Discuss the process of getting your t-shirt line into brick and mortar stores and selling offline. Topics include industry tradeshows, events, line sheets, sales reps and other retailing tips and advice.
Hello All.
I need some advice. My friend and I have come up with a great line of clothing, mainly t-shirts for now that will be of a higher end. They will feature nailhead studs, all over prints, some foil print, ripped/destroyed garment edges etc. My question is this..
We would like to get our line in The Buckle and/or Nordstroms since these 2 stores carry higher end lines such as Affliction, Ed Hardy, Manchester, etc. We feel that our line is in line with these types of clothing companys and our price point will be very similiar.
Here is the catch... To get our line manufacturered we need to do a minimum of 1000 pieces per design. Im guessing each one of our shirts will cost us on average of 20 to 25 dollars to manufacturer.
In order to get into these types of stores do i need to have my clothing on hand to show them samples or can we show them a catalog or sell sheets of the designs?
Would we be better off going with a Rep to get our line into these stores? If so, where should we look for a qualified Rep and what types of percents are we looking at having to pay such a Rep?
We have 3 different designs currently for men and women that will make up a total of 7 shirts for mens and 5 for womens. Is this enough to start up?
Has anyone had any experience with or heard of anything to do with these 2 stores on getting a line in them?
Your aiming pretty high with those stores but anything is possible. I know those are the kind of stores that you don't go to they come to you. ie. tradeshows. I would have to say I feel you should build your line a little more and try to have physical samples of your stuff.
You have to remember hundreds if not thousands of brands similar to yours are trying to get in as well.
As far as the samples there are a lot of places that will make you a prototype of each design or pair of jeans. Sure it will cost a lot more per piece but you won't have to pay $40,000 to make one shirt design.
hi
i'm new here but have had experience selling to department stores including nordstrom's. sorry..i've never heard of "the buckle" so i can't comment on
that store. nordstrom's does it's shopping in showrooms at the apparel markets around the country. like lots of stores years ago, it used to have OTB days which means "open to buy" where people not represented in showrooms could wait to see buyers. that doesn't mean that they still can't find you without you having representation. however, that has become much more unlikely. you will absolutely HAVE to show them samples. you are trying to sell the design, but they are selling a product and they want to see it's quality and be able to feel it. i would think that the company you are dealing with to make your product will give you samples. personally, i wouldn't order that many shirts without wanting to see a sample and i assume you wouldn't either. take samples to whatever apparel market is closest to you. the main ones are in new york, chicago, atlanta, los angeles, and dallas and approach the sales reps in the various showrooms (you might want to cal first to see if they are taking on new lines). besides the showroom fee which is usally nominal, reps work on a % basis. in the apparel markets it's usually 10%. they don't sell it...they don't get the money. at least you'll get feedback on whether they think this is worthwhile to pursue without producing/buying 1,000's of tee shirts. by the way....nordstorms was a good account for years. be aware though, however thrilling it might be to sell to some of the other big department stores, that i know of cases where vendors who shipped them MANY months ago are still waiting for their checks. we are talking 12-18 months here. so be careful.
and don't get me started on the shipping and chargebacks of these places. that's a whole other headache that might make it worth your while to avoid at all costs dealing with the bigger stores. hope that any of this helped you!
I am curious as to how you are paying $25 per shirt when you are getting $1,000 made. I have been quoted cheaper on custom jeans and jackets before with less quantity. I think you need to check around first before dropping $25 on a shirt. Just cause brands like Ed Hardy and Afflication charge 3 times more then your average band doesn't mean it cost them 3 times more to make! If I was you I would shop around a bit more for better pricing.
Also you the shows you were thinking of but couldn't find on Goggle are shows like Magic, Agenda, and POOL.
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It would be a more effective approach to get into Target & Wal-Mart. Between these two there are nearly 11,000 locations and there are just over 600 Nordstrom, Nordstrom Racks and Buckles combined. I can't talk to margins as I don't know what they are with any of these companies but 18 x more stores seems like a no brainer to me. From a strictly business perspective it would be impossible to clear more per shirt than the difference between the prices @ the higher end stores compared to the big box stores. Either way if you were to get into any of these stores I am sure your margins per shirt at any of them will be calculated with decimal points not dollars.
A national chain such as Nordstrom will not give the time of day to a no name company who is immitating the already established brands that they carry.
Walmart and Target? They already have their house brands pumping out poor man versions of whatever is trendy at the time.
New designs are not new but rehashed. You won't get the attention of the big boys with your version of an eagle, crest, tribal, koi, dragon, barbedwire, etc. There's no demand for it because anyone with Windows 3.1 can open MSPaint and clip art it.
For a designer without a track record and recognizable name, the money lies in altering the state of the shirt in a way that either hasn't been discovered or has yet to be exploited on a major scale. Nail heads, distress and burn out ain't gonna cut it.
Getting into The Buckle or Nordstroms 
