Cover Story:
Suit Up for Swimwear Sales
Swimwear is a hot, untapped niche market where embroiderers can find new products, new clients and new sales opportunities. Learn about the hottest swimwear styles, decorations and add-ons, and tap into the markets that are ready to buy..
By Julie Cajigas
Tankini available from Lori Coulter Made-to-Order
Swimwear (asi/46771).
Looking for a way to get your clients excited for summer promotions, vacations and corporate incentive trips? Or, are you looking to break into a profitable niche market with the potential for repeat business? The solution is as refreshing as a dip in the pool: swimwear. Swimwear is a novel product that elicits a sense of fun, adventure, summer and vacation. Best of all, you can sell swimwear in multiple markets. If you're thinking about adding swimwear to your product mix, know that there are two distinctly different markets: fashion and performance swimwear.
Fashion swimwear
Fashion-oriented swimwear is created for the runway, or more importantly, for the typical, everyday consumer; this is what you see at retail. This category includes products such as bikinis, tankinis, swim skirts and board shorts and is great for general promotions, corporate incentive trips, vacation wear, and hotels and resorts. Lori Coulter, president and CEO of Lori Coulter Made-to-Order Swimwear (asi/46771), which provides swimwear for women of all shapes and sizes, sums up fashion swimwear this way: "The most important thing with fashion swimwear is that people feel comfortable in the fit and coverage, and confident and attractive."
Coulter's company achieves this by offering 45 different suit styles that can be mixed and matched to make more than a million custom styles. "The client can choose the neckline, the type of bra, the coverage level at the neckline, the straps, the hardware and the color," Coulter says. The company also offers custom decoration, including embroidery, to clients, and also supplies blank product to decorators.
So, what's the trick to selling fashion swimwear? "There has to be an appropriate buyer, so first find a client who has a swimwear need," says Juan Davis, CEO of Fast Lane Clothing Co. (asi/53753). This doesn't just mean calling the local swim club or hotel. "Think about all water-related activities, including pool companies, spa companies and gyms in your area," he says.
Coulter also has some creative ideas about where embroiderers might find clients interested in swimwear. "We often outfit models for promotional events, and nothing attracts attention to your product like a model in a swimsuit," she says. Coulter has provided such promotional swimsuits to car dealerships, clients in the beverage industry and even to clients who wanted to make waves at their trade show booth. She also suggests the boating industry and small boutiques looking to carry a limited line or a private label as additional markets for fashionable swimwear.
Swimsuit-wearing models will draw attention to a booth at a trade show. Available from Lori Coulter Made-to-Order Swimwear (asi/46771).
Performance swimwear
Just like athletic performance wear, performance swimwear is all about providing garments with advanced functions without sacrificing style. Performance swimwear is ideal for swim teams, professional swimmers, participants in other water- or beach-related sports, and lifeguards. In order to successfully sell to these markets, decorators must learn about competitive swimming and lifeguarding to ensure that they're offering the right products and services for their clients.
Lindsey Lawson, owner of Power Teamwear, has a long history with performance swimwear. As a swim coach and the owner of a swim club, she knows what swimmers want. "In the competitive swimwear market there are three major swimsuit manufacturers that most swimmers are looking for: Speedo, Nike and TYR," she says. However, getting licensed to sell brand-name swimwear can be very difficult. "It took me more than two years to get an account with some of those manufacturers, and they require quarterly minimums," she says. For embroiderers looking to sell performance swimwear, Gulbenkian Swim Inc. (asi/58650) provides performance swimwear to the promotional industry, including practice suits and lifeguard swimwear.
Lawson suggests that instead of seeking an account with Speedo or Nike, embroiderers who are just starting out with performance swimwear should first offer embroidery services to local swim teams and competitive swimmers on suits they purchase through one of the bigger manufacturers. "Embroiderers who are new to performance swimwear need to let schools know they can embroider the suits the teams are already purchasing," she says. "Promote that you can provide very high-quality embroidery. These coaches and swimmers are paying upward of $50 per suit, so they want to make sure the embroidery looks perfect."
Lawson also recommends opening your sales pitch with a sample. "Show the client a sew-out of what his logo will look like in the exact size and thread color he's looking for," she says. "You can actually order performance swimwear fabric and show the client the quality you can achieve on a suit." She also suggests getting your foot in the door with some of the other products a swim team needs. "If you approach a team about doing their coach's polo shirts, their parkas for a fundraiser, you can say you're also able to decorate their suits."
Just like fashion swimwear, performance swimwear can be challenging – especially for the ladies. "When it comes to women's suits, there are 11 different performance racing backs including thin straps, thick straps, corset backs and other styles," Lawson says. Female competitive swimmers have very specific preferences when it comes to the back of their suit, which means you can't provide a cookie-cutter suit for swim teams. Sizing can also be a challenge, as the women's sizes aren't done by measurements, but by a subjective sizing system. Lawson suggests sending a sizing kit along with order forms so the ladies can try on each size.
Mars and Venus
Most of us are acutely aware that selling swimwear for women can be quite different from selling it for men. "Men are a lot less challenging than women," Davis says. "One thing to keep in mind is that a men's swim trunk can't be too long, but it can definitely be too short. We make our trunks intentionally long with a 9-inch inseam, but can make them shorter or longer on request." When it comes to men, another feature that's important is pockets. "We've found one pattern that works quite well," Davis says. "It's a complete short with side-seam pockets for keys and a possible rear pocket for a wallet."
When it comes to selling swimwear for women, Coulter has some advice. "The first thing is to understand your client and what they're looking for," she says. "If your client is a corporation with female salespeople on an incentive trip, they aren't going to want to put them in itsy-bitsy bikinis." She suggests offering this group a classic one-piece or a swimsuit program with a cover-up. "If your client is a group of women or spouses on a trip, it's wonderful to give them a cover-up such as a skirt or a tunic to ensure everyone feels comfortable in their swimwear," she says. And the promotional model side is a whole different story. "If you're doing a garment for a promotional model or for a spring break promotion, you want to do something fun, young and sexy," Coulter says.
Embroidered swimwear is an ideal standard offering for swim clubs and boating shops. Available from Lori Coulter Made-to-Order Swimwear (asi/46771).
Resorts and hotels
If you're looking for a strong market to start selling swimwear, look no further than the hotel/resort market. Keep these tips in mind:
1. Ask the right questions. "What type of hotel are you trying to sell?" says Ed Gulbenkian, CEO of Gulbenkian Swim Inc. "Is it a family-oriented hotel or a business hotel? How many kids stay at the hotel?" Knowing the clientele at the resort or hotel that you're trying to pitch is key to making a great sales presentation.
2. Identify their need. "Sometimes a resort buyer doesn't know what he needs," Davis says. "Look for add-ons or other products he might need and you can become your customer's one-stop shop." Stop in the gift shop and see if it carries all the important swim accessories that are guaranteed to sell, such as goggles and swim caps.
3. Keep the staff uniform. Selling to a resort or hotel can be more than just providing swimwear for the gift shop. Many hotels, resorts and waterparks are looking for staff uniforms. "One of our most exciting recent sales was a set of custom uniforms for the pool and wait staff at a major resort," Coulter says.
4. Private property. Some resorts won't respond to a sales pitch for logoed swimsuits, but would jump at the chance to offer private-label swimwear. "We can do branded products for the resorts, but often they're more interested in having a private-label swimwear collection," Coulter says.
5. Only in Vegas. "In a resort area you want to offer something that's only available there," Coulter says. "If you're in Vegas, you want something that's unique, that really makes you think ‘Vegas,' but at the same time appeals to a broader audience." For Vegas, Coulter suggests metallic gold embroidery thread. No matter where the resort is, making the swimwear feel like an exclusive item is key.
Budget buyers
Whether you're selling to the local swim team or a corporate client, sometimes price is paramount. When your client comes to you with a tight budget, here's how to keep costs down.
1. Size right. Help your client get the right size the first time. "With 11 different backs and non-measurement-based sizes, a sizing kit is important in competitive swimwear," Lawson says. The same is true of fashion suits. No matter who the buyer is, replacing a suit that doesn't fit because the client guessed at their size is one expense you can easily avoid by providing a sizing kit.
2. Keep it simple. Yes, there are hundreds of styles available, but if your client is looking to stay on budget, choosing one simple style will help. "One style is going to be less expensive per piece than if you have three different styles in a program," Coulter says.
3. Time it right. The old adage goes "you can have it fast, cheap or good – pick two." That means if you want a quality product, and you want it to be cheaper, it isn't going to come to you on a two-day turnaround. "Buyers on a budget should be reasonable with their timeline," Coulter says. "That way they can avoid rush fees."
Logo placement on the bottom will remain popular in 2009. Swimsuit available from Speedo (RS# 131). Embroidery from Power Teamwear.
The complete package
If you're an embroiderer doing swimsuits for a local team, a lifeguard staff or a hotel/resort, you may be leaving a pile of money on the table. "The customer that's buying the swimsuits is also buying all sorts of items that many embroiderers and distributors currently sell," Gulbenkian says. "This includes sweatshirts, T-shirts, lifeguard bags, water bottles, warm-up suits, goggles, whistles and lanyards."
Gulbenkian Swim also provides a program for selling accessories to resorts. "We've put together a resale program where the distributor supplies the resort with the accessories and suits, and if they don't sell, we exchange them with other products that will sell." This program allows resorts to learn what product mix their clientele is looking for.
John Amsterdam, owner of Neet Feet (asi/73525), a supplier of custom flip-flops and sandals, suggests bringing a coordinated presentation on your sales appointment. "I'd recommend taking a sample of the flip-flops or other accessories that is color-coordinated with the swimwear or their corporate colors so the client can visualize how the entire program would look," he says.
Decoration and style trends
"Retro trends will continue to be strong, along with anything that has a vintage feel," Coulter says. "There's a trend toward one-pieces, particularly elegant ones with a lot of shearing and softness, taking inspiration from evening gowns." She also sees bikinis with an '80s twist in the cards for 2009. As far as decoration, there's a move toward accessories and hardware. "Belts and hardware embellishments will continue to be strong," she says. Also, glitz and glam are hot, she says, which means embroiderers should be prepared with heat transfers, rhinestones, crystals and metallic threads.
As far as color, Coulter sees color-blocking as a huge trend this year. "Colors that are showing strong at retail include yellows, purples, bright pink and kiwi green," she says. Also expect to see earth tones such as greens and browns on a swimsuit near you. Coulter says cover-ups will be more neutral: "The whole point is to help a woman feel more comfortable in her swimsuit. I recommend sticking to neutrals – black, brown or even white."
In decoration, Coulter points to metallic threads. If you're working with promotional models, she also recommends white swimsuits. "Metallic logos will really pop on a white swimsuit," she says. Logo placement has also migrated, and will remain squarely on the bottom this year. "For years, we always put logos on the left leg of men's suits, but a few years ago we started putting them on the rear of the suits and that has maintained," Davis says. "Now we're doing both almost equally."
Julie Cajigas is a Cleveland-based contributing writer.