http://www.fashion-incubator.com How to start a clothing line or run the one you have, better. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:36:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/sewing-equipment-tradeshow-texprocess-april-24-26/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/sewing-equipment-tradeshow-texprocess-april-24-26/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:34:11 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10751 If you're new to these parts, yours truly and many F-I members have been meeting at a sewing equipment trade show called SPESA. SPESA is no more; it was purchased by Messe Frankfurt (yay!) who have renamed it Texprocess. Catchy, no? Okay so it's not. It is still the happening place to be come April 24-26, 2012 in Atlanta GA USA. If you're not sure if this show is for you, there is a lot of coverage of this show on Fashion-Incubator. I think it is good to attend even if you don't intend to buy equipment because it will give you a better idea of the kinds of equipment needed to sew your products. There are also ancillary products of use such as software, dress forms etc. Furthermore, it should be a priority to attend because this show is only held every other year. Many of us have had the show on our calender for two years so I don't remember to mention it. Hopefully it's not too late for you to make plans to attend. If you are going, please let us know so we can plan activities, hotel accommodations etc. If you're not a forum member*, we will wait for 30 minutes after the show closes each day in the foyer at the top of the escalator. I realize that sounds ambiguous but you will find it. And you'll know it's us because we will be milling around, talking in twos and threes and have some kind of distinguishing feature on our badges. As dress is business casual, we won't be wearing suits (hardly anyone does these days except salesmen and even many of them don't). In 2010, we had holographic star stickers.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/sewing-equipment-tradeshow-texprocess-april-24-26/feed/ 12 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:36:57 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10519 it is critical that this go viral -promote this show to all of your friends, colleagues and contacts because not sharing the details can kill a show like this faster than anything. If you don't make an effort to tell -oh let's just say ten other people- don't be dismayed if this is the first and last year this show is held. If you don't tell ten other people, I never want to hear you complain there aren't any shows for small designers. You should promote this show even if you don't live in NY or plan to attend! If this show doesn't succeed, the vendors will not be convinced to do it anywhere else. Meaning, if you want a show like this to open in a location more convenient to you, the best way to make it happen is to do what you can to make a show you're not even going to, a rousing success. Make sense?]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/feed/ 118 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/#comments Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:49:09 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9679 Premiere Vision (July 13-14) and Texworld (July 19-21). One show isn't better than the other, each represents different value. Here's what I can tell you. I went to the Premiere Vision show in Paris (two years ago) but have never been to the PV New York show. I would imagine the NY show isn't quite as good as the Paris show (you'd be surprised how many people can't get visas or don't want a piece of the US market) but few would argue that PV NY is not the top tier designer fabric show in the US. Let me qualify that. Premiere Vision is a better choice if you have a fashion forward bridge or contemporary line with high price points, and have or aspire to have a presence in the EU or Asia. I liked the Paris show very much. See the review I wrote of it (do that enough times and you'd never need to buy a sourcing directory). The ambiance is professional and muted, very conducive to business (as is Texworld)]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/feed/ 10 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 22:26:49 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9435 Chicago Fabric & Trim Show which takes place next week, May 26 & 27th. Mostly targeted at independent designers, most vendors offer low or no minimums! This is an excellent opportunity for folks in the Midwest to shop for fabrics, trims and guts. A partial listing of the 100+ vendors can be found on the AIBI site. If you're a member of the F-I forum, check this thread to meet other members who are going and to get the details of Jay's open house the day before. If you can't make the open house on the 25th, there will be a meet up on the 26th. Jay is a wonderful host; rumor has it that he buys the first round.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/feed/ 3 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/great-and-under-rated-wholesale-shows-pt-3/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/great-and-under-rated-wholesale-shows-pt-3/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:58:44 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9206 the forum. Even though some private shows are successful and great places to buy and show at (only reps can exhibit), they're very hard to discover often because the owner is technology adverse. I heard a lot of complaints about that. But back to OASIS, there was one rep that was doing something very interesting. Interesting in that other sales reps thought it was a good model to the extent they wondered how they might put something like that together for themselves. It also could affect you in how you might decide to align yourself with another manufacturer who produces items that are complimentary to yours and so, create more opportunities for yourselves jointly than you'd have singly. I'll explain.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/great-and-under-rated-wholesale-shows-pt-3/feed/ 0 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/great-and-under-rated-wholesale-shows-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/great-and-under-rated-wholesale-shows-pt-2/#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:38:03 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9201 Amazing (and underrated) wholesale tradeshow opportunities, the post I wrote on the OASIS trade show last week. To recap, I went to the OASIS show on Friday and Saturday. Sunday I attended another local tradeshow which has been held here for 25 years. While the OASIS show was gifts and of a southwestern flavor, the other show featured a mix of lesser known and major brands everyone would recognize. I should backtrack a little. The real reason I went to the OASIS show was because I was hoping I'd get a line on this other trade show; it's a hotel show or as reps call it, a "room" show. I've long known this show existed but it's not listed in any of the fashion calenders and it doesn't have a website. In other words, you have to know the right person to find it and then it's a whole other hurdle to get in the door. So at OASIS, I did find someone who could tell me about it so I went. In the end it wasn't hard for me to get in but I don't think they'd ever had anyone from the press to show up for it. I do think it would be harder for a DE to get in; I don't know how the show management would take to the concept of walking a show before deciding to exhibit. That's the other thing. The smaller shows are often reps only so you couldn't exhibit if you wanted to although it would be the perfect place to find a sales rep to represent your line. Like I said before, nearly all of the market shows started with a couple of sales reps getting together and pooling resources. Many of these sales clubs are non-profit membership organizations with by-laws and such. There was one manufacturer exhibiting at the room show but this firm has been at it for so long (easily over 30 years) that I wouldn't be surprised if they'd joined the organization themselves, probably back when manufacturers still could have if they'd been of a mind to do it. But in those days, manufacturers called more of the shots so they didn't need to.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/great-and-under-rated-wholesale-shows-pt-2/feed/ 6 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/amazing-and-underrated-wholesale-tradeshow-opportunities/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/amazing-and-underrated-wholesale-tradeshow-opportunities/#comments Fri, 08 Apr 2011 23:37:51 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9168 There's three levels of wholesale trade shows for clothing designers and manufacturers. First are the biggies, so large as to be international aka first tier (MAGIC, Outdoor Retailer, shows in NY and LA etc). Second tier are shows in so called secondary markets; there's constant debate which those are but definitely include shows in cities like Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago. The third tier or tertiary shows are regional market shows and are held in many cities with a convention center and a population base of half a million or more. This would include cities like Houston, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Phoenix and Albuquerque. The latter is what inspires this entry. I know nothing about regional shows, I stick to the majors because I only need (or thought I only needed) the high points so I'd never been to a regional show until today. I feel like such a dope but these shows can be an incredible opportunity. What was I thinking? I should have made an effort to figure this out long before now. Okay, so maybe you knew all about regional show but I didn't. I'm jazzed, the OASIS show I attended today was great!]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/amazing-and-underrated-wholesale-tradeshow-opportunities/feed/ 5 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:25:27 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8848 Too often I don't share what I've been reading or finding across the web but several sites compel today's effort. That and I have too many tabs open in my browser. Typical. On the heels of yesterday's entry I found three textile glossaries courtesy of Textilesmithing, glossary one, glossary two and glossary three. There's a fourth but it's not loading for me. Textilesmithing is a newish blog featuring topics on surface design, weave, pattern and with a healthy smattering of stuff you should have known a long time ago. Such as, sharkskin suits are not made of sharkskin. Yes indeedy! I imagined they weren't made of shark skin but I didn't really know what they were made of and so now thanks to the internet, I can pretend I always did. Be careful though or you can waste a whole day there -speaking of the Lexus carbon fiber circular loom that amounts to nothing less than autie-porn. The photo above is Sayed Alavi’s Flying Carpet installation at the Sacramento Airport, again courtesy of this entry on Textilesmithing. If you follow Seth on twitter, you can pick up more tres cool stuff like this gizmodo story about a brief history of bulletproof fabric.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/feed/ 15 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/9-lessons-learned-exhibiting-at-kid-show-las-vegas/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/9-lessons-learned-exhibiting-at-kid-show-las-vegas/#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:57:35 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8744 posted her advice in the member's forum where she encourages you to ask questions or direct comments. In my opinion, Vivian did very well at the show. Many designers don't take a single order at their first launch. Without further ado, here's a few words from Vivian about her experience exhibiting at the KID Show in Las Vegas on February 14-16, 2011. ------------------- Overall, it was an invaluable learning experience to exhibit at a trade show. There's no other way to really know how this works unless you're in the thick of it. I paid a few hundred dollars extra to be at a corner booth. The exposure was great. This show was my launch and the first that anyone has seen me or my line.This is a smaller show which was perfect for a first timer like myself. I didn't get as much interest as I would have liked. I only had a few orders. But, I've had quite a few orders after the show as a result of follow up emails. And there was a lot of interest from several reps, some of whom contacted me after the show. One rep said "You're going to do really well. But, I'd like you to have some fulfillment under your belt". Which is to be expected. I did pick up an LA rep who I'm very excited about. This rep said that retailers need to see your brand at least ten times before they become comfortable and familiar with who you are. I heard from several people that until you have about 25 pieces or so, your line will drown in a showroom. I think that there is some truth to that, but you also need a good rep who is your cheerleader and loves your line. You can really tell when you come across a rep who believes in you and your talent. They will seek out your business. Below are the 9 lessons I learned from exhibiting at Kid Show Las Vegas.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/9-lessons-learned-exhibiting-at-kid-show-las-vegas/feed/ 10 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/textile-geek-fest/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/textile-geek-fest/#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:26:04 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8483 The 8th edition of Techtextil North America, the international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens will be held March 15 - 17, 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. I have never been but I must confess I am sorely tempted. If you attended SPESA last year, you got a small sampling. As I mentioned then, this show is exemplary, very well managed from start to finish. And no my friends, this isn't the place to source cuddly or cute stuff for your lines. It's very specialized. If you're putting out any kind of technically oriented product (read: high tech applications in medicine, safety etc) then you might consider going. The neat thing about the show is that in addition to the seminars (40 of them) the vendor space is a vertical opportunity with suppliers who focus on everything from research and development, raw materials, production processes, fiber and goods conversion, fiber treatments and applications and last of all, sustainability and recycling. Looking over the attendee brochure (pdf) would give you a better idea.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/textile-geek-fest/feed/ 3