Travels of the Merchant Prince

So now the kid is asleep and guess who can’t sleep if his life depended on it. Oops spoke too soon there goes lungsy again.

Now will be a good time to write a little background information on the trip and what has gone before stepping on the plane.
Private brands are exactly what they say. They are a brand that is owned by a company and its private use by that company. Duh. So stores want to design clothing based on a target customer and the lifestyle they live and make them loyal to that brand.
And because it is private brand they can only get it at your stores.
How do you get the target customer? You create a person who is your ideal customer;
Jack is 35 years old, went to Jr. college and got a degree in contracting and small business. He runs a small independent sub-contracting business. He is married to Jill who also graduated from a Jr college in fitness training and is an instructor at a local gym.
They have 2 children Sam, 12 and Missy 10.
he drives a Ford F150 and she has a small mini van.
They love the outdoors and spend much of their free time fishing, water boarding , shelling etc.
I could go on but I think you get the idea.
Now what does this family like to wear in the outdoor activities?
This when you shop other similar lifestyle stores to see what they carry. You buy styles that lend themselves to what you want to create. You want to design a line that is affordable to your target guy. You want to have a “fit” for this customer that will be the absolute best so they will always return to buy your brand first. The fabric will have all the attributes for outdoor living. Fast dry, light weight, sun protective.
and colors that match the sunny outdoors.
You put all your ideas up on a wall; catalogue pages, online phots, actual samples and you create a “line”. ( called that because you line up the styles on a wall). In this day and age you do not copy someone else’s style; you clone them!
Now in order for this design to become a real garment you have to make a technical packet with all the necessary measurements, sewing instructions, what fabric to use, thread to use, all the information on the trims (buttons. zippers size and length) etc.
When this packet is compete you mail it to your suppliers and factories. They will review the packet,
meet with their fabric mills and trim suppliers. They will then sew a “Porto” sample of the garment and send to us with a cost attached.
The sewing is very important as the major cost of a style will be the labor involved in sewing the garment together. A polo shirt can be assembled in 3 1/2 to 4 minutes while cargo pocket short can take 2 minutes!
The Proto shows that they can make the style with the attached cost.
We are flying now to meet with our suppliers to review the costs, styling and the delivery of these garments to our stores.
Enough for now, Lungsy is quiet!

The first leg is Tampa to Chicago. Flight time is 2 hours 30 minutes.
Choice of breakfast in first class, of course first class, I am a prince after all, is egg mcmuffin or cereal. Knowing I will be fed constantly throughout the journey I am careful and just eat the fruit .

Let the trip begin.

I do not feel like a prince as no prince I know is up at this time of day. The bags are all packed and ready to go. It is no small feat to pack for a two week trip. I am a creature of habit and still use a folded bag with no wheels. A fellow traveler said to me” you know they make wheels for suitcases in this century’.
So an hour drive to the airport and all the checking is done.