Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

[wildhalcyon]

I have been wondering about the amazingly high charges many boutiques are charging customers, especially those who live overseas.

After reading several posts here for the past few days (I am fairly new to this place), it occurred to me that apart from the possible reason of greed there could be another factor.

Citing an example from Gupshup, there is a designer who has a vendor who sells her clothes here and in other online venues. However, there is a third party who is a subvendor of the vendor.

So looking at the chain, the designer takes her cut on the clothes, the vendor takes another cut on top of that and then the sub vendor is taking her share too. By the time it reaches the customer, that poor person has had to pay commission to three parties for a suit.

I am also disappointed that there are designers who claim to get into the business because of their love of clothes and designing. That is not entirely true in my opinion because I am absolutely unable to find cheap simple suits online and someone actually told me it was because there wasnt really much of a profit margin in such clothes.

What I think designers fail to realize is the dollar store syndrome. A dollar store makes more turnover than higher end stores. Why? If an item is only a dollar, I will pick up ten items thinking..bus eyk dollar hee tho hai! I pay $10 and walk out happy and the bag of goodies I have. I walk into another store and see a pretty bracelet for $10. I put it down..“hai..dus dollars? bahout manga hai!!”

Start selling cheaper clothes with lower profit margins and you will get more sales and more business as the word goes around. For example, I live in a very small town where people are dying for clothing because we have so many get togethers. If a designer were to start selling simple reasonably priced clothing here, they would be winning the lottery because there are so many potential clients wanting a good deal.

Angel wings is selling casual chiffon tailor made outfits for $50. I am going to (hopefully) buy 4 outfits from her for $200. There are other boutiques selling much fancier stuff..all beautiful I agree, but I would much rather pay $200 for 4 outfits than just one which will only ever be worn once or twice.

[fayax]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

Try buying a sewing machine and learn how to make them yourself. That might allow you to have your own business soon.

[Sidra54]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

^ Thats pretty rude!

I say, if we all were great at business-handling, then we would not need the middlemen.

[wildhalcyon]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

Try buying a sewing machine and learn how to make them yourself. That might allow you to have your own business soon.

I do have a sewing maching and I can sew...and may end up having to do that..the only problem is that getting fabrics is an issue in the small town I live in.

(I dont claim to love designing clothes etc...nor am I money oriented..which is what many boutiques and sellers come across as being when they charge ridiculously high prices..so I dont think I will open up a business)

[fayax]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

^ Thats pretty rude!

I say, if we all were great at business-handling, then we would not need the middlemen.

Its not rude. its a solution.

But I have seen shalwar kameez here that cost the seller around $20 from Pakistan and they sell it for over $200. Now is unfair business practice.

[wildhalcyon]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

^ Thats pretty rude!

I say, if we all were great at business-handling, then we would not need the middlemen.

Sidra, that is a reasonable point about business handling but it would be nice if we could cut out a few of them. I am definitely not good at business handling so I would be a total disaster if I ever tried to sell anything.

I once bought an outfit from a friend for $80 and my sister from England saw it and told me it was being sold for 15 pounds over there. That was about $20-25. I asked the friend why it was so expensive and she said that her relative had bought them from a designer to sell in the States and had put her own charges on the cost price she gave my friend. And then my friend was honest and told me that it wouldnt be worth her while unless she also added something for herself.

OH..and she admitted that she had overpriced my suit a little expecting me to be a typical Asian and negotiate..which I hate doing so I got ripped off even more! UUgggh!

[Pareezay]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

I have been wondering about the amazingly high charges many boutiques are charging customers, especially those who live overseas.

After reading several posts here for the past few days (I am fairly new to this place), it occurred to me that apart from the possible reason of greed there could be another factor.

Citing an example from Gupshup, there is a designer who has a vendor who sells her clothes here and in other online venues. However, there is a third party who is a subvendor of the vendor.

So looking at the chain, the designer takes her cut on the clothes, the vendor takes another cut on top of that and then the sub vendor is taking her share too. By the time it reaches the customer, that poor person has had to pay commission to three parties for a suit.

I am also disappointed that there are designers who claim to get into the business because of their love of clothes and designing. That is not entirely true in my opinion because I am absolutely unable to find cheap simple suits online and someone actually told me it was because there wasnt really much of a profit margin in such clothes.

What I think designers fail to realize is the dollar store syndrome. A dollar store makes more turnover than higher end stores. Why? If an item is only a dollar, I will pick up ten items thinking..bus eyk dollar hee tho hai! I pay $10 and walk out happy and the bag of goodies I have. I walk into another store and see a pretty bracelet for $10. I put it down.."hai..dus dollars? bahout manga hai!!"

Start selling cheaper clothes with lower profit margins and you will get more sales and more business as the word goes around. For example, I live in a very small town where people are dying for clothing because we have so many get togethers. If a designer were to start selling simple reasonably priced clothing here, they would be winning the lottery because there are so many potential clients wanting a good deal.

Angel wings is selling casual chiffon tailor made outfits for $50. I am going to (hopefully) buy 4 outfits from her for $200. There are other boutiques selling much fancier stuff..all beautiful I agree, but I would much rather pay $200 for 4 outfits than just one which will only ever be worn once or twice.

I agree!
It's not just the 'designer' making the profits but also all the vendors.
That's the reason I avoid buying from people on GS and prefer someone who I can deal with directly. The extra money I am paying to all these 'middle' people for their profits, I can use it elsewhere because honestly, money does not grow on trees for people overseas contrary to popular belief.

[Sidra54]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

Its not rude. its a solution.

But I have seen shalwar kameez here that cost the seller around $20 from Pakistan and they sell it for over $200. Now is unfair business practice.

Oops, I did not read second part of your statement.

[Sidra54]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

Sidra, that is a reasonable point about business handling but it would be nice if we could cut out a few of them. I am definitely not good at business handling so I would be a total disaster if I ever tried to sell anything.

I once bought an outfit from a friend for $80 and my sister from England saw it and told me it was being sold for 15 pounds over there. That was about $20-25. I asked the friend why it was so expensive and she said that her relative had bought them from a designer to sell in the States and had put her own charges on the cost price she gave my friend. And then my friend was honest and told me that it wouldnt be worth her while unless she also added something for herself.

OH..and she admitted that she had overpriced my suit a little expecting me to be a typical Asian and negotiate..which I hate doing so I got ripped off even more! UUgggh!

Plus these are not even established businesses, they don't even have any expenses running their "business". It is all greed, you are right!

[fayax]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

Sometimes there are sales in Houston where you can buy 10 shalwar kameez for $100...not a bad deal.

These clothes usually come from Pakistan via huge containers. Each container can have as many as 50,000 jorras, The container cost is around $4000 or less, so the cost of transportioin alone is minimal ..soemthign around 4000/50000 = 8 cents per jorra..

Then are local transportantion and store upkeep and then the store markup. But all said and done there are middle men that can be avoided and those that cannot be avoided.

But since most shoppers in US (specially in US) buy desi girl jorra for shaadi etc....they dont want to wait and end up forking out the money for it.

[Pareezay]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

^ Thats pretty rude!

I say, if we all were great at business-handling, then we would not need the middlemen.

It's great to have people who can help you advertise and grow your business but there should be some sensibility on their part to keep their prices reasonable. I have seen designers and vendors charge as much as 200 dollars in profit.. when even the outfit itself doesn't cost that much. I have seen my friends in Karachi get clothes made from Gulf, Kehkashan and Ashiana for 4000-10,000 rupees which converts into $50 - $140. You will see the same exact clothes being sold here for 300+. You can pay just a little bit more and get a genuine designer outfit instead.

[Mabrook]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

i hav opened a thread on same issue n i suggested getting numbers of diff boutiques from pak n hav direct contact with them.they email u pix u pick ur designs n they parcel u.but again many stores eg FB group of CHINYERE charges more for overseas excluding shipping.So the word overseas clients make everyone think a route to make more money.

[wildhalcyon]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

i hav opened a thread on same issue n i suggested getting numbers of diff boutiques from pak n hav direct contact with them.they email u pix u pick ur designs n they parcel u.but again many stores eg FB group of CHINYERE charges more for overseas excluding shipping.So the word overseas clients make everyone think a route to make more money.

I have the advantage at the moment in that my mother in law is there so I can have someone pick up. Can you give me more details about Chinyere. I tried googling and I keep coming up with African peoples profiles not any fashion boutique.

[Mabrook]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

u go to Facebook n search there Chinyere.but u don't wanna know their prices.just one shirt was 17000 Rs with shipping.
where r u located?

[wildhalcyon]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

u go to Facebook n search there Chinyere.but u don't wanna know their prices.just one shirt was 17000 Rs with shipping. where r u located?

I live in Michigan, USA. I saw that a designer was coming to Calgary in the summer. Wonder if I can convince her to do a showing here too?:D

[Mabrook]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

Which designer is that?
i know a shop in Vancouver run by 2 pak ladies.there suits r really nice.i bought 2 casuals a chicken suit for 35Cad n another one for 45Cad n the material was really good so if u tell them ur budget they might get suits deliver to u directly from pak.there prices r in canadian dollar which is good for americans :)if interested lemme know n i'll pm u their number with pix of wat i bought
otherwise sewing ur own casuals is the best way to go.just get some fabric n matching laces from Pak n design ur own style.don't u guys hav fabricland in michigan or even walmart's fabric department sumetimes hav gr8 casual fabrics.

[wildhalcyon]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

Which designer is that? i know a shop in Vancouver run by 2 pak ladies.there suits r really nice.i bought 2 casuals a chicken suit for 35Cad n another one for 45Cad n the material was really good so if u tell them ur budget they might get suits deliver to u directly from pak.there prices r in canadian dollar which is good for americans :)if interested lemme know n i'll pm u their number with pix of wat i bought otherwise sewing ur own casuals is the best way to go.just get some fabric n matching laces from Pak n design ur own style.don't u guys hav fabricland in michigan or even walmart's fabric department sumetimes hav gr8 casual fabrics.

I thought I saw on one of your posts that someone had said they were trying to do any exhibition in Calgary.

I would definitely like to see pics of the casual suits if you have any. I have tons of relatives in Mississagua and even an uncle in Calgary so getting the suits wont be too much of a problem if they suit my need.

We do have fabrics but not like 3 piece suits with dupattas. When I was in London, we used to buy three similar fabrics and just make them into shalwar kameez suits.

Oh well..gotta keep trying!

[Mabrook]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

oh ok u r talking abt shabnam zahid aka shanna.i tried ordering 2 suits with her n now all of a sudden silence from her side.may b busy or sumething.i'll pm u the pix n contact info of that boutique.i'm really pleased with their products so far.nice quality n not crazily expensive

[brummiebird]

Re: Too many middle men and not enough simple clothes! A rant!

Guys, this is a great thread, but i think as overseas pakistanis we're caught between a rock and a hard place. If i'm being totally honest i would find paying £150 for one kaam wala jora absolutely unbearable especially as i'm likely to only wear it once or twice. The kaam walay Joras here in Birmingham are pretty pricey and to be honest the kaam and kapra are not upto scratch. Alot of is synthetic and the kaam on it, hai hai hai, proper "thobay wala kaam" as my mum would describe it. I'm quite lucky as my mum goes over to Pakistan once a year and brings me back a couple of kaam walay outfits but she was also mentioning how expensive kaam walay suits are becoming. i think she has got me 2 suits and the kaam on them has cost 9000 rs each. she was saying that suits which last year cost around 6000 rs are now being done for 9000 rs. My mum is not the type to get ripped off, in fact when she is in her haggling mode she is really realy scary. I would like to start buying stuff myself as well but i must admit some of the prices are quite scary.
So i suppose what i'm trying to say is that i'd really like to find some good quality reasonabley priced stuff out there. I know most of our GS homebased designers are charging quite good rates but its where we get really ridiculous prices and huge profit margins that things start to turn really sour. By sharing our experiences together on here i think we'll be able to support our girls whilst at the same time getting decent proces and good outfits for ourselves too.