Clothing Line Sales: Getting Your Clothing Line In Stores

Clothing Line Sales: Getting Your Clothing Line In Stores

Getting your clothing line in stores is not the hardest thing as many would like to think. As anything else dealing with your clothing line, it is about your knowledge of the clothing industry. There are many ways to get clothing stores purchasing your brand and hopefully with my help you will be able to this faster than the typical brand.

Be aware, to get your clothing line in stores nationally and internationally it will cost money at some point.

The first way to get your clothing line and least expensive is probably good Internet marketing for your web site. Clothing store buyers will see clothing lines on blogs, in forum communities, and other publications they frequent. If it catches their eye they will then research your clothing line name and try to land a web site and contacts. If your web site is up and they can find it with a quick search, you will get yourself an easy account and money with less hands taking from it.

Another way to sell your clothing line is to print a catalog with your collection pieces and mail it to clothing stores. If you are a hip-hop clothing line I recommend using google, Street Wear Web site, and Sneaker Stores Web site. Other sites are available for helping find store addresses on Google search so use it to your advantage.

A good site to get your clothing line collection catalog printed is Vista Print printing services! And remember to keep things simple. Do not overspend trying to make a super-elaborate presentation. You are sellingclothing,not graphic design services.

http://www.clothinglinehelp.com/how-to-get-clothing-line-in-stores.html

How to Get Clothing Distributed to Major Department Stores by Lisa McQuerrey, studioD

How to Get Clothing Distributed to Major Department Stores

by Lisa McQuerrey, studioD

One of the best ways to promote your clothing line is to secure mainstream distribution through major department stores. These stores typically have chains across the nation; they employ sophisticated marketing techniques to sell their products, and those of the clothing designers they carry. There is a variety of ways to get noticed by buying agents in major department stores. For best results, design a complete clothing line, produce samples, and identify a garment manufacturing company prior to attempting to get your clothing line distributed to major department stores.

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Take your product online. Build a website and social media sites with full-color photos and enticing descriptions of your clothing line. Include details about retail or wholesale opportunities, and provide contact information. Department buyers regularly search the Internet for chat related to new designers, and may contact you directly from a web search.

Create a catalog of your clothing line and include a removable, updatable one-page sheet that details wholesale and retail pricing. Send the catalog to the purchasing or buying department of major department stores.

Make personal appointments with purchasing agents in major department stores and provide them with samples of your clothing line.

Retain a public relations or marketing company with experience in promoting products to the retail industry. A good firm can make introductions to major department stores, and can distribute press releases to department store and retail trade publications detailing the launch of your clothing line.

Host a fashion show to benefit a favorite charity, and invite representatives from major department stores to attend. Hold a reception after the event and make time to meet one-on-one with department store buyers.

Attend fashion industry trade shows, and consider purchasing a booth to display your line. This is where many retail department store clothing buyers make their purchasing decisions for the year.

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Launching Your Apparel Line

Check out the “How to Start your own Clothing Line” section of  our Start Here page

Start Here

Designed your own original and unique t-shirt, printed and branded your work, ready to launch? Now you’re ready for the big time.

For a lot of brands, the holy grail of going big-time is getting into well-known retail shops. There’s certainly an appeal to being able to go into your local mall and see your brand on the racks. How do you get there? Here are some general tips for breaking into retail, straight from Cleveland Design Agency, Go Media Partner Jeff Finley’s book, Thread’s Not Dead: The Designer’s Guide to the Apparel Industry.

Most of the successful “big-time” brands will tell you it wasn’t easy getting to where they are and that there’s no formula for success. But you’ve got to be willing to tough it out, deal with rejection, and be ready to ride the roller coaster. You must also have the capabilities to manufacture hundreds or thousands of shirts. For those wanting to go beyond the side project phase and go bigtime, read on.

Our Taking Back Sunday “Sink Into Me” Design

“How to My Apparel Line into Stores,” you ask?

1.  Be Proven. Your line needs to have a history of selling well. If you consistently sell out online or have built up a large fan base online, this increases your chances of getting into a retail shop. If all you have are mockups and no history of selling anything, you need to prove yourself first. It’s like a band trying to get signed to a major label and play big shows when they can’t sell out the local pub down the street.

2. Be retail-ready. This includes hang tags, custom poly bags or packaging, printed shirt tags, etc. You need to look put-together in order to be taken seriously by retail stores. Johnny Cupcakes often reminds people at his talks that those that pay extra attention to these little details are the ones that stand out and are successful.

3. Have a line sheet or lookbook. A line sheet is basically a PDF of your t-shirt line with product info and photos of product. Include info about your brand, the names of the shirts, t-shirt color and specs, item number, prices, sizing, and other specs unique to your product.

Don’t forget to mockup your designs.

4. Do your homework. Find out what stores you want to be in and get all the information you can about them. Make sure your brand fits the style and will look good
with the rest of the products they sell. Talk to the buyers. Find out who makes the buying decisions and set up an appointment to show them your samples. The employees at your local retail shop are not likely the ones making decisions.

5. Talk to other brands who have made it. Learn from their experience! Walk into the stores you want to be in and write down the names of the brands you find. Do your homework and look up contact information for them and introduce yourself. Be polite and see you can set up an interview with them to discuss their experiences. If you have trouble finding information about a brand, it might be because they’re a store brand under a different name. For example, I saw a brand called Aces & Eights at JCPenney once and couldn’t find a damn thing about them online. From what I gathered, it was just JCPenney putting out a line of tees under that name.

6. Go to Trade Shows like Magic or Pool. You can meet a lot of retail buyers and talk to brand owners and consumers alike. You can really get a feel for what the current trends are at these events. Eventually, setting up your own booth should be on your annual to do list. There are others like Agenda, ASR, and Threadshow.

7. Hire a Sales Rep. Find someone who has experience selling apparel to retail buyers. They do this for a living and are likely better at it than you. They also already have the contacts that everyone wants but doesn’t have. Some stores already have relationships with certain reps and buy from them often.

8. Bring samples. Retail buyers and sales reps like to be able see the actual products before they make a decision. It makes sense right? They like to feel the garment and test the quality and fit. This also gives your buyer a chance to notice all of your attention to detail!

9. Be professional yet personable. This is common sense in the industry. Buyers are attracted to people that know their product inside and out and can speak about it with passion and conviction. They buy from people they are comfortable with. If you can’t manage to clean up and persuade someone to want your tees, then get a sales rep.

10. Be persistent and follow up. When you contact a store, rep, or buyer, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear back. These people can have hundreds of brands trying to get into their store! Make a spreadsheet of all the people you are contacting and when you need to follow up. Make sure you follow up and be persistent. Just don’t be annoying and if they say no, it usually means no. Don’t nag anyone, you don’t want to damage your reputation.

Jeff’s Bold is Beautiful design

Other Options:

Sell at Local Boutiques and Consignment Shops

You can swing by your local clothing boutiques and ask if you could sell your line on consignment. The terms vary, but you only get paid if the shirts sell. The shop gets to keep a percentage. This is a good way to get your feet wet selling in stores. There’s no guarantee of making any money, but you can test the waters and get your brand name out there a little bit. You’ll need to find shops that sell to the type of consumer you are looking for. Do your tees fit in with the boutique? If you find that your tees are selling locally, then you can consider moving on to more national stores.

Sell at National Chains and Department Stores

If you want to sell your stuff at Hot Topic, H&M, or other chain stores like that, you’ll need to talk to their regional sales reps. You can find them at the major apparel trade shows looking at hot new brands to buy up. However, if you’ve got a large following online, these stores may find you through word of mouth. Urban Outfitters contacted Go Media asking to purchase a bunch of Obama skate decks that Oliver Barrett designed. We agreed on a price, signed the deal, and saw the deck in their stores. It was kind of a lucky shot there, but his design was timely and fit with what they were looking for.

Working with Distributors

Dave from Paint the Stars says, “Distributors are a great way to get your brand into places that you might not be able to reach independently.” They can also help you with manufacturing and producing your tees. Getting a distribution deal is like getting a record deal, which is one way to get more exposure and sales. Dave says he’s had good and bad experiences with distributors. “We’ve found ourselves bound by some pretty unreasonable contracts that have only benefited the distributor and left us with nothing but a bunch of empty promises.” He warns, “It’s easy to get drawn in with promises of brand exposure, marketing you never dreamed of, and crazy production. So make sure you go through every minor detail of a contract before you sign it.” Through their roller coaster experience, they have decided to start their own distribution company called Breakout Distribution to help themselves and other indie brands take it to the next level without a lot of the fine print from major distros.

https://gomedia.com/zine/insights/how-to-get-your-apparel-line-into-retail-stores/

Interracial Love Poem by Naomi Johnson

Poetry With A Purpose



This poem is about how true love does not see the color of its mate skin but the color of beauty in ones heart. Two people who are from different ethnic group allows there genuine love to block the racial hate of other people who tries to impose their inner racial hate in their lives to separate his or her potential soul mate. Racial discrimination is something we are not born with but is an ignore behavior cycle that is taught and pass on from generation to another generation.

However, it’s okay to have your own preference in whom you want to date but it is ignorance when you push your racial behavior on another relationship.

Preference Is A Choice but Racial Discrimination Is Ignorance that Is Taught.

Genuine Love sees no color!

Injury lawsuits are a costly for NJ Transit

The passengers are paying for these entire reckless bus driver actions through fare increase and the bus driver are getting away with murder. While these bus companies are harboring murders that are operating a large weapon that can cause an innocent person their lives as the Prosecutor detectives write it off as an accident. It is sad that the politicians, bus companies, detective treats the victims live as no value. The victims cannot go back to their family but the bus drivers can. I believe is these bus driver know they were going to jail and serve some time, as well as, losing their jobs all these death will stop.

NJ Transit doles out millions of dollars each year to settle claims related to pedestrians who have been struck by NJ Transit buses, resulting in brain injuries, crushed hands and feet, disfigurement or — in a few cases — death, records show.

Over a nearly three-year period, the agency paid $20.5 million to people who said they were injured when bus drivers ran red lights, failed to yield to pedestrians or ignored their surroundings.

The family of Rosalina Barbosa-Ortiz said in May 2010 she was knocked down by a speeding NJ Transit bus driver in Camden. The accident, the family said in legal filings, left her with injuries, including fractured ribs, that ultimately resulted in her death. NJ Transit settled with her estate last year for $990,000. And a pending criminal case in Passaic, in which a former bus driver was indicted on vehicular manslaughter charges in February, could spawn a civil filing as well.

Yet, in a dozen other cases that NJ Transit litigated during the nearly three-year term, the case was closed and the claimant got nothing.

Experts say dealing with tort claims and accidents is a reality for transit agencies that are in the business of moving millions of people in heavy equipment each year. In 2012, there were 23 bus-pedestrian accidents, the same number as in 2008 and 2010. In 2011, there were 21. Of the incidents between 2006 and this year, NJ Transit officials said, 17 were in Bergen County, six in Passaic County and 55 in Essex County. So far this year, there has been just one incident.

It’s “a part of what you have to deal with,” said Jack Lettiere, former commissioner of the state Department of Transportation, who headed NJ Transit’s board from 2002 to 2006 and now operates a transportation consulting agency.

“That sounds very cold,” he said, “but there really isn’t anyone in [a transit agency] that has an ‘I don’t care’ attitude. They don’t want to see any of their customers or passengers or any of the folks working in the area injured.”

Bus-pedestrian accidents are a topic both transit agencies and bus driver unions shy away from. The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents NJ Transit’s 5,500 bus employees, didn’t return repeated phone calls seeking comment. Transit agencies, meanwhile, want to avoid the public scrutiny that comes with publicized payouts, and worry that those that climb into millions will trigger a windfall of new claims.

The Record reviewed cases in which NJ Transit spent money, either to settle a bus or rail claim, or to litigate the case between Jan. 1, 2010, and October 2012. The Record also looked at accidents that occurred during that period for which money was spent on litigation. There were 80 such cases. Ten were related to train incidents and 70 to bus accidents.

Of those, 39 were settled, but 13 were closed without a payout. But that doesn’t mean taxpayers were spared any costs. During the nearly three-year period, NJ Transit spent $1.25 million on legal fees, administrative costs and court costs on cases, including those in which no payment was awarded.

NJ Transit won a case against a woman who claimed her arm was fractured after she was struck on Broad and Market streets in Newark in 2010. It was the only case during the nearly three-year period that went to trial, and while the agency was successful, it still spent $12,617 on litigation.

John Durso Jr., spokesman for NJ Transit, said about 140 claims are filed against the agency each year for bus and rail accidents involving pedestrians. He said about $14 million per year is budgeted to deal with claims, including settlements. The agency pays the first $10 million on a claim, before insurance kicks in. All of the payouts reviewed by The Record were below the insurance trigger.

The claims most frequently blamed the incidents on bus driver negligence. Many list gruesome injuries to their skin, feet and limbs that have left them disfigured or unable to perform tasks. One involved a woman who suffered a concussion after being struck by an unsecured luggage door on a bus.

The largest settlement was to Mercedes Perez, a Paterson woman whose leg was amputated after she was struck by an NJ Transit bus while crossing Market Street at Cianci Street on Oct. 9, 2008. NJ Transit spent $102,356 in legal and administrative costs to fight the case before settling it for $7.85 million, according to records.

Her attorney, Brad S. Schenerman, declined to comment.

Most settlements were not so large. Chong H. Hwang, who said he was crossing Anderson Avenue near Edgewater Road in Fairview when he was struck by a NJ Transit bus, took a $40,000 settlement. Malcah Yaeger-Dror, who said a bus struck him in Philadelphia as it tried to beat a light, accepted a $5,000 settlement.

Others got nothing.

One woman claimed she was waiting for a bus on Broad Street in Newark when a bus swerved and struck her, causing her to fall. She said in her claim she suffered neck and lower back injuries and fractured ribs. NJ Transit spent $96.25 to litigate the case. In the end, the case was closed and the claimant collected nothing.

The region has seen its share of high-profile bus-pedestrian crashes. Just last month, former NJ Transit driver Catherine Collier was indicted on vehicular manslaughter charges after the bus she was driving allegedly struck a pedestrian in Passaic in September.

Collier was driving the route 74U passenger bus on Sept. 27 when Joseph Currier, a 49-year-old Passaic resident, got off near Main and Brook avenues. Currier was in the crosswalk on Main Avenue when he was struck by Collier’s bus, authorities have said.

A passenger on the bus said Collier accelerated as the traffic signal turned from yellow to red and ran the red light, investigators have said. The passenger also saw the victim’s face hit the windshield as Collier drove through the intersection, and that the bus traveled 40 to 50 yards after the impact before it stopped, authorities have said.

Her attorney did not return a call for comment.

Collier, 65, faces 10 years in state prison if she convicted of vehicular homicide, a second-degree crime. She would have to serve 85 percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. She pleaded not-guilty to vehicular homicide after her arrest.

Durso said she left the agency on Dec. 28, but did not say whether it was voluntary or if she was fired.

NJ Transit uses a variety of measures to reduce the chances of a pedestrian getting struck, including equipping more than 1,430 buses with equipment that audibly announces, “Caution, bus turning,” to alert pedestrians of buses turning at intersections, Durso said.

There is also an emphasis on defensive driving for bus operators. It includes lessons on scanning the roadway and its surroundings for dangers like parked cars or people exiting vehicles in the street.

“Operators are taught that, when discharging or picking up customers, to scan their mirrors for customers still attempting to board, and before departing to close all doors and wait for all customers to be seated,” he said. “They are taught to put on the turn signal and check their mirror before reentering traffic.”

Durso said each case is different, but once an accident is reported, a probe begins. Investigators interview the bus driver, photograph the scene, review police reports and vehicle maintenance records. Investigators also review the Drive Cam, on-board equipment that records bus speeds at the time of the accident, as well as high-risk behaviors among drivers. It develops training in response, he said.

“The goal for NJ Transit is to reduce incidents through extensive bus operator training, regular vehicular maintenance and review of driving activity to identify areas for further training and improvement,” Durso said. The union is involved in the process, he said.

He said driver discipline varies by incident, but all are investigated. That involves interviews with the bus operator, reviewing the scene and police reports, and checking bus maintenance records.

Lettiere said accidents occur for many reasons, including road design. “In the inner city, where bus accidents and pedestrian accidents occur, streets were not designed for the amount of traffic that they have and the size of the vehicles. It’s very difficult for everyone to navigate.”

Lettiere said for transit agencies across the country, settlements — while headline-grabbing — are secondary to safety. The primary issue is finding the root cause of the incident.

“What happened? Why did it happen? Is it a recurring thing?” he said.

Email: rouse@northjersey.com

http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/injury-lawsuits-are-a-costly-for-nj-transit-1.547090

Injured Wayne motorcyclist, NJ Transit reach $2.5M settlement in Lincoln Tunnel crash

Injured Wayne motorcyclist, NJ Transit reach $2.5M settlement in Lincoln Tunnel crash

The passengers are paying for these entire reckless bus driver actions through fare increase and the bus driver are getting away with murder. While these bus companies are harboring murders that are operating a large weapon that can cause an innocent person their lives as the Prosecutor detectives write it off as an accident. It is sad that the politicians, bus companies, detective treats the victims live as no value. The victims cannot go back to their family but the bus drivers can. I believe is these bus driver know they were going to jail and serve some time, as well as, losing their jobs all these death will stop.

A $2.5 million settlement has been reached between NJ Transit and a Wayne motorcyclist who was critically injured in a 2011 crash involving three buses in the Lincoln Tunnel.

One NJ Transit bus rear-ended a second one, which, in turn, rear-ended Keith Nystrom, now 49, pinning him and his motorcycle against the bus ahead of him before he was then thrown under the forward bus and trapped. Fifty-four passengers were also injured, 14 of them seriously, according to published accounts at the time of the accident.

“Mr. Nystrom was literally pinned under the bus. It was a pretty gruesome story as to his rescue and recovery,” said attorney Daniel M. Hurley of Brick Township and Toms River, representing Nystrom in a civil suit against NJ Transit that was settled Tuesday before state Superior Court Judge Thomas J. La Conte in Paterson.

“They had to put air mattresses under the bus, in order to extract him. It’s a miracle he survived. It was six months before he was able to walk,” Hurley said Thursday by phone.

The settlement still must be approved by NJ Transit’s board of directors, according to officials. That is expected to occur within 45 days, Hurley said.

Nystrom underwent four surgeries for two broken legs and a fractured arm and required a chest tube while he was hospitalized, according to Hurley. Nystrom has no use of his left hand and limited use of his left arm because of nerve damage resulting from his injuries, and walks with a slight limp, according to his lawyer.

He worked for JP Morgan at the time as a computer associate and continues in that job, though he has since been transferred to Houston, Hurley said. Nystrom, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is married and has four children.

While Hurley admitted that Nystrom was shouldn’t have been in the bus lane, the suit alleged that the first bus driver in the chain of collisions, who was traveling a proper speed of about 35 mph, never put his foot on the brake prior to impact. Hurley said the driver has admitted that. “He was a distracted driver allegedly looking in his right rear view mirror and never saw the bus in front of him stop,” Hurley said.

Attorney Thomas Lenney of Union, representing NJ Transit in the case, declined to comment.

Email: petrick@northjersey.com
#NJTransit #recklessbusdrivers #recklessdrivers #raisingawareness#murder
http://www.northjersey.com/…/injured-wayne-motorcyclist-nj-…

Remembering Well Know Poet, Artist, Author, Jewelry designer, Fashion designer, advocate, educator and Mother of Music Artist Sean M on her born day today.

Remembering Well Know Poet, Artist, Author, Jewelry designer, Fashion designer, advocate, educator and Mother of Music Artist Sean M on her born day today.  

Naomi the Fashion Designer

Naomi the advocate

Naomi the digital designer 

Naomi the artist