(Part 1)
Do you have what it takes?
The makings of a boss.
There is no hand-holding in fashion. Only, cheeks turning. Butt cheeks, that is.
Starting a Fashion Business (Brand) can be hard, but staying the course can be harder. What is hard really? Is it being faced with difficult decisions, starting something new, doing it alone, trusting the process, moving through discomfort, or taking risks? Well, it can be all these things. Is it our imagination or perspective that makes things hard or is the thing as hard as we deem it to be? Is it possible to pinpoint when something becomes “hard”?
In 2019, I faced a hard thing, but let’s go back a little.
In 2017, I decided to be my own boss.
Well, I decided to venture into entrepreneurship. To fulfill a long-awaited dream to start a clothing brand.
It was then, that I sought to be purposeful… to thrive. In 2016, I moved back to Charleston, SC from Los Angeles, CA because life called for it. In retrospect, I’m heavily on the fence about the decision. I would be leaving the corporate fashion ladder I had become accustomed to climbing since 2007 which first began in New York City. (How I got from NYC to LA is a story for another day.) Moving back to my home city would be stripping me of all fashion and artistic career opportunities, professional networks, social settings and major resources that the big city of Los Angeles afforded a try-hard, career go-getter such as myself.
Having arrived back in Charleston, to no surprise, the fashion scene was depleted and it wasn’t long before the metaphoric depletion turned psychological. Let’s call it fish out of water syndrome. You simply cannot take a person out of an illustrious and vibrant world, place them into a barren desert, and expect them to thrive. Please understand Charleston is a massively artistic city, but this is my assessment as it pertains to the fashion industry alone. Thus, I was compelled to create my own lane because societal norms in this all too familiar small city environment did not measure up to my big city dreams.
It started with curated pop-ups
In 2017, I began searching for brands that I liked to purchase wholesale clothing. I started searching online and attended fashion markets or wholesale conventions as a buyer to shop and buy direct. These took place in NYC and Miami where I discovered moderate-priced brands that I would be willing to pay for at retail. I wanted quality clothing at reasonable price points to suit the masses. Quality is extremely important to me. I’m rarely willing to sacrifice quality for price. It’s much more important that it looks good, feels good and has longevity. Therefore, finding clothing that was style-worthy and great quality that would still be affordable after markup was somewhat challenging. It turns out style-worthy is scarce and subjective as I didn’t find much that really excited me in the non-chain-like fashion department. I curated from my summation the best of the best items including dresses, sets, pants and tops with a classic contemporary look that offered a little something from varied categories including office wear, casual wear and sophisticated wear. I picked clothes that I myself would actually wear because if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t be able to sell it.
Once I received the clothing, I performed qc (quality control); assessing that every garment was as advertised or as expected; by look, by fabric, by fit. Yes, I tried everything on and I inspected it’s construction, wearability and functionality ensuring no defects or unclipped stitching, which you would be surprised how much clothing arrives with loose threads. I then took account of all items, arranged them by size on hangers and entered them into a pos system with inventory amount, name, description and pricing in preparation for pop-ups. Local pop-ups took place every 3rd Sunday of the month and as you participate in these events you talk with other vendors and find out which events they participate in and which ones have brought the most success. I soon found myself in vendor communities and on email lists for various events around the city. Some worked and some didn’t. I found out which markets brought the right audience, were reliable and worth the investment as I went. Each market is different, but most require a vendor’s fee. I became a professional pop-upper with a tent, weights, table racks, lights, packaging, banners and sometimes music to attract the crowd. Come rain or come shine I showed up to numerous markets in the sweltering heat or in unexpected rain downpours.
What initially seemed like hair sweating, hard labor – loading all the equipment in my car to take to the event, unloading it at the event, hand carrying it or wheeling it to my assigned vendor space, assembly & set up, disassemble & reload in the car, then, unload at home – soon became a run of the mill course of an on the go store. Ya find your groove! At some point, I said repeatedly, “I’m not doing this again”. I will sell online! It required so much (especially, after I began to travel), but I continued because I was now invested. I had merchandise to sell and a profit to turn. I ran into lots of hit-or-miss shows and that is the name of the game. Every vendor has a different experience and there are so many variables to determine the outcome of a show so it’s literally all risk with hopeful reward.
After about a year of doing pop-up events and releasing a summer and fall collection I began to feel compelled to do more… creatively.
Part 2 up next…
Leave a Reply