Visual Merchandising Skills

I definitely enjoy switching gears from time to time and being creative on the visual end of store operations. I love mixing textures and picking a color story, and using my displays to sell a particular group or outfit that allows for choices. Often I incorporate a front table display into sales contests or a push to sell a particular item or group of items. I like my color stories to show opposites - pink and green (with a touch of turq) is my absolute favorite (along with yellow, red and white/natural). I am diligent about incorporating different heights and textures into each display. Here are just a few examples of visual merchandising techniques used at previous employers...
 

KIDShow - To market with butters&beans organics...

Taking butters&beans organics to market was an amazing learning experience as well as an opportunity to present the brand on a national level. I chose to attend KIDShow as it was held in Las Vegas at the same time as Magic, which is one of the largest markets in the US. I took this opportunity to network with other designers, attain accounts and create relationships with media. I learned about buyer patterns, industry standards and market trends. I also learned about market and tradeshow setup, how to attract buyers at market and what supplies and fixtures are needed to set up a booth.

Booth setup at KIDShow

Social Media

Social media is a great marketing tool if utilized effectively. This means knowing your target market and knowing your "insights" - meaning what days and times they are online, where they are, what they are using to get online (ie PC, Mac, iPhone) and what types of posts get the biggest response. When I ran social media at butters&beans, I mainly focused on Facebook as that was the form of social media that my target age group used the vast majority of the time. We have 712 current fans on Facebook, often with an interaction rate of 60%+. We also have 540 Twitter followers, as Twitter has the second highest social media popularity within our target market. For a small specialty business that is highly local, this is quite a high following. Most of this following was built in a year via this very data-centric initiative.
I took much care in analyzing the data and doing research surrounding usage and set up a schedule that I utilized on a weekly basis. My schedule was as follows:
Monday: I referred to this as "Monday-Funday". Every Monday I did a giveaway of a small item with a cost under $5. I would pose a question to my fans, and those who answered it in the comment field were entered to win the item shown in the giveaway.
Tuesday: A link to an article with interesting information regarding parenting or children.
Wednesday: A picture of an entire outfit I put together from the store including accessories, or a baby shower gift basket picture...something in that genre.
Thursday: A quote about children. I typically picked a funny quote.
Friday: Celebrity baby or pregnant mama sightings to talk about what they were wearing.
Saturday: Pose a question as "Like this status if....." so all they had to do is either click on or not click on the "like" button.
Sunday: A deal of the week. Most often it was 10% off a particular item if the client mentioned Facebook.

Here are some screen shots (click to enlarge for clarity of text):

A giveaway in the right column

In the left column, a fan posts a picture of her son modeling for us...

Shows 32 people talking about us, even on June 24 of 2012, months after close of business. This is because I still have relationships with my clients, and I still communicate with them via Facebook.

Detailing recommendations on Facebook written by clients - there were more, but only three fit on screenshot.

Keeping our clients updated as to store happenings at all times...like when the reindeer arrived before the Holiday party!

The welcome page that all fans are directed to as opposed to the wall before they "like" our page. I had to teach myself new coding (FBML) to be able to create this.

Fashion Design

Design Responsibilities:
I drew up most of the designs myself. I had patternmakers, cutters and seamstresses to put the pieces together as well as another designer (sometimes two) that I would bounce ideas off of, or they could tell me constructually what would and would not work.
Well, these are a few of my favorite things...   :)

All organic - The linen Lucy dress

All organic - The linen Lucy dress and Lucy pants, with blue City T

Full length multi-color tutu, Creamsicle petti-tutu

Cayenne petti-tutu (above), Popsicle tutu (left), Rose tutu (right)

All organic - natural City T with organic Henry pant

All organic - Elliot blanket, organic knit cap

All organic - pink b&b logo onesie with Abby pant

All organic - Tate blanket with blue b&b logo onesie

All organic - Elliot blanket, Elliot pant, natural b&b logo onesie

All organic - Elliot dress (with organic sateen ruffle trim)

All organic - Emma pant and matching bib with sherpa lining and blue b&b logo onesie (left), Tate pant and matching absorbent reversible batted bib with pink b&b logo onesie (right), Tate blanket

All organic - Elliot pant with natural b&b logo onesie

All organic - Blue b&b logo onesie and brown knit cap

All organic - Elliot pant with red sateen cuff and pocket and matching batted absorbent reversible bib and natural b&b logo onesie

Popsicle tutu

Popsicle tutu

These next three were a few pieces from of our newest collection that did not make it past sample stages...which was unfortunate do to overwhelming response to initial pics!

Organic hemp/silk blend bubble dress with sash neck halter

All tutu pics courtesy of Journey Photography (www.journeyphotomn.com)
All clothing pics courtesy of Teryn Glenn Photography

WWD Interview

This, folks, topped off my media mentions as the best in my career. I teared up. Anyone who has worked in fashion for any amount of time can imagine the feeling of having their name printed in WWD. I happened to be sitting next to Georgia Lee, who was the publication's Atlanta-based editor during the Custo-Barcelona show at Miami Fashion week a few years back, and we immediately struck up a conversation (specifically about how neither of us would be caught dead in such a teeny-weeny suit). It's just a small mention, and probably not my best verbiage, but it's a mention nonetheless, and I'm proud of it.

Personal Interest - Photography

This is a fairly long post, but most of it is visual and what I would consider engaging. I absolutely love street photography, and some days Instagram is my BFF (Instagram+retail=endless possibilities)! This typically ends up including my two-year-old or 13-year-old (my other loves), but my shots normally have a more modern edge to them. I also love to play with lighting and space. To me, a successful photo has made it's viewer feel intrigued and curious about the situation/characters present for this millisecond that has been captured in time....
Here are some of my recent favorites:

I also did bits and pieces of photography for both butters&beans organics and butters&beans kids (the clothing line and the boutique) - sometimes it just wasn't economical to bring in a photographer when all I needed was one or two outfits shot. So, I learned a lot online and asked a lot of questions of my professional photog friends to be able to take what I think are some pretty amazing shots for an amateur! I also learned to use Photoshop Elements for these projects, so I am familiar with this program.
Here are a few of my favorites: