A Guide For Getting Your Products In Stores/Boutiques.

jadeng2
Feb 27, 2022
3 min read

The step every fashion designer needs to make to progress in their career.

By: JaDen Greene

As a fashion designer, it's always been a goal of mine to see my products sold in stores everywhere, have my own warehouse, and my own pop up shops spread throughout the country. But, as the saying goes, "one must crawl before they can walk", so getting my merchandise sold in stores like H&M, Zumiez, Pacsun, and etc is where my journey begins. How does one get to that point you ask? Well, let me explain...

It's As Simple As 1,2,3...

After months of reaching out and calling favors trying to get my brand in a store, I've finally found the missing piece(s) to the puzzle. What if I told you that you could get your products sold in stores like H&M if you followed 5 simple rules? In this article, I will provide you with all five, but we will only be going in depth with the first three because they are the most important steps.

#1: Understand you client: Before you spend a lot of time and money creating a product, you should know if anyone will want to buy it.

#2: Learn if it’s protectable: Know if you can defend your product against cheap copies if it gets knocked off

#3: Make sure that there’s a demand for your product and the customer understands what you are selling when it’s on the shelf and nobody is there to explain it.

#4: Perfect your pitch: Before you speak to decision makers, know your numbers, know your retailer and know your logistics in and out.

#5: Don’t do it alone: If you haven’t been successful in retail before, a secret of success is that you can’t do it alone. Having great sales staff, customer support and marketing partners can take you from zero to success faster than if you tried on your own.

#1: Understand Your Client

I know, I know "ew, more marketing", but hear me out and I promise you it will be worth your while.

Before you spend time and money developing a product, conducting focus groups and surveys are ways you can get consumer input on what they want/need. As start up entrepreneurs, we often ride the current trends as a "safety net" for profit/income. I admit to doing this myself when starting out on my journey, and I was constantly feeling like my creativity was being limited or I was ripping someone's work off. What I started to do was post on my social media stories asking customers what they would like to see going forward and the products they wanted to see it on. After a while I started getting a lot of feedback, which in turn helped me in the creation of my latest collection of drops.

#2: Can You Protect It?

Protecting your intellectual property is important when entering the fashion world. If you create something "hot" but it isn't getting the proper recognition, someone can create a cheap knock off and swope your sales and potential customers. Trademarks, copyrights, LLC's are all things put in place to help you as an entrepreneur to protect your products and brand as whole. It may be costly to set up, but in the long run could potentially earn you millions.

For example, when Kanye made his foam runners, Walmart quickly tried to capitalize off its success and make a cheap knock easy access knock off. But, because Kanye is...well, Kanye, and he has his intellectual property protected, he was able to threaten walmart with a lawsuit forcing them to stop production of the knock offs.

#3: Is Your Product Worth It?

Of course you think it is, but what about everyone else? When your product is out on the shelves with no one to explain what your brand is or what the mission of your brand is how can you generate sales? The solution: Generate a large enough audience and create a buzz to where you won't have to worry about that. It also helps when you create products that reflect what your brand is about and what it stands for and not just making something because it looks cool.

I hope I was able to help you start the journey of expanding your brand with this read. See ya on the next post! ( I've tried to keep the read time as low as possible because I know yall have things to do ).