International Distribution Questions

[Proletariat]

Hello all. Big things have been happening for me since I first started posting on this forum a few years ago. You have all helped me in the past figure out things like which tradeshows to hit up as well as being very honest with my line, which is appreciated, since a lot of my friends only want to tell me what I want to hear. Anyways, my current opportunity is this. A man rolled through my shop a year ago and told me he was gonna set up a distribution company for streetwear in his country. Well, he just emailed me, a year later and said his biz is rolling and he still wants to distro us throughout his country and others nearby. He said it would be easier and cheaper for me to send the designs and he could have them screened in his place and then he would pay me royalties or a per item price. That makes sense to me but I don't know how I can keep track of how many he is truly selling. I know a certain amount of trust is needed but how will I know if I am getting paid for 500 shirts or 600 shirts? Any of you had any experience with this at all?

Thanks

Kerry

Proletariat

www.arevolt.com

[implicit]

sounds shady to me.

please know, though, that i've had no experience in this sort of thing.

[fogg]

Definitely sounds shady. From my experience, most distribution (in Canada for US brands, at least) is done with the distributor buying either directly from the parent company's stock and having it shipped from their warehouse or, if the quantities are large enough, buying directly from the company's factories.

If you give up your designs not only will you not know if the guy is paying you for everything he sells, you'll have no way of stopping him from continuing to print your designs even if you break off the relationship.

[Guest jmatsu]

Hello all. Big things have been happening for me since I first started posting on this forum a few years ago. You have all helped me in the past figure out things like which tradeshows to hit up as well as being very honest with my line, which is appreciated, since a lot of my friends only want to tell me what I want to hear. Anyways, my current opportunity is this. A man rolled through my shop a year ago and told me he was gonna set up a distribution company for streetwear in his country. Well, he just emailed me, a year later and said his biz is rolling and he still wants to distro us throughout his country and others nearby. He said it would be easier and cheaper for me to send the designs and he could have them screened in his place and then he would pay me royalties or a per item price. That makes sense to me but I don't know how I can keep track of how many he is truly selling. I know a certain amount of trust is needed but how will I know if I am getting paid for 500 shirts or 600 shirts? Any of you had any experience with this at all?

Thanks

Kerry

Proletariat

www.arevolt.com

you should go to that dude's country, tour the factories, learn about the costs and manufactoring process, learn about the distribution, and make a contract.

[Proletariat]

i know what y'all are saying and it does make sense. however, what is keeping this guy from just biting or ripping off the designs right now? I can take most jpg's of tees off the net and recreate the image with no problem. he could do the same and unload a couple hundred or more without anyone knowing. I like the point you brought up about what to do when the relationship ended. Anyone here know if Bobby Hundreds still reads this thing? that dude has to have experience with this plus if I heard right he is a lawyer.

[down4nyhc]

what country is it? he could copy your shit but if he can get the originals from you he'll look a lot better. sounds like he'll end up screwing you. if you are running a brand you should control the production to ensure the quality. i'm sure you don't want your stuff sold at a flea market on a saturday morning.

also, i work in retail and it's pretty common for people to come in and talk shit about being successful while all they are doing is checking out the best sellers to copy and sell at cheap stores.

[RAISED BY WOLVES]

That sounds like a monumental mistake waiting to be made. Don't do it.

[LA Guy]

you should go to that dude's country, tour the factories, learn about the costs and manufactoring process, learn about the distribution, and make a contract.

Yup. Essentially, you would be selling him a license to produce good with a certain image, and you could lose a *lot* of control if you aren't careful.. Get a decent intellectual property lawyer.

Personally, I would just say no. It's too much hassle unless this is a huge deal. It's not like your stuff is super hard to freight, right? Most of it is tees and hoodies, with a few jackets, right? You can fit 100 shirts in a fairly small crate, easily. Is he ordering thousands of pieces or something?

[homi29]

honestly, i agree with what everyone has said, it's not worth the shortterm gain in finances if it may end up biting you in the ass in the long run.

Not only are you possibly losing intellectual property of ur designs, you are also losing control over how the shirts are presented, sold, and produced...

don't weaken ur brand image for a quick buck

[holotekor]

He said it would be easier and cheaper for me to send the designs and he could have them screened in his place and then he would pay me royalties or a per item price.

They way I see it, you have a couple options that could potentially be worth looking in to:

1. Have him figure out how many pieces he will expect to sell. If he plans on selling 2000, charge him per piece for something like 1500 up front (this is assuming he is legitimate and willing to pay up front). If you can be satisfied with this amount of $, then great, otherwise charge for every other piece sold.

2. Hire somebody who is a local in the area where the shirts are printed(craigslist India?). If this guy is really doing a large size run of your gear, it might be worth it to find someone who you can add to your team, unless you want to travel yourself(again assuming this venture is worth it). The guy you hire can check the legitimacy of all the business going on oversees and report to you.

3. Just insist on printing them yourself, but expect to lower your bulk prices somewhat. This guy probably will not want to pay shipping fees and customs taxes, because it will be tough to raise prices in other countries, depending on where he is talking about.

4. This is another idea I just thought of, you could print up the hangtags over here, on whatever material-- be it taffeta or some polyblend or something. Somehow have an authenticity check sewn right into it, be it individually numbered, or something of the like. That way this guy would only be able to print as many shirts as taffeta tages you provide him with. Of course he could print fakes, but then you have bragging rights that your line has hit the big time.

I find it it is a little shady to be sending your designs to someone overseas, but the fact that he bothered to contact you and propose his idea to you gives him some bit of credit. After all, if he wanted to rip you off, he would have already done so.

Good luck!

also, did you guys ever print the YSL parody shirt in any other color than pink? I sort of remember a light blue one, but I checked back a few months ago and the guy in store said it was only printed on pink....

[Guest jmatsu]

the company i used to work for actually was an american brand that found distro in japan. it worked out fine for everyone.

my main advice is to get to know the interested party better. what percent are the royalties? btw how are domestic sales and it's press doing?

[Proletariat]

shit, y'all have been busy on here. The distro would be in Austrailia and New Zealand. I hit him back with an email today that said the following.

"I am in line to talk to my lawyer right now which is why this is taking a while. If I was just shipping you product I wouldn't really worry about the details too much, but now that we are talking about licensing and all that, that is a bit different story. I think I would feel better just shipping large quantities at the beginning. Maybe I send you some samples of the heavier sellers and your picks at first, you shop them around and give everyone a final order date. Then I can have my people printing and ship it all in one container. Because as of now we do everything on American Apparel, but I have some cut and sew stuff in the works as well as some embroidery. I really feel better knowing all the colors are perfect and the placement etc. and being a micromanager I want to personally check the quality on everything. The other bit is I am single handedly trying to bring manufacturing back to the US. A big job I know, but my local printers really count on my consistent jobs. Tell me your thoughts. Also, what other labels are you planning or currently distributing? Are you up and running or am I the first on board? I am still excited about this opportunity, but I want to make sure it works out for both of us."

This of course was written before I consulted my board of directors on superfuture, but it looks like most of us were on the same page.

As for the YSL shirt I only made that on pink, but maybe it is due for a reprint. As for domestic sales, I am very happy. This hasn't ever been a hobby for me, it is my life 24-7. I also can't afford to make a non selling shirt because this is my only gig, well, this and the shop, so I had to be profitable in the first month. I think I sold about 2,000 of my own tees last year out of my store alone. That doesn't include web or the other stores who carry it. This past Christmas I was selling 30-40 a day, again out of my own shop. My main problem is manpower. I still operate the shop 5 days a week as well as design everything, as well as being the accountant, errand boy, etc. I have no complaints, but it will be hard to grow without passing the duties on to someone I trust. Right now I am sort of a headless chicken high on caffiene and I think if I was in a less cutthroat high priced market it would be a little more chill, but then I wouldn't be where I am today, so I will make due for now. It's funny because I didn't really have a vision of what I wanted to do with this thing, I just started out trying to make some creative shit and now I am like holy shit, I have a business.