Why Your Samples—and Ego—Are Costing You Retail Deals | Emily Blumenthal & Karrica

Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

In this episode of Handbag Designer 101, Emily Blumenthal interviews industry expert Karrica, who breaks down the harsh realities independen

Key takeaways

• Your sample must look like a finished product—no prototypes or 'work in progress' presentations.
• Department stores require full retail readiness: EDI systems, UPC codes, chargebacks, and compliance protocols.

Main topics

• Retail readiness for independent designers
• Sample quality and presentation standards

Notable quotes

"Your sample is not a prototype. Your sample needs to look like the finished product."

Conclusion

Independent designers must prioritize production readiness, understand

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. Speaker 1 (0:23) So where will your journey take you? Etihad, beyond borders. Speaker 3 (0:29) If you plan on presenting to a store or a boutique, the most time and energy you should always spend is on your sample. Your sample is not a prototype. Your sample needs to look like the finished product. You do not walk in there and say, well, this is how it looks and we're going to change this. And then I was thinking, this is it. What you see is what you buy. Speaker 2 (0:55) Hi, and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast with your host, Emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert, and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week, we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship, and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector, or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Speaker 2 (1:29) Welcome Carica. Carica, Carica. I forgot. Carica. I thought it was Carica. And then I'm like, I'm not that person. I knew it was Carica. Back to Hand Ag Designer 101, the podcast. We have exploded. Oh, girl, do that again. We're getting bigger on YouTube. Follow us on YouTube also because we've been pushing that because I've had my YouTube channel since like, you know, since I was a Zygo or somebody else was a Zygo and I haven't done anything with it. Now we're hustling. So anybody who's watching can see that Harika really, really, really is serving right now. Serving gold, serving diamonds, just phenomenal. I just finished the It Bag X New York now and feeling and looking rough adjacent. So seeing you look like a princess, I feel very underdressed, but I'm okay. I'm okay with the whole spotlight on you because you are like, as the kids Speaker 3 (2:27) say, fire. But Speaker 2 (2:27) this is Wednesday attire. Wednesday, we wear pink. Love. Speaker 3 (2:32) Love. Love, Speaker 2 (2:34) love, Speaker 3 (2:34) love. Speaker 2 (2:34) Well, Wednesdays, we wear hot pink. How about that? Speaker 2 (2:39) Hot pink. Oh my goodness. So Speaker 3 (2:42) tell me about Speaker 2 (2:43) the trade show. So it was incredible. As I was just discussing, we had 10 designers from across the globe and I have been actively working to try and make trade shows fetch again because it has been so difficult for the independent brand, let alone the independent handbag designer brand, because it's other than it being cost prohibitive, it's just very difficult to get the eyeballs on us from buyers to want to getting people to buy from us. A D to C level is hard. Getting people to buy on a wholesale level is 10 times harder because they're the ones who are taking the risk. So it has been, New York now is now under new management. It's actually old management because they used to actually be part of it. And now they pulled their funds together to try and make it into something incredible. And the interesting thing that I've always liked about this show, because historically it was known as the gift show is that the buyers that are coming, everyone carries bags. And I think the opportunity to stand out is that much higher. And you and I both know that there's such a deficit of newness and innovation and just something good. Like we were close to a manufacturer, a wholesale handbag manufacturer. And as I was looking at their product, I'm like, oh God, I know that silhouette. I know that silhouette. I know that silhouette. And their booth was packed. And then we get people coming to us. And then it was like, you know, they cleared the gray out of their eyes and like, ah. Just to see that you don't need to buy everybody else's product knocked off. Buy new, buy cool, because that's what the customers want. And people are going to bookstores again, and bookstores are always the litmus test for community. So if I'm going to a bookstore to hang out, I'll go to a boutique to hang out. And then I'll go back to them saying, like, what's the newest product? Show me something exciting. So I think boutique owners have a real opportunity to go back to being the community influencer. That's it. I'm done with my Speaker 3 (4:52) soapbox. I have the hardest time dealing with boutique owners because when it comes to wholesaling boutique owners, you have a minimum order requirement that you have on your end. So you need to bring in a certain amount of orders from an array of boutiques in order to meet your minimum. Otherwise... Unless you have inventory to pull from to give them two pieces, to give them one pieces. I think one of the things people don't Speaker 2 (5:25) realize when it comes to trade shows is that there are two types of buyers. You Speaker 3 (5:28) have the wholesale buyers that are at the department store level, and then you have the buyers that are at the boutique level. And you have to be prepared going into that to understand the difference. Because if Belk comes in, they're going to buy maybe 50 to 100 units per style, per color. Whereas the boutique may only want two, one, one, two. And that throws everything off. So I think in the world of trade shows, you have to really understand what you're getting into before you get into it to fully grasp if it's going to be beneficial for you or not. Speaker 2 (6:04) Yeah. Well, the interesting thing is most department stores now are 100 % drop ship. They won't place orders up front or they will keep you on their dot com as a test before you even get in store. And I got lucky getting Speaker 3 (6:25) it the other way around. I really did. Getting in like the actual store floor at Belk. I still now that I think about it, that was actually my first collection. I didn't even have products. I just had CADs. But I talked a big game. Because I could back it up. I had so many years of experience working with QVC and shipping to every department store. I think the only department store at that time that I had not shipped to in the U.S. was Belk. And a place called Mejur. M-E-J-I. M-E-J-U-R. Speaker 1 (7:01) M-E-J-U Speaker 3 (7:02) -R. Speaker 1 (7:02) M Speaker 3 (7:03) -E-J-U-R. Speaker 1 (7:03) M-E-J-U-R. Speaker 3 (7:04) That's the only big store in the U.S. that I haven't shipped to. So I've done... everything the big box retailers, the DSWs, Lord and Taylor, Saxburg, or blah, blah, blah. Speaker 2 (7:15) And so I do Lord and Taylor, our IP, they were the best. Yeah, Speaker 3 (7:20) it was poor one out for the hallways. It was a sad day when they closed down just to go off. I remember we did a huge collection with HBC slash Lord and Taylor because HBC bought loaded Lord and Taylor. And I went to the shoe floor and I saw All the shoes that I designed thrown in a pile. I was like, oh, Speaker 2 (7:42) I know. I know. Oh, Speaker 3 (7:45) my heart. But I know it was hard to watch. Speaker 2 (7:47) No, to that, it's crazy. So, you know, the fast fashion store that's addicted now, E-D-I-K-E-D, addicted. Okay. It's a new fast fashion brand. They have one in Soho. And then they said they opened one up on fifth Avenue. And I looked at the fifth Avenue and I was like, Oh my God, there are bendals. Yep. Yep. They, that space has been open for so long. Oh, they're in Speaker 3 (8:18) bendal space. I thought you meant that they're like a bendals. No, Speaker 2 (8:22) they're in the bendal space. That was on fifth Avenue. And I was looking at that and I thought. God, they don't know what those halls have hosted. Oh, that reminds me. Let me write the handles Speaker 3 (8:33) down. I need to make a TikTok about that. Henry. Speaker 2 (8:36) I want to be on your TikTok for that because that's where I got. I got, I am a product of the open sea. I've been trying desperately to bring that back. Desperately to bring that back. And I think Speaker 3 (8:49) we talked about that the last time about how department stores should do these. But to go back to what I was saying, I got very lucky. I think. Yeah. I think it was a mix of luck, the right time and the right place. But also I knew what I was doing. So they didn't have to do what they do with most new design. New designers is coach them into how to put something into retail. I was like, baby, I could do this in my sleep. I think you don't have to tell me anything about an ADI, a UPC code. I breathe sleep. It's my second language. I got this. ABC, EDF. Oh my God. And Speaker 2 (9:21) I think that made it easy for Speaker 3 (9:22) them to be like, as long as the product looks good, then you're in. And then I made the samples and then that was that. But I was in the store. Speaker 2 (9:30) Do people Speaker 3 (9:30) still use Speaker 2 (9:30) EDI? Is that still a thing? Speaker 3 (9:32) Yeah. Speaker 2 (9:34) Because it's been a minute since I've dealt with brands on that level. And I remember trying to get my brand to be EDI compliant and how I had to go through it. And I used to read these manuals. I would read them with a highlighter. And then I've had a person, because I've called so many times for questions. They said, I said, you need to give me someone I can call. I said, just consider me geriatric. Like, I need someone to hold my hand. Because no one, like, they said, like, it's in the manual. I'm like, I don't care if it's in the manual. Like, you know, before people gave ADHD a title, I'm like, I can't focus on a word for more than four minutes. Like, I need you to, like, tell me, walk me through it. Like, then what? do I do? So then the sticker comes, then what do I do? Then how do I chalk it? Like, do you want it in a spreadsheet? I told you what happened with my first order with my first order at Bergdorf's that I walked over and dropped it off myself. Speaker 2 (10:32) I Speaker 3 (10:32) walked it over. Yes. Speaker 2 (10:34) I had two big boxes. I walked it over. What did they say to you? Speaker 3 (10:38) Oh Speaker 2 (10:38) my God. I walked into the loading dock. Always a delight. And I brought snacks because I bring snacks everywhere, you know. That is crazy. Yeah. I mean, I did that when I dropped my bags off at Silver Cup for Sex and the City for it to be reviewed at their run through. And I showed up. Okay. That I can see. That's normal. But at a department store, showing up with your boxes is wild. At the loading dock. At the loading dock. This is a lady carrying these boxes. They're like, ma'am, what are you doing? Exactly. Exactly. And they're like, you need to ship it. And I said, but I'm here. Like, I said, who is this? They have to go to a Speaker 3 (11:18) separate facility, get on a truck, be checked in. They have to make sure that it's weight compliant. Here's the whole big role, which is the reason why I said, again, going to a trade show, you have to determine, are you ready to physically be in retail or are you only trying to work with boutiques? Because the level of those two things, unless it's a boutique like Tootsies or what's that other really big one, like Kierna's a bet. Those are the kind of places where they do want you to be compliant. Speaker 2 (11:49) The fact that Speaker 3 (11:49) Kierna's Speaker 2 (11:49) a bet is still around. I've tried to get Beth on the podcast before, and I know she knows who I am because I've tried getting my bags in Kierna's a bag. I think everybody's Speaker 3 (12:00) tried to get their bags in Kierna's a bag. Okay. Speaker 2