Lesley Scott at Fashion Tribes has just posted an amazing piece on downtown NYC designer Atom Cianfarani about the perils facing the young designer. Go check it out!
Lesley provides some really great resources if you are serious about changing the culture of fast fashion.
Time to put your money, well, you know where, and support young design talent: A good place to start is a designer cooperative like downtown Manhattan’s Wear NYC, 155 E.2nd St. 212.254.9327 or www.wearnyc.com. Designers include CC Jewelry www.ccjewelrydesign.com, eswera www.eswera.com, Gaelyn and Cianfarani www.gaelyn.com, Koketso www.koketso.com, Lopeti, and Velvet Valentine www.velvetvalentine.org. Prices mostly range between $150 to $350, although a belt can be had for $22, while a hand crafted one-of-a-kind jackets goes for $1000.
Now I have to post a few thoughts on my own concerns here. Politically I consider myself a Libertarian, I am pro choice on everything. I believe in the value of the free market and voting with your dollars. But the more we discuss fast fashion and the economics of the fashion business the more I become concerned with how this will play out in reality. For a young designer sending their work to be manufactured in China might be just the ticket to get them through the tough times. I am most concerned with fostering an economic culture that encourage entrepreneurship among designers. I don’t believe we have that currently. But what will do that? Are we ready to vote with our dollars? Would in fact having a publicist do just that for young designers? Can we use hype creatively and ethically? I think these are all issue surrounding the way fashion is played out in the editorial realm, with public relations, and with luxury giants like LVMH and PPR. I welcome any thoughts on the issue.
Also go check out Rachel’s Diary at Fashiontribes discussing her lead up to Black Friday
The fashion seasonal cycle is woefully old fashioned. I don’t think we should be using these old models to build our businesses as young designers. For small players they’re simply not viable.
Sometimes I wonder how the rising price of fossil fuels will really effect the economy. Will local goods and services suddenly have an advantage over expensive imported goods? Will greater density, smaller communities support the local dressmaker/designer? Will the rich/poor divide (which is tightly tied to fashion trends) grow larger or smaller?
How will ebay effect the growth of small designers? Sometimes I wonder if ebay is a harbringer of change for the way everything is bought and sold.
The power of word of mouth is said to work better than expensive advertising.
As for voting with our dollars, I believed we do, but am not sure that ethics is the main motivation. Most of us basically want status for less. Certainly there is a market for ethics out there, but it doesn’t seem to have a lot of big spenders…
This is a really complex topic. PR, Marketing, Branding, Advertising – the reality is that we don’t control it, we can only guide it, sort of like life. You can do things that have a greater chance of bringing a business more customers but I have seen too many businesses also fail because of growing pains – they had no plan and didn’t handle a growth spurt well and kill their business as a result.
(Business Tangent: Some also fail because they have little business knowledge – the different business personalities are Technician, Entrepreneur [business savvy] & Manager – a lot of people are good technicians but aren’t good with the business or manager side of things [if you realize this, you can hire people to fill out those areas that you aren't as good at.] And my biggest tip to someone starting a business they are serious about, find a good bookkeeper and a good accountant [often two different people] to work with you if you don’t have an accounting background.)
In the case of a designer, outsourcing their manufacturing to china could be what they need (and who’s to say that even if the workers are working substandard for our culture that they’re not living in better conditions in their culture – I haven’t done a ton of research on this so I may be wrong) or outsourcing could go horribly wrong. If what they get back is significantly different from the standards that their clothing was known for (and they decide to sell it anyway because they have orders they need to fill) they could ruin their chances at succeeding in the long run. People don’t react well to over-promising and under-delivering or products not meeting their expectations.
Word of mouth has a great impact but you also have to get that word of mouth started. Sometimes GOOD advertising can do that. PR can help as well – getting the word out to spread in the mainstream media. A good celebrity endorsement can be like gold which is why celebs get so many freebies. The point is that products and businesses need some kick-starting of some sort – they don’t have to be the traditional marketing mix but you have to do something. Build it and they will come doesn’t work.
And example of something less traditional: I’ve know a couple of local shops that specialize in business attire that have taken the business networking approach – getting a booth at a Chamber of Commerce event to make their target market more aware of them. I don’t think there are any clothing designers locally (and personally the tailors seem to be in hiding here as well) but maybe they just don’t know how to get out there and get enough attention.
A lot of people don’t understand the value or appeal of their product – when meeting new people or presenting the product understanding this, sometimes what’s considered your 30 second elevator pitch in the business world, can help you catch the initial attention of whomever you are talking to … If they don’t understand what you do, why they might be interested, they won’t take that next step, ask more questions, or in the case of clothes, take the time to come in, try on and buy.
A publicity idea for designers: If you’re a designer, wear your clothes! Wear them well! Open yourself up to people with your posture (don’t glare, cross your arms, slouch) – be confident! People will ask you where you bought something if they are interested and you’re approachable. Go places where your target market might go if you don’t go there already (example, if you’re designing for ummmmm…. people with an interest in equestrian style, seek out horse shows, get to know people, go to other events that they go to, learn about them if you aren’t one of their crowd.) Get your friends and family to wear your clothing if it’s appropriate and looks good on them – they can market for you.
Basically the mainstream media is starting to look like the bad guys in part because there’s less of a connection with their audience. In part because SOME of it is SO expensive to even get a foot in the door. The focus on advertising is also “how can we make EVERYONE buy this” not “who does our product appeal to and how do we promote the features that make those people buy because it’s useful to them” and “how do we connect to the average person – how do we not seem so impersonal and self centered.”
Speaking of ethical markets, ask me about the LOHAS market because it’s typically a more ethical market and there are some big spenders there (it’s a complex topic unto itself which I don’t want to get into right now but wanted to bring up.)
I feel in a way like I’m spouting too much idealism here in a way because honestly, there are times when I’m can’t get the clients to work with me or I’m not sure if what they want me to promote is in their as well as their customers’ best interest (I’ll leave that at this.)
It’s still a really organic process – not a process that you can say “this is THE right way to do this and THAT is wrong.”
I could REALLY go on and on about this – and let me know if you want me to. I’m a little concerned that I may have already thrown out too much business jargon that makes perfect sense to me but may need more explanation for the audience here.
And to wrap things up and hopefully lighten the mood, my quick opinion about fast fashion – based on current knowledge is treat it like fast food – in moderation it’s not going to make you fat.
A lot of interesting ideas, Hilary, thank you so much! I know I’m definitely a technician… and yes, I’m hiring an accountant… and I almost always wear my own designs. I like how you highlighted that it is an organic process… if you don’t have the capital to pump into it is HAS to be an organic process… and I like how you point out that uncontrolled growth can be really disastrous, I talked about that in my “say no to free fashion” post. I see fashion design as a combination of art, business and craft, and success is to be had in the delicate balance of these attributes… no easy task. I worry about the imbalance in my own talents and am trying seek out people with abilities that differ from my own… agents, managers, PR, financial. Until I find the right people I am trying to learn as much as I can, but it is not nearly as easy for me as designing.
Wow – I just realized how long my response was. I knew it was long enough that I needed to draw attention to some key points but I still didn’t realize it was that long.
Realizing that you need to hire other people is often one of the bigger steps, since so many people have this “I’ll do it all” mentality. I hate to admit that I did when I first started my business over 5 years ago (and if you ask me what I would change, the only thing is not starting off with a bookkeeper – most everything else has been a good learning experience even if it wasn’t fun.)
A couple of additional business tips – when hiring people, you don’t have to hire the first friendly person, make sure they fit the needs of the position. Learn to say “no” in general.
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