All About Showrooms and Sales Reps

[wildeyedundine]

^^^I am ordering from indie designers who are not sold at department stores but rather specialty boutiques such as Satine and Creatures of Comfort. I think the biggest buyer that might carry one or two of my brands is ShopBop, but most are not carried there. The average wholesale for my pricepoint is between $100 and $300 for a blouse or dress.

 

[softgrey]

well-
i would generally think that those guys who are newer...
would be happy to get any orders...

however small they may be...

but bigger is still always better...
i stick with what i said in my last post.
4 styles just doesn't represent a brand enough...
i would say 6-10 styles gives a brand a good presence on the sales floor or website...
4 just feels skimpy...
and i think that is what a good order is...
something that really gets behind a brand/designer and supports its style/vision

compare it to this....
ordering the smallest size of a louis vuitton bag...
it's still the vuitton logo..but it's so small that it just looks chintzy...

 

[wildeyedundine]

Thank you so much for your input, softgrey! It is really appreciated. I definitely would order more if we had a larger budget, but it has been so hard to secure funding for the first season and I don't want to place orders that we won't be able to pay for. I guess I will just have to wait until the second or third season to really make an impression. I just hope the sales reps don't hate me at first!

 

[softgrey]

you are very welcome...


i would try to choose fewer designers and place bigger orders...

well...if it were my shop...that is what i would do...
it's risky but it could pay off if you choose correctly...

 

[starz1]

Finding the perfect sales rep

It seems like designers have to, lol, "date" the sales rep (sorta of) to find out if thats the right rep for them. There's just so many showrooms/sales reps for the high end contemporary market, it's like you would need a e-harmony to find out the best one for you lol.

Dont u guys agree?

 

[kathleen fasanel]

I guess in a way it's true. Unfortunately, beginning designers are usually the ones begging for a date. I'd actually define a relationship with a rep to be like that of a marriage.

 

[ksl8313]

The good reps will not do business with you even if you had a nice line & production capacities, mainly because they don't see the need. They already do make enough money off of what they have and so they don't feel like they need one.
The bad ones also will do business with you but they won't really make any money for you, especially if you are a new designer to the scene.
The sad thing is that there are so many reps, so few good ones.

 

[MsBeej]

How to get your brand repped by showroom/pr?

(Forgive me if this has been covered in another thread; I could not find it)

I have a friend who started a jewelry line but she wants more press & sales. How does this work exactly? I do styling but I'm not sure what to tell her... would she have to pay the showroom to carry her line? Or will they take a percentage of sales? I'm not really sure... if anyone knows, that'd be great!

 

[awwwwfuq]

you send your lookbooks to a showroom and if they decide to pick you up, they make a commission off your sales. here's a list of showrooms...

http://www.modemonline.com/fashion/mini-web-sites/multilabel-showrooms

 

[harlen]

OOhh, this depends actually. There are sales showrooms, sales/PR showrooms, and then strictly PR showrooms.

Sales showrooms do take a commission off sales, but strictly PR showrooms charge a monthly retainer.

 

[starz1]

sales reps that work on just comission?

The grape vine tells me that there are reps that will actually just work on comission AND get u into the ultra fab stores. Like no monthly fee!
Isn't that crazy cool?

Comments?

 

[Derin]

If you are good enough to enter ultra fab stores, then I guess it would be a cool thing for anyone

 

[ClosetCupcake]

I'm interested in working at a showroom. Does anybody know what the approximate salary of a sales rep is, or is it all commission? Any tips on how to find a job at a showroom? Any input would be helpful!

 

[Miss-V]

thats what a showroom likes like. well a luxury one! i will soon be posting photos of what its like at a up and coming LFW designer's studio is like.






Source:
balmainbazaar.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-wardrobecom

 

[ysajnani]

Fashion Buying Agents

Does anybody know of any good Fashion Agents who can represent my fashion label. I am looking for expand in Europe, Middle East and North American. Please any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[Katie123]

Miss-V, is that the my-wardrobe.com showroom in london?

 

[monalisastyle]

hi everyone! we're new to TFS - loving all the great feedback on this thread.

we're based in new york and focus mainly on the contemporary market. from what i know, young emerging designers generally show out of multi-line showrooms (globe showroom, joey showroom, archetype showroom) and pay 10-13% of revenue. the showroom reps often represent more than 1 brand, so this can sometimes work against you since sales reps will be motivated to work harder for brands that are bringing in more dollars. from my experience, young brands are often at a disadvantage because they have nothing to negotiate with and may end up paying a larger commission and get less attention.

multi-line showrooms generally also try to avoid after sales account management like swaps, RAs, and shipping. they prefer to focus on selling and let the designer take over from there.

hope that somewhat helps!

 

[indiegoespop]

How Do Designers Get Their Designs Into Showrooms

I'm sorry if there is a thread about this already.

Anyway, I have a friend who is a designer in Singapore and he is looking for an agent/showroom in NYC to represent his label. He makes jewelry and his label is called lile aux ashby. Can you guys tell me what he should do? Also, can you give me a list of showrooms in NYC that could represent him.

Thank you

 

[BetteT]

There are two threads ... which I found by seaching thread titles for "showrooms".

You have asked 2 different questions ... the first in your title is about how to get a showroom. I will merge this into the ongoing thread about showrooms and how they work.


The second question ... about contact info should probably be asked in this thread as well as here: I need Contact Info for Publicists / Designers / Showrooms / Magazines / Stores / etc

(I also removed the link to your friend's line ... since we don't allow promotional activities here ... just so you know.)

 

[indiegoespop]

I checked both blogs and they didn't help me.