Who among us has not dreamed of doing nothing but shop for beautiful fabric and rich, beaded trims? In April, Susan and Shelby, who happen to be sisters (twins no less!) and both work for Recollections, had the opportunity to travel to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York on a three-day buying trip. Their assignment was nothing less than to buy hundreds of yards of fabric, trims, and lace to be made up into new fashions for Recollections. This was the first time to make this trip for both Susan and Shelby, and we thought everyone might be interested in hearing about what was involved.

There were several reasons for making this trip. One was the need for new fabrics and trims for the next generation of Recollection’s designs. Another consideration was for popular designs currently on the Recollections site for which the existing supply of fabric and trims was running low. For a small item like a jacket or vest, Recollections typically buys hundreds yards of fabric. Larger items – like ball gowns – usually require many more yards of fabric on hand to ensure enough for a productive run of the design.

Until recently, most of the items needed for Recollection’s designs had always been obtained through internet, e-mail contacts, and through professional buyers. It was one of these buyers, Robert from the Fabric Mart in Pennsylvania, who suggested that someone from Recollections make an in-person trip to the garment district in New York and New Jersey to see the fabrics and meet the wholesalers face-to-face. He also accompanied them and acted as a guide. Susan said she was especially grateful for Robert’s help in this area. “Without him to take us around, we would have been lost” she said. “The garment district is so densely packed with shops, that we could have spent days going through them, and never have seen them all.” With Robert’s guidance, and an itinerary planned out in advance, Susan and Shelby managed to pack visits to three large warehouses, two smaller ones, and a shop devoted to nothing but buttons and buckles into a three-day, three-city trip.

Arriving in New York on a Wednesday evening, Susan and Shelby thought that the city might be relatively quiet, but were surprised to find it was far livelier than they had expected. “The buildings are so close together (in the garment district) we could access everything very quickly. But you have to know what you are looking for!” Their first night there, Susan and Shelby couldn’t resist a quick trip to Times Square, and were excited to see everyone showing off their own style.

The next morning, their buying adventure began in earnest. Usually, these warehouses are not open to the public – and not even to the retailers who eventually purchase their goods. However, accompanied by Robert, Shelby and Susan were admitted to this new world of buildings packed to the rafters with yard goods and trims. Susan related that most of the places they went were long, narrow buildings when viewed from the street. But once inside, they discovered that the floor space went up several stories, and sometimes down into two levels of basement. Every possible space was packed with bolts of fabric, which many times were several deep along walls. Often they were literally digging to see the fabrics that were buried behind other bolts. Armed with a pair of scissors and a notebook, Susan and Shelby came away with over 400 samples of fabrics and trims. Each sample card they collected had a swatch of the fabric stapled to the page, and information such as yardage and width, and the location in the warehouse on it. Later, they made duplicate cards of all the samples, so that Recollections would have one, and their buyer would have the other. Every time they inquired about how much yardage of a particular piece was available, the response was always “We have all you need!” When they asked about pricing, the response was “The best price is the price you pay today.” “We thought we were being so organized” said Susan, “but then we kept finding bits and pieces of fabric samples tucked in our jacket pockets and even in our luggage’.

When asked to recall the best part of their trip, Shelby and Susan agreed that the greatest benefit of this trip was to meet face-to-face with the wholesalers who actually make these fabrics and trims available, and to gain an understanding of the series of events that needs to happen before these goods are made available to retailers like Recollections. “We now understand their business better, and we think they may understand ours better as well. Now we have a standing invitation to come back any time. We were also able to see many fabrics and trims that were never sent out on a sample card as it is nearly impossible for a supplier to know exactly what might inspire a new Recollection design. While in New York Shelby and Susan were also able to drop in on two suppliers that Recollections has been doing business with for years, and actually meet the people who they had “known” only via e-mail and phone calls. It was great to receive such a warm welcome.

Once back to Recollections, all of the sample cards – along with a big box of trims and laces – had to be gone through again to see which would be used for new clothing designs, and what could be used to extend the production life of existing ones. Many of the new fabrics and trims went into immediate production, and the prototypes are being photographed even as this article is being written. The overall time from some of the buying trip to the shelf was only about a month!

When asked if they would like to go back, both ladies said “Yes!” “We got a lot accomplished in a very short time, and we felt the trip was very productive.” Susan stated. We would love to make a return trip and find even more beautiful fabrics to offer our customers.