This isn’t your average Avon lady line of merch.
That’s what Ann Acierno, the chief executive officer of Bill Blass New York, would like her stable of more than 200 sales consultants to keep in mind when they sell the label’s fall 2008 collection out of their well-appointed living rooms. “Our target client is chic and modern,” Acierno said after a runway show on Tuesday evening of the direct-sales line, which was licensed in 2006 by Bill Blass International. “We’re providing the same quality and craftsmanship of a designer label, but we’re personalizing it.”
The unveiling of the fall collection, which featured 61 looks by designer Jose Solis, who trained at Anne Klein and Ralph Lauren, marked the highlight of a three-day seminar for the sales consultants. They flocked to New York from around the country to learn how to enhance their clients’ experience (for example: provide different types of bras, so that clients who select a shell top avoid an errant strap) and how best to display the clothes in their home (create an outfit on a hanger, complete with shoes and bag). Next week, the consultants, some of whom earn more than $300,000 a year, will begin selling the fall collection, the best of which included a gold python trench and a painterly floral pleated dress (which Solis said was inspired by the artist Anselm Kiefer). Once clients have placed their orders, according to Acierno, it will take only about five days to receive the clothes. The company provides best-in-class selling incentives, with commission rates starting at 25 percent.
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“We are basically humble service providers who are showing women how to wisely invest their money in clothes,” explained Lexington, Ky.-based consultant Cathy Miller of the line’s appeal (for fall, a skirt retails for about $425, while an evening dress averages about $995). Miller offered her own approach to making her clients feel “incredibly special”: She keeps track of events in the area, so that she can remind clients that they may indeed need that lace dress with beaded belt (a fall piece) for, say, an upcoming theater opening. Lest her role be seen as a kind of upscale Tupperware party hostess, Miller adds, “Our clients are very fashionable, and the clothes reflect that. We train the consultants to cater to who these women are, what colors work best together.…We romance them.”