How much stock?

While Christina is enjoying a well earned break on the Sunshine Coast, I have been busy placing orders for fabrics and trims and commencing production to fulfill orders for summer stock. My dilemma has been how much extra stock to carry as I know that leading up to Christmas sales will really increase and I will need to carry more stock or else I will be kicking myself. The trickiest thing about this kind of business is the need to speculate which designs or prints may sell best and what quantities to carry in each size. I still don't have enough history or experience to predict this accurately and have been surprised by how often I have got this wrong! Excess stock is something most businesses deal with but I work on the principle that carrying less makes each piece more exclusive so I tend not to carry much stock on speculation. The down side of this is that if stockists want more stock mid season I can't always oblige and our online shop may get sold out before the season is out.

Where to from here?

Sometimes I wish I had a crystal ball and could peek into the future. We had a successful trade fair in terms of new stockists coming on board but Anne and I have realised we can't put all our eggs in one basket. As a new brand, sales is an ongoing business challenge.

We're going to have a planning day when I return from my holiday up north to discuss our partnership and review the next 12 months' calendar. Plus Anne's going to do some research while I'm away and meet some of our new contacts for their advice. We actually knocked back a small 'grow your own business' grant yesterday because we felt it wasn't fashion industry specific enough for us. It's nice to know people believe in us.

So onwards and hopefully upwards we go - I will hand over to the lovely Anne while I'm away and think of you all while I bask in the sunshine!

And so it goes...

Day three of Life Instyle and it's been a bit quieter than the first two days. I'm happy to say we've made some good sales with new stockists coming on board from interstate and other parts of Victoria. There may be more to come before the week is out so watch this space!

We've also met some great people - Lucinda from Sleep Sanctuary, jeweller Debora De Stefanis and textile designer Thea Samios from Thea & Sami (hi guys!) and made some great contacts. Thanks also to Melbourne Editor Lou from Peppermint Magazine and our existing stockists - Sylvia from Shop Sui, Gale from The Local Shop and Rosemary from Origen - for coming to visit us at the show. It's been fun, if not a little cold.

Showtime!

It's time. The day has finally arrived (well the week anyway). The Life Instyle trade fair hits Melbourne this week at Flemington Racecourse. Anne has been there all day setting up our stand (it's number 228 if you're coming along!) with help from her hubby and mum.

I feel strangely calm about it all. We've been planning for this ever since we went into partnership and while we don't want to place too much emphasis on what happens from here on in - the fair will largely determine who and where our market is and whether we have a long term future. Scary but exciting at the same time.

I'll try to blog (and maybe even tweet!) over the course of the next few days. Will also take some pics of our stand tomorrow and post them on Facebook. We also draw the winner of our 'Win a T-shirt' competition tonight so more on that as well. Wish us luck!

Fashion for fashion's sake

I've previously mentioned I subscribe to the Ecouterre newsletter. Ecouterre is a New York-based website devoted to the future of sustainable fashion design. One of the top stories this week is on eco-fashion designer Gretchen Jones from sustainable label Mothlove winning Project Runway's season 8 challenge.

When Anne and I met with Alex Hume from online store Ecofashionista last week, we talked about how we'd like eco-fashion to eventually be seen as part of the mainstream fashion world. While it's great to be part of the eco-fashion community, at the end of the day, we want to know that people like our brand because of the design and quality of our garments as much as what we stand for.

Countdown

We have a week to go before Anne and I work the Life Instyle trade fair. We're meeting tomorrow to check that we're ready to go. Spring Summer range to show? Check. Marketing collateral and order forms? Check. Goodie bags with samples? Check. Oh and of course, the most important thing -our stand itself.

Given our 'hero' shot is a clothesline, we've gone with a whole outdoors theme not dissimilar from what the organisers of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week did for their media launch yesterday (great minds think alike!). Although they had a professional model with a famous music DJ boyfriend and also TV presenter Ruby Rose...

I'll post some pics of our stand on this blog or our Facebook page when I get a chance. Anne's still been madly meeting most of our current stockists this week, both of us have realised the most important thing we need to do to grow our brand is to increase our sales. Life Instyle, we're counting on you as we countdown to next week - we're both nervous and excited at the same time.

A sense of community

Anne and I are meeting with Alex Hume from online store Ecofashionista today. We're very much looking forward to it. We've already met with Emily from Cylk and Yoganic and hope to meet another eco-designer Tiffany Treloar after the trade fair.

These coffee meetings are more of a networking thing - Anne and I don't know that many people in the world of green fashion - these people have been kind enough to spare some time to talk to us about their experience. It's given us greater knowledge as we take the plunge with our business and also a real sense of community.

I really do feel like we're part of a bigger group and it's been a great adventure finding out about like-minded people and organisations. Working out where you fit in the world is something most people want in life and the world of eco-fashion is where it is for us.