3…2…1…Launch!
Well, it’s official!! We have launched the test market line of clothing for spring 2008. How exciting!! It’s been a long time coming but I’m so glad it’s finally here. I’m looking forward to receiving feedback so that we can continue to improve the product and meet our families’ needs. It hasn’t been without hiccups. I had to send back the crop pants to get them resewn correctly and it took longer for everything to arrive and for the website to finally make it through all the testing than I thought it would. But, in the end, we made it! Now we are working on adding shorts for the next run and beginning the process of creating the fit for our plus size girls to add to our fall line-up.
The next step is to get everything in place so that we can launch the network of style consultants. We’re excited to be working with a firm with many years of industry experience who will be helping us build a solid foundation for our consultants to build upon. My goal is to have enough put in place to enable our first consultants to come on board in June.
Meanwhile, I’m talking with one of the major hospitals in the area and hope to have a relationship formed to enable us to bring on professionals who deal with childhood health issues to partner with us as we mold the social network.
What an exciting time! Mix that in with my graduation, my daughter’s 11th birthday, and the real possibility of investment in the near future and you have a recipe for excitement (mixed in with a bit of stress induced insomnia).
May 19th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I just read the article in the Det News about your co. I had read the earlier article too. I checked out your site to see what you have available. I do think you have a great idea in creating a plus sized clothing line, but I have a few comments maybe you would want to hear, maybe they would guide some choices you make. I have 2 girls who are complete opposites. One is very thin and the other is “above average.” Aside from the price of your clothing limiting my ability to buy it (I am a super bargain shopper), I know my daughter would not be drawn to the styles. She wants to be able to wear the same fahion styles as her sister. It kills to me to tell her she cannot have a shirt she likes from Justice because it is too tight for her belly. So, I would advise creating clothing that complements current trends. I try to get larger sizes in regular girls’ sizes in order to help my daughter be able to wear fashions like her sister (but somtimes the sleeves will be too long in order to make it not too tight for the belly). There are places like JCPenney, Kohl’s, and Old Navy online that have a great selection of clothes that are in fashion for the plus-sized girl. They are reasonably priced too. My 12 year old is taking a fashion design class and that makes me wonder if you could consult girls to see what they want to wear. Neither of my girls would wear the mock turtle neck outfit. Your t-shirts look too wide in the picture. I understand the need for shirts to not be so fitted (as my older daughter likes), but I don’t think it looks flattering to go too extreme in makeng plus-sized shirts overly wide to accomodate the bigger middles of these girls.
I see the news article has more designs than I see coming up on the website. Maybe there is a problme with that on your site? The ones in the paper are cuter than the ones on the site.
Good luck with your company. As a mom, I know you want to help girls be happy and confident with themselves.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Thanks so much for the feedback and the well wishes! We are definitely working on introducing some trendier styles in addition to these more basic pieces. We have made some adjustments to the pieces we have and are working with some graphic artists to introduce an older youth oriented grouping of designs to choose from as well.
In terms of the site, we have made some improvements in terms of helping people realize they just need to click on the items to see the other color and design options. We also now have pictures of the girls modeling the clothing and I think you will agree that really helps to see the styles are flattering and fun.
Finally, we have lowered the prices to introductory pricing levels to encourage people to try us out. While we are not really geared towards the super bargain shopper we do have a storefront in Depot Town where are seconds are available at drastically reduced prices. The majority of these are slight imperfections in the fabric or small dirty spots as a result of poor shipping from the manufacturer and therefore a really good deal!