Ideas for Invites

bright colour > got the recycling sign to show what benefits you get form swopping

 vintage DIY theme

 

this is the 50's theme we want , quirky funny and vintage

  we found the idea of maybe using the design of a pack of cards to make it more individual to what invite you get, different suits different girls

Target Market

Our target market for our clothes swap will be women. As it will be taking place at Leeds college of art the age will a range from students to tutors but the majority will be 18-26.
It is for women of all kinds of sizes and styles, who are looking to get rid of the old and bring in the new without it costing a penny.
The target market are creative women who are interested in art.


Students from leeds

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Tutors and staff

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Source: fotolibra.com via Amber on Pinterest

Facebook group

We made a Facebook group to invite students to, as this is a media platform they will be using from day to day, so even if they take little notice of college emails and posters they will still see the event. 

Visual Ideas

Ideas on how to set out our clothes swap.

A vintage feel, decorations, organisation.

Hang clothes on rails and on string/washing lines.
We can hang all tops together, pants together, jackets together etc.

D.I.Y Decorations..

 

Cheap ideas for drinks and snacks.
Bake our own cakes, decorative plastic cups and crisps

Vintage tea pots to serve tea.

Keep Calm

Storming

Poster ideas

We want our Clothes Swap advertising to play on old style posters.
We would play on puns made about women. This wouldn't be because our event is just for women but because the main customer that we think will come to swap clothes will be female.

Market Research

Our initial idea: A clothes swap in university
Why? Students wasting money and not recycling clothes that are still usable.
How are you collating Market Research? Visting vintage stores, charity shops and other clothes swaps
Who is your competition? Charity shops, ebay, asos market place, other clothes swaps
What can you offer that they don't? Convience of being at university, the ability to swap, sociable enviroment
Target Market? Students, tutors, friends of friends
Customer Profiles?  people who are interested in fashion, keen to recycle and save money
Conclusions and posible areas for development? Making bigger events, more regular maybe a website
Marketing mix: product, places, prices, promotion  Clothes swap, University, Free, Posters/Facebook/Emails

Problem solving #1

One of the issues we discussed was a location for the swap, which is quite a big thing:

"2. We need to decide on a space; do we want the fashion studio or a space downstairs where lots of people will walk by"

What we want from the space:
1. Big enough for rails, boxes and people to look around, nothing to cramped
2. Good looking space, nothing stuffy, possibly somewhere we could show our fashion films and put some fashion work up
3. Somewhere people will walk past and see something exciting going on

We decided the gallery at uni would be perfect and ticks all of these boxes. We went to see the manager and we got some bad new, apparently the gallery was all booked up until next academic year. One of which was the 1st year t-shirt project! Feeling a bit disappointed we had a word with Paul, who then realised they had two separate weeks booked for the exhibition as they had forgotten to cancel one! Great news for us and Paul confirmed with us we could have the space on the 24th of May!

So we have the location and the date set! Now we need to get the word out....

SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS

SWOT analysis considers both internal and external factors about the company or idea in relation to customers, competitors and trends in the marketing environment.

The SWOT should be concise, specific and communicate the key sues facing the company.

Internal Strengths:                                                            

Location - college gallery/union                                          

Finances - none

Design expertise - 3 strong fash com girls                          

Facilities -  big empty space for us to create our event        

                                                                                                   

Weaknesses:   

Will it be big enough/can we fill it 

Getting us all to agree        

Will people bring enough stuff

We would have to provide a drinks stand                                                                                      

External Opportunities:                                                  

Customers attitudes to 'green issues' we are recycling         

Good economic factors                                                       

Aimed at Students with little money so as little as possible needed

Threats:

Competitors - Remade Leeds

Not suitable clothes being brought

No one turning up

Fashion Enterprise Meeting

We have had a few class meetings talking about our work and the project so far to get some feedback

Out comes:

1. We need to decide on a time period for our swap; lunch time or after uni?

2. We need to decide on a space; do we want the fashion studio or a space downstairs where lots of people will walk by and be encouraged to come in

3. What kind of refreshments are we allowed to sell/ have?

4. What kind of posters and promotion are we going to have for our swap?

5. Do we set a minimum/ maximum of clothes each person can bring or will this dissuade people

6. Will we charge people to take part of they have not swapped anything

7. How much will the project cost us; printing, refreshments, buying hangers etc

8. Do we want to have a photographer take some style shots of our event

9. Could we maybe play our fashion videos in the background of the event?

10. How will we make it "cool"

Consumerism

As our project addresses the issue of sustainability and consumerism I thought it would be a good idea to have a look at some imagery which could inspire how we want to promote our event

Barbara Krugers "I shop therfore I am"

vs

Our versions "I swap therefore I am"

Advertising Our Event

The main thing for our swap shop is that lots of people come! And that there is loads of choice for our swap shoppers. We will have to ensure we get the word out about our swap event. The way other events have advertised is through:

1.Flyers and Leaflets

I like how this leaflet has a strong theme, even without the writing you would know it was all about vintage. I feel like our event needs to be branded in a similar way, right down to the leaflets we give out!

2. Facebook Events

Obviously, this is for a different event to the vintage fair, but we could create one which is in keeping with the style of our promotion. Facebook is perfect for our target audience which is students, they can see if their friends are going and even invite other people. This also allows us to keep updating the page, adding pictures and any information!

3. Tumblr

Another trend I've seen with more high end fashion openings and events is using tumblr, getting a concept and loads of great imagery to inspire people. This isn't so specific to swap shops, more of a commercial tool, but it could be something to look into

Tumblr is really good for getting a clean, professorial looking page which you cant always achieve on facebook 

Vintage Fair Hertfordshire

I went to a vintage fair over the February break, and although it wasn't a clothes swap, I just thought it was interesting research seeing how these kinds of events are put together.

When: Feb 10th

Where: Harpenden Hall

Entry Charge: £2.50

Clothes Drop: All sellers bought their own vintage clothes

Opening: Day time 10-4

Refreshments: Soft drinks were on sale as well as sweeties. Prices were reasonable tea £1 sweetie bag 50p

Best Bits: Some amazing clothes for sale and great bargain boxes/rails

Bad Bits: I spent LOTS of money!

What I Learned: 

• Good clothes get people excited, maybe a vintage rail for our swap
• People were happy to pay a bit more for the best items
• Refreshments were okay but nothing exciting, sweets were a cute/ retro touch
• This was a much bigger event than ours, which got a bit messy, we should be careful to keep everything neat and tidy

Clothes Swap Leeds Church

One clothes swap visited took place at a Church just outside of the city center, the event was raising money for a charity named Morning Star.

When: March 14th
Where: LRB Church
Entry Charge: £2
Clothes Drop: Before the event (though I saw a few people turn up with items on the day)
Swapping Rules: It was a bit of a free for all, you could chose as many items as you wanted, though most people politely picked 2 or 3 items each
Opening: Evening 4-7
Refreshments: Free tea, coffee, biscuits and cakes (provided by church members)
Best Bits: There was a good crowd & Free refreshments
Bad Bits: Not a great selection of clothes, could have maybe been sorted better prior to the event

What I Learned: 

• Have a good selection of clothes organised before the event
• Get a good crowd of people, too few people could have been awkward
• Refreshments!!!
• Art students would probably have appreciated a more modern setting
• Possibly a bit of music?!

Fashion Enterprise

As a group we have decided to organise a fashion event which appeals to students in Leeds. We felt this would be a really interesting way to create something which didn't already exist and have some fun together while we were working on this brief!

We discussed a CLOTHES SWAP, something we had wanted to do between ourselves and had never actually gotten round to. We decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to go ahead and organise something, and this way we could get more people involved! The idea of a clothes swap is in essence sustainable and community based, which in itself is great.

First task; Visit a clothes swap and get some inspiration