In 2008, when Toon and I started T.I.L. Darling, our first real experience in the fashion industry was at Pure London, UK’s primary trade fashion event. Before attending, we were just developing the website and purchasing overhead. We had visited the fashion wholesale street, but found that it was entirely wrong for what we wanted to do. From attending Pure London, Toon and I were really able to discover where we wanted to position T.I.L. Darling and the brands that were going to take us there.
Nonetheless, speaking for myself, I did feel like an outsider. I didn’t understand at the time that brands were showing samples a season in advance and taking orders for future delivery. While other buyers were purchasing £3k-5k from one brand, Toon and I had a budget of £3-4K for our entire planned inventory. Additionally, being an online store, there is a lack of credibility when answering a sales representative’s question, “So, where is your store located?” There is also the social aspect of fashion. There is a side of fashion that celebrates individuality, but there is the other side that’s very “Devil Wears Prada.” I cannot help but feel like I’m back in high school. Where the sales reps are the “in crowd” and I’m the Star Wars and Zombie loving nerd I have always been. At that time though, I had Toon with me and so we could pretend together and, quite honestly, when you are with someone you love the opinions of outsiders become a lot less important.
Two years later, I have gained a decent knowledge about fashion merchandising, my budget is more flexible, and TheOnlineClothingBoutique.com carries reputable fashion brands. Though Toon and I are still very much together, Toon left T.I.L. Darling at the end of 2008 and is now the Finance and Strategic Manager for a new Japanese Restaurant chain in Thailand. So, whatever it is that you love or hate about T.I.L. Darling can be attributed solely to me at this point. This also meant that I would essentially be heading to Las Vegas as a lone buyer. If I am going to be honest with myself, then this is probably the reason why I skipped the three MAGIC shows since moving back stateside.
Nonetheless, I felt it was important to discover some new brands. I booked my tickets, found boarding for my two fur balls (a german shepherd and mini dachshund), and landed in Vegas on August 16th, a day before the opening of the buyer’s show. As trite as it sounds, my first impression of Vegas was how hot it was. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I do not believe we hit triple digits this entire summer. After hitting the Mirage Buffet, which has an incredible selection, I checked into the Las Vegas Hilton. For me, the Hilton was a perfect choice because it is right next door to the Las Vegas Convention Center and it is certainly a lot less low key than other locations. I believe I went to one of the more popular casinos on The Strip, lost $3.00 on slots (reinforcing how much I dislike losing money), and called it a night because I planned to attend a seminar at 09:00.
In addition to thousands of brands showcasing their line, MAGIC Marketplace also host seminars. My original plan was actually to spend almost two full days attending these seminars, but that plan fell apart around 1pm on the first day. The seminars are ran extremely professionally and there is plenty of valuable information to be learned. I attended seminars on how to launch your own fashion line and two different marketing seminars. Still, after not missing any classes during my undergraduate education and trying my hardest during my graduate education, I just could not sit in a chair any longer. Additionally, after hearing how unbelievably hard launching a fashion brand is, I decided that I would just focus on retail until manufacturing becomes a natural progression.
From there, I just started hitting the booths. For those who have never been to MAGIC Marketplace, it is almost impossible to describe how large the event actually is. The event not only takes up the Las Vegas Convention Center, but also the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. There are individual sections for women’s contemporary, young contemporary, juniors, premium, menswear, street, shoes, accessories, and more that I cannot even think of. I would guess that the area it takes up is equal to five or six large airport hangers. I honestly do not think I am exaggerating.
At first, the size of the show is overwhelming, but after a while I realized the show is very logically formatted. For example, I could entirely skip the menswear section, skim shoes, and primarily focus on young contemporary and “juniors.” I put juniors is quotes because the term is very loosely used at MAGIC Marketplace. Esley, one of our most popular brands, is put in the juniors section, but the dresses are beyond a doubt young contemporary and our customers who buy the brand are usually in their twenties or thirties. Also, I could roughly separate womenswear brands between those who practice fast fashion and those who do not.
For those who are not familiar with the two, fast fashion is when brands, such as H&M, Zara, and Topshop, are continually producing new items throughout the year. Not only that, but also they are able to bring it from design to store in as little as two to three weeks. Traditional fashion houses, such as all the brands who have runway shows at NY, Paris, and London Fashion Week, only produce about three lines a year, though they may split shipments throughout the season. So, very traditionally, they will have one line for Fall/Winter, Holiday, and Spring/Summer.
Toon and I always knew that we were going to be closer to fast fashion because it is what our generation is most use to. So, the Mandalay Bay Convention Center housed mostly the traditional fashion brands, while the Las Vegas Convention Center housed mostly fast fashion brands. Nonetheless, other than menswear, I actually walked the entire show over the span of three days. My feet were exhausted and would have had no shame in using a Segway.
There were two things I was looking for when browsing the exhibitors. First, would their designs be appropriate for our core demographic. Second, were other buyers paying attention. Of course, once I actually talked to a sales representative and looked more closely at their line, I saw if it was an appropriate price point. I briefly walked into the French Connection exhibition and the sale representative told me their best selling dresses were around $250-300. In this economy, it is just not a price point I feel works for T.I.L. Darling, even though it is a recognizable brand that my friends wish I would carry, but that is only because they would want it at a discount. In real life, they would not be willing to pay for French Connection at full retail price and I believe that’s how most people feel these days.
Unfortunately for probably 50%-60% of the brands in young contemporary and juniors, it was really obvious which brands were popular with buyers. They had great lines, priced right, and the quality is appropriate for the price. I’m not going to name them all here, but I plan on making purchases throughout the next year and so you’ll slowly see them on the store website. There was one denim company who hired a group of surgically enhanced models to dance on a high platform, but I would argue that they did not bring in as many orders as Tulle who was right next door with their huge staff of sales representatives.
For the most part, I felt comfortable going throughout most of the exhibitor’s booths, but I must admit that there were some that I felt timid to even browse and those were the more recognizable brands, such as Max & Cleo and French Connection. Then again, I knew their price point was too high so there was not much point viewing the line anyway. I would always say that the bottom line if whether or not I will put in an order is style and price, but the sale representative certainly does make a huge impact on simply just how they represent the brand. It goes way beyond whether or not they are dressed well or attractive, but whether or not they treat everyone as valuable customers.
I hope T.I.L. Darling will reach the heights of ASOS.com or BlueFly.com someday, but I still want to be treated as a great potential customer when we are still building up our brand. Even though I would not say initially they treated us well, but TFNC was great to us in London. Melissa from the Daniel M. Friedman showroom in the Los Angeles Fashion District really made me feel comfortable. This show, to my surprise, was the sales representative from Free People. I do not remember her name, but she was very nice. This was especially apparent when right after talking to Free People I visited the French Connection exhibit and did not feel welcomed at all. I suppose it was obvious I was not really an ideal buyer from French Connection, but it has obviously left a negative impression in my mind and their brand as a whole.
On a side note, French Connection is no comparison to how I feel about Lipsy from the UK. Their sales representatives are the rudest I have experienced in the past three years. If you are in the UK, then I suggest you support TFNC who were willing to work with a small up and coming online store instead of Lipsy UK who essentially booted Toon and I from their London showroom. I’m not exaggerating, Lipsy did not even allow us to go through their line and pretty much told us to leave their showroom. Also, Max C. London and Darimeya were also very friendly to us so be sure to support them in the UK.
Going back to MAGIC Marketplace, I also felt that there were other exhibitors who were not exactly on the top of their game either. What many people do not know is that Forever 21 began in the Los Angeles Fashion District by a Korean couple. Now, half of the LA Fashion District is ran by Korean wholesalers. Despite the success of Forever 21, there is a perception of the quality that comes out of the LA Fashion District. Sometimes it is true, but just as often it is not. So, a lot of these brand will hire on new and non-Korean sales representatives just for the trade show. Also, some of them do so because they simply have too many orders to take. Still, I end up talking to a sale representative who obviously has no idea what they are talking about. I usually like to ask the sale rep what their best sellers are, but with these “hired guns” I cannot trust a word they say. So, I usually just take a business card and get in contact with the permanent sales reps later. I would say this was the case with 1/3 of the brands I plan to purchase, but I understand they would have been understaffed. So, it’s a necessary evil.
I also wanted to give a shout out to the people at Motel, aka Motel Rocks. They are a brand from the UK who decided to make the trip to Vegas and their sales reps are exactly the type of people you would hope they would be. One of the sales rep had jet black hair, while the other one had a short platinum hair. They were extremely fashion forward and, of course, spoke with an English accent.
This actually brings me to another glaring observation. Despite being stylish, trendy, and well dressed, I saw that most young female buyers did not wear anything outside of black, gray, white, and denim. This was in triple digit weather and still no one was wearing color. Can you guess who was wearing more color? Men were wearing more color. I found it a little odd. Black, gray, white and denim are core colors, but if women are not going to wear color in the summer time in 100 degree weather, then when are they going to wear color. It seems like a waste of time to even consider color trends, but this may be a just a very American thing. Additionally, I think it’s also an age thing. Some teenage consumers, despite wanting to belong, are very experimental and are willing to take a lot more risks with their wardrobe.
If it was up to me, then I would be buying all forward fashion items like Topshop Oxford St. but I’ve found it just doesn’t necessarily work here in the USA. If it did, then there wouldn’t only be one US Topshop location in New York City. Instead, Gap is in just about every single mall in the USA pushing khakis and plaid shirts.
For those interested in attending, I would say that two days is plenty of time to go through what you need to focus on. That’s if you do not attend the seminars. Because I decided to skip the second day of seminars, I went through the whole show, except for menswear, by the end of the second day. So, the third day, because my plan left at 9:05pm was a complete bore. From what I could tell, most buyers had left town by then. The next time I go, I will probably cut my trip by 25% because I do not find the social aspect of Las Vegas too interesting.
MAGIC Marketplace is without a doubt a necessary experience for any buyer. While I cannot say I had an incredible time in Las Vegas, I will say that I learned a great deal and I am more excited than ever about the future of T.I.L. Darling.
Best,
Daniel H.
Co-Founder, Buyer, and Custodial Services
