Pittsburg Jean Company – It’s What the American Dream is Dressed In

I found a gem of a jeans store in Pittsburg a few months ago with my friend Catarina Brown, Search on the Run blogger. The Pittsburg Jean Company is on East Carson Street on the southside nestled between Perlora and Mallorca.  It’s located in an 1892 historical building with a tin ceiling, hardwood floor, and uses an old feed bin as a counter, tailgate of a pickup truck for shelving, old drugstore furniture, classic metal vintage signs and a 1950 Harley Davidson motorcycle for merchandising. It’s heritage dates back to 1922 but the jeans store has been open since 2001.

Lawrence Scott, better know as “Mr Jeans” by his colleagues returned to town  in 2001 with his degree from The Parsons School of Design, 17 years of design experience, an inside knowledge of the fashion industry, a rolodex of industry contacts, and a cult devotion to blue jeans.  Cult might be an understatement.  He can give you an impromptu history of denim, from the “buckle-back” Levi’s of old, to the WWII-era jeans in which the stitching was painted on to preserve thread supplies, to the pair of vintage jeans that were discovered in an old mine that sold on E-bay for $47,000.  This devotion shows up in everything he does.

Like making sure your jeans fit PERFECTLY!  His staff is professionally trained in “jean fitting”.  They are so good at sizing you up they can find the perfect style and fit for you before you ever step foot in the dressing room.  They probably know that hip/waist/thigh ratio-times-length formula that makes for a perfect fit, but that nobody not even your eighth grade algebra teacher can explain.   You are guaranteed to walk out with a 100% perfectly satisfied fit.  And I can assure you, you do!   Alterations are free to make sure all jeans have a custom fit.   And when their tailors reattach the original hem to your jeans, a skill that’s been handed down for nearly three generations, the detail is executed with the precision of a surgeon.

PJC carries over 40 different lines of premium jeans such as Adriano Goldschmeid, Diesel, J Brand, Serfontaine, Paige Premium Denim (my favorite), True Religion are just a few and they also carry an amazing assortment of jean compatable apparel…Velvet, Splendid, La Rok, Ella Moss….endless possiblities for dressing up or dressing down a pair of jeans.

If you are a jean manufacturer and you are not selling to Pittsburg Jean Company, start strategizing on how to get on their vendor list now.  Known nationally as one of the top “jean connoisseurs” in the country, Lawrence Scott can get “your brand found” just by buying the line.   Just make sure you know your stuff because like any connoisseur, he curates with a demanding eye.

Photos: Pittsburg Jean Company Website

Website: www.pittsburghjeanscompany.com
Location:
2222 East Carson Street
Pittsburg, PA 15203

Phone: (412) 381-5326

Store Windows Gotta Stop You in Your Tracks

Recycled Ornaments and Ribbon at Anthropology

Nowadays, store windows have to be so good they’ll stop you in your tracks.   You’ve got a few minutes to grab a customer’s attention and tempt them into your store. Captivate them and they’re in.  Bore them and they walk.

The antidote? Creativity.  While you need to follow some basic display rules creativity is the trump card.  Creativity can produce the unexpected, delight, intrigue, whimsy, shock, or horror.  It can make you laugh, cry, gasp, stop, think, all of the above.  Some people say you are born with it and others say you can learn it.  Whatever the answer here’s some great examples of it.

Apple Breaks All the Rules Again

Post-It Notes are Art in Bergdorf's Window

Photo Credits Catching Fireflies : Anthropologie Recycles Creativity

A Coat of Many Stuffed Animals at Holt Renfrew Very Furry

Barneys "Gives Good Gift"

One of a Kind Art from East Harlen School Raffled by Barneys for Charity

Upper East Side Store Makes Happy

While you’re busy creating great windows here’s some basic display rules to keep in mind:

• Creativity Sells. Boring doesn’t.  Tempt customers into your store. Don’t put them to sleep.  Take chances.

• Keep it Simple. Less is usually more.  Cluttered windows distract and  items can get lost.

• Sell Merchandise. Not Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day or some other theme.  A theme gives focus.  Over-theming does not.

• Stock What You Show. Have stock in the merchandise you promote otherwise it’s like over promising.

• Shine Good Light. Shine it on your merchandise not the walls, ceiling, or dust bunnies on the floor.

• Fun-up the Mannequins. Let them have some fun.  Drama provokes interest.

• Romance What You Sell. Remember women don’t buy face cream they buy hope. Project your customers hopes, dreams, wishes, laughter and desire in your windows.

• Street Windows Are Different. Treat them differently. Scale and proportion change.  Sunlight can create glare.  Natural light affect lighting during the day and at night.

6 Things a Good Classification Plan Does

Good merchandising starts with a solid classification plan.  Classifying your inventory is  a way of organizing it into “segments” based on your customer’s end use.  For example a small boutique may have a very simple classification system such as tees, sweaters, blouses, tops, jackets, jeans, pants, skirts, dresses, accessories.   The key is to avoid classifications that are so large their total figures could conceal strong or weak performers in specific types of merchandise.  You also want to avoid classifications that are so small they become meaningless and divert your attention.  Classifications should include like items – apples to apples.

Five things a good classification system allows you do:

• plan sales volume and stock levels based on customer demand
• have the necessary items customers demand at the right price points
• plan a realistic, balance open to buy
• pinpoint areas of sales growth and improved profitability
• reduce inventory duplication
• identify new trends

If you put too much inventory in the wrong classes you’ll take excessive markdowns and/or end up with costly returns to vendors (RTV).  And if you don’t have enough inventory in the right classes you’ll lose sales, or even worse, drive customers to your competitors where you could lose them permanently.

After you plan your classification system you’ll need to plan a style “assortment” (remember color is considered a style) that satisfies your customers demands.  Within in style assortment you also have to think about sizes and price points.

Some stores make the mistake of planning at the vendor level.  Don’t!  Vendors are not classifications!   A vendor that was strong in a class last season or last year might not be in the future.  Plan your assortments at the vendor level.

A good classification system is at the core of a good retail business.  So even though the numbers can seem overwhelming at time, tackle them with gusto and you’ll actually start to enjoy them!

Yumi Kim

It’s just too tempting not to say, Yumi Kim is “yummy”.  I found it a number of years ago when shopping the LA market.  Wrote a small order for some of her gorgeous print tops to test the fit and started selling them “out of the box”.  Don’t you love it when that happens.  Her prints are bold and full of vibrant color which I think we need in fashion right now.  Some fun, a little flirtyness, lots of temptation.  Yumi Kim has it all.

She’s getting lots of press these days, Lucky Magazine’s March ‘10 Issue, US Weekly, and more!

Kim Phan started her fashion career by making clothes for her Barbie dolls at the age of seven.  Next she revamped her mother’s old shirts by cutting and adding trimming to each piece way before “vintage” was in.  With a love for fashion and a fresh degree from San Diego State University she moved to New York City.  Through a job in the music industry began working with celebrities, stylists and fashion trendsetters.  Then in 2004 she created YUMI KIM, a line inspired by her personal esthetic; vintage prints and silhouettes…with a touch of funk and urban femininity.

In Fall of 2008, Phan opened her first flagship store in New York’s Lower Eastside.   “I wanted the Yumi Kim flagship store to be a direct reflection of my personality and style: fun and flirty with bits of quirkiness and hip appeal,” said Phan. “And I want the Yumi Kim customer to instantly feel effortlessly stylish every time she wears one of my pieces.”

I love the fact that she actually does cute dresses with sleeves like the one below.

Sizes: XS – LG

Retail Pricepoints: Contemporary Dresses/Jumpers – $170-$288, Tops – $120-138, Bottoms – $127-$130

Fit: Fitted and  easy flow.

Customer: Young sophisticated women to ageless. Moms and daughters

Where to find it:

WEBSITE:
www.yumikim.com

ONLINE SHOP
www.yumikimshop.com
YUMI KIM STORE:
105 Stanton Street
New York, NY 10002
T: 212.420.5919

YUMI KIM OFFICE:
611 Broadway, #422
New York, NY 10012
T: 646.452,8755
F: 646.452.5742
E: info@yumikim.com

SALES INQUIRIES:
jessica@yumikim.comEast Coast Showroom:
TWNZ Showroom
226 West 37th St. 3rd Floor
New York, NY
212-719-0320 T
212-719-0323 F
http://www.TWNZ.com
West Coast Show Room:
Place Showroom
860 South Los Angeles St. #1130
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213-243-0741 T
213-243-0742 F

Inventory Management is Like Weight Management

Planning and maintaining an ideal inventory level for a brand or store is like trying to maintain an ideal weight.  If you get to “thin” your assortment is weak and you can’t meet your sales goals.  Customers get discouraged because they can’t get the sizes, colors or styles they want.  They turn to a competitor and may not come back.  When you let your inventory get “overweight”, bloating and sluggishness sets in.  Your goods hang around longer and turns go down, your promotional dollars go up and margins go down, your merchandise investment becomes less productive.   Your customers may find the excess unattractive.  To thin or to fat you can’t win.  You have to strive for balance to achieve stability yet maintain flexibility to go after growth.

The bottom line is you can only achieve consistent profitability by having a substantial supply of the things that customers want when they want them and by having a good deal less when they don’t.

Merchandising Starts With the Product

Brands and stores are desperate to get women and men to buy.  People aren’t biting….or maybe just a little.  Designers are offering a little bit of everything hoping something will stick.  Something will work.

It’s not working.  Women don’t want gimmicks.  They don’t want to follow the dictates of a designer or editor.  So who do they want to follow?  They want to following themselves.  Their own sense of style.  Their own look.  So they’re buying what feels good to them.  They’re making it their own and they’re owning it.

Based on incoming retail sales reports, not enough fashion is feeling good to women yet. Blame the economy all you want but “temptation always sells”.  Brands need to cast their fears aside and “design”.  Design to tempt, design to sell, design to make a woman own it.

Easier said than done?  Of course.  Stanley Marcus knew that when he said “give the lady what she wants”!  That’s at the heart of temptation.