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New Pole Clothing Brand Wholesaling to Studios
Hi everyone! Been a long time lurker and a first time poster.
This mainly is a question for any studio owners/mangers out there 🙂
I’ve started a pole apparel line. Right now my selection consists of tanks, crops, t-shirts with original cute pole inspired illustrations. I’m currently using a print fulfillment company so I don’t carry any inventory on hand and only sell online. I’m in the works to produce my own since not carrying inventory is limiting to what I want to do.
I’ve had a few studios interested in carrying my products. I know the cost of my product and the retail price I ideally would like to sell at, but the in between numbers are a bit iffy. Do pole studios who sell apparel (outside their own studio brand) usually require at least a 50% margin or markup the wholesale price by 2 – like in a traditional wholesale-retail price set up. Unless I up my retail prices or reduce my own margins, my cost doesn’t quite support the traditional pricing strategy. My goal for getting into studios is more about exposure rather than the long term business goal of becoming a wholesaler so in a way I would be okay with a slightly lower margin on my end – just want to find a happy place where both my brand and the studios will like.
Any ideas on this would be helpful! Or if anyone’s had experiences with doing consignment, trunk shows as alternative ways of selling product.
Thanks 🙂
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4 Replies
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Hi pushandpole.. I don’t own a studio but I have studied business and currently in the process of venturing with a small candle making business..
Through my research, I have found that the general rule of thumb is to add the cost of material and production and double it for wholesale and triple for retail. Of course, if you believe that the price may be too high, you can always readjust it.
Also, you can either add the price of shipping into your product or seperate the cost.
I hope this helps.
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I’m a Studio owner and honestly, I don’t really earn much by selling pole clothing. I do have a lot though but view it more as a service for my students.
I guess that’s the reason why most studios don’t carry a lot of clothing.
Most students won’t pay more than 25-30 Euros for shorts ad 30-35 Euros per top.
I usually earn about 5 Euros per piece, so it’s not profitable at all if you consider the work you have with it (attaching price and security tags, putting it up, advertising it, re-arraniging it after having 3 girls try on 5 pieces each and not buying any etc), plus, a lot just hangs there that nobody wants. -
As a studio owner, I do not make much money on clothing either. The prices I see at wholesale are WAY too expensive to double it if I want to sell at my studio. I make a little and cover sales tax over what I pay. My students don’t want to pay super high prices either. If it is expensive they won’t buy it and I’m out money.
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Thanks for all your input, much appreciated 🙂
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