A few weeks ago a posted this picture on Instagram…
Even though it was a tad bit cheeky the Nordstrom twitter folks were kind enough to reply…
And then Naomi Shapiro and Emily Morrissey were kind enough to chime in…
Did I think a buyer from Nordstrom was going to call me from these tweets? Of course not. But it felt like I was making a tiny bit of progress towards a big goal.
This week an expert told me that I shouldn’t be trying to get into the big department stores. It would kill my cash flow and Nordstrom “wants at least 50,000 pieces” when you start and QVC won’t take you unless you have “500,000 in inventory”. I nodded politely and walked away.
But in my head I was thinking, “You are full of crap!”
Forget crushing my dreams, I don’t give many people that kind of power. The numbers made no sense. Department stores run tests. QVC wants to sell hot products. The arbitrary figures simply didn’t add up.
As I finished this blog post I had a different department store request bag information and samples. I think I’m going to listen to that email rather than the advice I got this week. I’m sure you wouldn’t expect anything less.
DON’T listen to the minutiae. Everyone is an expert nowadays…
Go with your gut. Rock it and hard. I was able to take my little product and get a licensing deal with a multimillion dollar company. (until I got knocked off)
Knock on all the doors you can. One will open and cause the glass house to fall.
Hmmph. I think you should keep all roads open. What’s the point in assuming the worst?
I totally agree! Let’s not even go there. Thanks for your great tweets again Naomi!
Maybe you can aim low. Like Barney’s
Don’t they like indie designers? And then all of the bigger department stores copy Barneys.