March 2008

BUSINESS OF WEARABLES

Get Wearables Wise

Since the wearables category represents the largest piece of the industry pie, there’s a tremendous amount of product. Before it becomes too overwhelming, have a plan.

By Dan Jellinek

Say you’re a promotional products distributor who’s had a lot of success selling pens, coffee mugs, flashlights and a whole host of other cool products, but now you want to start selling wearables. Or, say you’re a wearables distributor who mainly sells basic tees or team uniforms or outerwear, and you want to really expand your selling horizons. Your problem is that you feel like you don’t know much about wearables, other than the basic T-shirt or the categories you’re comfortable selling. But the exciting part of the wearables category is that it represents 30% to 35% of ad specialty sales, so if you can learn to master that category, we’re almost halfway home.

Hopefully, these tips will make it a little easier for you to navigate the top-selling sector of the industry. Be knowledgeable about different apparel categories beyond just the basic T-shirt, and become familiar with the different decorating methods out there. Understand the needs of your client base or potential new clients and be strong in those wearable segments, and within each segment have options to meet their budgets. Develop much stronger supplier relationships by selecting a much tighter group of wearables suppliers (they’ll be your “inner circle”).

1. Know all your T-shirt categories. Most of us feel comfortable selling the basic T-shirt, but there are a great deal more styles out there in the T-shirt market than just the basics. We have performance tees; fashion T-shirts that are more form-fitting; faded or pigment-washed T-shirts; retro and ringer tees; infant, toddler and youth tee styles; organic cotton and other natural fabric (such as bamboo) tees; and name-brand tees. Request samples of them from suppliers so you can show your clients options other than a standard white tee.

"Have you discussed with your decorators all the latest and greatest embellishment options?"

2. Know the latest and greatest embellishment options. Have you discussed with your decorators all the latest and greatest embellishment options? It’s true that we’re still going to do a lot of embroidery and screen printing, but you should also know the difference between (and benefits of) digital printing, rhinestones and nailheads, sublimation, vinyl heat transfers and some of the latest laser technologies, just to name just a few. There are some very cool embellishment options on the market, and a good way to differentiate yourself from your competitors is to offer something different. Even if your client decides to stick with a one-color, front-left-chest embroidered logo, he’ll know you’re capable of offering him different and well, hip, ideas.

3. Understand your client base. For example, if you’re working with a liquor company or fashion magazine in Miami, you’ll probably want to present more form-fitting garments, moisture-management apparel and overall trendier styles. However, if you’re working with a construction company in Chicago, you’ll probably want to have some sturdy caps and a three-in-one technical jacket in your bag to show. If you’re selling to a restaurant chain, you may want easy-care, stain-resistant wovens and aprons. It’s so important to really know your clients and their requirements, which in turn will help you make personalized recommendations to them for apparel programs.

4. Understand quality and price points. There are so many different segments of product in the wearables category, from polos to outerwear, and terminology from moisture management to eco-friendly and technical to fashion forward, so based on your clientele, be knowledgeable in relevant segments. The next step is within each segment to have a good, better and best solution. We’ll all need to be able to hit price points, so when a client needs 1,000 $15 polos for staff and that same client needs 72 pieces of a retail brand polo for the executive team and has a budget of $60 per shirt, we need to have the solution to their diverse needs.

5. Develop an “inner circle” of suppliers. One of CorpLogoWare’s (asi/168827) top account executives, Skip O’Kelly, breaks down the ad specialty industry by using a select group of suppliers or his “inner circle,” which results in getting him better service, better pricing and the ability to really make things happen for his clients when they need to. If you deal with between 12 and 18 suppliers rather than hundreds, you’ll be much better off and this category will be much easier to for you to comprehend.

I recommend that you develop a roster of wearables suppliers that’s made up of three to five of the largest blank wholesalers, which sell everything from the basic tee to retail or brand-name product to their own private label brands. Plus, these suppliers have distribution centers around the country, so most distribution centers are only one-day ground shipping away from your decorator. These suppliers offer distributors comprehensive Web sites and print catalogs and a variety of other marketing tools and sales help.

Next, I’d choose between five and seven of the strongest private label brand suppliers that offer one-stop shops for quality product and decoration; these companies usually have an extension line of wearables under their label and are also on top of the latest decorating methods. They’re also now starting to bring in more retail brands and T-shirts to their lines. This group will also provide you with great tools that will assist you in the selling process.

Finally, really know about between four to six of the leading brands at retail. It’s true you can buy brands such as Nike and Adidas from large wholesalers, but brands such as Cutter & Buck (asi/47965) and Greg Norman are sold directly to distributors from those companies. They play an important role on your roster. Or, on a Sunday, watch a little golf and see what brands and styles the top players are wearing. I can’t tell you how many times Tiger Woods wears a certain shirt on Sunday and clients are really calling us about it first thing Monday morning.

You can make up your personal roster of suppliers by going to industry trade shows; touching, feeling, learning about different products; and meeting supplier principals and sales reps. If you can’t attend a show, aim to meet your local supplier reps to spend some quality time strengthening your relationship. I want to reiterate that if you can get the number of suppliers you build strong relationships down to a much more manageable number, you’ll be working faster and smarter. Who can beat that?

 

Quick Tips to Sell … Fashion-Forward Tees T-shirts pretty much sell themselves to promotional clients. But what about cutting-edge shirts? Who are the candidates for some of the more fashion-forward styles such as organic cotton or bamboo? Here are two ideas to get you started: • Colleges and universities. Institutions of higher learning are ideal places to introduce some of the more unconventional T-shirt styles. Everyone from fraternities and sororities to student activity groups and on-campus events need shirts. And nothing commands more attention on campus than outrageous styles • Environmentally friendly companies. Any company that touts healthy living and products is an ideal candidate for organic cotton and sustainable T-shirts. Book stores, coffee shops or grocery stores, such as Whole Foods, which sells pesticide-free and organically grown goods, are perfect candidates.

Quick Tips to Sell … Fashion-Forward Tees With so many T-shirt styles available, you’ve got to know how to recommend the right tee for the right situation. Today there are far more T-shirts available than ever before, and thrusting a pile of catalogs at a customer will do nothing but overwhelm her – and you. Here are a few tips to really focus your selection process: • Ask lots of questions. In the past, this may have been a bit of overkill, considering the rather similar nature of most promotional T-shirts, but with the wealth of styles, distributors can really impress with the perfect shirt. Find out about everything you can: the buyer, situation, time of year, event, age, gender target, etc. The more you know, the better. • Quantity or quality. Basic T-shirts are a commodity and are available at very low prices, but inexpensive shirts won’t always create the best impression for your client. It’s your job to determine whether the client is best served with a low-price item for a large group of people or a quality shirt with performance features, high-quality fabric or high-end decoration. • Unisex or gender specific. Men and women are built differently, and so are their T-shirts. It wasn’t always this way, but today you really have a choice. It’s not always as easy to estimate the number of men’s and women’s shirts you need for a promotion, but in some cases it can make all the difference to the person wearing the shirt. • Decoration decisions. The most expensive shirt in the world can be ruined by a bad decorating job. Likewise, the cheapest one can generate lots of excitement with a bit of creativity. Juggling the cost of the T-shirts and decoration can be difficult, but taking your time beforehand to find the proper balance can pay off for you and your client. – MH