Marketing Products and Services, The King of Fashion Does it Again

Wow, talk about marketing your product by expanding your business affiliations and collaborating with others, famed designer Giorgio Armani is doing it all. He boldly went outside of his normal niche for apparel and home products and is drawing buzz with his latest design. He designed a bullfighters costume for Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez, a famous bullfighter in Spain. He designed the costume for Cayetano to wear at a major upcoming bullfighting event in Spain. Don't you love it?

My idea in sharing this article is for us to remember that marketing our products or services for our business does not have to be a solo effort and it does not have to be boring. We can join forces with others who are perhaps more visible to aid in our marketing efforts. Who knows the strategy behind Mr. Armani's latest move but, it's exciting, and it's drawing a buzz to his already successful fashion business empire.

You don't have to wait until you're rich and famous, see if there are ways that you can join forces now with someone or even another company in your community. For example, if you're an evening wear designer, maybe you can design an ice skating costume for someone that you know who competes on a regular basis and is seen in front of a large audience. It's good to create some buzz every now and then in marketing your product or service.

Here's the link to the WWD article for more details on Mr. Armani's new venture. You'll have to scroll down two articles to read it. They also post a picture of the sketched costume in the slideshow.

GIORGIO, OLE!

I'll bet that Mr. Armani's latest venture draws in a fashion crowd on the day of the big bullfighting event in September, a crowd who would have never had an interest in watching this sport. I'll probably be part of this crowd, watching the fight just to see the costume that Mr. Armani designed!

Enjoy coming up with new ways to create buzz in marketing your products or services!

Friday's Fab Fashion Quote On Defining Style

"In fashion, facts speak for themselves. Attempting to remain faithful to any given style is to live a contradiction. Fashion is absurd. To live it is to take part in its death and perpetual rebirth. Style is the way in which individuals, using their more or less original creative resources, means of expression, and habits, accept and express developments in fashion freely, putting aside any preconceived ideas." Karl Lagerfeld

Source: 2005, Chanel, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Behind the Scenes with L~Shandi

If You're Meant to Be a Designer You Will Succeed!-The Magic Behind Success

O.k. drop whatever pre-conceived notion that you may have about becoming a fashion designer and the lifestyle that a designer lives. I have an amazing interview to share with you today about a young designer who is making strong moves all while juggling a fascinating full-time career outside of fashion.

Lara Akinsanya is the founder and designer of L~Shandi. Her company is based in the Washington, D.C. area. I spoke with Lara by phone and got the chance to learn more about her. She has a very strong work ethic and is enjoying the process of growing her business. There's no need to rush, was one of the themes that she emphasized during our interview. The great thing about fashion is that "fashion is always going to exist. If you can't create a product this year, wait until next year." Enjoy creating things that you can afford to, enjoy the process of creating and sharing your product with your customers and build trusting relationships with everyone that you do business with. This is the magic behind Lara that's made her successful.

Fashion design came as a hobby to Lara, she made her first sample in 1994. She started designing for friends, family and herself.

Lara, when was your first experience with fashion design and how old were you?

Lara: My first experience was at age 17. I started by reworking my own garments to fit my style and personality.

Did you go to fashion design school? If so, where?

Lara: No. I learned everything I know about Fashion by developing great relationships with others.

When did you know that you only wanted to be a designer?

This question is not applicable to me because, I am a public health analyst as well. I have a masters of Science degree in biochemistry.

Lara does research on HIV cases. This, my friends is her full-time job! From our phone conversation, she mentioned that she loves both fashion design and her full-time job equally.

How long have you been in business and where is your company based?

Lara: My business is four years old. I'm based in the Wasington, D.C. metro area.

Her official launch was July 2007. Here are some photos taken of her designs at her fashion show launch.

Lara is originally from Nigeria, west Africa. She shares with us the meaning of her company's name.

Lara: L~Shandi was created from a Nigerian street slang "Lepa Shandi". Lepa Shandi is the term for women whose clothing, outfit, or ensemble has a flattering and sexy fit. So if a guy sees you and says "look at her...lepa shandi or l~shandi", take it as a compliment and enjoy it.

Lara, you normally use Nigerian lace in your collections, correct? What other fabrics do you use?

Lara: I actually use African lace. The other fabrics that I primarily use are African Wax Prints, Guinea Brocade, Hoodin from Ghana and Hand Woven cotton from Nigeria.

What is the difference, if any in style, technique or color in African lace verses European lace?

Lara: The style and color are more bold and the embroidery work is much more elaborate in African lace giving it more depth in texture. This also makes it more durable.



Lara, I love how your styles are contemporary but, have a unique edge. The lace, prints and embroideries are bold but, very easy to wear. Describe your main customer. Where does she live, what is she like?

Lara: My designs appeal to women of different backgrounds, age, marital status e.t.c. My customer is a woman that likes to look different and stand out in a bold but, yet subtle way.


Did you first go into business knowing your target customer or did you fine tune and define your customer as you went along?

Lara: I went into my business knowing who my target customer was and I have been fine tuning/defining what they really want as I am going along.

Lara stated that if you have a good product, the market will tell you, if it's good or not. The market will shape your product if you listen to comments and responses. Lara takes notes of whatever problems arises and fixes them right away. She keeps an open line of communication with buyers from the boutiques she works with. Her goal is to get as much feedback as possible in order to provide a better product.

I've noticed that your designs are in stores nation wide from Florida, NYC, NJ, Washington, DC, MA, CT. How did you get buyers interested in carrying your clothing? How did you build your relationship with boutique buyers?

Lara: I participated in reputable national clothing trade shows that bring buyers and designers together. Boutique buyers are happy if you deliver quality products to them on time.

Being a fashion designer is very unique because, you have to work with a team of people on a daily basis in order to get your samples made, production delivered and market and sell your clothing. Describe a typical day for you and how do you manage to put all of the components of the business together so that you can deliver your product on time to stores.

Lara: I manage my busy schedule (both as a designer and as a public health analyst) by being super organized. I also treat everyone that I work with like a client (even those that I pay to provide a service for me) and believe that if I try to serve others to the best of my ability, they will go the extra mile for me.

While Lara works full-time, she hires freelancers to work for her.

What would you say are your top 3-5 tasks that a designer has to do on a daily basis that are non glamorous?

Lara:
*Alterations
*Shipping/labeling
*Business paperwork including inventory control, invoicing price tagging

What part of your job do you love the most?

Lara: Sketching designs/picking fabrics to go with them.

Do you welcome volunteers to help out at your shows or events and if so, how can they contact you?

Lara: Yes I love to work with volunteers and they can contact me by email.

If a store is interested in wholesale orders how should they contact you?

Lara: I have an online showroom at http://www.belesprit.net. Contact Deborah Pokalus at belesprit@ureach.com

Lara, do you have any inside tips to help budding designers?

Lara: Stay true to yourself, be consistent and build the best possible relationships with everyone you work with.

Lara's website: http://www.lshandi.com/index.htm

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What I love about Lara is that she gets it. She gets the idea of building relationships and is enjoying the process along the way.

The main lesson that I've gained from Lara is that things don't happen overnight. What people judge as someone's success is their current reality in which they've been building, laying the foundation for years. I learned that it's a slow process in which we should enjoy, enjoy creating your future. Why rush it?

-Kali

Friday's Fashion Quote On Achieving Success

"What interests me is what I don't yet know about it." Issey Miyake

Source: 1997, Universe of Fashion, Issey Miyake

Jack + Bill FREE PR Opportunity

I went to the event yesterday as a candidate. Everyone was so very nice and truly interested in my work. I presented some of my jewelry from the Kali Collection.

The location of the event was in a nice open and airy space down in Tribeca, in NYC. Today's the second and last day of the event. The good thing about their hours is that they're open til 9pm so you still have time to check it out. They have a live DJ and I have to reiterate how friendly the staff was. Everyone was just so darn nice and accomodating.

So if you're an aspiring model, jewelry designer, apparel designer or fashion stylist you have to check out this FREE opportunity to be represented by this public relations agency. You'll have a blast.

Time's ticking! It ends at 9pm tonight so no excuses :)

Here's the link to their site where you can get more details: jackandbillpr.com/casting

Notes From the Sales Floor

I just ended a part-time sales job last week. I was doing a fundraising campaign for a well known arts organization. I did this in part because, I needed the sales experience. I'm a fashion apparel and accessories designer by natural talent but, sales is a process that I have to develop and learn to be better at. I'd love to share with you some notes that I learned while on this job. It was very fascinating to me because, I stepped out of my comfort zone in order to learn something completely new. Some of you may already be great at sales so please do share your experiences.

Here are some quick and random notes that I've gained while at my job as a telephone sales representative:


*Targeting your market (sales 101)
Does not necessarily mean that sales will come automatically right away. You still have to work to gain your customers trust.

*Customers will buy from you because they:
-Trust you (these could be referrals as well as first time customers who trust you)
-Like your presentation or your product

*Gaining sales can be categorized as follows:
-Easy Wins
Those who are sitting ready and eager to buy. No need to convince them. Just close on the sale.

-Soft No's
Those who you have to present your case to firmly and pleasantly to. Let them know the benefits that they will receive of your product or service. The mission of your product or service has to be explained and presented in a way to let them know that without their support the mission could be in jeopardy of not existing and they would not get their benefits. It's about explaining the "win win" situation for all.

As it relates to fashion design, if you have an ecommerce site, make sure your copy is enticing and spells out the customer's benefits of purchasing your product. If you are calling stores, make sure your sales script precisely spells out the stores benefit of carrying your product. If you're face to face in a outdoor market situation and you come across someone who is not sure if they want to purchase now, engage them by asking where do they plan on wearing your product. Engage them on the experience of already owning your product and they will see how it benefits them to purchase it right now. Give them an immediate cause to purchase it now or else the price could increase, you could run out of stock...etc. It has to be a pure and honest engagement in order for soft no's to be converted. People will be able to see right through any type of untrue flattery. So be honest.

-Firm No's
Completely not interested and there's nothing that you can say to convert this type of person. They will not budge but, do keep them on your list only if they are interested because, they may purchase from you in the future.

I've learned that you have to go through a certain amount of firm no's to get to the easy wins and the soft no's. Some designers new to selling may be inclined to give up too soon by being offended of their encounters with firm no's because, these no's can be very abrupt. That's just the way it is. I've had the phone hung up on me countless times within a four hour period just to get 1 or 2 sales. The idea is to not let the firm no's affect your ability to keep going through your highly targeted list. You will connect with the people that you are supposed to connect to. These are the people who will gladly support your cause or your product. Whether you are calling boutiques or building your email list, you have to keep finding ways to target your market and clean up your list so that at the end of the day you have easy wins, soft no's and future prospects. Do not let the firm no's affect you from doing your job. Keep it moving.


Repetition with the desire to improve is key to mastering a skill:
With telephone sales you repeat your script within a matter of minutes, allowing you to get better and better with each call. So, by the end of your day if you've focused on improving you become so much better than when you started your day. Apply this to your communication with your prospects. Evaluate what works and what doesn't. Keep steadily improving.

Selling is really fascinating just as much as designing is to me as well. Selling is definitely a great skill to learn if you will be representing your own work. It's a very important part of business to know how to communicate with your prospects. The reward is their trust in your product or service. You win them with your script or your presentation. They trust you so much that they will hand over their credit card to purchase from you, to support your mission. How cool is that?

Would Love to Have Your FEEDback!

Opportunity for FREE Publicity

By now you probably have figured out that I love posting about selling and marketing your work. As designers, this is the most important aspect of being a successful entrepreneur. You can't escape marketing. So here's cool contest, well FREE offer that I came across from one of my new friends on twitter.com.

Jack + Bill, a public relations agency in NYC is having a contest where they will choose one fashion apparel designer, one model and one accessories designer to market for FREE! Sounds great right?

Here's the link to their site where you can get more details: http://jackandbillpr.com/casting.html

Good Luck!

If you're up on twitter.com, let's connect! I just joined about a week ago. Click the badge below.

Hone Your Skills in these Upcoming Fashion Design Workshops

A fashion industry associate that I know has been doing fashion design workshops for the past five years now in Los Angeles, Atlanta and NYC. Her company's name is Mshop. She also teaches at Parson's the New School for Design in NYC. Her Mshop newsletters will keep you updated with interesting local fashion happenings in NYC and of course give you updates on her workshops.

Tip #1: Subscribe to her newsletters!
Tip #2: If you're in the LA area and could really use some advice on making it in the fashion biz, take one of her courses coming up on July 12 and 13.

Here's a blurb from her latest newsletter:

"Join M Shop NYC in LA for our ultra informative Workshops that have been attended by Chris Stokes (Music Producer and Film Director), Marques Houston (Recording Artist and Actor), and their LA team to gain fashion industry knowledge for their new high end line Christopher Brian Apparel, as well as Colin Egglesfield of All My Children for his Shout Out clothing line."

Here's her link: Mshop Fashion Design Workshops Check it out Now!

Check Out these Super Cool Fashion Exhibits

Hey There,
It's summer and a perfect time to hit the museums! These fashion exhibits are definitely worth checking out.

New York City Museums

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy
Superheroes and fashion, I absolutely love it! If you can't make it to this exhibit, just click the link to visit the the Met's site regarding this exhibit. You'll gain a lot this way.
through September 1, 2008

The Museum at FIT


Arbiters of Style: Women at the Forefront of Fashion
Want to see a retrospective of what influential women wore from department store executives to models? Check out this exhibit.
through November 8, 2008

The World Financial Center



Amazonai Design, Fashion & Sustainable Economy
Designers from the Amazon region in South America focus on eco-sustainability in this exhibit. The goal is to make viewers aware of the need to preserve the Amazon region. Designers used raw materials from the Amazon for their creations that are showcased.
through July 13, 2008

Upcoming
Just wanted to mention this now so that I won't forget later!
The Museum of the City of New York


Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940
This exhibit will include the best of fashion, art, architecture from New York City and Paris!
starts Oct 3, 2008 through Feb 22,2009

Other Current Noteworthy Exhibits Around the Globe

London, UK
The V&A Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum)


The Story of the Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection
On display will be "over fifty outfits that chart the changing image of the group, from their dresses in the early days as The Primettes, to the glamorous Hollywood designs worn at the height of their fame."
through October 19, 2008

Montreal, Quebec Canada
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts



I had to mention this exhibit since this very talented and successful designer passed away on June 1, 2008. If you will be in Montreal, check out this exhibit and tell us about it!
through September 28, 2008

Know of any other fashion exhibits? Please post them here!