{"id":826,"date":"2017-06-14T11:18:55","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T10:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insider.utelier.com\/?post_type=features&p=826"},"modified":"2019-07-05T13:59:30","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T12:59:30","slug":"the-questionable-future-of-fashion-wholesale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/features\/opinion\/the-questionable-future-of-fashion-wholesale\/","title":{"rendered":"The Questionable Future of Fashion Wholesale?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wasn’t until recently that fashion brands reached their clients via the retail shops, which in turn operated a well-established wholesale business model. But over the last couple of decades, as online shopping has steadily increased at a fast and furious pace, and\u00a0countless boutiques closed their doors and larger department stores sales suffered – many wonders what is the future of fashion wholesale?<\/h2>\n

I love the shopping experience. Good retailers, such as Selfridges, provide brand validation and status, so my first port of call is always the Selfridges handbag department. On my way into the store, I\u2019ll spend an hour caressing the Anya Hindmarch, M2Malettier and Sophie Hulme designs. On my way out I repeat the exercise, albeit with a couple of other designers goods. <\/span><\/p>\n

Customers like to feel the quality of more expensive products and also love the brand experience. Retail allows you to immerse yourself in your favourite designers \u2018live moodboard<\/a>\u2019 and to be a part of their world. While there are other routes to getting your goods to market, fashion wholesale is an incredibly important option for designers big and small.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Andrew Steward, sales director at Rupert Sanderson<\/a>, \u201cThere will always be a wholesale model for as long as there are multi-brand, department stores and online platforms for retail. I believe all luxury brands except Loius Vuitton rely on a combination of retail, wholesale and franchise to maintain and develop their businesses. Brands also use wholesale accounts to position themselves. Just look at Valextra<\/a> being on the ground floor of Dover Street Market<\/a>. I also believe Far Fetch<\/a> is really encouraging their retail partners to buy much deeper into brands and this is really revitalising fashion wholesale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Brand building is the name of the game in the 21<\/span>st<\/span> century. And one of the best ways to achieve that is to wholesale your collections and to receive press from the magazines and newspapers. Without representation in a brick and mortar\u00a0store, it\u2019s impossible to achieve the latter but wholesaling isn\u2019t as easy to do as it was in the past. Shops were hungry for new products, and providing your goods were original, made well, well-priced and press worthy <\/span><\/p>\n

Shops were hungry for new products, and providing your goods were original, made well, well-priced and press worthy <\/span>you had a good chance of meeting the buyers and selling. However, the present day landscape for start-ups to wholesale their wares can be trickier to navigate. Boutiques,<\/span> that are still in business, are playing it safe and choosing to stock larger brands with huge marketing budgets or smaller brands with big social media following. They\u2019re almost guaranteed a better sell through with these familiar faces and new talent barely gets a look in. <\/span><\/p>\n

So, what are the alternative options for these new designers who are hungry to sell?<\/span><\/p>\n

Small brands are now finding ways to market through platforms such as Not On The High Street<\/a>, Wolf & Badger<\/a> and Not Just A Label<\/a>. \u00a0For a monthly premium, designers can set up their own storefronts on selling platforms that have an existing customer base and community. With a global reach, this is perfect for a designer whose attempts at wholesaling locally have been thwarted. \u00a0Other direct to consumer (D2C) routes include own websites. This option is attractive but only really works if you have a wholesale or retail presence already. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is difficult to attract customers through online sales alone, especially in the early days when nobody knows who or where you are. I discovered an American \u2018technical sportswear\u2019 brand, ISAORA<\/a> who are making the online-only route viable, when browsing through Barneys, online a couple of years ago. This brand had been wholesaling to well-established shops in America for a number of years but then made the decision to pull out of the wholesale game and to set up on their own. Their reasoning was to do with control of their brand image. An image that was nurtured by some of the shops they sold to but not by all. <\/span><\/p>\n

This makes perfect sense insofar that the brand is its best spokesperson and can deliver its own message of their highly-detailed product, directly to their customer. They can design and reveal new products to their consumer seasonally and when common sense dictates. The whims of the self-important buying teams are no longer indulged. However, as a brand that had been represented in a wholesale\/retail environment, they had an existing customer base already. Their decision to establish a D2C model was, therefore, less challenging than if they had no prior exposure. The Pop-up model for DTC is a great option for start-ups. With a proliferation of short term leases and empty shops available it\u2019s achievable. Through social networking such as Instagram and Facebook, it\u2019s possible to set up shop with like-minded designers with goods that compliment your product. The main benefits include:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pop-up model for D2C is a great option for start-ups. With a proliferation of short-term leases and empty shops available it\u2019s achievable. Through social networking such as Instagram and Facebook, it\u2019s possible to set up shop with like-minded designers with goods that compliment your product. The main benefits include:<\/span><\/p>\n