What better place to start learning about the business of fashion but the garment district? Our team of 8 ambitious teenagers began their journey in the design studio of Jodi Arnold, an established fashion designer. We all gathered around Jodi in her huge loft space as she introduced us to the odds and ends of what it takes to run a fashion line- we quickly learned that it is much more than sketching dresses all day! Nearby her production manager was making adjustments to a dress on a fit model while someone else was updating the clothing racks surrounding us.
In between answering questions from her staff, Jodi spoke to us about everything from sourcing, sample making, production and getting the product out there. We learned that we needed to approach people who buy for stores if we wanted to get our product out to the public. Jodi told us that she started out by knocking door to door at small boutiques, presented at trades shows and finally made it to showrooms in major cities.
Jodi explains to us what a "look book" is.
Before Jodi disappeared for her next meeting, she offered us the opportunity to wander through her huge loft to meet her staff. The studio was buzzing with activity; first we met the PR team and they told us of the challenges they face trying to get noticed by fashion editors - besides thinking creatively, they suggested a lot of networking. Roxanne, the production manager took time out to tell us how she is in charge of making sure Jodi's designs get made and placed in stores across the world. She follows the process from NYC to China, sometimes to India and back to the USA- wow, that is some responsibility. Next we met a design assistant who was making changes to a beaded design that will be embroidered in India, a pattern maker was adjusting a silk screen print that needed to be placed just the right way on a pattern and sample makers were busy in the back sewing new samples to be sent to their factory in China. Thank you Jodi for welcoming us into your studio, we learned a lot- and it's not even noon time.
http://www.jodiarnoldnyc.com/
As we were heading to the train that would take us to our conference room at 14 Wall Street we noticed a Fashion Kiosk, we decided to stop in and see what they could tell us about launching a fashion line. There are many ways to find resources and information about the business you want to start, you just need to be resourceful. We asked the girl sitting in the kiosk if she knew of any handbag manufacturers in the area and she quickly printed out a list for us. That was easy.
Somewhere between eating lunch and meeting a former merchandiser from Nike, we finally met the product we were gathered to launch. So, what is this mysterious product we are so eagerly trying to put into production you ask? The Binder Bag! Binder bag is a sleeve that disguises your nerdy binder as a fashionable handbag!
Okay, now we have a product, what next? According to our guest speaker from Nike, we need to do some research about our target market and competion and find out what our price point is. (How much will people pay for the Binder Bag?). We also need to identify retailers that fit our style and might be interested in buying our product. We learned about product positioning and why choosing the right "shopping experience" is important to attract customers. We talked a lot about marketing during the week.
Not wasting any time we hit the blustery, snowy streets of Soho to do some market research. We ducked in an out of stores on Broadway to check out the handbag selections trying to pinpoint our competition, niche and to identify our pricepoint. First stop, Scoop;too expensive, not our competion. Bloomingdales;too many designer bags;not too high-end for the Binder Bag. We were surprised to hear the sales lady say that the college students didn't have a problem buying $150 designer totes- go figure. Let's take it down a notch, how about Forever21? No, they didn't have much of a selection and too cheap. We couldn't find our niche; we're not really a handbag,where do we fit in? Last stop, Urban Outfitters; the team felt we shared the same style and price points, but we were not sure if the fabric quality of the Binder Bag was up to snuff for Urban. As we stood around a table of clothes, tired from a long day, wet and cold from trudging around, we decided to pick this conversation up tomorrow.
doing our first round of market research! identifying our competition
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