Thanks to this blog, I get to stay in touch with you guys out there, looking to start new shoe design or fashion businesses.  I get a few emails a week letting me know that they’ve found something useful on my blog posts, and I thought this post would be quite useful if I could share some info on fears and thoughts about starting your new design business.

Everyone scours the internet for information on starting a business, and it’s quite easy to find the strategic and logistical side – every business website has info on how to prepare business plans and marketing plans, government sites give you some guidelines and great tips.

But what about your emotions and fears? These things you could find out about by talking to real people, to people who have started their own businesses and how they overcame them.

One email came to me commenting about family and friends – and how they are sometimes your best critics!!

Sometimes family can be the worst! They either want to protect you from things, or could be jealous and fear your success.  I would suggest trying to be around people who can help build your confidence and give you proper advice and guidance (try joining a business network or young entrepreneur program like the FRANK team if you live in Sydney – please email me I can give you contact details!)

If the following are questions you may have asked yourself before, take a look at the below answers.  This may help you figure out how to overcome your fears and manage your risks better:

1. Will people like my designs… will people buy them?

I would definitely do some more market testing.  I would strongly suggest doing this before manufacturing a whole production run.  My reasons for this is that it is not a good business decision making something that people don’t want to buy (or the price is not right etc).

If you wanted to make something just because you like it, then it would be more art (you know what I mean, like artists create things that are not necessarily commercial or will sell).  Also you don’t want to be stuck with a large production run of something that will not sell.  It would also be a good idea to find a buyer for your range before you manufacture – so you have an immediate sale, rather than looking for stockists once there is stock (a bit more difficult to do as you have to look after warehousing etc)

2. Do people care as much about the quality as I do these days?

You will have to do more market research to find this out – I think there are sites such as surveymonkey.com that can do custom surveys.  If this niche market does exist, then you need to find out who these people are, where they live, what they like to do , where they would wear it, and design specifically for these people.  I would also find out what these people currently buy and if they would buy your product too?

3. My capital is limited – will people be put off by small ranges?

Shoes are really difficult cause the moulds and sizes are so much more involved than clothing. I’m not sure what is needed for a first shoe collection, you might want to contact a fashion buyer and see what they require for a first range.  It’s usually a good idea to do small test runs, and most first collections are understandably small anyway

4. I’m losing lots of sleep with the stress of it all!

Hey good on you for asking questions and getting out there! You just need answers to questions, and as long as you know what questions to ask and where to get those answers from you’ll be ok.

I think the worst thing is not knowing what is going wrong, or having to fix it after it happens, best to catch it – which is what you are doing now by doing this start up work now.  Just ensure to write down everything you need to do, roughly figure out when you need to do it and then just get it done (or pay someone who is good at doing it).  It can be a bit stressful but keep in mind that it is a business – make sure you see profit out of it – if it’s just hard work with no financial or personal reward,  then improve it to make sure you get both

xo Michelle

www.chinelasbymichelle.com

http://www.facebook.com/foldingshoes

http://www.ppiblog.com/?530-promotional-folding-shoes

Yet another exciting new development for us here at Chinelas by Michelle folding shoes – we’re now customising Chinelas!

If you’re a promotional products company and are looking for the latest gadget to impress clients, check out our new customised design section on our website! http://www.chinelasbymichelle.com/customise.html

Promotional products are a great way of keeping in touch with your best clients, give them something functional as a nice little reminder to keep in touch throughout the year!

This year, with the popularity of foldup shoes, why not customise or put your logo on our Chinelas and be the most up to date this party season? They’re sure to be a winner at Christmas and New Year’s eve parties!

Very excited to say that Chinelas has created a partnership with ODM ASia – to further Chinelas by Michelle folding shoes success to a world scale!!

Was needing some help to get Chinelas out to customers that I could not reach being here in Sydney , but with Conor’s help from ODM we are sure to get Chinelas bigger and better than ever!!

Check out the what ODM has to say about Chinelas – look at for them at the next international trade fair!

http://theodmgroup.com/?s=chinelas

Was recently approached by a UTS student after giving a talk on my shoe design business.  Martin Gibson runs Embody3d a website about all things Industrial Design

Check it out:

We had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Chung, Director of Chinelas by Michelle. Chinelas by Michelle is a fantastic foldable ballet-flat shoe that girls can wear after a long night out on the town, or if they just want a comfortable/beautiful footwear! Michelle studied industrial design at UTS, Sydney, Australia and has started her own business revolving around this exciting shoe product. Please read on to find the adventures of a self made entrepreneur and the challenges from going from an industrial designer to a business manager!

website – http://www.chinelasbymichelle.com

Interview by Embody 3D – Twitter – 22.03.2010

General Questions

Hi Michelle, welcome to Embody 3D and thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. To get started could you please give me a quick introduction to yourself and Chinelas by Michelle?

I graduated from Industrial Design at UTS in 2003 and worked in the fashion industry doing graphics and product design for a few years, as well as in the souvenir and toy industry. After being made redundant from a good product development manager position I realized that it was a great time to start my own business, developing an idea for a gap in the market – which is how Chinelas by Michelle folding shoes was born!

My innovative range of foldable footwear came from the social concept of women wearing high heels that became too uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. Creating a product that was durable, compact and hygienic enough to go in the handbag is the concept behind the brand, and I did a lot of self study in business, marketing and PR to get it to where I wanted it to.

Small minorities of industrial designers once they’ve finished university decide to start their own business often based around a product they’ve designed themselves. What made you decide to take this leap of faith and a very steep learning curve, rather than perhaps working for a consultancy or a manufacturer?

I definitely recommend working in the industry for other companies before taking the plunge yourself – it gives you so much invaluable insight and experience.

It’s very difficult to run a business if all you want to do is design products, I would not recommend running a business on your own. If you did want to have your own company I would suggest finding a business partner who can run this side of things while you work on the product development. It’s often very difficult to do everything yourself (as I found for myself) but I really liked learning and implementing the business and sales side of it, as I wanted to grow my skills in this area.

Also the fact that I was made redundant from what I thought was a secure, great job in 2007, made me not want to rely on others for my career or financial security. I did a lot of research on how to secure my future with investments (hence the reason why Chinelas shoes are patented, with the plan to earn royalties as a form of passive income).

In hindsight would you have taken this same path? What would you change if you had to do it all again?

Yes I would have started my own business eventually. It was part of my career growth and personal plan.

I would probably had more of a marketing plan and hit the market harder with my invention, as copycats catch on so quickly. I would have invested more money into a PR campaign and also paid more attention to the quality control and production side.

I would also have invested more capital so I could have employed more people to look after most of the work rather than trying to do everything myself – once you have productive employees, it all takes off much quicker and easier and break even much faster.

Student-Related Questions

You studied industrial design at UTS what did you think of the design program? Has the course helped you develop business or commercialization skills in any way?

I would say no, from what I remember we did not learn any practical business or commercialization skills. We did have some advice from Marc Veenendaal who runs his own design business, but on the whole we were trained to work for consultancies.

Most of the skills I have today are from working in different companies, even my Illustrator skills were mostly learnt from time as a graphic artist and fashion product developer.

Do you have any general advice for students studying industrial design who are perhaps contemplating starting their own business once they’ve finished?

I would recommend working for someone – especially a small business so you can see first hand how someone else runs it.

It really depends on what kind of business you want –offering design services is much simpler and straightforward. But for those who want to manufacture their own products – this is a massive job that usually requires a handful of experts such as production, marketing, sales and financial, and unless you have all those skills yourself, you will need to find someone who does.

Or you can develop your own products and sell or licence them to trading companies who will take them to the world market and pay you royalties if they do well. You need to be very careful here too, to ensure you find the right people to work with and a proper licence agreement so you don’t get ripped off.

Design-Related Questions

What do you tend to spend the most time on with Chinelas by Michelle? Designing and making iterations? Communicating your ideas and manufacturing? Or just simply trying to sell and market your product?

It depends what phase of the business, but definitely sales is an ongoing job. Designing is only 10% of what needs to be done, but if we don’t make enough sales, we won’t have the cashflow to continue business operations.

Chinelas by Michelle is a very practical product and I can tell many girls who will read this interview will be asking where they can buy them. Not to mention guys who are perhaps growing tired of hearing complaints from their girlfriends/wives about the discomfort of their heels. Where did the idea come from initially to design this product? Was it from first hand experience or was it very research based?

First hand experience was definitely a factor here! A lot of entrepreneurs have taken products very successfully to market, simply because they saw a need and were able to solve that problem efficiently.

If you are searching for a product to design, ensure to do your research – ask questions, search the net, find out if enough people will want to buy what you’re designing. There is no point making something if no one will buy it, then it will just be art.

Could you tell me a bit more about the design process for Chinelas by Michelle and how you ended up with the design in its current state?

I knew that the execution would be the most important factor in ensuring this project would be a success.
Firstly I had a few brainstorming sessions with my ID friends from uni, over some pizza and drinks! We came up with a whole bunch of crazy concepts, and eventually (taking months) developing a concept that was essentially practical and functional yet simple. There was no point designing the most amazing design, if the user could not figure out how to use it.

I made some moulds using silicone and polyrubber outsole samples initially and then some rapid prototypes once I was happy with the initial ideas. I took them to a manufacturer (ensuring I had a confidentiality agreement) who further developed it into something easily manufacturable.

I understand you spend a lot of the design process optimizing the hinging and locking of the shoes what were the main challenges there?

Making sure the manufacturer was able to replicate the working sample cheaply and that it would still work! Their technology was not very advanced and a lot of things are hand crafted.

What styles, and colours do the sandals come in and how much do they cost?

They come in just one style for now in black, silver, red and purple. I wanted some practical colours as well as fashion colours. They cost $39.95

And most importantly where can girls pick up their very own pair of Chinelas?

www.chinelasbymichelle.com and some markets and expos (sign up to the mailing list or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chinelas-by-Michelle/91253457158?) for all the updates

You also run a design entrepreneur blog that can be found at michellechung.uwcblog.com which is just loaded with great first hand advice around starting your own business, importing, sampling, marketing, just about everything! Could you tell me more about the blog?

There’s two main reasons – to help other designers get some great, practical info from someone who’s done it all and what works and what doesn’t. The second reason is to help bring a targeted audience and provide quality links to the website.

Michelle thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Embody 3D. Do you have any last thoughts for the Embody 3D readers?

Don’t be scared to start your own business but do make sure you are prepare and well researched. You can always go back to a job if it doesn’t work out, but you do need the determination and motivation to succeed ☺

Embody 3D is proud to promote and support industrial design entrepreneurs from around the world. If you would like to be featured on Embody 3D’s interview section, please send an email to info@embody3d.com
Please check out the original interview on Martin’s site

Mich!!

www.chinelasbymichelle.com

I recently got another email request asking about contacts for local manufacturers.

All I can say is that Google is your best friend here!

While I was doing my research finding shoe manufacturers in Sydney, I used Google to find the most suitable factories.  If your shoe product is high volume, low cost then it would be ideal to manufacture overseas, even with the cost of QC, import taxes and freight charges.

But with clothing manufacturers, it is very possible to find some good local factories in Sydney!

Again it is ideal to Google keywords such as ‘Sydney clothing manufacturer’ or ‘Sydney apparel manufacter’ to find the most relevant factory to deal with.

If your products are smaller volume, you can even buy the fabrics yourself and take it to your own production line of patternmaker, cutter and machinist. You can simply google contractors who specialise and only do patternmaking, cutting or sewing.  Once you build up a good, reliable little network, you could have a very convenient production line which minimises your turnover time and ensures you can produce up to the minute fashions in several weeks time! The negatives of this kind of process means that you will have to oversee the quality control and act as the link between each worker to ensure the process runs on time.

Some larger factories buy fabrics, make the patterns and put together the entire garment.

You may also find that these Sydney clothing manufacturers have linked factories overseas in China too.  These factories are useful if you intend to have higher volume production, as they usually have minimum order quantities (MOQs).  The advantage is that you may be able to do your sampling locally, which removes the language barrier and ensures your samples get made exactly as you want them.  You are able to see the samples, have them fitted and make the changes much easier than if you were to be emailing changes to a factory overseas. The factory should also look after the QC, import and freight charges, as they would be shipping over their own garments.

The disadvantage is that you may be paying for higher prices than if you dealt with the China factories directly, and the turnaround time may still be longer than if you were to produce the whole product locally.

Having said that, the factories do look after a lot of the process so you may be leveraging your resources better this way.

While doing your research finding these factories, you should be able to find the right manufacturing process to suit your business plans (high or low volume).

In Sydney, the textile industry (or rag trade) is predominantly in Alexandria or Mascot.  If you’ve ever been on shopping tours, you’ll find a lot of the warehouse sales for your favourite brands are in these areas.

It would definitely be a good idea to chat to the factory contact on the phone first, and then arrange a meeting with them to discuss all aspects of the manufacturing process.  You’ll want to interview a few different manufacturers to find the one that suits your particular designs.

If you are after simple tshirts with graphic prints on them, there are many factories that can do this too.  This is obviously much easier than creating completely new garment designs, as they would have ready to order catalogue of tshirts, singlets, jumpers etc, ready for your graphic designs.  A lot of uniforms are manufacturered this way too, and you can simply google ‘uniform manufacturers’ or similar.

Alternatively you may want to use a promotional products company that specifically keeps a product catalogue of plain garments and items, and they some they will look after the artwork process too.  Lots of large corporate companies use promotional products to market their logo and services to their clients.

Good Luck!!

Michelle

www.chinelasbymichelle.com

I get a few emails now and then from entrepreneurial young people who find this blog while researching shoe design.

This morning I got an email from a girl who asked me if she needed to have formal training or skills in CAD or shoe design.

I thought it may be an interesting question a lot of you guys may have so thought it would be good to post it up on this blog.

In short, my answer to this question is ‘no’.

I studied 4 years of industrial design and learned a lot at uni, but nothing compared to the real world experience from my first years working as a graphic artis, accessories designer and product developer!  I believe the best learning experience and the best way to get skills is to just do it!

Most companies I have worked for tend to buy products that they like and send it to their suppliers / manufacturers with a list of changes they would like.  Sometimes they do send detailed CAD specs or engineering drawings to get the most efficient use of time, but some send emails with the list of changes to make like: change fabric to cotton, remove this, add that etc..

Most companies do have a graphic artist or designer that prepares the CADs and list of changes, and this was the work I was doing in my first years out of uni.

If you are wanting to start your own footwear / apparel company and are really creative but don’t have the formal training, you DO NOT NEED to do a course in shoe design or equivalent.  It would really delay your business if you were to do a 1-4 year course.

Do it the entrepreneurial way and find someone else to do it!! Either some friends who could help you out, or the factory will definitely have a designer who can interpret your sketches, no matter how crappy you think they are!!

Manufacturers or suppliers work best with photos! If you think your drawings aren’t good enough, or are embarrassed to send them, why not find pictures on the internet that you think are similar to what you want and use a simple program like Microsoft Paint, or just print it out and write on it the changes you want.  THen scan it and email it to your factory contact.

The most important thing is that you know exactly what you want and how your finished samples will look.  As a business owner / entrepreneur you simply guide your supplier to make the samples that you want and that will sell.  The factory will always have designers/sample makers who are used to getting specs and designs from all over the world, and most factories should have an english speaking account manager who can interpret your comments/instructions to their sampler maker.

I was fortunate to have the training and experience to start my shoe design business quickly, but you really do not need to do everything yourself (I loved the massive learning of setting up a new business and doing all these things myself!).  It would be much easier to leverage your time with other experts – you can find them on sites such as www.elance.com which has lists of professionals vying for your business.

Starting your design business is not easy and it would be very helpful to have prior experience and skills but it is not 100% necessary.  All you need is information and the desire to give it a go and do it!

If anyone needs more info, please be sure to email me!

mich

http://www.chinelasbymichelle.com

Whew!! it’s been a few months since my previous post on Production and customs!! Chinelas folding shoes have been selling like crazy and now with Christmas coming up it should be even more insane!!

All good for me though!

If I could do it over again, I think I would have enlisted a proper PR company from the beginning.

You can definitely do it all on your own, as I did with the help of friends and contacts – all this has brought the current success I’m now enjoying   Have a look towards the end of this post if you want to learn how to do it cheaply and freely!

Free publicity in Virgin Blue inflight magazine

After the first month of selling Chinelas by Michelle folding shoes, I found it exhausting to have to constantly publicise the brand myself.  As a small business, you do end up doing everything yourself to begin with and then when the seams burst you should have enough cashflow to hire someone part time.  I found myself so caught up sending out orders after the massive burst of sales from being in the September issue Virgin Blue Voyeur magazine, that I had no time to do the marketing for the next months! (read below how I did this)

So I decided to look into hiring someone to help with PR.

I did some research and asked around and found a great PR firm in Sydney, Australia.  They’ve been really friendly and helpful, and I was introduced to them through a friend (thanks Nadia!!) last month, who had undertaken the PR course the director taught at Sydney Uni.

USING A PR COMPANY:

Basically it’s always best to start a client with a clean slate.  So that means an up and coming young designers looking to launch their label into the public.

A good PR company should give you an outline of how they will approach the media – a 3 month campaign will hit the media hard and fast and give you maximum exposure for the first month, the second month should ride off the momentum and the 3rd month will give you long leads like glossy magazines that work 3 months in advance.

The downside is the cost.

If you have a big budget (try $10,000) to spend, it may be well worth using a profesional agent that has contacts in the industry, knows how to prepare a Press Release, create a media package and approach the right people.

DOING PR FOR YOURSELF (FREE AND HIGHLY EFFECTIVE!):

If you would like to give it a go yourself (like me) and all your PR friends are telling you that you should try it DIY, then have a look at these tips that I learnt through trial and error:

1. Write a Press Release
2. Pick the top 8 magazines or publications your target market sees
3. Find the right person to send samples
4. Follow up

WRITING A PRESS RELEASE:

A pretty standard thing for media.  It’s a document that has an eyecatching headline and details about your product and company.  Journalists may use this information to write their own opinions of your product or simply publish it word for word.  I did some research on writing one, I followed the info on this site:

http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp

But if you simple google ‘how to write a press release’, there are heaps of sites that will come up

A friend I met at a Mentor program (thanks Hussayn) said that he worked in a company that hired people that simply wrote press releases and sent them out all day.  I thought you just needed one, but I guess the more you have out there the better!

PICK THE TOP 8 MAGAZINES/PUBLICATIONS:

Hollie from Online Divas has become a friend, through her inspiring energy and all her help for getting Chinelas out there!!

During a brainstorming session a few months ago she recommended focusing and to pick the publications that would be most relevant.

We picked out the magazines that my target market would most likely read.

When you first start out you try to do everything and everything!! Another strategy could be to email out your press release to as many magazines and publications as possible and hope one gets picked up (this is how I got the Voyeur magazine!).  Although your efforts may turn into spam, simply being in the inbox at the right time could also work out.

FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON:

Send a sample to the editor of the publication.  It would be most polite to call them first, another website I researched recommended that you call them around 10am, after morning emails are checked and before deadlines are met.  Call and ask if they have 2 minutes to spare for a quick chat about your products and whether they would be interested in a sample.

Most journalists that I have spoken to were very nice and happy to receive a sample.

Usually I would send off an email with a quick introduction and reiterate the phone conversation and confirm that you will send a sample.  Then your email (rather than blatant spam) would be expected and well received, and would be a e-record of how to email you back.

Express Post or drop off the sample to the publication

FOLLOWING UP:

The hardest thing to do!  After doing the initial contact and getting swamped with everything else, make sure to put aside some time a week later to ring back to see if they received your sample and what they thought of it.

There’s no guarantee that they will publish your product but at least your product is out there in the right hands!

They may not even tell you when they’re putting your product in, but you’ll definitely notice when your sales hit the roof!!  THen you need to ensure you’ve got a system on your shopping cart that will tell you how people found you.

If all this sounds too much to bear and you just want to get on with the creative side – why  not try www.elance.com where professional contractors bid for your work?

Mich

www.chinelasbymichelle.com

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Selling your product at the markets

Starting your own business is daunting – especially if you are thinking of creating products and carrying stock. It’s much easier to start a service based business – just print up a few business cards, set up a quick website that advertises some details about you, tell a few friends and family and off you go! Creating products from scratch is an entirely different matter – there is so much to do before you even make your first cent!  Here’s some of my tips to help you get started:

1. Is the idea marketable?

The first major task is to objectively decide if your product is going to make it through the competitive products market – everyone wants to be a fashion designer at some point – but what is your point of difference? Some good research will really sieve through your ideas – and see if it’s worth doing it yourself. Why not tag along with someone else who has already done your idea, if they’ve done all the hard work, why not help grow that company and tap into their proven products and systems? A great example is the column that Maggie Alderson wrote in the Good Weekend magazine (Oct 17^th) – ‘Clever Clogs’, where she suddenly found herself in a situation where her feet hurt so much she was wishing she had a compact flat shoe in her handbag to slip into. When she did some research, she found they already existed (which is how she found me!) and decided they had already been done.

Doing everything from scratch is the hardest thing (unless you’re an industrial designer like me, you love it!) and it is much easier to sell products that already exist (heard of affiliate marketing?). This reduces your risk and investment, and you can move onto different products if it doesn’t work out. Maybe later you could try product development as you get a feel for what the market really needs.

2. Finding manufacturer

Possibly one of the hardest things to do! Imagine, we’re sitting in our homes in Australia, looking to pay a total stranger to make our designs a reality? How do you trust that they’ll do it properly, won’t rip you off and get your stock in on time? It’s like a total blind date, but you’re investing thousands of dollars with fingers crossed that it will all be ok?

I wish I had invested a bit more heavily in the dating agency!!

Now I have a great relationship with a Sourcing Agent who does all the checking out for me – no more tiring flights that are cancelled when you get to the airport! A good one will cost another few thousand, but will help minimise time and product wastage.

Trying to go cheap is never worth it in the end – ever try to get that bargain but never end up using it and have to pay more money to get the product that actually does the job?

3. Getting awareness for your product

I wanted an online business – the efficiency of the internet, and the cost effectiveness too. Setting up a website is like putting a bubble in the ocean! No one knows you’re there unless you make a massive wave (or you learn how to do internet marketing).

Getting awareness happening is difficult if you’re not media savvy like me!! I have found that anyone with marketing or PR skills have such an advantage when starting a business – online or offline. Fantastic products are nothing if no one knows about them and buys them! It’s all in the marketing – move on from perfecting your product and get straight in touch with your target market. Word of mouth is slow to start with but a big hit from a major magazine or media exposure is what you need to aim for.

If you can afford it, it would be worth hiring a marketing or PR company to work on a 3 month strategy with you. This is best to do before you do any PR, so that they have a fresh slate to sculpt from and can get maximum exposure for you.

4. Cashflow

After you first get your big hit of sales and you’re flustered trying to keep up with the demand, you may find sales slowly decline if you’ve not been able to market for the future. Working on your own is great to start with but you definitely need to leverage! I found a great sales agent were I was able to tap into their already existing customer base – and the orders flowed in again. Try Googling agents online and look for companies who are already well established. Agents will be different to distributors, where distributors will rely on quantity but will also ask you for much lower wholesale prices.

5.  Making it through the first few months

After the first few months are done, you can finally look up, wipe your forehead and congratulate yourself for getting your business up and running! Ensure to always put time to market for the coming months, put strategies into place and think about looking for mentors and joining great business networks that put you in touch with other entrepreneurs!!

If you would like more information or contacts mentioned in the article, please drop me an email at michelle@chinelasbymichelle.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can!!

xoxo Mich

After doing the Quality Control Check overseas for my foldable footwear range, and I needed to meet my deadline (the launch party was just a few weeks away!!) I was happy enough with the production to get it shipped over.

Foldable shoes packed into cartons for import

I decided to airfreight about a quarter of it so I could get it in ASAP.  The costs of airfreighting is much much more, but can be useful if you send over small quantities, just so you can start to make sales and recouping costs ASAP.

Always ask the factory to take photos of the boxes, packaging etc before it leaves the factory, so you have proof if any damages occur during transit.

You also need to get marine shipping insurance, which will cover the travel – look up an insurance broker, as they will survey all the insurance companies and choose the best policy for you.  Lucky I had contacts from my dad, so I ended up using him to look for my insurance.  Or you could do some research and look for one yourself.  But if you are strapped for time, it might be useful to take advantage of someone else’s expertise, especially if you have no idea about it (like me!!)

Once the product is on it’s way to Australia so you can finally make some money, you need to find a customs clearance agent to help you.  You won’t be able to do it yourself, as you need a registered agent to get your product through.

I used OBM to help me here.  They also arrange shipping too, although it ended up cheaper getting the factory to arrange the shipments.  The customs agent will arrange the paperwork that customs needs to clear the goods, whether it be airfreighted, less than container loads (LCL) or full container loads (FCL).  You will need to pay import taxes and duties, and your agent will give you quotes based on the type of goods, quantities etc.

I did bring a few samples back from China with me, they were supposed to be my selling samples.

Nearly got into trouble at the Airport Customs in Sydney as I didn’t know there was a certain process involved here so take note of this:

GOODS THAT ARE CLASSIFIED AS SAMPLES MUST:

1. Not be saleable – I made the mistake of bringing full products back in my suitcase! To me they were selling samples, which I would distribute to potential retailers, as samples for PR magazines and media, not for actual sale.  The customs officer very kindly educated me on what was classified as ‘sample’ and what was not!
2. Samples must be mutilated in some way so they are not saleable – ie Mr Customs officer said that they could be drilled with a hole through it
3. They could be just one foot of a pair of shoes
4. Have ‘SAMPLE’ stamped onto it
5. Be within 4-6 pieces only, not dozens of them
6. The supplier must send them through with a Proforma Invoice, saying that the goods are worth a certain amount.

The point is that Australian Customs ensure that all items getting into the country pay the due fees applicable.

So anyway, make sure to abide by the rules so you don’t get slapped with any fines!!

Starting your business can be fraught with hidden costs and dangers if you are not informed first, so hopefully this blog post has helped you stay informed…

Mich!

www.chinelasbymichelle.com – check it out to see the real product!

Now it was time to do a Quality Control check of my folding shoe production overseas – something I will ask a proper agent to do in future.  But for the first time, as with everything in this business, I wanted to try it for myself for the first production run!

Make sure to document everything to ensure quality production

In my previous posts I had detailed how I had found my manufacturer.  Not only was finding a reliable factory important, privacy was also an issue, as I had an innovative, patented product.  To summarise, I had contacted a few factories through Google and then asked an Australian sourcing agent to do a background check on the factory – for all I knew the factory could be completely dodgy!

The check turned out well so I proceeded, and now my first production run was being made.

I checked with the factory when the due date was.  I booked my flights quickly, and I was off to China the next week.

It was a very quick trip, 2 days and 2 nights, for the sole purpose of making sure my shoes were in good enough condition and quality to make the far trip to Australia.

Some steps you need to take to ensure the quality for your product (learn from my mistakes!):

STEP 1: Confirm the finish date

It was a little like pulling teeth trying to get the factory to finish on time!  In the end I split the shipment, a quarter sent on airfreight and the rest sent by sea.

I didn’t want to rush the factory, as my product was more difficult to make than normal shoes, so I didn’t want any costly mistakes.  Plus you must have a bit of give and take and sensibility in this environment, but also a firm hand on what you want.

In the end I was there to check some of the goods but not the entire order, which was a little risky, but I was on a timeframe that I needed to meet!

STEP 2: Set aside enough time

2 days would have been enough had the factory been ready for my inspection! As I mentioned it was difficult to get them to finish it on time – although I did have a clause in my Purchase Order (P/O) that I would receive a discount if the order was 10 days late – in reality I should have made it 5 days late instead.

This trip ended up being a mid-production check, which was probably a good thing rather than an at end production check, where mistakes could not be caught or reworked adequately.

STEP 3: Create a QC checklist

I had created a document for myself, a checklist or QC production form.  My cousin Terry who imports electronics into Australia gave me a lot of advice, as well as Tony Wales, Head of Production and my previous boss:

• Check at least 10% of each style, colour and size – so that’s 50 pairs of 500 Black, Medium size shoes.
• Choose which boxes you would like to check.  Don’t just choose the boxes on the outside or top of the pallet.  Go for the ones down the bottom, at the back, in the middle.  As the most convenient ones may not be the ones with faults that you are checking for
• In your checklist, put down all the criteria that is most important to you, and the ones that could pass.
• Things like dirty marks, loose stitching, fabric imperfections, length of cords, quality of elastic are all things that need to be rejected or reworked in order to pass the inspection.  These things cannot be fixed (or without great expense) once they get back to your home country!  These conditions need to be clearly dictated in your purchase order, so that the factory will fix or replace them without any expense to you.
• Ensure to offer measurements – such as length of cords, elastic, pattern dimensions etc, to ensure that the factory workers made each item exactly as it should be, rather than approximation.  One worker’s estimate is always different to anothers, especially if one worker is doing the left shoe and another is doing the right!
• Sit in a private room if possible – maybe with one of the factory managers.  As it was my first order, I ran through my checklist on as many shoes as I could with the factory manager (they seemed genuinely accomodating and willing to improve and learn).
• It was a sweltering hot day – 35degrees and was not the most pleasant experience, so you tend to go over things quite quickly.  Stick to the checklist and look for major issues and pass on issues which are more minor.
• Allow for minor issues that will not be a cause for return from your customers – sometimes perfection is a euphemism for procrastination!  In the end, you need to get your product to market and serve people’s needs.
• There is always room for version 2 – Microsoft does it all the time!!

STEP 4:  Ask the factory to rework or clean up any mistakes

This should be part of your Puchase order conditions, so that they fix up the mistakes before they ship it to you.  Otherwise you will have to fix them for your customers when they get back to Australia, or deal with a lot of returns!

I ensure that the factory agreed to take back any faulty items at their expense.

So time was quite tight with 2 days at the factory, as the factory were not ready for me on my first day there – even though I had confirmed it beforehand!

Anyway, it was more important to catch mistakes and ensure the rest were made up to standard enough to send over.

Also ensure to take out the proper insurance to cover your goods from the factory to your warehouse.  Terry recommended I take photos of the boxes and packaging before they left the factory, so I could see if any potential damage came from the transit or from the factory’s end.  I used a company that was recommended by Terry and Creative Instore Solutions, so I was happy to go with them.  Email me if you want some help with contacts.

Next post will be on Airfreight, seafreighting and customs clearance into Australia!

Mich

www.chinelasbymichelle.com – available online now in black, silver, red and purple, check website to get your FREE purple nail polish!!!