Direct sales and mass customization are two channels that have been heavily utilized by fashion startups over the past few years with much success. Brands, with a traditional product, now have the point of difference they need to stand out and be noticed. It’s time to take these sales channels seriously.

Direct Sales

Remember Avon and Tupperware? Two household names, which made it into everyone’s homes through their direct sales method? After years of this model being relegated to pots, knives and lipstick, direct sales is once again credible selling channel for apparel and accessories.

By taking the product directly to the customer either as a group event or one on one, the customer has the undivided attention of the seller giving a more personal experience in their workplace or home.

Pros:

• Direct relationship with the customer so can get instant feedback on your product, positive and negative.
• Flexibility of hours and schedule, ideal if you have a family or are studying
• Sociable working environment.
• Works for any product, apparel, accessories and home.

Cons:

• Leads / appointment acquisition can be tough and the rejection rate can be high.
• When scaling the business, the cost and time involved in building up the selling kits and team can be high.
• Initial limitation on coverage for sales.
• Stock level management to ensure you have consistent product availability

Men’s shirting line Trumaker&Co and women’s jewelry labels, Chloe and Isabel and Stella & Dot are three brands who have made a success from this sales channel either through ‘outfitters’, ‘merchandisers’ or ‘stylists’. Product samples or sales cards are shown to the customer, orders are placed and the goods are shipped. With Trumaker&Co, the shirts are made to order through mass customization but with the jewelry, finished goods are made made and held in stock to be called off.

So as an emerging brand with a limited budget, you are able to utilize this method with relative ease. Providing you have product (materials or finished items) and leads (friend and family or referral), you can dictate when you sell, what you sell and how you ship. By start locally and keeping it small, use incentives of discounts or commission to friends to promote your brand.

Starting finances can be minimal providing you have your product in hand, but they can and will escalate when scaling your sales team. With stock in hand, there is no reason why it can’t be sold directly, wholesale as well as D2C. Maybe take a small part of your collection purely for direct sales and merchandise them as looks or as a theme. Customers who can touch and feel the product are more likely to buy it. See it as a complimentary sales channel albeit a more direct one.

Mass Customization

Mass customization has been around for a few years (more commonly used in software) and uses mass production processes with the flexibility of individual customization, which in terms of apparel, takes an established block and with the customer’s measurements, finds the nearest grade and adjusts to the accordingly. Its not pure bespoke, neither is it mass-produced. The product is then made individually and then sent to the customer.

You’ll have seen that NikeID have been offering a customizable shoe for several seasons and whilst the possibilities are open for the larger brands, it’s really the smaller more nimble brands that can accelerate it due to flexibility and customer expectation. For Nike it’s a great marketing tool but it’s lacks viability on a larger scale. For fashion Startups it’s their minimal viable product.

Pros:

• It’s is a great business model to test your product before you invest fully.
• It can be grown at your own pace and kept sustainable.
• Can be used for multi product groups: apparel, accessories and home wares
• Can be managed with ecommerce as well as direct sales.

Cons:

• Whilst it’s a great way to test your market scaling up can be hard and you may have to have multiple sources, which means duplicate able quality.
• You need a customer base that is prepared to wait for the product, with realistic expectations.
• Management of raw material inventory instead of finished goods.

The trick to making mass customization work for a new brand, is to keep it simple and gradually expand rather than over promise and under deliver. Be exact with your process timelines and supply chain, provide options that add value aesthetically to the product and don’t be scared to use it at as an additional channel next to your existing. Perhaps you have scarves, bags or shirts already in your line that you can add details to? Embroideries, monograms, appliques or contrast stitching; People will pay more if their product is unique to them.

Think laterally when making changes to your sales channels. Having a personal connection or being part of a brand community adds value to your brand whilst adding a unique element to a product or building to fit elevates your message higher than its neighbor. It’s time to make your brand multi faceted.

Tara St James of StudyNY released her Anti_fashion calendar earlier this year at Redress Raleigh Conference in North Carolina to a hail of appreciation by the small business crowd. Her calendar compares the traditional design, development, sales and production periods of a 6 month structure to the ‘Anti’ version which allows for monthly drops of seasonally specific capsules to hit the stores. T-shirts in summer and sweaters in winter. Ground breaking huh? She designs monthly, she sells monthly and she produces monthly. This not only gives a regular cash flow and clothes when they are needed, but also allows for regular work for the manufacturers rather than peaks and slumps in production lines.

This method of structured design and production is great for small businesses, its great for manufacturers, it’s great for the public and it’s something I talk about a lot in the lectures i give within the industry. So why isn’t it adopted by more brands?

Well, to my surprise, it might just be. Tamara Mellon, ex Jimmy Choo, announced earlier last week that she was launching her own fashion label which would sell clothes in the seasonal months that they should be worn in. For this high-profile individual to flip the traditional fashion calendar on its head takes some guts and a huge risk. Customers will love it for sure but from inside the industry, I’m curious about the stages of how this can be achieved when it comes to concept, colours and fabrics.

For instance, the concept of the collection would, i guess, still be set ahead of time, but colours and fabrics  will be selected from previous and current season to allow for seasonal relevance (fabric mills produce 6 months in advance to show new designs). When it comes to the design side, would she connect directly with her customer base to assess their likes, dislikes, wants or desires or would this be pre planned and fixed? So, on this point alone, it’s interesting to see whether her collection is designed and produced 6 months in advance and then just delivered monthly or whether it is designed, produced and delivered monthly so being able to respond to the customers. There is a very big difference behind the scenes.

But of course the PR of her doing something, potentially, so radical against the norm is a great way to launch a new brand, or sell her new book whichever is first. Regardless, it’s about time someone recognised the need for a more sustainable approach, however luxurious her line will be.

Susie

Co-lab54

Blue is the New Black