Lifedigs: The Crazy World of "Market"

Recently, I worked for an apparel showroom in the Atlanta and Dallas market centers. I have worked with showrooms for years but always as a buyer. Working on the other side of the table was an entirely different animal. When I was packing to leave for Atlanta it occurred to me that this industry has its own culture and was worth writing about.

For those of you who are not familiar with the apparel industry, let me give you some background information. The apparel market centers are buildings of showrooms where stores can choose what goods will stock their stores for the next season. “Market” takes place several times a year and lasts about 5 days each. There are major markets in Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Smaller markets exist around the country as well. When the market week is over the orders are tallied and sent to the manufacturers for production. In 3-6 months the goods arrive to the stores. The manufacturers pay the showrooms a commission once the goods are paid for by the stores. Sounds simple, yes? Not on your life.

My first experience with market was when I was trying to stock my new bridal shop in the 90’s with wedding gowns, veils and all of the other things I didn’t even know I needed yet. I showed up to the Dallas Apparel Mart (which since has been torn down and turned into a driving range) and offered my obligatory credentials to prove I was a legitimate store and not selling out of my garage. After my paperwork was duly scrutinized, I walked into the main part of the building and felt completely dwarfed and overwhelmed by the seemingly endless choices of showrooms. Where to begin?

Where to begin indeed. Most people on the outside see the market center as a secret world of haute couture, where six foot tall models don for us the cutting edge of yet to be seen fashion. In reality, it’s a (somewhat dirty) world of stores fighting for territory exclusivity, overworked and underpaid sales reps and certifiably insane designers.

Typically, in a market building, each floor is a different industry. Western wear on one floor, children’s apparel on one floor, bridal on another and so on. I would take the elevator to the bridal floor and choose a showroom to peruse. Entering a showroom for the first time usually gets you stares. It sometimes felt like your store's worthiness is judged by how well you are dressed. It often appeared like I had to sell myself to get a manufacturer to agree to sell to me, or sometimes even talk to me. This always seemed so backwards. Eventually I established well solidified relationships with my favorite manufacturers (after proper schmoozing) and I stayed loyal to those selected few.

It’s customary for showrooms to offer wine or cocktails during market. Of course, this is to get you to buy more. And it usually works. Four months later, I would open a box and think “What were they serving in that showroom?”

Several times a day there would be scheduled fashion shows featuring a particular designer. You would be supplied with an order form and check mark the styles you wanted to purchase. Bridal shops only stock samples so it is only necessary to purchase one piece of each style. However, it is easy to spend thousands of dollars in one 30 minute show. It would usually take me 2 days to get every dress for the bride, bridesmaids, flower girl, and mothers of the bride ordered for the following season.

In the 90’s, credit card and NET 30 terms were not very common with bridal manufacturers. COD was still the preferred method of payment. But the C stood for Cash. That’s right. We would pay the UPS driver cash for all of our deliveries. Wedding dresses are expensive! Can you imagine counting out thousands of dollars from your register to a delivery driver every day?

In those days the Internet was in its infancy. Now, bridal has become extremely competitive. Online bridal shops can offer gowns at greatly reduced prices because of the low overhead. It’s not unheard of for a bride to use a store’s resources to try on gowns but then order it online cheaper. I’m not sure how most brick and mortar stores are surviving. Of course, I could fill a book on some of my experiences with my bridal shop. When I watch the TV show, “Say Yes to the Dress”, I can feel my blood pressure rising. But that’s a blog for another time.

Fast forward several years…I have now sold my bridal shop and entered the world of high end children’s fashion. When I opened my children’s store the Apparel Mart was still open. If I remember correctly, Peaches N Cream was the very first line I ever wrote. The children’s industry was so different than bridal it was like starting all over again. The biggest difference between kids and bridal is the amount of money you have to spend to stock your store. In bridal you usually only purchase one piece of a style as a sample, hoping many customers will place orders for every style. In children’s you usually order 6 pieces per style , hoping many customers buy every piece. The other big difference is showrooms seem genuinely happy to see any buyer walk in the door. I’ve never felt scrutinized.

Flash forward another decade…The Apparel Mart has been torn down for quite some time and apparel showrooms have been moved to the World Trade Center across the street. Parking is a challenge during market times but I love the building. The layout makes much more sense than the last building. I never did figure out the complicated hallway number system over there. All of the children’s apparel is on the eighth floor at the WTC. I am now a seasoned pro in the industry, on a first name basis with manufacturers and designers and have even sat on the Dallas Market Center Advisory Board.

I have often described the environment during market similar to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. I would always make a valiant effort to come prepared with all of my reports in hand, Excel spreadsheets of past performance, etc. But during peak times, purchase orders are flying from buyer to rep faster than shares of stock are exchanging during Facebook’s IPO. It makes referencing your neatly prepared reports difficult to say the least.

Over the decades, many showrooms and manufacturers have come and gone but a surprising number of them are still going strong. One such showroom is the Klein Group. They celebrated their 30^th birthday this year. Can you imagine what styles were like in their showroom in 1983?? The Klein Group represents dozens of manufacturers and has showrooms in Dallas and Atlanta. Arguably, they are one of the busiest and most successful showrooms in the children’s industry. I know they got most of my orders!

Happy 30th Birthday to the Klein Group

After I sold my stores, I went to work for the Klein Group helping out during market times. It sounded like fun and I would get to travel. I’m not afraid of hard work and most would argue that I’m a workaholic. But I’ve never worked as hard in my life as I did in those few weeks. Most of the commission paid to showrooms is generated from orders placed at market. I guess you could say their entire season’s salary depends on it how productive they are in those 5 days. The days start early, end late, and you better wear your comfortable shoes. Eating meals and going to the restroom are for the lucky ones. But hey, it’s only 5 days, right? I remember one particularly busy day at the Atlanta market when I had to sit on the floor in the corner to write a purchase order because it was so filled with buyers. It’s fairly common to work with a store for 3-5 hours. When your are finally through with them, as you are saying your goodbyes, your arms filled with signed copies of purchase orders, the showroom receptionist says, “Chris, can I introduce you to your next appointment?” And so it continues.

The days are made survivable by the camradery and support of the staff. I’ve never seen anything like it. Everyone is buzzing about trying to help stores and each other with smiles on their faces. Just when you feel like you have too many balls in the air and you’re pushed to your breaking point you turn and find another employee at your side offering a hand. They were more than comrades at that point, they were family.

The Atlanta Crew
I would ask where Ginka is but I'm sure she's taking care of business!!

Everyone loves Maureen! She's the glue that keeps it all together!

I was surprised how much I enjoyed working with other stores. I’ve noticed over the years that buyers consider themselves competitors with each other and are not always keen on previewing lines at the same time. I guess they are afraid they will give away their buying secrets. I’ve actually seen stores get up and storm out or rip up orders in dramatic fashion when they see a competitor is buying the same line. So I was concerned once a store found out who I was they would be resistant to working with me. Nothing could have been further from the truth. As soon as I told them I had owned children’s stores the buyers’ impression of me would change from order taker to consultant and co-strategist. “Would you have bought this for your store? What color would you have bought this? How did you do with this line? How did you calculate your budget?” So on and so on. I had a great time helping buyers make choices that were right for their stores. By the time the appointment was over we were hugging each other and exchanging emails. I may even have committed to a few “store visits”. I began to feel more like an advocate for the stores at that point.

There is lots of work to do between markets as well. Processing and monitoring of orders fills a lot of the time and before you know it it’s time to prepare for the next market. Market reps typically travel between major market dates. Jackson, Mississippi and Florida are common territories. This is exhausting and back breaking work for sure. The funniest thing I ever heard was when two of the Atlanta showroom reps told their story about a recent trip to Florida to call on stores. One of the girls is quite the fashionista and wore skinny jeans…in the 100% Florida humidity. They had to park the large trailer quite a ways away from one of the stores they were visiting. To get the goods to the store they schlepped rolling racks full of clothes back and forth, through an outdoor restaurant! By the time this was done the rep decides she has to use the restroom. Now imagine trying to peel off her skin tight jeans in Florida humidity after hours of exhausting work. Now imagine trying to peel them back on. Her legs were so sweaty she tried blotting them with toilet tissue. All this accomplished was the tissue dissolving right on her skin. She takes the stall door and starting swinging it wildly trying to fan her skin dry. Remind you of a "Friends" episode? The whole time her partner is wondering where the heck she is. We all had tears in our eyes as we listened to the story. (I hope I don't get in big trouble for telling that story!)

I think the most important thing I learned during my experience at market is running a showroom is much more than simply taking orders. It’s mostly about building relationships with stores and helping them strategize their buying. The more that can be accomplished the more successful the stores, manufacturers and showrooms will be. I was proud to represent The Klein Group as a member of their “family” during market. Here’s to another 30 years!