Are You Ready? For Fashion
This conference is only one of it's kind in Slovakia, organised by the Slovak Fashion Council aimed at educating and inspiring people who are captivated by their passion for fashion {it's simply in their heart :)}.
It consisted of a few lectures and several presentations given by slovak designers (including Drevená Helena) wishing to present their brand in the elevator pitch format. You know, meeting someone important in the elevator, having a few seconds to a very few minutes to spit all the valuable stuff you have to say at the individual, in hope to spot some interest in his or her eyes after leaving the elevator.
Okay, let me come back to the main speaker, Hannah Middleton who's got probably the most "know-how" out of us all in terms of brands selling globally. She has the position of a buyer of fashion brands and collections for House of Fraiser, Arkacia Group or John Lewis and so on. Big player, huh? Or more like a very smart and successful woman! If that isn't impressive enough she teaches at London College of Fashion part-time. I'm quite jealous of her students now, they get priceless advice from her experience. Hopefully next year I will be able to attend a few of her lectures as a student of ual.
This time I was able to grab some advice myself, so I did! ... and I want to share it with you lot.
"The world is one's oyster..."
The presentation started flowing from the concept of emerging and established markets. We can consider Western Europe, USA and Japan as established whereas China, India, Russia, Brazil and the Middle East.
It's difficult to enter an established market, you need to find a gap. How can you be different as a brand from the tons of others? Slovak fashion is unestablished and quite unknown to the UK market therefore it has a little hope.
In an emerging market it's quite different. You can expect high rates of growth and it's easier to enter as such. The risks are however that this may not work in the long run.
Other factors, which may affect your entry into the market are:
- Cultural proximity
The UK based designers try to get into America since they share a certain form of culture (obvs. to some extent). Spanish try to butt into Latin America, because again there is some sort of cultural understanding, a bond between these two.
- Physic distance
e.g. practical difficulties (shipping costs, distribution)
"You must first be established in the local market very well before you start expanding to foreign markets. If you are a young designer it is not easy to become quickly recognisable because of the lack of access to a wide global audience." - Mary Katrantzou
You should, but might not have heard of Mary. She is a very successful young designer from Greece. I'll come back to talk about Mary some other time. For now it's enough to know that her dresses sell at £30,000 and above.
Whether you are about to enter an established or emerging market you must be sure of your brands ethos, understanding what you represent as a brand as well as a designer. This needs to run through your collection as a message.There are 6 entry methods:
- franchise
- licensing
- wholesale
- joint venture
- wholly owned (costly) - concession - flagship
- internet
More advice:
Standardize - stick with who you are (image/message)- who do you see your customer as?
Adapt - how do you appeal to different cultures? people?
Hannah gave an example on this one. She was working with Paul Smith and they entered the Indian market, they had success, but probably not as much success that they had planned. What they soon realised was that they have to adapt to the existing Indian consumer. Something that might work in the UK doesn't always work in another country. In the case of Paul Smith, what they recognised was a demand for their product, but there was also demand for colour and for Indian style coloured jackets, Indian coloured shirts. They didn't change the whole collection. They didn't change their whole brand image. They didn't change in what they believed in. What they did do, is that they introduced a series of pieces within their collection, which was appropriate to the Indian consumer and what the Indian consumer was demanding; injecting colour, number of different fabrications of Indian shirts and suits.
Paul Smith India - The Ghoda cycle project
Or working with mulberry, they were particularly concerned with the fact that often their campaigns are misinterpreted overseas. They are still focusing on being British and their campaigns are very very British. There is evidence for it, elements, which are very traditional to the UK. Not kind of what perhaps you would consider British, so not a red letter box or a big telephone box, but things such as a stick of rock, which is a sweet you buy when you go to the beach. Same with ice cream, a particular style of ice cream, with which British have affiliation with. When you take that idea overseas there's confusion. Make considerations about the local market and the market to, which your product will be introduced into.
Getting noticed - buying process
Bare in mind that there are two fashion seasons by that I mean Dec-Feb and Aug-Oct. This is important to understand, because a buyer has a certain budget, which needs to be spend. It is important for the designer to complete everything before this season, from the collection itself to catalogues, lookbook and other marketing tricks.
Due to recession, consumers are becoming more and more fussy and picky. Buyers sometimes hold back a percentage of their budget for fast injections into their collections.
Fashion Shows are only marketing tools to show what you can do, it consists of very little purchasing. Buyers come to trade shows; they are able to speak to the designer and negotiate.
What is important to realise when selling to buyers ? First of all, they want a collection that is going to work, a brand that will be there in the long-run.
There is an unwritten rule about this. Buyers like to see you around for a few seasons before they decide to buy your collection. They like to be confident that you are going to be around, assessing whether you are there only for the short-run or long-run.
No. of different ways:
Go to trade shows, showrooms, of do so called "suitcase" selling
However, be sure you want to show this way and consider your target. Even things like the time of the year when your targeted consumer goes to a holiday are important. It is crucial to understand him on, on his weekly basis. Imagine having a consumer that goes to work, presumably works in office and straight after work goes out. You need to work on a collection, which will be both fine and comfortable for work and going out.
Take ASOS, they have 3 consumers targeted. It helps them to design and sell globally, finding the right mix.
Response of buyers
They are busy and anxious to minimise risks and maximise profit.. They are looking for the product that is realistic to the market, asking themselves "well, will this sell?"
They might seem rude, but don't take it personally, it might just be because they are very busy and you are not their no. one priority that day.
They need to ask themselves:
Will this fit with my consumer? Is this fashionable enough? Or too fashionable for my consumer?
They simply try to make as much money for the business as possible. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. What you need to be able to do is think on your feet. Be sure of the lowest price at which you can sell your product for. They will push you, but stay realistic. Be sure of what you can agree to. Being confident and able to answer these questions will only help. They might like your product, but they might be searching for something different at that time or might already have a very similar product.
Buyers are under pressure to make profit, that means selling the collection and ideally at full price. In order for the collection to sell it needs to have some basic items - wearable everyday, core products. Also, elements, which are wild and exciting, which make the collection unique, representing the brand.
Customers NEED to see it in an outfit before buying, they don't have the know-how (even if they think they do). Show how the key pieces can go with what.
So,
wow the buyer,
be prepared for questions and support your answers,
show flexibility (e.g. exclusive collection),
and most importantly don't take their opinion too personally instead try to understand their feedback. Their opinion could be very subjective.
You need to give the buyer confidence that they can rely on you.
- know the market
- concept of the brand - stories/heritage helps
- know your turnover
- know your price points
- make sure you have a reliable base supply
- definite wholesale price - ideally not a round figure since this shows you've done everything possible to keep it down.
- consider stock swaps
- think about contribution to shop fits, staff training, marketing - can you offer time costs or financial costs
- think about the location in the store
- minimum guarantee
- payment terms - can you do TT payment? returns?
This post is way over what I would read myself, so let me keep successful brands and its justification for the next post .
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