Get Your Fashion Line to Market: Introduction to Wholesaling

2. Pricing Your Line: - Hi, - guys. - I'm Erica's Rouleau, - one of the co founders of Of a Kind. - And welcome to our skill share course. - This class is all about wholesaling your line and getting it into retail locations, - so the course is broken down into four units. - The 1st 1 is all about pricing your line, - which is a really huge component of actually wholesaling. - The second is all about photographing your line and presenting it in the best possible - light. - The third is about look, - books and lying sheets, - putting years together and figuring out what the differences between the two and the fourth - is about approaching buyers and getting into retail locations. - So let's dive into our very first unit on pricing. - So first things first. - It's really important to understand industry standards, - so retailers have mark ups that they typically use for various product categories, - and those actually vary a lot across different product categories. - So for housewares, - the standard markup is typically around two times, - which means if you were to wholesale a base for $10 a retailer would probably sell it for - close to $20 so 10 times two equals one, - but a perilous different. - The standard markups there are typically between 2.2 and 2.5, - but for accessories were talking jewelry and handbags. - Small leather goods You're looking at a 2.52 even three times mark up. - So when you're thinking about how to price your line, - it's really important to consider these factors. - It's also really important to understand the fact that retailers may vary their mark ups - from one to another so small boutique say, - may have a lower markup than a big retailer. - And if you're feel really strongly about your line being priced a very particular way, - say you don't want your rings sold above or below a certain price, - that something you should make very clear to the buyers early on and have that conversation - when you're working out your purchase orders. - So now that you have a sense of standard mark ups, - you can play around with Handy Dandy, - a little pricing spreadsheet that we made for you. - So it's an Excel file that you can download, - and if you don't have excel, - you can upload it to do Google docks, - and you can start plugging your numbers in Okay, - so let's play around with this spreadsheet. - Now let's enter in some data. - So basically all you do is type in in the yellow cells, - your material costs or labor costs. - Any other expenses. - Associate ID The wholesale markup. - Meaning how much your multiplying your material costs, - labor costs and expenses by to create your wholesale price, - which will determine your profit. - What you, - the designer are taking home and then you enter the retail markup, - which, - as we talked about before, - can vary from retailer to retailer and also varies across product category. - And then these non highlighted sells the wholesale price, - profit and retail price categories will be automatically calculated. - When you entering your data, - they have formulas in them. - Okay, - so let's do an example. - Say you are selling handbag and material costs are $30. - The labor costs are $20 you don't have any other expenses associated with this item. - So if you keep your wholesale market it to your profit when you sell, - each bag would be $50 you would be wholesaling it to retailers for $100. - Let's say the retailer's mark up is 2.5, - which is pretty standard for accessories like we talked about before. - That could give you a $250 retail price. - Or maybe let's play with that retail markup and say that the retailer has a higher mark up - of 3.0, - which is still, - you know, - within that range that we talked about it being industry standard that makes your retail - price the retail price they're selling your bag. - Four To store $300 let's do some more playing. - Let's say that you bring your material costs down. - Let's say that you find another supplier that can help you bring your read your price down - to 25 Oops, - $25 which you'll see effects not only your profit, - your wholesale price, - but also the retail price. - Or let's play with this and make your mark up closer to 2.5 so that you're taking home - $67.50. - But you'll see that that really dramatically affects the retail price. - It added over $50 here. - So play with this until you get to a point where you feel comfortable or the numbers land. - And so at this point, - I think it's really useful to step back and think about who your target audiences. - Who do you think the person is that's going to be buying your pieces from your amazing line - ? - So let's say you're playing around with that pricing spreadsheet that, - as we were before, - and you land on $600 for a cuff in your line. - But let's say that your customer is maybe a girl in her twenties, - and she might not have $600 to spend on a cough on on the regular. - So at that point, - you have to think about either one rethinking about who your audiences and trying to target - a different customer, - which we can move on to and units two and three when we talk about photography and building - out your look, - book and lion sheet and you know, - putting the other the presentation materials for your line. - Or you can think about how to achieve a similar aesthetic with your cough for a lower price - , - a price point that your customer might be more comfortable with so you can play around with - your material costs. - Maybe it's sourcing stones for your cuff that are a little less expensive. - Or maybe it's gold plating instead, - of casting in solid gold on. - And these are all things that are really important to think about to make sure that your - you know the aesthetics of your line. - Um, - and the pricing of your line actually gets into the hand of customers because the ultimate - goal here is to sell things right, - even if you aren't ready to start wholesaling your line right now, - if you're just starting to explore the idea, - it's worth taking some time to consider how the your direct sale business might affect your - the wholesale business that you eventually hope to build. - So every now and then, - I will discover designer that we want to work with for all mankind who maybe is selling - silk T shirts on her own cider on her Etsy shop for $30. - But when we reach out to that designer about potentially working together, - we discover that basically, - that designer is selling that she shirt for what is ostensibly her wholesale price. - But she's selling it directly to consumers for that price, - which could be a really complicated thing. - It doesn't allow any wiggle room for a retailer to come in. - So for retailer were to pick up her line and market up, - say, - 2.2, - or for this example 2.5 times, - they would end up selling her T shirt for $75 which is pretty dramatically different than - $30 which is a complicating factor. - So either the designer would have to readjust her pricing, - Um, - so selling her own shirts on her site for $75 in order to avoid undercutting the retailer. - Or there'd be this huge price disparity. - And if the designer changes her pricing, - that can upset those early customers who got really comfortable with the idea of paying $30 - for a silk T shirt. - So that's it for Unit one. - I hope you learned something, - and I hope you spend some time playing with that handy spreadsheet. - Figuring out pricing for your line is a really key component of establishing your brand and - getting into the the best retail accounts that you can, - um, - and up next Unit two on photography 3. Photographing Your Line: - Hi. - I'm clear Maser and in the other co founder of a kind Today I'm gonna lead you through unit - to which is all about photography. - So you'll need to take pictures of everything in your line. - You need it for your look book. - You're lying. - Cheat pitching, - press your website, - and this is especially important if you're doing e commerce. - In general, - photographs are so important to what you're doing. - I cannot tell you how many times have been sent a look book or a line sheet being pitched - by a designer. - And we end up passing it over cause it seems like it's just not that great. - Then we end up walking the trade show and seeing the same line and really loving it when - we've seen it in person. - And we wonder why we passed over it the first time we saw it. - So just keep in mind that a lot of times photographs could be the first and maybe last time - that someone interacts with your lines. - Do you really want to nail this before you even pick up a camera? - The first thing you want to think about is what sort of a photographic style you're going - for? - What are the things that are most important to your brand? - And how are you gonna convey those things through photography? - Take a minute to think about the photography style that's most representative of your lying - . - Do you want to go with natural lighting or do you want to bring in studio lights? - Is important to you to have a hair and makeup person? - Or do you want to spend that money on something like a better model or about a photographer - ? - If you are, - for example, - shooting Fine jewelry line, - it's probably worth it to invest in a photographer who's worked with a fine worked with - fine jewelry before because that person is going to know how to capture all the details of - your products. - But if you're going for a basic sign, - that's really more about a mood and a lifestyle. - It's probably worth spending a little more time and maybe a little bit more money on a - model who can really capture the look and feel that you're going for at of a kind. - We're big fans of using natural like places with big, - sunny windows and outdoor spaces. - In addition to being pretty cost effective. - It's right for our brand. - It's right in terms of telling the story that we're trying to sell to tell. - We also don't invest a lot of time in hair and makeup. - We like more natural look, - but that may not be what's right for you. - If you're someone like Katie or Emilio who's designing high end evening where then you can - probably get away with a really minimal backdrop and not a lot of props. - But you do want to make sure you're spending the money on a model who really nails your - aesthetic. - Who is really gonna make your gallons shine? - And it's probably also worth putting some time and energy into things like hair and makeup - , - because that's really important when people are looking at things like evening. - Where once you've got your plan in place, - it's time to start thinking about what sort of equipment you need. - Most of the equipment we're gonna talk about here you can rent directly from camera supply - stores in your area, - or if you think it's worth investing in a piece long term and you do want to buy it, - look at places like Amazon and eBay. - First that might have used components for West. - First thing you'll need is a camera. - You don't necessarily need to hire a professional photographer for this, - but you do need to have a good DSLR camera on hand. - You can't do this with an iPhone. - You can't do this with a point and shoot. - In addition to the camera, - you need to think about what other sort of accessories you need. - So if you are not using natural light, - you do want to bring in special lights for this. - If you are shooting something like fine jewelry or any products with small, - fine details on it that a regular lens can't capture, - make sure you get your hands on a macro lens cause you're gonna be able to get a lot more - detail around things like small gemstones, - other things that can come in really handy during a shooter. - Some things like a light reflector tripod clamps for holding lights, - which can also be really useful for adjusting fit for apparel and think about white - backdrops for shooting a peril. - We really like to use either a seamless white backdrop for a large white flat, - which is essentially a massive piece of foam poor or if you're shooting small products like - jewelry. - A lot of people really love something called a light tent, - which could grab off Amazon as well. - The other thing, - you're gonna want to start to think about our crops. - So are you shooting a vase? - You're gonna want to grab some flowers so people can see what the flowers look inside. - The days. - Are you shooting a handbag? - Make sure you have some objects that you can put inside of it. - People always want to see how much a hand. - But I can hold on what it looks like stuffed, - and it's also really helpful for providing context in terms of scale. - We love whenever a bag can fit an iPad or a laptop because it's such a big selling point. - So we always make a point of shooting on I pad or laptop inside of the bag's. - Whether you're shooting apparel, - jewelry, - accessories or anything else, - you should always shoot everything both on white and on body or, - in the case of HomeGoods, - style in it in its natural setting. - So that means if it's a vase, - shoot it on white so we can see the details but also shoot it sitting on a night stand with - some flowers in it. - Each type of shots serves its own purpose on whites. - Convey information about the details in the material of the peace, - while the on bodies were the editorial shots served fried context about size, - scale, - utility and the overall sensibility of your line. - This is always really relevant in the context of jewelry. - So let's say you're shooting a really delicate diamond ring we want to see on White so that - we can see the quality in the cut of the diamonds. - We want to see the exact shape of the ring. - But we also want to see the Ring Warren on someone's finger because we want to see how big - it is, - where it sits on that person's finger, - the jewelry and handbag line. - Lizzie Fortunato does a great job of combining both of these types of images in there. - Look book, - so check this out in the photo On the left, - you get a real sense of the labels sensibility because you see the model, - what she's wearing, - how her hair and makeup or done. - But the necklace in the handbag, - which are the pieces that the line is selling are really popping within this picture. - And then in the photo on the right, - you have just a on white of the bags. - You really have a chance to get a sense of the quality of the leather, - the hardware, - the stone detail ing the things you really want to understand about the bag itself. - All right, - that's it. - You're ready to go out and photograph your line. - Just make sure you've really thought it through beforehand, - and you take your time on set to really get it right. 4. Presenting Your Line: - We're in Unit three already, - and this unit is all about putting together your look book and you're lying sheet. - And so the first question is, - what are look books and what airline sheets and how do you use them? - What are their roles? - First, - the look Book. - The Look Book is really meant to showcase your line, - to convey your aesthetic how you would style pieces really show them in their element so - you can present them in the best possible. - Like and then the line, - she is more like an information dump. - It should have everything that a buyer would potentially need to decide whether or not to - pick up a piece for his or her store. - So we're talking about wholesale pricing, - different variants like a color or fabric materials sizing. - All of those details should be right there in a very accessible way to really get a handle - on the difference between a look book in a line, - she let's look at an example. - So here is a look book from Rachel Rose. - You can see that her pieces air styled on a model. - There's pretty minimal hair and makeup because that's sort of how she presents her line. - Everything's very easy to wear. - Easy fitting, - hand painted and dyed silk pieces, - but it's all you know meant to convey the Rachel Rose vibe. - But then, - if you look at her line sheet here, - there isn't a model. - It's very simple. - She uses these sort of line drawings, - demonstrate the shapes of her collection better, - much, - you know, - sort of more flat. - Um, - we can sort of got go either way on those. - Um, - you don't have to do this by any stretch, - but we do love about her line. - She is that they're swatches of each of the fabrics that the piece is available in right - there on the page, - which means you don't have to flip back and forth between either and sort of appendix that - would exist in the line sheet or with a look book to say, - OK, - what what is the florals? - Print? - What is the leaves print? - It's great to have everything side by side to that point about flipping back and forth toe - look a fabric swatches. - Be thoughtful about how someone will navigate your look book and your line sheet, - the more digestible that you could make the information, - the easier it will be for you to engage buyers, - and that will ultimately help when you are selling your line. - So we love. - As Claire mentioned in the Last unit, - when designers include on white product shots, - it's of this winter for Grace Example. - Here she has all of the information you would need under pictures off the jewelry that you - comptel exacts. - You can tell exactly what you're getting. - We also love when designers include MSRP, - ease, - Air suggested retail prices. - That means it eliminates the need for doing a lot of mental maths. - We don't have to sit there and think, - OK, - if that bracelet wholesales for $30 then we'd have to sell it for $70 $80. - This is really great to just have all the information right in front of you. - Something else that we just love love. - Love is when designers do a look book in line sheet in one, - and I'm not talking about just sort of attaching them with the line sheet of the end of the - look book or something, - I mean, - fully integrating them. - So if you look at this example from the line o sage, - Euro you can see that on the one side of the page there's a picture look, - book style image of a model in the piece that they're that they're referencing on this page - . - Under it, - you can get off the sizing details and then right on the right side of the page, - you have all the various fabric options, - the wholesale prices of suggested retail prices, - making it really easy for us to figure out exactly what's happening. - And we don't have to flip back and forth at all. - You can digest it all right here. - Once you have a handle on how you want to present your materials, - you should think about how people are going to consume that. - Is this something that you want to be handing out at a trade show? - Our event on, - And if so, - it makes sense probably to get printed copies. - But even if you are getting printed copies, - we don't suggest spending a lot of money on them. - At the end of the day, - people are ultimately going to throw them away, - probably sooner than you wish that they would. - So a simple Kinko's job will absolutely cut it, - a staple in the corner is totally fine. - What you're trying to do here is to get your materials in front of people in a way that - they can consume. - And it is not about the quality of the paper, - the quality of your line and the way you're presenting it should definitely be enough. - We end of the day always prefer to have file sent to us digitally, - so an optimized pdf is great or a link to a dropbox or high tail download in an email. - And, - um, - we also love when you include a link to your website so that we can get a better handle on - exactly the aesthetic of your line and can explore past collections as well. - Speaking of websites, - you should definitely have one if you don't already. - Squarespace is a really good place to start. - If you check out Nikki Chasen's website here, - you can scroll through her collections on her squarespace site, - and it very much gets the job done. - Also, - even just setting up a tumbler with your contact information and images of your look book - will do in a pinch. - You really want to make it as easy as possible for someone to access images from your most - recent collections when you're not reaching out to them. - So if someone discovers you via, - you know, - a little press hit on the Web Or if they did, - you hear your name from a friend of theirs who bought a piece from your line, - you won't be able to discover your materials as easily as possible. - What's the best way to present look book images on your website? - We pretty much despise Flash. - And so it is Apple. - So we're in pretty good company on that one. - Um, - so I'm gonna walk you through a couple of examples that we do really like. - Wanna lay in a coma in sight. - If you click on collections, - you can scrawl very easily through all of the images from her spring collection. - And as a buyer, - I could grab one of these images. - I could file it away somewhere I could email the designer and say, - You know, - I wanted these pants and, - you know, - could get 20 units in a certain size. - It's all very accessible. - It doesn't require a lot of navigating and sinking. - Same goes with Samantha Pleats site. - Hers is actually formatted a lot more like a print look book. - And if you click on an individual image, - it blows up so that you can grab it here a swell. - And as you'll notice under each of the images, - it has the number, - a name and number for each look, - which makes it very easy to reference everything that's happened. - Ultimately, - the message of this unit is to keep it simple. - There's a lot of temptation to add bells and whistles and, - you know, - fancy flash and videos and crazy backgrounds and your look books and, - you know, - jazzy papers for all of your printed materials. - But ultimately, - buyers really just want to be able to consume the information, - um, - and get what they need out of it so that they can place an order with you. - That's what we're going for here. - So hopefully this unit was helpful and we're moving on to our last one, - which is all about actually reaching buyers and getting your pieces into their stores. 5. Reaching Buyers: - in our final unit, - we're gonna talk about how to actually go about selling your line and getting it on the - radar. - Fires start out by thinking about participating in retail events that are targeted directly - to consumers but tend to have a lot of buyers trolling around looking for young designers. - So check out things like the Renegade Craft Fair, - which travels across the country, - does market in Chicago and busts holiday craft tacular in New York City. - Certain boutiques who are focused on fostering new talent even have events specifically to - invite young designers in to show off their line. - So thistle and clover in Brooklyn is a great example of this. - If the boutique that you're really targeting doesn't have something like this, - sometimes it's worthwhile to just pop in and drop off your look book for the buyer, - make a list of what boutiques you'd love to have your line in and go ahead and just cold. - Email the buyers at those boutiques. - Keep the email short and sweet. - No one wants to read a lot and make sure you include a link to your site as well as your - look book and your line. - She personally as a buyer. - I love when people include a link to the line sheet instead of attaching it to the email so - it doesn't clog up my inbox. - Another option is to start thinking about online showrooms. - These air essentially online wholesale market places which facilitate the process of you - wholesaling your lines directly to buyers. - So check out places like Drawer Motor List and pop market, - which help this process along. - Okay, - so now we're gonna talk about trade shows. - Trade shows can be kind of a beast that can be really expensive and time consuming, - but oftentimes they're worth it because they do exist solely to introduce your line to - buyers. - And oftentimes fires will even write orders right there on the spot. - So trade shows tend to take place the week after Fashion Week in most major fashion cities - , - So think New York, - Los Angeles, - Paris and what they are are a chance for you to set up a booth and sit around for a day or - two while buyers walk up and down all of the different booths and check out your line in - New York City, - we always make a point of checking out capsule man and woman and for home goods. - We like to hit up New York now, - which used to be called the New York International Gift Show. - We personally love it when designers man, - there are booths. - It's nice to get a chance to talk to the people directly and ask them about their line. - If for any reason you can't be the one to man your own booth, - just make sure you're sending someone in your place who really knows you're lying inside - and out can answer all possible questions. - So that person should be able to answer questions about production time and minimums and - things like that, - so that if the buyer is coming to and is really interested in buying your line, - they have all the answers. - When you're really ready to get serious about selling your line to buyers, - it's time to start considering showrooms showrooms a responsible for managing all of the - wholesale sales of your line directly to retailers a lot of times their showrooms that also - help you with your PR. - Part of the beauty of the showroom setting is that the people running the show room often - times have a lot of pre existing and positive relationships with buyers. - And because you're grouped in with a lot of other lines, - you have the opportunity to get seen by a buyer who might not have come in specifically to - see your line. - So let's say a buyer who often buys from another line in your showroom is there to check - out their fall collection. - The person who runs ashore was also probably gonna make a point to show that buyer your - collection so you have the opportunity to sort of piggyback off of that other business. - Another option to consider with showrooms is using them only for a specific part of their - business. - So say you're really eager to start targeting international buyers, - but you don't have the connections or the capacity to start seeking out those introductions - . - You can work with a showroom just specifically for international sales of your line. - Or maybe you have a handbag line, - but you're also starting to do jewelry. - So you have a lot of relationships with handbag buyers, - but not necessarily with jewelry. - It may be worth considering starting out your jewelry sales with a showroom to start to get - on the radar. - Jewelry buyers and finally, - my best advice about all of this is not to get discouraged and just to keep at it. - A lot of times, - buyers want to keep an eye on the line for a while before they go and bite at it. - So you might some your collection four times before they finally ready to buy. - Just because they don't buy it the first time doesn't mean they're not interested. - It may be that they've already spent their budget for that season, - or they like it, - but it's just not quite there yet. - So that's a time when it's really make sense to ask for feedback, - because that feedback could be so useful. - Buyers have a really good sense of what their customer likes, - and having that sort of feedback can really help build your lying. - All right, - that's it. - You should be ready to go out and sell your line. - Now, - once you've gone through all this and you've taken your pictures and you've gotten your - look book ready, - go ahead and shoot it to us as designers at of a kind dot com so we can take a look to let - us know if you have any questions