Clothing (1831)

Protection From Brand Infection

The Chief Marketing Officer Council released an intriguing study this week called "Protection From Brand Infection." The report involved a study of more than 300 senior-level marketers from various B2C and B2B sectors.A new study by the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Council on the impact of counterfeiting and other brand infringement found that marketers are scrambling -- playing catch up to crooks and counterfeiters who are way ahead in employing increasingly sophisticated techniques to dupe an
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Online Clothing Sales: Return Policy Matters!

When I was considering advertising my little girls' clothing line on Momfinds.com, I ran across a very interesting snippet on their advertising page:

"Online Shopping Concerns (ranked in order of most common response to least common response)Fit of itemsHassle of returnsShipping costsQuality of itemsSecurity of entering credit card number onlineFinding right item or shopWrong item(s)/lost item(s)NoneMomFinds Consumer Insight:Online shoppers' primary concern is that an item will not fit and that i
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Yummy Yarn-Dyed Stripes

Fabric quality is such an important element in producing a pleasing and long-lasting product. The average consumer does not necessarily know the technical terms for different types of fabric, but she knows good fabric when she sees and feels it.

My aspirations in this area, for my toddler girls' line, are high. One aspect of high-quality knit fabrics is that striped knits are yarn-dyed rather than printed.

Having a yarn-dyed fabric custom made for a small boutique line is virtually impossible, be
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Why Wovens but Not Knits??

UKI-8007-136.jpg?571522717It's a little puzzling, given the immense popularity of knit fabrics in fashion today, why knit prints are relatively hard to find. Premier fabric designers like Robert Kauffman (pictured), Amy Butler, and Michael Miller all seem to design prints produced exclusively as woven fabrics.

Is this because their target market is primarily quilters? Today, with the emergence of so much patchwork in boutique apparel, there would seem to be a growing market for designer knit prints.

At this point, Pixyworl
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Toddler Hair Accessories: What's Out There?

140047921?$240x305$Gymboree (hairpiece pictured) is clearly a leader in mass-produced hair accessories for little girls. There are also many clever moms producing unique custom hair pieces, selling on etsy or eBay. So, is there room for more?

Gymboree seems to have two advantages, besides the obvious cost benefit of mass-production. One is one-stop shopping. Moms shopping online will choose a hairpiece from the same site as the clothing they are buying, if possible, to save on shipping.

Their other advantage is outf
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Are We Tired of Pink?

Accessorize Me! Set: Tee, Jeans, ShrugNot too long ago, we were hearing from the fashion world that Pink Is the New Black. But the faddish popularity of the color seems to be fading. The best-selling collection in my toddler girls' boutique line this season has been Flower Power, my only collection without even a hint of pink.

Maybe we are sick of pink because, in this economy, Pink Slips are the New Black! Maybe moms shopping little girls' boutiques are looking for something very unique, and they feel that pink for little girls is t
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Authentic Style

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Stand out from the rest with this authentic ensemble. Pink and light mauve panelled lehenga features a ruched yoke. Embellished with sequins, stones, cutdana beads, pita and satin ribbon work in floral design. Includes a drawstring style latkan at the side. Ruched choli in pink and light mauve features a zig zag pattern. Embellished with sequins, stones, cutdana beads, pita and satin ribbon work in floral design. Comes with matching dupatta with sequins buttis and sequins, stones, cutdana beads,
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Standard US Sizing???

In soliciting our business, the overseas factory Pixyworld is currently working with proudly announced that they could grade our patterns for us according to "standard US sizing." Is there such a thing??

Even for women's clothing, I've found significant variation between brands. But in the children's clothing I buy, sizing is all over the map!!

In shopping for my boys (aged 7 and 9) I've found that the smaller brands tend to run on the smaller side. Gap Kids is long in the legs, good in the arm le
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WAHMs in Fashion: an Age-Old Tradition

If you are one, you know what it stands for: Work-At-Home Mom. (As if moms who stay home with their children without pursuing a career are not working??) At any rate, as Pixyworld's designer, I am one.

Now, it's interesting to me that we have a term for this now, as if being a mom pursuing a career from home were a brand new phenomenon. As far as I can see, most moms throughout the centuries have been WAHMs.

Take the biblical ideal woman, described in Proverbs 31: "She sees that her trading is pro
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Great Idea: Pixyworld could start a little girls' beauty product line!

After all, I have a science background and two little girls to try out all my products on... and have already produced some cool products they love to use.

Bad News: Suppose I wanted to start with a test run of 100 units of product. I've investigated bare-bones packaging costs, and for this quantity they soar to $2.50 plus per unit. (See Labels Stickers and More and Midwest Bottles.) Multiply by 2 to get wholesale cost, 2 again
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I have been in the women's fashion boutique business for over 40 years and cater to upscale women with a flair for stylish dresses (lines such as Luisa Cerano, Ema Savahl, and SPY. The last mention is highly trendy spring clothing and is very very contemporary hip. Aside from edgy tasteful clothing, we carry business attire such as lawyer jackets and wide leg pants (Styles like Votre Nom, Marc Aurel).Every couple weeks I or the company make media appearances. This media appearance is especially
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Flower Power Colors

model742_3.jpgWhen I did my first manufacturing run for Pixyworld last year, I tried to choose colors that would appeal not just to me personally, but to a wide range of customer tastes.

For example, I had learned, through selling custom outfits on eBay, that in toddler girls' clothes, pink just sells. As an Autumn, I can't wear pink at all, so it's not a color I naturally gravitate to. (Though it looks gorgeous on my little Summery 4-year-old!)

At any rate, I had to let myself go on just one collection. For F
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Top Sites Lists: Heart or Hate??

Top sites lists. We have a love/hate relationship.

While doing the webmastering for Boutique Baby Toddler & Little Girls' Clothes by Pixyworld, I have joined quite a few of them. They are, of course, a free inbound link to my site. Hopefully they are also a little bit of advertising, allowing visitors to see a banner and description of my site.

But here's the catch: My theory is that you pretty much have to be on page one for your link to be found by google; also, you have to be on page one for y
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Cluttered Studio, Cluttered Mind??

The classic retort to the aphorism "Cluttered desk, cluttered mind" is, "Well, then what about an empty desk??"

I might say the same for my design studio, the wellspring of Pixyworld children's fashion, should it ever be accused of being... shall we say, less than tidy? I had to admit to finding a large piece of unused marker paper the other day, after having made do without any (thinking I'd run out) for several days of pattern making.

But I like to class myself as "artistic" (as if that somehow
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Images on Clothing: Embroidery vs. Applique

b1072_small.jpgThe ability to put images on clothing has opened up new vistas of fun and personal expression, both for adults and children. Printed fabrics and printed tee-shirts are so ubiquitous now that we take them for granted. But my favorites, especially for children's clothing, are embroidery and applique -- two methods that give an image a special texture and style that really makes it pop.

thumb_1_octopus.jpgEmbroidery Library has great examples of both. With embroidery, there is the possibility for almost limitless deta
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A New Look at Wholesale

It seems that with the advent of e-commerce, the rigid dividing lines between apparel wholesalers and retailers is softening, and Pixyworld is ready to step into a newer hybrid role. We have always been open, in theory, to wholesaling, but we seemed to have readier access to the retail market. Not to mention profit margin -- which is miniscule for our wholesale sales at present.

However, we've been getting more and more wholesale inquiries, and it's caused us to take another look at the potential
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Fashion Guide For The Sexiest Womens Tights

Planning to wear only skirts this spring? But can't dare do this because you own a pair of oh-not-so-beautiful-legs. Nothing to be worried about. Here are the solutions in form of womens tights exclusively for spring. Read More
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Ten Colors By Pantone To Color Your Spring

Tired of searching for the best colors this spring? You are not alone. Every woman who pays spends the maximum share of her attention to the dye of the apparel it is submerged in, can feel so as nothing inspirational seemed to have arrived so far for spring, until much awaited Pantone colors came to the fore. Read More
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