Nickys Rag Tales

As the weeks run away I am reminded that last week slipped past without a post. As an agent some of my collections are being shipped back to their owners and others are continuing to sell so life slips into a different pattern at work. I discovered a whole garage room full of samples that need a home so have decided it’s time for a spring clean out. The result is a sample sale in the showroom planned for 13-15 th April. Luckily I have my assistant the lovely Selina on hand to help me out and keep me calm.

At this time of year there are several Press Days to keep me on my toes. Yesterday was the launch of the new Ant-Ageing Beauty Bible in Arnotts followed by the Kilkenny Design Spring Summer fashion show that I gate crashed with my friend, stylist extraordinaire Cathy O’Connor. Today it’s the turn of Cos followed by afternoon tea at the British Ambassadors residence where some of the Queen’s dresses will be on show (she won’t miss a few) and to top it off model Faye Dinsmore’s Fashion Awards are on tonight in Dublin’s Mansion House. The great thing about blogging is that you can be as busy or not as you choose to be. There’s no pressure to write or do anything in fact. For me though it’s added an exciting dimension to my life. I have decided recently to monetise my site and now have two advertisements going onto it shortly. I had to think long and hard about that but I think I’ve come up with a code of ethics that doesn’t compromise my impartiality in any way. I need a new camera (or at least I want one) so this is my way of paying for it!

Nicky's Rag Tales

There are 74 Fashion Bloggers on the Irish Fashion Bloggers Facebook page and literally hundreds in the UK. When I started blogging a year and a half ago there was only a handful which just outlines the growth of the internet and the influence of the bloggers. If I was a boutique owner or a designer I would take the bloggers seriously and try to find ways of encouraging them to write pieces about their business. Competitions are one way of doing this, another is to remember to invite the bloggers to any in-store event or fashion show that you are involved in. Blogs remain on the web forever, print ends up in a dustbin, blogs engage with the readers and form relationships with potential customers, print does neither. Blogs can be on the internet within minutes of an event.

Today I was in Grafton Street at lunch time with my camera. A BT2 PR event took place and I had the photographs and a video on my blog less than an hour later. The press who were there with their heavy hitting cameras will have their pictures in the papers (if they are lucky) tomorrow. Take Blogging seriously and if you are brave enough consider starting your own. It really is easy but it does become addictive if you are any way like me!

Irish Model Faye Dinsmore has single handedly organised an Irish Fashion Awards Ceremony which is taking place in the Mansion House on 31^st March. With Karen Millen and Model agency IMG on board as well as The Irish Times perhaps this will be an Irish Fashion night to remember. Have a fashionable week ahead….

Nicky's Rag Tales

www.nickysragtales.com

I had a terrible nightmare last night which I thought I would share with you. I was in my showroom and had two customers at the same time (this is something that becomes inevitable with Irish timekeeping habits!) and is something I dislike, as each customer really needs and deserves my undivided attention. I was trying to convince one of them to buy Falke tights and I was getting quite het up when they wouldn’t take notice of my brilliant message. Into the showroom walked about thirty members of my family including those I don’t get on with, as well as three strange French men!! It was a total nightmare as I was very obviously out of control and losing the customers.

That nightmare illustrates exactly where I am at the moment. It’s always the same at this time of year. Preparing for the beginning of the season is like preparing for a marathon. The build-up is intense and demands a huge amount of work and lots of perseverance.

I spent yesterday in London going through the two Jaeger ranges on their way in, Boutique by Jaeger and Jaeger London. There is always the worry before I see a new collection that it is going to be awful luckily they didn’t disappoint, each of them with great strengths and a completely different theme and customer. I know that Jaeger are already hugely successful in Ireland so I am hoping to build up the Independent Boutique trade so that women will be able to buy those gorgeous coats, knits and dresses in their local Boutiques.

Making appointments is on my ‘must do’ list at the start of every day and my pet hate. Anyway time to get back to the phone. Have a fashionable week ahead….

The Fashion Industry Insider

Firing on all cylinders is how I would describe the life of a Fashion Agent (or me in particular) right now. Dealing with the now, the future and sometimes the past at the same time gets a little confusing. The Now is all the ranges coming in which each have to be edited, priced and displayed and appointments made as well as the task of collecting money owed to the companies. This is one of the most important jobs for without payment there can be no future orders and no commission which in effect is the life blood of the business. The Future is the collections I have been asked to look at for next season which simply can’t be ignored and the Past is dealing with customer queries, deliveries of goods that were ordered a few months ago but that are hitting the shops now. As in every business it is the variables that can be either a positive or a negative and minimising the possibilities of things going wrong is a complete job description in itself.

On the blogging front there are days when I think, ‘what in the name of heavens am I going to write about today’? then I bump into someone who says they love my blog and read it every day and that gives me the kick in the backside needed to start me rolling again. The whole area of the Internet is an absolute fascination to me and I’m lucky that it is in the main, inhabited by people much younger than me who are generous with their time and advice. When I get stuck I simply shout out on Twitter and someone is bound to come to my aid fast. I find myself repaying in kind by offering, for example a recipe for lamb the other day and what to take for a sore throat on another occasion (zinc is the answer to that question by the way)

For those of you who haven’t dipped into either Facebook or Twitter and who need a little advice I’m happy to pass on what little I know. You can find me on Nickysragtales on both. Who knows what you might learn and where it might lead….

Have a fashionable week ahead…

The Fashion Industry Insider

With so much happening from week to week I have to have really good systems in place in order to remember everything. I use my laptop, Iphone and synchronise Google calendar with both with reminders set for three hours before appointments. Even with all that in place I sometimes forget and then it’s apologies all round. The reason I say all that is that I’m late again with this blog post!

I have been travelling around the country, which is always enjoyable at this time of year. It’s difficult to stay completely focused on business as I stroll through small towns. First stop I have to find the best coffee shop which is sometimes difficult so when I see those awful filter machines I ask for tea. You can’t go wrong with a nice pot of tea! Some of the boutiques and shops are trading well with increased business being reported while others who are still overstocked are struggling to make ends meet. Those retailers who are staying close to their business and who are focusing on great customer service are winning others are struggling or in some cases closing.

I had two interesting meetings last week; one was with a young Irish T-shirt company called Lady Umbrella. I met them on Twitter and Face Book (they have over 5,000 followers on each) and curiosity brought me to the Loft in Dublin’ Powerscourt Townhouse Centre to see whether the T-shirts lived up to the hype. It does and what is really interesting about this company is it’s use of Social Media which it was pointed out to me by Rob Ryan and his Designer partner Elena, is free. I wrote a post on my blog, which if you haven’t already set up a Face book page for your company/boutique you should read.

The second meeting was with a young PR company who also understands and use Social Media along with interesting and novel approaches to getting the message out. I think that what I am continually learning is that there are ‘several ways to skin a cat’! (Or something along those lines)

The beautiful ‘Good Charma’ jewellery samples have arrived and I must go and drool over them…… Have a fashionable week ahead.

The Fashion Industry Insider by Nick Harris

I nearly missed my flight yesterday morning, as I simply can’t leave in the mornings without my daily bowl of porridge. I know that may seem entirely boring and bland but as each day unfolds it’s nice to start with the same routine a Of course after that anything can and often does happen! A four thirty start for a nine o’clock range meeting in South Molten Street Falke showrooms in London yesterday and back home by ten-thirty last night. I only have to see a seat on a plane and I’m asleep before they can whip out the ‘whistle to draw attention’ bit of the security spiel.

London was hot and buzzing yesterday, I had one hour before turnaround so headed to Selfridges to see if I could spot anything new. All the new collections are in and the sale seems to be over. I’ve noticed that the middle market seems to be being squeezed out with the top end more markedly obvious and the lower gift market also growing. I’m deducing that this reflects the recession, which always squeezes the middle market hardest.

Oxford street is full of high street stores so no need to go into those, they bore me to tears but there is one that I did take a good look at, Uniqlo which has an interesting and more unique point of sale offer than the rest. Simple cuts in interesting fabrics in few colours with a distinctly Japanese feel though the sizes seem generous enough. Price points seem very reasonable.

The Falke range meeting was actually more interesting than normal with the best Spring Summer range presented than I’ve ever seen. It erupted into hysterical laughter when the lovely German lady kept saying the word focus in a way that came out as something completely different and very rude. After the third time we had to explain what the laughter was about in simple but graphic detail, but it was certainly an icebreaker. Luckily she has a good sense of humour and took the joke very well.

Time now to get back to making appointments and travelling the road. I think I’ll head for Kilkenny tomorrow and see what’s happening there?

Have a fashionable week ahead……