story of your brand.
Designing your own packaging is going to cost you a bit of money, but you don’t have to spend a ton. Even designing your own little envelope that your product is going to go inside of will show the customer you’ve put thought into your brand.
Spend some time thinking about what type of packaging you’re going to ship your product in and what it will look like when your customer receives it. It’s also the opportunity to show your personality. If you are humoristic and want to take that tongue in cheek approach, you can. If you want to be more serious, you can be that as well.
Shipping your product is an excellent opportunity to personally connect with your customer. Throwing in some extra freebies is a nice way to thank them for supporting your brand. Some examples would be a key ring, stickers, a trinket, a hand-written note, or giving a gift with purchase. These thank you gifts can really be anything and provide that personal touch.

Most brands do a monthly floor set, usually at the beginning of the month. If it’s a traditional store, the store is broken up into different areas. The beginning of a store is the most recent product, the middle of a store is product that’s been around for about a month, and the back of the store is usually product that’s on sale. It could also be more destination and you’re willing to go back there, but it’s usually the older product.

Visual merchandisers usually set their visual calendar 12 months in advance. Nothing in the fashion industry is an accident whatsoever. Everything is coordinated with the design team to get that original vision of what that product is. Then the visual team buys props for the floor set. For example, if it’s a summer delivery and the theme is Barcelona, the visual merchandisers would buy different props for the window and throughout the store to tell the story of the aesthetic and bring it to life.

This is the key driver to get a customer into the store. It’s also the key driver when shopping online. The new and exciting product is the first thing usually seen on the landing page. It always has a theme.

Classic stores, like Louis Vuitton, always have their great basics, but a couple times a year, they promote their hot, new items. Those are the items that visual merchandisers will always highlight in the windows and highlight throughout the store as must-have items.

The other thing with visual merchandising is that it’s very personal. Visual merchandisers need a sharp eye and to be able to pay attention to detail. It’s about bringing the brand promise to life. Whether it’s fixing a mannequin, how a mannequin’s arm is positioned, how a garment might be tucked in, or how a hand might be propped. They might be small details, but it’s really this keen eye of a visual merchandiser that brings everything to life.

It’s been studied that the customer walks from the right, counterclockwise around the store. It’s the goal of the visual merchandiser to bring a customer in and continue that story all the way around. The story needs to continue to be interesting as the customer makes their way around the store.

If you’re a classification business like a denim business, you may have one fit of jeans. However, you need to have that in different colors and washers and probably different fabric weights. That’s planning a range with the same items made with various components, different stretch levels, and for different end-users.
One may be white denim, another black denim. While you may have the same item or product, you’ve created it in different ways, ensuring that the client doesn’t pick between them. Essentially, a client might say, “Today, I want a pair of white jeans because it’s July and it’s summer, and that’s what I wanna wear.” They’ll buy the white jean, wear them, and probably say, “Wow, the fit is fantastic. I’ll go back, get the black jean, raw denim, and the stretch because I love them.” You’ve had successful range planning with this approach because you’ve enabled the consumer to get into your product. The client has also seen the opportunity to buy more of that product to complete their wardrobe.
We all have a pyramid in our closets. At the pyramid’s bottom, we have most of our basic stuff. T-shirts, jeans, or a ton of sneakers. Mostly, these are things that you use every day. The next layer has things that are a little nicer, preferably clothes for work. Or probably when you go on a date or dinner with your loved one. At the top of the line, you’ll probably have suits or tuxedos or high fashion items that you don’t wear often. In that sense, you should develop your line similarly.
What are the basic things you want to sell? Well, you want to sell a great tee. How many colors do you need? You probably need four or five colors in a great tee to have some assortment of it. Then, you probably need a polo rugby shirt with some embroidery on it. That’s a little bit of fashion, so you might need three different colors.
While building your product line, focus first on the price points. The more expensive things are, the less of it you should do. If you find a beautiful jacket that’ll cost a lot of money, you probably only need one of these. Because you won’t sell a lot of them. But in essence, you still need somewhat of a collection because no buyer will buy everything you do.

As a fashion company grows, they need to sell more than just one product. Typically, a fashion company starts with that one great idea – that perfect dress that’s perfectly on trend and everybody wants it. From there, you have to grow your business and think about how to scale. In fashion business, the typical way one does this is through building a range of products.

It might seem quite simple to think of just adding bags and shoes to our mix, but it really is much more than that. The most expensive part of any sort of business is creating new concepts. They take a lot of time and typically take several samples to get right. In other words, somebody has to make a full bag or dress before we know if it fits right and if it’s in line with our other products in terms of quality. This can take some time and it’s quite expensive.

You must be careful in terms of new products you’re going to include because of the added overhead. Another piece you have to consider is the expertise. If your expertise is in creating and designing ready-to-wear clothes, you probably didn’t have fashion education to learn how to make bags or shoes. Shoemaking is a very complex art form.

In terms of sourcing materials, you’re going to have to source from completely different places. For instance, you can’t just decide to make denim if you’ve been making pants, they’re very different. You have to have different machines in order make denim. You’re going to need the expertise of somebody who knows how to design it from a technical point of view as well as production that can scale and make enough to sell for it to be worthwhile.

Deciding whether to sell wholesale and/or direct to consumer is a common question in the fashion industry. Many factors come into play on making this decision, including the fashion brand’s business model, negotiation with buyers and manufacturers, and sales data.

If you’re a fashion company that sells to wholesalers and direct to consumers, you have to consider the buyers’ opinions. At market, when buyers give their feedback and write orders, you’ll often find you have to negotiate with them to take a chance on new styles that give a proper representation of the collection.

After orders are placed, you’ll then go to your manufacturer and present your orders for fulfillment. Some manufacturers will require a larger quantity of units. Drawing from your fashion education, you then have to analyze your collection and say, “Well, if I only have orders for 500, am I going to put in the other order for 500? Is it really that crucial to our assortment or our collection this season?”

Sometimes it’s worth placing the order. Other times it isn’t. If you have a wholesale and a direct to consumer (DTC) model, it’s a combination of opinions that determines what actually goes into the market, into stores or online for that season. If you’re a completely DTC company, you’re tapping into online fashion education, trend forecasting, and looking at sales data to see what performed well and what didn’t in past seasons.

On the flip side, you want to make sure you’re not over-saturating the market and there’s still demand to ensure you won’t have excess supply. It depends on the business model you’re in and the business model you would like to have. This will determine how you successfully plan for the assortment you’re going to release each season.

Popups are a spectacular avenue for brands to gain exposure through creative activations. For one, popups aren’t a long-term commitment; they allow brands to test the waters before opening up a brick and mortar or locking into a lease. Second, popup shops create a sense of excitement around the said brand, event, service, or product. The best aspect of popup shops, however, is their ability to drive conversations, giving brands and business owners an opportunity to directly communicate with people who are interested in what they have to offer or sell.

Gucci, North Face, and Lululemon are prime examples of high fashion business enterprises that have cultivated customer loyalty through their brand identity. At their storefronts you might see longer lines and customers getting excited about making a purchase. A positive experience and initial interaction with a brand can have a lasting impact on the customer. It can even convert them into lifetime customers.

Experiential Marketing Drives Traffic
As consumers, we like to experience the new, and relish the experience long after it has ended. That’s why during fashion weeks in places such as Paris or Milan, popups have been largely successful. When things are experiential and playful, customers tend to gravitate toward it. Miami Art Basel, LA and other larger cities or events that draw lots of foot traffic are prime destinations for popups in the realm of fashion.

Fashion popups are also a magnificent opportunity for brands to identify what locations will be best suited for their business if they were to open up a storefront. Digitally native brands can mine data from their online customer base and do a test run with a pop up to see how it will do in that particular environment. It is a cost-effective marketing strategy for direct to consumer brands who’ve hit the ceiling on their online traffic.

Online v.s. In Store Purchases

Anyone can make a purchase for a clothing item online with a few clicks of a button. but having a conversation really sells the consumer on who and what is going on and how they can connect with the brand. It makes the brand relatable and customers feel a stronger connection to the brands they are buying from. Online fashion education can only extend so far; that’s why it’s worth it to give potential customers the opportunity to touch, feel, and see fashion pieces up close and personal.

A new category of footwear is changing the footwear business and the approach to footwear design. There are traditional categories of men’s and women’s shoes. Now unisex gender footwear is popular. This requires product developers to have a new footwear education before designing a new shoe.

Unisex footwear design is challenging but it’s being done with increasing success. The key challenge is designing the lasts of the shoe. There are anatomical differences between men’s and ladies’ feet. Men’s and ladies’ shoe designs try to respect these differences. Product developers are now trying to build footwear that can be marketed to both men and women.

Unisex footwear tries to be comfortable for both men and women. Product designers are trying to accomplish this task by adding a little extra padding or enabling the wearer to make minor adjustments to the shoe for personal comfort. This may include laces or closures that can be adjusted to help the shoe feel more natural on the foot.

I started in men’s footwear thinking I would eventually move into women’s footwear. Women’s footwear seemed like a crossword puzzle. There were so many variables. You could have a high heel or a low heel. Square toes or pointy toes. Men’s shoes seemed like they only had one variable. They had low or flat heels. It is a basic shoe. Men’s footwear seemed to be simpler but I discovered it is challenging. The years have taught me that you have to put a lot of creativity into making a shoe that a man would buy.

I am a female footwear product designer. I don’t have the perspective of a male to understand what a guy would wear. I have to really think about it. I have to ask myself: what would he wear? Why would he wear it? Why would he buy it? These same questions apply when designing unisex footwear. Always keep the wearer in mind when designing a new shoe and work backward from there.