And This Little Lady Went to Market...
Choices, choices, choices. With so many different brands, styles, prints and colours, picking what get's to go in our store can be quite the decision (a fun one though)! In this blog post, I'll chat a bit about the "behind the scenes" action that goes on here at Forever Yours Lingerie and how we find the wonderful items you see in our store.
"New arrivals".... If you have had a job in retail before you know that these two words can cause quite a bit of excitement on the work floor. This is especially the case when you work at a lingerie store staffed with lingerie-oholics. When something fresh and new arrives at FYL it is often accompanied with 'oooh's', 'aaah's' and a sudden urge to be a lingerie model - as we often enjoy trying on the new goods and showing them to our co-workers. There are few jobs where you get to know your co-workers' chest this well!
But how do we decide what gets to be in our store? Especially with so many different brands and styles out there. Sure, we skim through a fair share of catalogues and we get visits from various brand representatives but then there is also... Market!
Now to be honest Market seemed to be a bit of a mystery amongst the non-management staff. Is it an expo? Is it an actual market? Luckily enough, I had the chance to find out as I was invited along with Sonya (aka boss-lady) to see what it was all about. We met up early at her place and drove to Vancouver, where the elusive ‘market’ took place. The building it is held at boasts two floors of showrooms filled with fashion, jewelry and accessories mostly for wholesale purposes. It was hard not to be distracted and I definitely had to fight the urge to snoop around! Twice a year the lingerie and swimwear representatives snag themselves up a corner in said showrooms to give one-on-one presentations of upcoming collections (spring/summer and fall/winter) to store owners. This is Market!
Sonya and I make our way through the building's various showrooms to take a peek at the fall/winter collections from brands such as; Pleasure State, Saxx, Coco Reef Swim, Parfait, Affinitas and Marlies Dekkers (to name a few). We also had a look at some adorable sleepwear. The pajamas look so comfy and cute that it almost makes me long for chilly winter evenings (almost). Who doesn't like a comfy pajama, right?
We notice an overall trend of jewel tones (purples, emeralds, blues and turquoise) which are striking yet sophisticated. Seriously, I’ve yet to see anyone NOT look incredible in these colors.
Sonya has owned FYL for almost 19 years now and has such a keen understanding of what it is our customers love and look for. I watch as she swiftly took notes of the items she liked (and those she didn't). To this, there is a lot more than meets the eye. Choosing the right items for the store goes beyond their visual aesthetic. Is the product available in a wide range of sizes? Is it comfortable to the touch and to wear? Is it well constructed? These are just some of the deciding factors.
As a fairly new member of the FYL team (I started here as a Fit Specialist in November) it was a real treat to get a little glimpse of the work that goes on outside the store’s premises.
I guess I should finish up by what I took away from this experience and to be honest I had to think about this for a little while. Getting an early sneak peek at upcoming collections? Gawking at the wonderful designs? Fabulous, absolutely. But what stuck with me the most was ‘quality over quantity’. We were shown a lot of items at Market, but few of those will make it into our store. Because those items were picked with care and thought. They were chosen to make the women that visit our store stand just that little bit prouder and feel as beautiful as they truly are (at any shape, size, age and ability).
They were chosen for you…
- xo Shanah
