Carole’s Corner August 2016

Is it really that long since I last posted in Carole’s Corner? Time flies when we are so busy getting all those dresses ready for excited happy Brides.

Thought I would tell you the story of a dress, from choosing to wedding.

There are trade shows up & down the country but the one I prefer to attend is in Harrogate, it used to be twice a year but is now just once in September. I know at lot of the other shop owners and there is quite a lot of partying to do over the few days we are there, need to catch up with old friends and always new ones to meet, so there is a fair bit of this going on. 

At these shows there are thousands and thousands of dresses to choose from & many hundreds of different designers.  This is just a small section of one of the trade shows.

 Then down to business & picking out our next collections, we can’t just pick out odd dresses from any of the designers, we have to consult the ones that we like to see if there are any existing stockists in our area and if not then we can open an account with said designer. Each designer will have their own rules, but for the majority, we will have to order at least 6 or 8 dresses to start the account, then each season (twice a year) we will have to order another 6 or 8 dresses from the same designer in order to keep the account and be able to place our customer orders. These are not customer orders but ‘stock collection’ orders and our customers will place their orders from these dresses.

So, lets take one dress from one of the trade orders. 

The order is placed after deciding what size & colour we would like to have it in and that usually takes around 12 to 16 weeks to arrive in stock. When she arrives she will usually need pressing then labelling with her name she is going to be known by in our collection, then on to the rails she goes. Then she is added to our website and usually on to our Facebook page and she will have her turn in the window from time to time. She will also be tried on by our models to see which of our lovely girls will be wearing her on the catwalk shows.

Customers who choose her will place their order with a 50% deposit and then we will place the order with the designer, the cost of a customer order is just same as a stock collection order. She may be chosen by several customers, therefore I will have to order in several different sizes, or she could sit on the rails with no one choosing her :-( we all have different tastes.

Eventually, usually after maybe two years, the designer will decide to discontinue making that style and she will be reduced and placed on the sale rail. Then one day a Bride will come along and it will be her perfect dress, what’s more, it will be at a bargain price, making the Bride-to-be happy and me because that will make room on the rails for the next collection.  She then either goes into our storeroom or home with the Bride until it is getting closer to the wedding date and the Bride will come into the shop a few times for fittings. In between fittings she will be in the sewing room having her alterations made so that she is a perfect fit for her big day, then she will be cleaned if needed. A couple of days before the Bride wants to collect her ready for her big day she will be pressed & steamed so she is looking her pristine best for her debut.

And so the cycle goes on, just a few minutes ago a parcel arrived with two new dresses for our collections, these are for the 'Curvy Girls' collection and I chose these when a rep called at the shop a few months ago. And in a few weeks time I will be making my next trip to Harrogate to choose next year's collections (and have some nights out as well of course.)

Until next time, Carole x