Study Hall was finally taken out into the real world today.
My amazingly talented interns presented their collections to Johnny and Virginia of International Playground for feedback, guidance and – yes – orders! At first my sales reps extraordinaire asked questions about the process, how the interns enjoyed the program, what they found difficult about their work, etc… and then the presentations started. Each collection was shown by its designer with details about their inspiration, their fabric choices and even costing. By this point the meeting turned from student – teacher relationship to designer – buyer, and things got a little more serious. In a good IP way, of course! Johnny & Virginia gave their honest feedback, commented on pricing and how they felt about the styles. Each designer had about 20 minutes to show their collections, which is a lot of time considering they only had 4 styles a piece.
They are huge supporters of Study and love this project. I couldn’t have offered the kind of feedback or advice they gave to the interns today. They offered a sales rep / store owner perspective which I find invaluable to my own work, so I can only imagine what the group must have thought. At first I expected them to take the clothes for their own stores – IP in NY and LA – but as the meeting progressed today we started discussing other options. Would the lines do well at D&A in September? Who would love to see this collection and hear the back story? We came up with a few options, I won’t say who just yet.
The whole process was very enlightening for me, more so because I was finally able to step back and see a sales meeting from a third party point of view, and listen to the constructive criticism with a less invested ear – because I’ve been trying to disconnect myself from the collections and see them with a more unbiased eye.
(One prevailing comment that did come up time and again throughout the meetings was the quality of the tailoring, for which we have Michelle to thank. So a huge THANK YOU to Michelle, who will be getting flowers and chocolates very soon.)