Franc Sarabia 2016 collection

Following our appearance at London White Gallery Exhibition I have now got the full set of style pictures for next year. 
I say next year but I believe that orders placed early will be delivered towards the back of September. 
The styles are superb in looks and quality. These aren't cheap fashions, they are top quality, made from exquisite materials and compete with other top couture collections. They would be at home in any shop where quality and style are the keywords. Too many shops are selling the same sort of things from the usual suppliers and end up being caught in a price war. Competition is cruel when you have a shop full of stock all bought on forward order the previous year.

I must remind you that Franc Sarabia, as well as other collections we sell, are available on a low order value initially then just topped up as the season progresses. You keep control of the business finances easier as a result.

Anyway, without further ado here we go with pictures.
If you prefer to see actual pictures rather than the slide show just go to my website at northern-fashion-agency.co.uk

A day at Battersea with Franc Sarabia

As promised I'm updating the news on the Franc Sarabia collection. 
Battersea White Galleries Exhibition is more of a bridal exhibition than anything else. No-one else had a stand that showed any mother of the bride or evening wear styles so the Sarabia stand was unique in that way.
While they also had the most fantastic collection of wedding gowns on show, it was the mother of the bride and evening wear that we are agents for. 
So on attending the stand it was apparent that a good lot of imagination and careful design had been put into their offerings.

The collection is pretty much half and half from long dresses, evening gown styles and the shorter styles more akin to the mother of the bride market.

I hesitate to put some of the pictures I took from their lookbook on this post as I'm terrible at doing photo'[s on a mobile phone and the lighting was poor with shadows, light glare on the pages et al.

However, I think it important to at least give a flavour of the styles showing. Some are better quality photo's than the others as well so you may be able to get a decent idea from them.

My personal favourite is the one below:

The delicate pink, almost a pale coral, is delightful and the dress is overlaid with the most intricate of lace detail. For the lady who doesn't want boobs on show, the bustline to the lower neck is covered by the lace for a modesty covering. This is a really gorgeous style and the most expensive in the collection, I believe anyway. However price apart, any lady looking for class will be sure to drawn to it. This will be a real winner.

Closely following that is this one.

The colours aren't really showing well on these photos and you can see the glare from the overhead lights as well but if you click on the pictures you'll be able to see the fine detailing of the style.

I'll add one word on the lengths though. The model was on the stand at the white gallery and she must be a good 6'3" so the dress length is very much knee or lower on a normal woman.

Next is this style:

For women wanting cover on the arms this is an ideal dress. The same attention to detail is given on the fine lace. Oh, some of the styles are in different colours as well as those shown and you can often take a jacket from one style to put with another to make up an outfit with your own personal touches.

Talking of delicate and different aren't those just lovely too. Once again there's upper bustline cover, long detailed sleeves with a superbly styled bottom to the dress for a different look to the more formal fit.


I'll just add others and leave you to consider each of them for how they look to you.

The next one has a pretty, well..... shite picture as it's taken at an angle and doesn't give a true proportional representation. The colour is out of this world though.

The sweet little bolero type of short jacket goes extremely well with this style. It can also be used to go with other styles such as dresses depicted without a coat or jacket.

Those are just a few styles from the shorter ones but then you have the long evening wear that are equally as well designed and using the same sort of quality materials. I won't bore you with details on them but show just a couple here for you.

I'm going to leave it at that for now but as soon as I get the proper pictures from a disc I'll be back to place them in another gallery.

I hope these have caught your imagination in the meantime and if there's any you need information on such as when they can seen, where they can be bought from (if you happen to be an end customer) please let me know.

Franc Sarabia is going to be BIG here and now is a good time to get aboard this collection before territorial areas are set.

Apart from existing retailers there will be no shop nearer than 20 miles from any other allowed to have the collection as this is a really exclusive collection with a high price point. Even that distance may be greater if the situation demands.

Up and coming

A funny thing happened in Scarborough on Tuesday. We were showing the Antonio D'Errico collection at a shop when a lady who was looking in the window came in to buy one of the styles we we showing on the rails.

I believe in fate now.
This is the one she saw, but with the dress all patterned instead of half and half

Anyway, we were already writing an order. so it just highlighted our chosen favourites advice.

We are getting where we want to be with this collection now. We haven't visited a single shop that has turned us down. In fact we often find that they buy extra from the other collections as well.

Franc Sarabia had a slow start. Not that it isn't really good and stylish; just that with only 5 sample styles to show it's difficult getting an opening order. This situation won't change much for some time either but we are still committed to it. We go to London this weekend to the White Gallery Wedding Exhibition where they show their unique Spanish wedding gowns as well as a good selection of the mother of the bride and special occasion styles.

We really want to work with the company and hope to increase interest down there, not with the wedding gowns as we don't have a contract for those.

Pictures will be appearing here of those at the exhibition when we come back so keep watching. I expect there to be some really lovely outfits among them in a mix of evening-wear and mother of the bride styles.

Apart from that we are only a week away from going to Milan to see the new Antonio D'Errico 2016 collection. This is our main collection and we are already on notice from a friend who saw the collection at the Barcelona Bridal Exhibition last week that it's fantastic. More pictures to come from there when we get back then.

MODA is also creeping up on us now. August isn't a kick in the backside away and Antonio has a large stand along the bottom of the catwalk where he'll have all of the 2016 styles. I think it will be a show stopper from all the things I've heard about the new styles.

Unottavo is also now starting to gain interest. Catherine's of Partick and Lady G from East Kilbride are the latest buyers and they just love them; not all of them mind you. No one collection has a full set of styles that does everything for everyone.

Moncho Heredia was showing at Barcelona Bridal too and my Irish counterpart says it's really good. Not having any past experience of the label I can'tr wait o get my hands on the samples. They look lovely and the price is exceptional.
The one below for instance sells out to shoppers at around £325. It can't be purchased now though as the order books closed for this collection some time ago.

The sister company for the Moncho Heredia already has a set of pictures for the autumn. These are in a better price range than the Moncho but I didn't get the contract to the label until after the autumn orders were finished so won't bother showing them. They are available to see on their website though if you want to view them. Or at least they will be showing there shortly as I see the summer styles still on the website at this time.

I already have advance interest in these so am looking forward to receiving the samples.

So, that's it. Up to date for now.

The Antonio D'Errico collection is off to a good start

The title is a little misleading as they are already renowned in Europe as a cutting edge fashion house. Not only that but they are also in various other non EU countries, ie USA including Saks in New York, Brazil, and I believe Australia too. The UK is on the verge of something special with them from now on.

The early success we have achieved with the company has been encouraging. Although it hasn't resulted in massive volumes of business due to most shops having already placed all their orders for spring this year, we have opened some significant accounts. Other enquiries for the collection are being dealt with on an ongoing basis, some from Ireland, both north and south. The Scots also seem to like them very much.

The reaction from those who have received their first orders has been very good. We have loaned out styles for some shops to use at wedding fairs and catwalk shows for themselves and the customer reaction has been very favourable.

Top up re-orders have been placed for some styles having sold well so far, and it's encouraging to see retailers becoming excited at the general way the company operates with repeat orders available within 30 days.

Antonio is showing all over the place this year. He was in Rome last weekend, is in Essen (Düsseldorf) this next weekend, then Barcelona Bridal and then SposaItalia at Milan 22 to 25 May. He's even doing Sao Paulo, Brazil, in August after Moda

We have been invited over to the Milan exhibition as they will have all of their 2016 styles on show so we are really excited at seeing them early. We will have a chance to see what's coming to MODA in August. I'm told Antonio is also considering doing the PURE Womenswear too.

I was sent the following picture from Teresa (Antonio's wife) today of the stand at Rome. I think you'll see they don't hang about in making themselves known, And why should they? They're as good as you'll see anywhere else.

Have a good May Bank holiday folk and keep your eyes on the blog for updates from the Essen show from where Teresa is sending me more photo's.

An opportunity for a "Buy one - get two free" deal

Most retailers will know that the collections they stock for the spring and summer have generally been ordered around August to September the previous year. This is par for course.

Having been awarded the current fashion house contracts we now hold far too late in the year to make the sales for this spring - summer we always knew things would be slow until the next exhibitions in August. This has been the case as expected. Too many shop-owners are saying they don't have any budget left to buy further stock, and that their shop is bursting at the seams already.

I empathise with them and know from experience that they are telling it the way it is.
What is happening every day though, is that the customer who visits a shop today was in the one down the road yesterday looking at the same collections. Tomorrow they will be in the next shop up the road, also looking at the same things.

It's one big merry go round. Every potential customer visiting a shop is presented with all "the usual suspects" they have seen elsewhere or will see later. There's little in the way of individuality. There's little difference in prices, one shop to another either. Sometimes I think a customer spends hours trying on things just for a day out. Let's face it; if they try on all the styles in one shop they won't see much more in the next one but they rarely come back to the earlier shop do they? I think they often just buy in exasperation more than preference.

So many of them have fictional sisters they need to consult, and the coffee shops must do a roaring trade from them as that's where they supposedly go to mull things over before they come back to buy. Which is how often?

So, Maggies Boutique (fictional name of course) down the road which has the same collections as you, was visited yesterday. That means you have little new to offer that they haven't already seen.

Then comes Antonio D'Errico. OK, you don't have it in stock but they can be ordered and delivered within 30 days. No commitment to a large order is needed either as the collection is in production all year so you can take it steady and buy to top up as the season progresses.

So, what about the" buy one - get two free"

Quite simply, we get quite a few enquiries for an outfit directly through our agency emails that we cannot fulfil directly. An agency really isn't the point of sale to an end customer. We always prefer to pass on sales leads to the nearest retailer who has the stock enquired about. That's what the business is all about isn't it?

So, taking an example from today, we had an enquiry from a lady asking about a full outfit including hat and bag. She had seen the style in Italy and was seeking the nearest UK retailer.

The style she asked about wasn't one that had been bought yet by any UK retailer though. The price of the outfit in Italy was very much the same as in the UK for a normal retail business.

So, my offer to a local shop who hadn't seen the collection, was that she buys the outfit the lady needed along with another two styles to make a first order of 3 pieces. The second and third styles would be free depending on her taking the sale of the 1st outfit.

Simple. Take the sale for one, buy three, deliver the one that has already been sold and the shop is left with another two for nowt. That's a damn good deal in my books.

2nd and third styles chosen for free:

This deal depends on someone asking for an outfit not in a location already serviced by an existing retailer of Antonio D'Errico so won't happen to more than a handful, but if I come knocking on your door you can bet there's a good opportunity awaiting.

Good luck with the rest of the season ladies.

Some sad and some glad

After spending months of negotiation with Granditalia where we were promised a full sample set for spring 2015 we have reached the end of the rails with the company.
They have frustrated us in many ways from making vain promises to send stock, in allowing us agency rights then actually wanting us to become the UK distributor which is a completely different thing and very expensive for us.

We can't work with that sort of company and without sample styles we had nowhere to go with it.
We send Antonella our best wishes for her lovely creations and if she has some change of heart on future agency requirements we may well pick this up again.

On the subject of lack of sample styles I must also say that lovely as Alejandro de Miguel's styles are, we just can't sell them from a lookbook and material swatches. It's like trying to sell a Lamborghini from a photo and paint chart. 
No-one is going to commit to a purchase like that especially since this is a far pricier collection than most here in the UK.
So we have also decided to desist from offering this in the UK. The fact that we haven't actually sold any due to lack of samples to show retailers is a deciding factor.

Franc Sarabia is also close to a similar fate. They won't commit to more than 5 sample styles and a look-book and material swatches. This is a more useful collection for the UK as it embodies all that most special occasion shops would like to stock. They won't commit to any exhibitions here, except for at the White galleries in Battersea where they are showing the wedding gowns and a selection of special occasion styles. The wedding gowns department don't have a UK agent and any chance of making much progress in that particular market in the UK will be extremely difficult due to the large designer list they have to compete with.

Far better to promote the Special Occasion collection which is represented here by ourselves, show at MODA and gain a foothold in a market lacking much in the way of different styling. I think they are going about this the wrong way and I will need to assess the situation after the White Galleries exhibition to see whether or not it will be any use in going forward with it. What frustrates me more than anything though is that they are supposedly showing around 19 styles which are on our portfolio but they are then taking them back to Spain instead of leaving them with us to show retailers. OUCH.... That's a good slap in the face.

Now the good news
We are steadily building the Antonio D'Errico retail list. It has been a slow start as most shops had already fulfilled their buying requirements for the spring and summer before we got the collection. However we are finding that some shops are looking for something different and exciting. They are also looking for a collection where they don't have to commit to a large forward order which is what Antonio D'Errico is all about. Small orders and frequent top ups is the way to manage the budget and stock in shop.

In our contemplations for new areas to work in, we have found a new company to the UK; or at least to the UK mainland. It has already made inroads into Ireland, north and south.

The company has two collections. The first is Moncho Heredia. This is the higher end fashion collection but the prices are still very reasonable and compare favourably to other brands such as the Carla Ruiz.

The 2nd is Casting Collection. Both are made in Spain and the main difference is in the cost due to the higher specification material used in the Moncho Heredia.

While the summer disappoints in the very changeable weather conditions we understand that most shops will be cautious in taking new collections. They will also be wary of the fact the season is reportedly very slow so stand a chance of being left with stock in a larger quantity than usual.

However, we find that most potential shop customers do the rounds. they go from one shop to the next. They spend hours of your time looking at the same styles they had already seen in the last shop, or will see in the next one they go to.
Something new is bound to get a good reception. We have found that the Antonio D'Errico collection is just the job to take sales from "the usual suspects".

The shops who placed early orders have now got experience of the admiration for these beautiful styles.

With Easter very close, I wish all of our visitors to this blog, as well as our customers, a very happy and relaxing (rewarding maybe?) Easter.

Unottavo: New collection to the UK

Hailing from the historic Italian city of Naples this collection has been taken on by us for representation in the UK and Ireland.

Our selection of companies for inclusion in our agency is based on the individuality of each fashion house. We do not intend to present collections which have a clash of interest and this new one from Unottavo is unique in styling and design to our other collections.

The full style list is comprehensive and includes everything from long gowns with intricate beading to smart suits screaming out femininity.

The full gallery of pictures can be seen on the company website from here.

Early indications for retailer interest is proving good, due no doubt to the purchasing potential of small orders which can be added to as needed in the season. They allow single item purchase for repeat orders, can make to measure, can change any style to suit customer preferences and mix and match where possible between styles.

Lovely little boleros can be bought separately and in any colour you wish to complement any dress or trouser suit.

The outfit below shows this in a matching colour of the dress.

We especially like the way the company has thought out and made a fantastic catsuit combination which is as elegant as any evening dress. Worn with a simple and inexpensive bolero this creates an air of sophistication that doesn't cost the earth. The beading on these styles are white beading which makes them look much more expensive. The bolero could also be made in white to contract the outfit if you prefer.

Simple suits to wear at events where you need to look smart but not break the bank are also withing the collection. In a number of different colours you can take pride in looking superb knowing that you will have something that will still be very appropriate for wearing afterwards.

The possibilities of this collection are endless. I say this due to the fact that Antonio, the company owner, says he can and will make any style to your personal preferences, and even by making something from a photograph or drawing if you send him one.

I commend this lovely designer to you and applaud him personally for his creativity. If you wish to contact me to discuss this company's products please do so from the link in my website or from here