cfi-The Look and The Law Aug 09:The Look, The Law & The Knowledge 2009 07/09/2009 13:55 Pag
YOUR WEBSITE
Apart from a show, the other essential profile raiser is your own website. It can also
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be a direct selling line to the public. What you should be aiming for is something
which hovers between the commercial savvy of NET-A-PORTER.COM and the
creative freedom of Showstudio.com. Both are leaders in their fields because they
are built on the personal conviction of their creators, respectively Natalie Massenet
and Nick Knight. Your site must have the same personal conviction and, because
the more that customers feel they know about you, the more they wish to buy into
GARDEN
your products, your website should express your personal aesthetic.
Whether you decide to use your website as an e-tail site or prefer to hope that NET-
VENT A-PORTER.COM or Yoox.com will buy and promote your clothes, you must be
aware of the dangers of big orders for fledgling designers.
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CO

A SALES AGENTS
Sales agents, especially for a foreign market, are valuable, if only psychologically, by
stopping you feeling that you’re a poor little bunny with nobody to look after you.
Before we talk about what agents can do for a budding designer, let us just mention
one important factor that is too easily forgotten. Agents are tough and, if you are
inclined to let things slip a bit, they are invaluable at keeping you up to scratch.
They have seen and heard it all before and there is no excuse, no matter how
ingenious, that will fool them for late deliveries, broken promises or lame excuses.
F
ASHION FRINGE
On the more positive side, if they take you on, they really work for you. The normal
arrangement is that you give them the selling collection which they then show in
their showroom along with other designers who they represent. This takes your
collection out of isolation, a good thing on two counts. Firstly, it gives you an
indication of its ‘hanger appeal’ compared with other labels and secondly, it gets
your clothes seen by buyers who might otherwise never get round to visiting you.
The agent functions on payment in arrears in that most of them work on a
commission (negotiable but rarely below 10%) and bill you after you have delivered
and been paid for the clothes.
Sales exhibitions and show rooms usually take place within the city’s Fashion Week,
thus reaching all of the international buyers and agents that are around at that time.
These will include:
• New York - Rendez Vous
• London - London Fashion Week Exhibitions
• Paris - Eclat de Mode, Prêt a Porter, Rendez-Vous, Who’s Next,
• Milan - White, Milano Prêt a Porter
www.fashionfringe.co.uk
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