At least Next are busy

fc123

beaujolais-nouveau wrote: »

Do you sell on the web? I ask only because I am wondering about whether I should do this - sewing children's clothes and women's silk lingerie, to sell (at the moment I make my living as a web developer and with some secretarial agency work) - I would not be in the same "niche" as you, I am guessing, but I definitely could not survive if I had to sell for £3 something that had taken me all day to make. (I am nowhere near being a couturier but I have been sewing all my life, since age 6.)

I now sell my own label on a (The?) major clothing internet site. The sales units have been huge (for as long as it lasts) but you can't beat Real Life Land for connecting to ones customers....except it's no longer profitable.
My own website is rubbish as we haven't had the time to sort it out (scheduled job in hand for Jan/Feb 09).

It will take a few years for retail rents to come back down to a level that makes it profitable for small traders to occupy them.

My label doesn't sell at a huge price point...high enough to be aspirational but low enough to be affordable. It's well made and we shout out loud that it's made in UK....but, generally, 20 something female priority is to look good....ethics are a bit of an add on.

Girls that purchase my product don't because it's made in UK, they buy it because it makes them look foxy.

websites like etsy.com and notonthehighstreet.com are doing a roaring trade...and, I believe, you trade on a concession basis with them. They are a good start. Once a happy customer has your brand name, you are on their radar...they just have to find you first.

beaujolais-nouveau

fc123 wrote: »

I now sell my own label on a (The?) major clothing internet site. The sales units have been huge (for as long as it lasts) ...
Girls that purchase my product don't because it's made in UK, they buy it because it makes them look foxy.

websites like etsy.com and notonthehighstreet.com are doing a roaring trade...and, I believe, you trade on a concession basis with them. They are a good start. Once a happy customer has your brand name, you are on their radar...they just have to find you first.

Thank you - and well done, you. :beer:

fc123

beaujolais-nouveau wrote: »

Do you sell on the web? I ask only because I am wondering about whether I should do this - sewing children's clothes and women's silk lingerie, to sell (at the moment I make my living as a web developer and with some secretarial agency work) - I would not be in the same "niche" as you, I am guessing, but I definitely could not survive if I had to sell for £3 something that had taken me all day to make. (I am nowhere near being a couturier but I have been sewing all my life, since age 6.)

In answer to the above, if the design has a point of difference and is not similar to something being churned out of China, you will find a customer for it who will pay what it needs to be sold at.

I have noticed on this board (and others) that people have different spending priorities.
No one type is more virtuous than the other (though you wouldn't think that when one reads some of the posts).

My home is distinctly light in electronic gadgetry...embarrasingly so, we don't even have a stereo/soundsystem. It's only because those things have no importance to me...I prefer to spend my earnings on nice living space, gym membership and school fees....doesn't make my spending choices more virtuous than my fellow man....they are just my choices and I can't afford to 'have it all'.

There is a customer out there for every product at every price point, so don't be put off by the Primark/Peacocks businesses, they are just relevent to a large part of the population but not 100%....there is always a few % of spare ££££ for niche.

bo_drinker

olly300 wrote: »

Are there lots of offices near by? Or a largish train station? Or a bus station?

Nothing major, not far from EA's offices and their ilk. Can't see it lasting myself.

mippy

One of the problems with cheap retailers is that their clothing isn't well cut for anything but a very thin figure, which isn't a common shape in the UK (we're a nation of pear-shapes). So where at 18 I used to buy stuff in the Topshop sales and hope it fitted, I try now to buy better quality stuff less often, or at least in terms of things I will wear until they fall apart. I've got used to not being able to buy shoes in the sale (I have size 8/9 feet) and the only thing I bought reduced this year was some underwear as underwear is bloody expensive - annoying as it's just wire and fabric made to standardised sizes!

fc, I'm curious as to which company you run - it's not Get Cutie, is it? I keep wonderng on getting something from there as they seem to design for larger busts properly rather than just adding three inches onto the whole garment...

fc123

mippy wrote: »

One of the problems with cheap retailers is that their clothing isn't well cut for anything but a very thin figure, which isn't a common shape in the UK (we're a nation of pear-shapes). So where at 18 I used to buy stuff in the Topshop sales and hope it fitted, I try now to buy better quality stuff less often, or at least in terms of things I will wear until they fall apart. I've got used to not being able to buy shoes in the sale (I have size 8/9 feet) and the only thing I bought reduced this year was some underwear as underwear is bloody expensive - annoying as it's just wire and fabric made to standardised sizes!

fc, I'm curious as to which company you run - it's not Get Cutie, is it? I keep wonderng on getting something from there as they seem to design for larger busts properly rather than just adding three inches onto the whole garment...

No that's not me but Fiona (Get Cutie) sells loads of her label in larger or non standard sizes......she has a website that has the info.
Very successful niche retailer.....and mum too

ETA My range is now very Body Fascist / mating game....just the thing for the recession.....

Airwolf1

djm1972 wrote: »

Because most of it is a con.

For example, i've had my eye on a chair in a local department store for a while now; and most of last year it was £299. However, during December, it mysteriously went up to £599. Guess how much it is now in their "Massive January Sale"? :rolleyes:

Wonder how much this chair was priced in their catalogue then?

misskool

fc123 wrote: »

In answer to the above, if the design has a point of difference and is not similar to something being churned out of China, you will find a customer for it who will pay what it needs to be sold at.

I have noticed on this board (and others) that people have different spending priorities.
No one type is more virtuous than the other (though you wouldn't think that when one reads some of the posts).

My home is distinctly light in electronic gadgetry...embarrasingly so, we don't even have a stereo/soundsystem. It's only because those things have no importance to me...I prefer to spend my earnings on nice living space, gym membership and school fees....doesn't make my spending choices more virtuous than my fellow man....they are just my choices and I can't afford to 'have it all'.

There is a customer out there for every product at every price point, so don't be put off by the Primark/Peacocks businesses, they are just relevent to a large part of the population but not 100%....there is always a few % of spare ££££ for niche.

Sorry for going OT on this thread, but that's a particularly pertinent point. I try to be a savvy shopper on clothes but prefer them to be natural fibres and will always pay more for them. I hate going to the shops because everything is acrylic/polyester/crap. And I can't really afford the supreme virtuousness of the organic brigade. I try my best to buy fair trade clothes that suit me.

And clothes should be designed for women, not the stick insects who walk around parading them.

louby_lou

i really don't enjoy sales, my mum used to get me up when i was younger to go to the 5am next scrum (actually it was probably about 8am by the time she'd dragged me out of bed) but i just hated it, you cant try things on and discount crazed women were fighting over last seasons swimwear. i just cant be doing with it lol.

robin_banks

Good point, I occasionally go to sales, but do you actually need it, a £100 coat reduced by 50% still costs you £50, the amount of items bought in sales and never worn and never worn is unbelievable.