Posts filed under 'The Tools You Need'
It seems like I get so caught up in our manufacturing processes that I rarely touch on the online boutique startup process. Oh my, oh my. After we went through hell and got ripped off by developers -if anybody ever comes across Hand Crafted Webs or the Yellow-Llama, run fast and run far - they will rip you off. They can talk a good talk, but they don’t do anything to back it up. They can do a decent mock-up in Photoshop and get you thinking everything will be grand, but they won’t go beyond that. I will write this story completely in another post, because I’ve promised many people I would do so, and because I have a ton of emails to back it up; and because I know when I do my post on them, it will show up in searches and hopefully save many others.
Let me suffice it to say that their last email to me was requesting a contact address so they could send some legal papers to us; it’s been months and they are apparently incapable of performing a search online for our contact information, or simply locating the contact information provided on our website. I’d laugh if we hadn’t been totally and completely ripped off. But, right, the story is for another post. This is about getting the website up and running.
We were stuck with the crappy design that Hand Crafted Webs had left us with (they took our existing store offline and never got one back up, only a blog), out a lot of money, and felt really stuck-in-the-mud. My lessons that I learned were:
- Don’t depend too much on a referral, still do a thorough background check and review of current and past work.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is (no matter how many times I’ve heard that, it took a real-life experience to fully “get it”).
- Be weary about working with foreign companies, where you’ll have little to no recourse if the deal goes sour.
So, how did we get our store up? My husband, and partner, did it himself. And once he was done with the store, he went back and re-designed the crappy blog-part and home page that we had been left with…we had heard from people that our site was difficult to navigate and it was difficult to shop. My husband finished a lot of the re-design this week and we’ve heard nothing but raves about how much better it is, how it’s now easy to shop, how it’s so much easier to tell what we do and who we are. So, I have to give my husband a zillion kudos for stepping up and taking on the task of learning HTML and PHP. He’s already amazing with graphics, but I’ve watched his graphic skills improve tenfold through the process as well.
Don’t get discouraged if it seems like it’s taking you forever to get your site up. I can tell you that if you are a designer or creative type, you’re likely to never be fully satisfied with the design. But your website should be a living document anyways, and so, keep in mind that you can keep making it better after you have it up and functioning.
Make sure you spec out the functions that you need currently and that you foresee in the future. Will you need the ability to offer wholesale prices and retail prices? Will you need the ability to shop by category, size, manufacturer, etc? how much design flexibility will you need? Will you need the ability to show multiple images for each product? Jot down every single thing you can think of that you want you website and users to be capable of, and then start researching designers and applications that will suit your needs.
In one of my upcoming posts I will talk about the value of a blog for an online boutique.
March 23rd, 2007
I have to give a big thanks to Kathleen at fashion-incubator (also author of one of the best breaking-into-the-industry book available, The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Sewn Product Manufacturing), because she was gracious enough to take the time to recommend a friend who might be able to help me get my pattern graded in a pinch.
And, wa-la, I’m on my way to drop off the pattern mid-morning, and I have full confidence because I have a lot of respect for Kathleen. In her book, she talks about the power of a referral in the industry, and I know I’ve talked about it before too. But it can’t be said enough. If you find someone you respect for quality of work and work ethic, utilize that person’s resources as much as you can, ask them for referrals.
You’ll find that people won’t give a referral they can’t stand behind. I made the mistake (at one of my first jobs) of referring a friend for a position, with no clue about her work ethic really. What a mistake that was…she was somewhat of a prima-donna who got pissed when asked to work. After that, I’ve found that I’m very very careful about who I’ll refer, I feel it is a reflection on myself. And in turn, I’ve found that referrals from people I respect prove time and time again to be the best way to find resources and helpful people.
And, I guess if you were to take this one step further, this speaks to the power of networking..unfortunately, not my strong point. I’m very talkative - at home. I have a harder time breaking out of my shell, but I’m working on it. I have to say the blogging helps. I’ve met some cool people from having a blog. Getting out and going after sales helps too. Meeting cool people at the trade show helped. I guess every little bit helps.
And that said, I must say I’m excited to be off to meet a new friend in the industry this morning. And I feel blessed to find someone local who is willing to help me in a pinch.
So, again, thanks Kathleen!
February 24th, 2007
This article on TIME.com was incredibly interesting to me as a small-fry clothing manufacturer / retailer. It gives anyone thinking about going into this industry a lot of food for thought. Mainly how important it is to remain new and innovative, you have to always keep the momentum going, right? It also points out how difficult it is for the big manufacturers to turn on a dime.
Here’s a couple of things that are of importance to us little fish clothing manufacturers:
- Retail stores (esp. specialty boutiques) refresh their floors every six weeks. This means you’ve got to be in there all the time with new stuff to show.
- Don’t fall into the pitfall of too small of a core offering. I think we were in danger of slipping down this slope with our blankets. But, we’re small enough to react and get a fashion line out in time for fall instead of just accessories.
- Pay attention to trends; get out and get inspired!!
There is a lot more you can get out of the Time article if you’re interested. In my opinion, it’s definitely worth a read.
January 30th, 2007
Oh my goodness. Things are moving along, but the time is SO precious being just a few weeks out. I’m starting to feel that crunched “oh boy are we going to make it?” feeling. Heck, at least that feeling kicks me in gear.
I’m also updating the catalog, price sheets, & line sheets today. Because it HAS to get done already. I don’t know what my problem is, I put too much pressure on making it great, or I should say “fabulous”, that I end up with a ton of half-finished stuff. I have to just get it done to the point where I have all of the necessary information on the materials, then worry about making them oh-so-pretty.
I’m crossing my fingers and praying for the fashion line to come together. Running into glitches all along the way, but isn’t this typical? That’s ok. If it comes down to me sewing a few of the samples, I will. It’s actually the fabric that’s a problem. My long-time supplier suddenly decided not to do sample cuts, and frankly, this is crucial to me. We didn’t spend enough $$ with them last year for it to be worth it to them to do some sample cuts. Right, so it’s more worth it to me to “go for it” and hope those colorways sell because my supplier made me buy too much fabric. No, it’s actually worth it for me to spend my time and find someone that will give me sample cuts, so I can actually test the fabric before I invest in it.
But that’s more scurrying around and somehow I always get to o-dark-thirty with too many phone calls I didn’t make. But I can do this. I have some prospective suppliers up in LA and they can get me sample cuts fast. It’s finding something I’m happy with that I’m concerned about.
I could change my plan and offer a lot more of the fashions in one colorway. But I don’t really want to work with that company, and I don’t want to change my plan to suit theirs. How are you ever supposed to start up with them?
So, business hours are about phone calls today. Which makes right now, the kid’s sleeping time, about the print materials. Just get it done.
January 25th, 2007
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