Tis the Holiday Season

The holiday season has arrived and the hustle and bustle is in the air. I have to say to date I have been pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming cheer that I have seen and heard so far.
From customers to sales associates the act of kindness, generosity and the offering of happy holidays has been astounding.
I love this time of year, not just because it is the time of giving and receiving, but because it separates the sales associates from the good and bad, from the ones that really want to work in retail to those who can not handle it.
This is a time that tries the patience of the most skilled. If as a customer you think you have it bad when you go to buy something and it's not there, imagine what the sales associates feel like when they know they actually never had it and now have to lie to you to tell you they sold out, or that the truck didn't deliver it, or better yet, that it should be in in the next shipment. And we all know what that means.
This year stores promised to cut inventory but yet have the product at the price that you want to pay for it when you want it. It's just like a miracle, but not on 34th Street.
Speaking of, once again macy's offers generosity in the form of donating 1 dollar to every dear Santa letter that they receive to Make A Wish Foundation.
Last year I collected (thanks to my students and piers over 1600 letters)
I think that because the post office has discontinued that service that macy's should up the anti to $1.41 , the cost of mailing a Dear Santa letter.
What do we now tell the little kids, that Santa is only taking e mails, or perhaps facebook or Twitter can have a virtual Santa, OOH, what a good idea. If I were tech savy I would create one.
This year my goal is 3000 letters to Santa, anyway I can get macy's to pay, for that sales associate throwing the shoe at me last year, I'm all for it.
Plus the feeling of getting my students involved in such a good endeavor is priceless. Sometimes they forget how to be a kid again, And this is the time to be a kid again, laugh, enjoy, and remember when,
Remember when:
6 shooters were something you could actually get at Christmas,
Tinsel on trees wasn't dangerous to the environment
Eggnog, only came in one flavor

Happy Holidays until the next post!

Healthy women

I haven't posted in a while, however I feel now is the time to start posting again. I read a few articles in regards to Ralph lauren firing a beautiful young model who he claimed was "healthy" at 120 pounds and 5'8". "She no longer fits into his clothes. I think that the one thing that Ralph forgot was that 99.9% of his customers are healthy and maybe a little too healthy. The average women today is a size 14 by American Measurement Standards. Just ask my Apparel class, they'll tell you! If you go to a department store and you look on the racks for a size 0 or 2, the perfect model size for Ralph you will not find those sizes. Instead you will find numerous, 10's, 12's and 14's. These are the sizes the American women wear. Not a 0 or a 2. I fully understand the concept of putting your clothes on a stick figure because they fall better, but isn't that why we invented mannequins. The "healthy " women has a shape. And she should be proud of it. Look back to the days of Marie Antoinette, women were considered beautiful with the more curves they had. If they were scrawney, they were known to live on the street. I think that the message that Ralph is portraying is a poor one. Although not a new one. This has been going on for many years in the fashion industry. And although designers keep stating they do not condone skinny models I've yet to see a "healthy"one on the runway.

Another question arises, will this girl ever work again. Well, I doubt it. She went public and she put Ralph's name in the mud. He has a lot of pull with modeling agencies. And i would bet just like the model he "supposedly" had an affair with, never worked again after she went public. I am sure this one will follow in the same path. I wish her luck, maybe she will coome up with her own clothing line like everyone else

That one special piece

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week has just ended and the reviews are all over the board. Similar to a Broadway show, some like it and some don't. What I found most interesting , well actually there were a few things once analyzed was that the majority of favoritism was given to the same designers over and over again, Donna Karan, Narciso Rodriguez, Marc Jacobs, Philip Lam just to name a few. Other were blasted into space, literally Michael Kors collections was stated as looking like "space outfits" By the way did anyone ever wear Michael Kors before he became famous from being on project runway? I don't think so and now we know why.

These designers showed clean lines, silhouettes that could be worn by many, many body shapes and many ages. Isn't this what we have been asking for for so long. So then tell me why the buyers (not consumers) are criticizing the show, saying its too commercial, there's nothing special, collections don't look complete. So this is where the analyzing comes in. In the past buyers went to shows, showrooms and market and saw complete mix and match lines, similar to garanimals from Sears (which by the way they brought back) And it was easy for them to buy. They bought by number, 1 matches with 2 and 4 and so on and life was good , no thinking involved. Today, they need to put on their thinking caps and really look at the collection and it is up to them now to create a line for the store that is coherent and will sell. Oh, they have to do what they were hired for. So yes it may be a little harder for them, but if they knew who their customer was, what she wanted and how much she would really pay for that special piece she would have no trouble at all. But I see trouble ahead of us. When spring rolls around I see department stores not knowing how to merchandise the mishmash that was bought. Good luck buyers may the best buyer win!

Fashion Night Out

Tonight is Fashion Night Out across the USA. Many designers and retailers are offering special promotions in their stores to promote the fashion industry. As you know the industry is not doing very well this year because the consumer is being a little more frugal than they were in the past. Which can be interpreted as a good thing, We are getting a little more conscious about what we are spending our money on. But tonight the fashion industry wants us to put that frugality aside and spoil ourselves a little and in return they will spoil us to. Offering, designer photoshoots, cocktail parties, free mdse. It definitely is worth the trip to NYC tonight if you can get there tonight. It is going to be a mad house, but a fun madhouse.

So if you have the time tonight get into the city if not to buy but to support your industry.

Enjoy Fashion Night Out all day!!!

"The New Normal", if they keep saying this it won't be new anymore!

The main phrase out of NYC over an over again is "The New Normal". I would think as creative as these designers are and claim to be that they could think of something a little more interesting to call a time when consumers are getting back to reality and eliminating their obsession with greed . You know not everyone has to have a Birkin bag, we may want one but it doesn't mean we need or have to have it. And if you think about it a typical Birkin costs 7000. That could be a down payment on a house, college education or a car. So once again WWD. posts an article on the New Normal, for which I am going to call NN. It takes too long to type 9 letters. Alan Schwartz , who some might recognize as the guy who knocks off designer dresses 5 minutes after they hit the Oscars, says that "It will never go back to the way it was.....and that's a good thing becaue a lot of those people(I think he means designers) that were in there(stores) shouldn't have been.

I'm thinking that's because they had ORIGINAL DESIGNS, and took away some of his SALES!

Neal Kusnetz, president of Robert Graham(an amazing blouse and mens shirt line, says" We keep levels limited, well having bought them in the past and as a consumer let me assure you it's not because of their uniqueness which they are it's because of their cost. Wholesale on average $137 to $175, retail minimum to $230, and you have to dry clean them. And Seth Morris of Carol Hockman (no idea who that is) states" There's nothing wrong with creating demand from being out of stock on hot trends" Ok, your out of stock, I don't buy from your store, I am mad, I am determined to get it, Oh I know the perfect place, there's a little alley in China town off Canal street that will have it for let's say 75% less. Duh! This creates knockoffs, which by the way the CFDA has been fighting for years!!!

And here's the best one yet it a quote by Erin Armendinger, a director of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in the retailing initiative, YIKES! states," I would never say people going out of business is a good thing, but this will make us more efficient. We are over-retailed, overstored, overlabeled. I don't think one day this is going to be over and the faucet will turn back on. That era of overspending, "I'll just put it on my credit card" is over"

And I bet all you fashion majors paying 40,000 a year want her as a professor.

And to that I really can't say anything else.

banana republic, it's time to change

Today I thought that i would treat myself to a birthday present (it's Saturday by the way)

And I had a few discount cards from BR. So i went to Garden City with my sister, and we went into the BR. e walked around with no one approaching us at all. (let me say we were dressed in jeans, so now I hope you know where this is going) we walked throughout the store, no one approached. Instead all 3 associates were behind the cash wrap chatting with what i would say was a regular. She bought 2 pairs of shoes, More detail later. My sister pointed out a pair of jeweled ballet flats. They were 98$. I decided, like I always do when it comes to shoes to try them on. As I took the size 6 sample I waited for someone to come over, Nope, not happening. So I decided to walk to the cash wrap, nice interrupt the fawning over the regular and ask for some help. Well in comes Madge. I told her the 2 sizes I wanted to try on, she came out i about 5 minutes with only one pair stating she did not have the other size. Meanwhile, now here comes the interesting part, I found a pair of wedges 120$ that I wanted to try on, so as she put the ballet flats on the leather bench and started walking away, I asked to try another shoe on, OMG, I asked to try another shoe on. And here was the reply, "Can you just tell me what you want so I don't have to walk back and forth" ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!

So I replied, I don't know what I want to try on.

She went to the computer and yelled through the shoe dept. that they didn't have one of the sizes I was looking for, but the other was in the back. I think the back had a black hole.

5 minutes, 10 minutes 12 minutes go by and my sister and I are watching Madge in the 3 way mirror having a lovely chat with someone in the fitting room, all the while holding the box of shoes that I want to try on. I actually almost went back there myself to get them from her.

She finally came out dropped the shoes on the bench and walked away again.

That was it, i purposely made it clear that I was going to call and complain once again to corporate, and oh that's right I have the district managers e mail address. Well that got their attention. Now it was my turn to leave the mdse and walk away.

And yes when I got home, I called corporate and sent an e mail too.

So Dear Madge, whether or not you are reprimanded or retrained you do not belong in a field that requires any contact whatsoever with another human being. Perhaps working in an environment where there is no need for human contact might be the way to go.

And Saks will offer Timberland

OK, first Sears to offer cosmetic counters, Jimmy Choo at H&M and now Saks. Is there no shame or humility any longer. Saks just announced and proudly I may add that they are goig to open a Timberland department. Timberland, yes you heard it right. When I originally thought of Saks, I

thought, high quality, unique brands, fashion forward mdse. I did not think duck boots, camping shorts and anorak jkts. Is it just me or does anyone else see anything wrong with this?

What is retail coming too? I have to say, this surprises me. This past summer I met with the VP of fashion and an assistant buyer introducing a bathing suit line, they loved the line but stated it "just wasn't who their customer is, their customer comes in for unique, fashion forward, designers names. Now let's look at this Timberland are they unique? No

Are they fashion forward ? No

Are they a designer name? No

They are a brand that has a following, but I am not sure if their following lives in Manhattan. I'm think more Vermont, New Hampshire.

Well let it be said, and you heard it first, just like i do not want to buy cosmetics next to the hardware dept at Sears, I don't want to see Timberland next to Carolina Herrerra either