2007
Why are my clothes not selling?
Posted by: Fashion06 in Starting your own line |
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Okay so you been to the trade shows and used purchase order financing to help with funds to manufacturer your retail store orders. Of course your excited and now know your on the way to the big time. The store buyer has received their order and has placed your clothing line on display for sale. So it has now been two weeks or so and you call to check on your merchandise to see which garments are selling the most. To your surprise the buyer tells you so far only one of your shirts have sold! So now your confused. You know you have a great concept and good fashion designs, so why are the consumers not purchasing your clothing label. There is much more to selling a clothing line and getting into a store is just beginning…matter fact that is when the real work begins. There are many reasons why your clothing isn’t moving hundreds of shirts per week!
- Wrong target market. The clothing store that you sold to has a different consumer than you expected. If your can sometimes it is good to go check out a store personally and get a feel for the person that would shop there, while asking yourself would they be interested in your clothing brand? Sometimes if you have low prices buyers will buy your clothing just to fill empty floor space and really have no intention on pushing your brand. That’s why it is good to create a personal relationship with them, and have them supporting your brand from day one.
- Your prices are too high or too low. If similar garments are selling at much lower prices, (with the same or better quality) most likely they will buy the cheaper product, because your label is new and you have no brand awareness. So they wouldn’t feel inclined to pay more for a brand they have never heard of. If prices are too low they might perceive your brand as cheap and see other brands as a better value.
- You have no brand awareness. When consumers go shopping most are not asking about the new start up brands, but they are looking for the new Tommy Hilfiger, or Baby Phat spring/summer collection. Nobody can buy clothing they don’t know about! Right? So go out and promote, promote, and spread the word some more.
- Bad merchandise display. The store owner has your clothing brand placed where it is virtually invisible, they will usually place the hot-sellers or better known brands upfront…kind of a seniority (Their just looking out for their best interest really!). Some stores are just too cluttered and only brands people are looking for will sell, because they ask for it.
Some of the above could definitely be the reason and if they are not then your brand just sucks! 
One thing to remember is to never give up and keep pushing your product the consumers will eventually catch on to your movement.
Any similar problems with your brand? Have you ever placed your brand in a store and it didn’t sell as you thought it would? What was the problem? What was your solution?
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Fred
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April 25th, 2007 at 9:21 am
One way to get the clothes out the door is to do a trunk show. Advertise or co-advertise with the store letting customers know that the actual designer will be in store. Doing a trunk show could possibly entail: a designer hosting a small fashion show in store and/or a meet & greet with models wearing your clothing while wine and hor d’ouevres (sp?) are being passed around. Rarely do people attend events without bringing someone else along with them. Don’t let a customer leave without having purchased something.
April 25th, 2007 at 11:39 am
“Some of the above could definitely be the reason and if they are not then your brand just sucks! ”
But to be fair, there are plenty of “brands” that suck and a shitload of owners who would tell you their shit is hot even if it looked like dog shit. Everything is like this, you got rappers with 50 word vocabularies not being able to rhyme 2 words with a gun to their head that will tell you they’re the next hov. This past summer, some dude came into the office where I was interning at talking how he’s such a hot producer, blahzay blahzay, and then he played me his “hottest shit” and it was just the beat from young joc its going down w/ an extra layer of high-hats on top. I look at the dude and he’s like “yeah man, the highs make all the difference!” Same thing w/ clothing lines, there’s tons of people out there who have screen printed a few t-shirts or spray painted them or something and they’re going to tell you (and maybe even believe?) that they’re the next Phat Farm.
In the words of my mentor, “whatever your product is, make sure you’re bringing that fire,” or to quote hustle premium (haha) “whatever your hustle, keep it premium.”
Too many people believe their mamas & their homies that their shit is tight, but they have not fashion sense, no business sense, and occasionally, no sense at all.
April 25th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Very True xander….Iceland & Powder yeah we wrote about trunkshows a while back and in-store sales with the actual designer or business owner….good way to get the ball rolling with a new brand sales
April 25th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I’m still interested in getting more info on trunk shows. Can anyone maybe post some photos of a trunk show?
I get it on paper, but i can’t really picture it.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Along the lines of a trunk show may be hosting an event in a venue or themed around something that will cater to your target audience. I’ve had some success with this and now that I know what I’m doing, I expect to be much more successful.
April 30th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
I know from working in large companies’ retail stores that the merchandising of products is tightly orchestrated and they get booklets that show how to set everything up to the smallest details. Are indie brands being sold in other peoples’ stores able to dictate their own merchandising at all?
May 11th, 2007 at 6:07 am
I don’t think the smaller indie brands have the same say in merchadising as a big clothing line would. Just another obstacle smaller brands have to hoop over until they reach the top..