I mentioned that I have been working on starting a small business for the last few months selling girls dresses using a variety of wax print fabrics; being an architect has both made this task easier and harder at the same time. Creatively, its been fun to have a playful project to work on (especially since its all mine) but the learning curve has been steep for me because I have never owned a business, I knew nothing about retail business/e-commerce (except for my own shopping habits), I had never designed a website for E-commerce, I knew nothing about marketing and my husband and I are simultaneously trying to get our architecture practice up and running.
So I took the risk anyway and dove into with a kind of optimism I hadn't felt since I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania almost 10 years ago. It all started with one item my aunt has sent over for my daughter, a little dress that drew a lot of attention at a wine festival that weekend. I was inspired, and excited, so I immediately got out my sketch book and started drawing and planning out some ideas which have become the basis of the business I've named "Sweet Little" dress shop. This has come together quite nicely over the last six months considering I have a full time position teaching college level architecture courses and only work on this on weekends or on the train. The first thing I did was decide what I would sell and decided on a simple design model; making 6 classic dress silhouettes in 6 sizes from 6 months to 4T in a variety of fabrics.. I also had to design a logo which appears on the website for the company and on everything from dress labels, hangtags, mailing labels etc. The images are a few options for how this becomes the hangtags to be used to package the dresses.
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| A. Three Quarter Sleeve dress B. Classic Shift dress |
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| A. Mod Pinafore dress (reversible) B. One Tier Ruffle Dress |
The branding process includes anything from logo, colors, images etc and is extremely important, it provides a visual (or other) reference for the business making it easier to remember or recognize and if done effectively has been associated with increased sales and productivity. In addition, I find that when I order from a site online, the way in which it is packaged when it arrives leaves a strong impression and if its elegantly done or unique in some way I am more likely to order form them again. It feels special. So branding, from the website (point of sale) to the packaging (point of connection) prove to be even more valuable to the E-commerce business, these are two points when you can either gain/lose a customer.
Initially, I thought of ordering printed packaging boxes but I quite like thee simplicity of using a small tag preferably from recycled paper/card-stock and a natural fiber rope to tie it together. It seems to go along with the business model, products and process, "using wax print fabric and handmade with care." The items are rather small and don't need an elaborate wrapping so I may just wrap them in tissue and seal with a 'Thank You' Sticker. Anyway which tags so you like the best?