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Brooklyn's Progress
March 2001 By Monica Rump Brooklyn Style facilitated an initial total of $40,000 in sales for Brooklyn designers last month at MAGIC, the country’s biggest fashion trade event. The show, which ran February 13-16, is held every February and August. This year marked Brooklyn Style’s third return to the Edge, an exclusive section of the show featuring street wear, hip hop and the most innovative new lines for the youth market. With Brooklyn well established as a haven for trendsetting urban oriented fashion, the presence of the Brooklyn Style designers was a natural fit. Brooklyn Style featured a dynamic group of veteran and first-time participants, including Superfox, Your Sister’s Mustache, Tasty, Orlando Dominguez and Delish. Of the $40,000 in sales that Brooklyn Style generated at the show so far, two thirds came from boutique retailers in the U.S., while a third came from Canada, Hong Kong, Guam and notably Japan, collectively. Japanese buyers display a lot of interest in Brooklyn Style items because of their hip and kitschy nature. While initial sales are very important, the show also brought Brooklyn Style designers numerous potential sales opportunities. In fact, many sales attributed to exhibiting at the show aren’t realized until later, in the months following the show. For example, Your Sister’s Mustache, designer of handbags constructed from recycled and vintage newspapers, magazines and books, is in serious negotiations with Disney for a private label venture as a result of her participation in the show. She originally was approached by the entertainment giant when she exhibited with Brooklyn Style for the first time last August at MAGIC and has been in negotiations with them ever since. “Dealing with a major company like Disney has been such a great experience for me,” commented Maria Capotorto, the designer behind Your Sister’s Mustache, “while it’s been a long slow process, I’ve learned so much . . . especially that the larger companies are so much more conservative when it comes to doing business. They won’t just rush into a deal like most of the smaller retailers.” Additionally, Your Sister’s Mustache is finalizing a deal for an exclusive distributorship in Australia and New Zealand and has been approached with the same opportunity by a German distributor for all of Germany, the UK and Belgium as a result of February’s show. In addition to exciting sales opportunities, participation in the February show brought press attention to the Brooklyn Style exhibitors. Newcomers Delish, who designs bold new creations from recycled denim, was approached at the show by Teen magazine about having a Delish product featured on the cover of an upcoming issue. “I think we can arrange room in our schedule for that,” joked an excited Amanda Fruitt, one of the company’s designers. Indeed, press can be instrumental in helping a newer, smaller designer gain the exposure that the industry demands in order to be successful. For instance, following an article on Brooklyn Style designers that appeared in Women’s Wear Daily, the undisputed industry leader in reporting on the fashion business, major retailer Henri Bendel immediately placed an opening order of $2,000 with one of the companies that the article profiled. Because of sales and press opportunities like these, trade shows represent a vital marketing and sales channel for designers, and retailers worldwide rely on the MAGIC show twice a year as a venue in which to make major purchasing decisions for their stores. There is no better way for a buyer to see a designer’s line, however, participation in a first rate show like MAGIC can cost a designer as much a $10,000 – an enormous chunk of change for a company just starting out. Unfortunately many new or smaller designers can’t afford the cost of participation, and are forced to forgo an important show like MAGIC, and, ultimately, access to potential new sales accounts that would help them grow their businesses. Brooklyn Style attempts to bridge the gap between retailers and the many talented, smaller fashion designers from Brooklyn. By participating as part of a collaborative Brooklyn effort, Brooklyn-based designers can gain visibility and access to buyers on the same playing field as larger, more established companies, for a fraction of the cost. Brooklyn Style is a business development program launched to assist smaller designers in growing their businesses. In addition to facilitating sales and press for designers, the program is building in other components. Through its partnership with the Business Outreach Center, Brooklyn Style provides technical assistance via Crunch - a series of nuts and bolts seminars on running a business from an expense, profit and forecasting perspective. Planning is also well underway for the design of a virtual catalog, which will serve as an additional sales and marketing tool for designers by the end of the year. Contact Monica Rump, ext. 119. |
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