Keep Your Cool Start your own teen clothing and accessories business.
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Hey! Did ya just hear that kaboom? That was, like, the explosionof the fashion and beauty market for teens. All these geezerdesigners--they're, like, 25 or 30!--are coming out with theseway-cool products just for us: hair stuff, makeup, handbags,accessories, clothes . . . and, hey, we've got mucho dinerofrom our part-time jobs-and, like, maybe a little help from theparental plastic. Let's go shopping!
Thankfully, you don't have to talk like teens to sell tothem. Nevertheless, a growing number of Gen X entrepreneurs aregetting in touch with their inner teen and communicating with thejunior market using the sweet language of commerce. And there are awhole lot of kids listening: By 2010, the number of teens in theUnited States alone will swell to 35 million, more than at anyother time in history, according to Teen.com, a Web site cateringto the interests of 42,000 young surfers each day. A Rand Youthpoll estimated that teen girls spend $21.8 billion a year onclothes and beauty accessories. The children of the boomers aregrowing up, and they have been well-schooled in the joys ofconsumerism.
"The teen market is growing immensely; they'resurpassing the baby boomers as the prime target for companiesbecause they have so much disposable income," says KeriSinger, Teen.com's fashion and beauty editor. Kids between 13and 19, especially girls trying to define themselves, have anendless appetite for new fashion and beauty products--and testingout new looks helps them satisfy it.
Enter entrepreneurial opportunity. Designers with vivid memoriesof adolescence-albeit with limited bank accounts--have jumped intothe teen market, sneakers-first. Among them:
- Greg Herman, 27-year-old president of Greg Herman LosAngeles Inc., designer of funky, retro-looking handbags. Althoughhe has a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the Universityof California, Los Angeles, Herman was virtually homeless, cartingaround two suitcases filled with his worldly goods and crashing onfriends' sofas, when he started the company in 1997. He maxedout his credit cards and got $4,000 from an angel investor to makesamples, which he then took to New York.
"I put 40 handbags in a rolling suitcase and literallywalked up and down the streets, stopping at showrooms,"recalls Herman, who expects sales of $3 million this year and hasrecently added shoe, shirt and scented-soap lines to hiscollection. Despite the company's unconventional beginnings,Herman, a benefactor of homeless causes, sells his bags tocatalogers and major retail stores like Barney's andAnthropologie. Celebrities such as Jennifer Love Hewitt, CourtneyCox, Calista Flockhart and Christina Applegate buy his bags, whichretail for up to $50.
- Matt Diamond, 31-year-old president of New YorkCity-based AlloyOnline, a site that sells the beauty products of othercompanies as well as its own line of clothing products under theStation Wagon brand name. He and two partners, Jim Johnson. 33, andSam Gradess, 34, maxed out their credit cards and emptied theirsavings accounts to scrape together the $250,000 in capital fortheir 1996 launch. They lived out of a basement apartment, usingthe kitchen as a warehouse, and personally delivered customers'orders to the post office each evening.
They also created a small, inexpensive catalog and sent it tokids who visited the site. Today, more than 4 million peoplereceive the catalog, and 3 million receive Alloy's weeklye-zine. In May 1999, the company, which employs 150 people, raisedabout $50 million on its IPO.
- Desiree Langager, 34-year-old president of Girls RuleInc. in Los Angeles, designer of apparel items promoting "girlpower." The former designer of private-label items launchedthe business as a result of her commitment to the achievements anddevelopment of young women.
Langager started the business with $10,000 in personal savingsin 1995, distributing samples of her T-shirts to stylists, wardrobeprofessionals and fashion magazine editors. Pamela Anderson evenwore one of her shirts on Bay Watch. But a trademark disputewith a partner put Langager out of business for three years,setting her back $200,000 in court fees. Eventually, she re-emergedvictorious and relaunched her label this past spring, essentiallystarting all over again, sending out product samples and going backto all the surf, skate and snow shops that had previously soldGirls Rule products.
Now working with up to 10 freelance designers andpattern-makers, Langager predicts between $1.3 million and $2.5million in sales this year. Asked where she found the emotionalfortitude to begin again from scratch, she replies, "I want tomake a difference."
Challenges Of The Teen Market
It's tough enough to make it in the fashion and beautyindustry, insiders say, but selling to an audience as fickle asteens gives a whole new meaning to the word "challenge.""It's easy to get into this business and grow the firstyear," says Shawn Haynes, the 29-year-old president of GirlCosmetics Inc. in Los Angeles and a former cosmetic company salesrepresentative. Launched in 1997 with $10,000 in personal savings,the company earned $1 million last year and expects to double thatthis year. "But there's pressure, a constant cycle ofbringing out new products," says Haynes.
That explains the myriad of options available to entrepreneurslooking to get into this industry, from cosmetics lines andteen-focused fashion to fashion and beauty Web sites. There's apiece of wisdom that will well serve anyone venturing into thismarket, say the somewhat battle-scarred veterans: Know yourcustomers. Not just intellectually by reading trend reports,although that is important. You need to put yourself inside thehead of a teenage girl and live there. Watch Dawson'sCreek and MTV, read teen magazines, hit the most popular teenWeb sites.
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The three principals and owners of Mighty Fine Inc., a LosAngeles company with a line of clothes featuring silly slogans andcharacters, have resolutely resisted growing up and declare thatthey would want to wear the products themselves, although theirages range from 26 to 31. "This is a company created by kidsfor kids," says 31-year-old Guy Brand, who started the companyat home in 1994 for less than $200, selling T-shirts with logoswith the help of Stacy Kitchin, 29, and Pearl Shiung, 26. Heinitially marketed the products at raves, nightclubs and storesfrequented by teens. Today, the products are sold worldwide, andthe company expects to bring in $9 million this year-triple lastyear's sales.
Entrepreneurs cannot be successful in the teen market withoutconstantly soliciting feedback from their customers, insiders say.Many entrepreneurs have Web sites featuring questionnaires that askteens what they want; others get the word from teens on the streetwith informal focus groups. Says Diamond, "Teens determinewhat is popular and cool, not us."
What Makes Them Different
Teens are looking for higher-quality products than theirpredecessors, and they've got the dollars to pay for them.Philippe Tordjman, the 32-year-old owner of Philou, a San Franciscohair salon that he launched in 1997 with his tools and oneassistant, has developed a line of hair-care products by the samename. They're designed to attract teens with their fun scentsand packaging. "Nowadays, teens go crazy with theirhair," says the French native.
Remember that teens want options, Singer adds. Most of thesuccessful designers have several lines for buyers to choose from."On our site, we give girls alternatives," Singer says."We don't say 'If you don't buy this product, youwon't be beautiful.' "
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Although most of the fashion and beauty companies are located onthe coasts, technology today allows you to reach other markets,Haynes points out. "I've been selling online to people intowns with populations of 100,000 or less," he says."They don't have a Bloomingdale's or a hip shop wherethey can buy these kinds of products, so they seek us out on theWeb. We also look to sell our products in small neighborhoodstores, places where girls shop on their way home fromschool."
Entrepreneurs who are reluctant to enter the teen market becauseof its supposed age limitations aren't seeing the big picture,according to Singer. "All the high-end designers are showingan influence from the juniors market," she says. "Olderwomen are trying out fun clothing decorated with rhinestones andembroideries, especially if they have teenage daughters." AddsHaynes: "There's a girl in every woman."
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Past adolescence yourself?Check out these sites to find out what teens today are thinking andbuying.
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Pamela Rohland, a writer from Bernville, Pennsylvania, andthe owner of four felines, finds cat hair an indispensable wardrobeaccessory.
