It's been a while I know, things have been very busy. The Lee Cooper project was finalised and then it was full throttle into my other new start up brand clients. Then last week it was a trip to the lovely Alicante to visit the Spanish Agent that I work with...happy days.
The flight over with my usual citrus colour airline was great ( I know, I was shocked too!) it was all made good by Captain Phil , see link below, not mine I found it on You Tube it's from a previous person's experience (I wasn't awake enough to video it at 7 in the morning) he was cheerful, polite, humorous and made the 3.30 am start a bit easier to suffer.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f19kP9LRnvY&feature=related
So after leaving a very grey and rainy Gatwick I ended up in a lovely warm and friendly Alicante.
The sun was great at recharging the flagging batteries and after a short car journey we were in the first factory. This trip was busy with one of my clients, two lovely ladies who have a great new start up brand. They have really spotted a gap in the market and it will be exciting when they launch the brand to the buyers in March next year. The factory had done a great job on the samples, their footwear heritage really shows in the shoes that they make. We chose some gorgeous leathers for the samples and I'm sure they will look fabulous.
Every time I show photos of the factories in UK and Europe to people they are always so amazed at how much of the footwear process is done by hand. The footwear factories commit a great deal of time and money to training their workers and being the best that they can be. I'm really lucky to have great contacts with factories who will consider working with new brands.
Working with new brands means that these factories will often work to a loss, a new brand sometimes struggles to fill the factory's track with their initial orders. However by spending time with the factories and building a relationship they will normally endeavour to meet all your requirements if you are doing all you can to work on the marketing/pr and sales channels. This is why I will always check that the brands I work with have the required finances and long term commitment.Footwear can seem like an enigma to a lot of people, it's made up of so many different components that all need to be taken into consideration when both designing and developing. Starting a footwear brand may seem relatively easy from a styling point of view but it's a long term commitment in terms of a project. Most parts of the shoe will involve a design element which will involve additional costs which will involve minimums and then there's the branding, the packaging the shipping the distribution and then the marketing and pr.
Saying all of this though, if you've got a USP, spotted a gap in the market or just have the passion and financial backing go for it, it's one of the best businesses to be in...who doesn't like shoes?
Lisa
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