FAM Helps Business Grow in Leaps and Bounds
Becoming a Fashion Apparel Master through BELLA+CANVAS’s Fashion Apparel Masterclass helped Sarah Conley’s business grow sales by $15,000 in just a few short months. “FAM has really helped our business,” says Conley, customer service and inside sales rep at Austin, TX-based Brand Builders/East End Ink. “Customers keep coming back for reorders, and that’s where we make the most money, from repeat customers.”
As part of her on-the-job training in spring 2019, Conley enrolled in BELLA+CANVAS’s online Fashion Apparel Masterclass (FAM). “After completing FAM, I was so confident and excited to share my newfound apparel knowledge with our clients,” she says. “I wanted to get them excited about revamping their brands with premium styles. A premium branded tee becomes a more meaningful giveaway since the recipient will wear it more than once.”
BELLA+CANVAS’s Fashion Apparel Masterclass is housed in an easy-to-navigate online portal. This free six-hour online educational series includes 12 interactive video lessons and various downloadable resources to help distributors and decorators of all experience levels turn into apparel-selling machines. These modules cover essential topics such as selling to millennial buyers, navigating the digital landscape, mastering creative decoration, becoming a fabric expert and more.
Brand Builders/East End Ink, which embroiders and screen prints both apparel and hard goods, serves industries that look for higher-quality garments for uniform pieces, giveaways and merch: bands, entertainment companies, retail stores, food service and hospitality, airlines, oil and gas, construction, and tech. “When I learned about cost per impression in the FAM program, it gives me an advantage when I talk to clients about premium styles or products,” Conley says. “You might pay more upfront, but when you break that price point down into cost per impression, it’s so much more bang for your marketing buck.”
Music to Brand Builders’ Ears
The city of Austin’s official motto is “Live Music Capital of the World.” On any given night, you’ll find more than 100 venues featuring a huge variety of free live music performances. “It’s no surprise that our main squeeze is bands,” says Conley, who credits her FAM training with helping her score a new band client.
A member of a local band reached out to Conley as a referral from another musical client. He told Conley that another shop had printed his band’s artwork on very low-quality T-shirts. “He wouldn’t sell them show after show,” she says. “I immediately recommended a BELLA+CANVAS triblend tee because they’re top of the line and super soft.”
Conley says that FAM taught her the difference between low-end, carded open-end tees and premium shirts. “Now, we’re processing this band’s first order,” she says.
Since Brand Builders/East End Ink caters to artistic and higher-end clients, Conley loved diving into out-of-the-box imprinting techniques in the Fashion Apparel Masterclass. “Seeing puff ink, tone-on-tone and liquid silver ink showed me lots of different ways to screen print on shirts,” she says. “It gave me a very different perspective beyond our regular orders for basic plastisol inks. We can give brands very artistic work as printers.”
It’s All About the Millennials
Another thing that stood out to Conley? FAM’s focus on selling to millennials, especially with an eye toward ethical fashion. “Younger buyers care about where fabrics and apparel are sourced from, and if they’re made by workers paid a living wage,” she says. “They’re not after the best price. They’re OK with spending more and having a better experience. They are concerned about recycling and environmental consciousness. They care about what a brand like BELLA+CANVAS stands for and supports. And, they want to put their logo on a garment backed by a brand that shares their values.”
Conley posits that all industry sellers, newbies to veterans, should know how to talk to millennial buyers. “We have to always evolve in apparel,” she says. “So many millennials love BELLA+CANVAS. It’s cool. It’s hip. They’re on trend.. There are people who care behind the brand. BELLA+CANVAS cares about the environment. They have a deep reach, and communicate all that on social media.”
Full Speed Ahead for Business Growth
Brand Builders/East End Ink decided to make it mandatory for its whole team to become FAM-certified, because of the extreme ROI the shop has seen so far.
“FAM gives you such a leg up in terms of apparel knowledge,” Conley says. “The whole program interface is very user-friendly, and I loved the sense of community I felt with other participants. Even if you think you know everything about apparel, you’ll learn new stuff or gain a fresh perspective on what you already know.”
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Business Growth with FAM
Looking for ways to help your business grow like Sara Conley? Sign up for FAM with the below information.
Click here: Join the Fam!
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BIG NEWS!!! FAM 2.0 is launching very soon so hurry and take the first round of FAM now to get all caught up!
