http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/ en-us 2007-09-11T12:59:33-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000067.html One of the things I find fascinating is that off price retailers have a greater tendency to dismiss traditional retail concepts. If you have a retail operation, there is a term called "open to buy". You can google this term to find out more than you ever want to know, but in general, open to buy is your purchasing budget... blah, blah, blah theclothingbroker.com 2007-09-11T12:59:33-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000066.html I know I've discussed this before because this consistently comes up. Should I buy an entire lot or a trailer at a lower price or go through a jobber? A couple years ago a friend and I analyzed this issue. We had a very complex Excel spreadsheet that analyzed very different scenarios. For the data, we had a few spreadsheets... blah, blah, blah theclothingbroker.com 2005-10-04T16:08:01-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000065.html In all my years of being in the clothing industry, in one facet or another, I have come across many companies (and people) that have made many mistakes. Seeing as how I see the same pattern of the same mistakes made repeatedly, I thought maybe I should start talking about it so that some of you can learn from it.... blah, blah, blah theclothingbroker.com 2005-09-01T18:56:26-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000060.html Regarding my previous post about Diesel jeans, I read the forum I link to and saw a quote there which I want to address here. When you, yes you, want to know how to authenticate merchandise the most common advice you get is to take your product to the store (as in the company store, taking a Louis Vuitton to... counterfeit merchandise and scams theclothingbroker.com 2005-07-06T13:46:49-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000059.html Today, a moderator of a forum for denim aficionados emailed me the following, and I thought I would share it with you all. For information, but also because the forum looks like a great place. Before I share his quote, I do want to give you two caveats: 1- Sometimes information I provide becomes dated as things evolve and change... counterfeit merchandise and scams theclothingbroker.com 2005-07-06T13:32:57-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000058.html A dear friend of mine, whose infinite wisdom I respect tremendously, has a blog. And in her blog she blogged me and something I said. And a comment to that blog included a very poignant statement: I remember an essay by Ayn Rand in which she illustrates the meaning of the saying, "you can't cheat an honest man." An honest... counterfeit merchandise and scams theclothingbroker.com 2005-06-13T22:15:24-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000057.html The most interesting email I ever received from a customer was from this guy in Singapore. He purchased the guide at what must have been a normal time in his time zone. He then proceeded to send three emails, approximately 1-2 hours apart asking why I had not processed the registration for the guide. So, when I responded I kindly... blah, blah, blah theclothingbroker.com 2005-06-12T22:08:38-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000056.html A friend (who sells off price merchandise) and I were having a discussion recently about this often mentioned "paperwork". Often, a new buyer may ask me if a supplier provides "paperwork" or they will ask a supplier if they provide "paperwork". It seems as though this has become so used that it's just an industry buzzword and few people even... Industry stuff you should know theclothingbroker.com 2005-06-01T22:00:53-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000055.html So I get off the phone with this supplier and I am a little sad. Because I felt like he was a little curt, a little short, not very nice at all. So I'm sitting here thinking about this company and whether or not I want to do business with them. The person inside tells me to let it go,... blah, blah, blah theclothingbroker.com 2005-05-26T18:34:46-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000054.html One of the reasons people ask me about cutting out middlemen is because they want to find continuous and reliable merchandise sources. Oh this is funny. I mean, it's not funny and I'm not trying to mock anybody but anybody who has dealt in the off price market long enough knows there is absolutely no such thing as continuous and... Finding Merchandise Sources theclothingbroker.com 2005-04-13T12:26:31-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000053.html From time to time I get questions from people asking about a distributor of a product. Most want to get as close to the source as possible and do not want to deal with middlemen. Now middlemen have their place, as in the guide I cover (in depth) the purpose middlemen serve for small and large buyers. But anyhoo, this... Finding Merchandise Sources theclothingbroker.com 2005-04-13T12:20:02-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000052.html A few days ago, a customer called. She was asking about her guide and had some general questions about the industry. She was really nice and apologetic and kept saying "I know you're probably too busy..." I had to reassure her that I was available to help. I want to make something clear: I'm never too busy to help customers.... blah, blah, blah theclothingbroker.com 2005-01-10T22:27:23-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000051.html It has been such an incredibly long time since I updated this blog. A lot has changed, there have been a lot of issues with the website. I apologize to any buyers that fell victim to my slowness, my email problems, server problems or a host of other problems that kept me from being at peak performance. I've learned a... blah, blah, blah theclothingbroker.com 2004-12-22T23:19:27-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000050.html I cover this on the website, but I want to go into it in a little more detail. Buying off price is a very sensitive thing. No company is really eager to announce that they are selling off price or who they sell to. Most companies don't want to tick off their retail accounts, and don't want to devalue their... Finding Merchandise Sources theclothingbroker.com 2004-09-11T22:57:57-08:00 http://www.theclothingbroker.com/mt_blog/archives/000049.html I am actually taking the time to put this one in the blog because I think it is important. I get a question like this from time to time and I think, in the future, I can point people to the guide because even though the specifics are different, the general premise of the emails are the same. People are... theclothingbroker.com 2004-07-27T21:48:02-08:00