Understanding the Alejandro de Miguel collection: How to profit with little outlay.

I did think that I was getting a few styles from Alejandro to show retailers. As it turns out he doesn't give samples to his agents and reps. If they need any, they have to buy them.

I found this out only this week when the parcel arrived which I thought would contain a dozen sample styles. All it had were a couple of very large look-books and a huge number of material swatches of absolutely gorgeous quality. I asked about the sample styles and between Alejandro's lack of English and my own lack of Spanish it seems we never quite got the message between us.

He asked (according to my Google Translate) why I needed sample styles so I told him that people would need to see a sample to check it for fit and quality.

The answer to that was there was never a problem with fit since he makes to measure from a customer measurement chart in retailer shops. They do regular Spanish sizes from a 40 to 56 but prefers to make to a customers own measurements instead and give them first class service. A pre-sized order is more likely to be sold to a shop as a sample to work from for taking individually measured orders. Not always of course, as they can still be sold in a typical size.

Orders typically take around 4 weeks so the turn-around is pretty quick and should be sufficient for the vast majority of customers.

As for quality: well he says if it's fine for the Spanish Royalty where's the need to prove it to anyone else. He has a point I guess. The sample material swatches have all of the examples of the material so you can certainly see the quality of that at least.

I guess if Queen Sofia is OK with this then that's enough for me too but the retailer fraternity may not pick up on this as quickly.

The one thing I do like with this arrangement though is the sheer profitability of it.

This is a typical bridal shop mentality. For instance, a bridal shop will buy a few styles of gowns, then take orders based on them, whatever the bride's size is. They buy a little and sell a lot.
This is exactly the way to go with the Alejandro collection. Buy some sample styles of the ones you see the most potential in, then have the tape measure out for customers giving them an experience they'll not get for any other collection. You can also have a huge picture of Queen Sofia on the wall to make the most of that particular affiliation.

So the retailer who takes on this collection will need to buy only when there's a customer who wants something. There's no need to buy a large number of stock items. This is something new to mother of the bride outfitters. There will be no need to go into sale with them at the end of a season. The initial outlay will only be for a select few styles to show customers rather than the often huge forward orders most retailers are having to place for other collections.

This sort of retailing excites me. I think this is the way forward to be honest. Most customers, ie mums, will have enough time before a wedding to have a specially made style in her own measurements and often in other material, colour or with particular requirements such as a different neckline.

When I first saw the pictures of some of the styles from this collection they caught my eye as being something rather special. Now I know there's more to it than that. They are indeed rather spectacular and they are absolutely the best you can get in this market.

Visit my website to see the latest styles or email me to get more details.