Bret Schnitker, Emily Lane
August 5, 2025
Emily Lane 00:00
I would imagine it builds a lot of familiarity too, especially in a new brand environment. People aren't used to getting their they don't have familiarity with your product. They don't know what to expect out of the hand, feel out of the fit. So having access in a local store provides that.
Emily Lane 00:35
Welcome to Clothing Coulture, a fashion industry podcast at the intersection of technology and innovation. I'm Emily Lane
Bret Schnitker 00:42
and I'm Bret Schnitker. We speak with experts and disruptors who are moving the industry forward and discuss solutions to real industry challenges.
Emily Lane 00:51
Clothing Coulture is produced by stars Design Group, a global design and production house with more than 30 years of experience.
Emily Lane 01:02
Welcome back to another episode of Clothing Coulture. Today we're at the bar. We like to sit at the bar and have more relaxed conversations when addressing topics that come in from our audience, and
Bret Schnitker 01:15
usually a cocktail, but this is a dry day,
Emily Lane 01:21
Darn it.
Bret Schnitker 01:22
Dry June we call it.
Emily Lane 01:24
Well, today we're going to talk about mom and pop shops. You know, this is something that we actually talked to a lot of new brands, that they're really trying to figure out their go to market strategy, who, how they're going to go to market, if they're going to stay directly to direct to consumer, or if they're going to be in retailers, and if they're going to be in retailers, is it going to be the big box shops, or is it going to be the mom and pops? And a lot of times we advise that there's a lot of value in those mom and pops. So let's break that down today, Bret, let's begin by talking about the relevance of mom and pops shops in today's wholesale strategy, yeah.
Bret Schnitker 02:03
I mean, you know, there's been a lot of bandwidth talking about the Goliath like Amazon and direct to, you know, home delivery and, you know, massive, huge retailers, but mom and pops are a really vital component of of our kind of supply chain, especially, you know, when we're having conversations about new designers entering the marketplace, big, big retailers, they're not pioneering as much as, you know, they used to. There's not, you know, pop ups like there used to be. They, you know, these big stores want the demand to be developed, the customer demand to be developed, and then them be the conduit for customers buying in mass. And so mom and pops, you know, while they're over the years, there's been, you know, ebbs and flows. We've seen closings and mom and pops, which have been, you know, kind of sad. You know, the ones that remain have have really developed and grown into a very viable opportunity today, as we talk about experiential retailing, right? They create hyper local reach. They have awesome community roots. I think there's personalized service that doesn't exist and, and I think consumers today really like that. They're this trusted voice in the neighborhoods. You know, a lot of people come and ask a lot of questions, and that does not exist in these, you know, massive big boxes.
Emily Lane 03:33
Yeah, absolutely, very personalized and a part of the community, yeah, for sure, how can working with local boutiques build long term brand strategy.
Bret Schnitker 03:41
Well you know, we talk about this whole care that that local boutiques put into the successful ones, right? They curate with care. You know, you walk in, there's these great rooms with wonderful experiences and displays. And, you know, they tell stories. The real good ones tell these awesome stories. And so brands that that are brought into those space, there's this like credibility by association. I think over time, these placements build emotional resonance. You know, there's this community kind of value that that the brands that work with local boutiques are getting better opportunity to show their product because there's people telling their stories more effectively.
Emily Lane 04:29
I would imagine it builds a lot of familiarity too, especially in a new brand environment. People aren't used to getting their they don't have familiarity with your product. They don't know what to expect out of the hand, feel out of the fit. So having access in a local store provides that.
Bret Schnitker 04:44
Yeah, and it's kind of a, you know, it's certainly a complicated space, because we talk about multi level mark or multi multi channel marketing, you know, they don't always stay and exist in mom and pops. And that's the whole kind of challenge that exists as brands. Get bigger, you know, do they expand past that? But I'll tell you, mom and pops, curated retailers today are launching more of the names than some of these other groups.
Emily Lane 05:11
You talk about multi channel or omni channel, and it is so important because there's there's advantages to each one of those verticals. Yeah, are there specific advantages that are only aligned with smaller retailers versus some of these Goliaths that you've talked about.
Bret Schnitker 05:29
The obvious, like we've talked about personalized customer relationships. They have mailing lists. They have customer preference profiles. They know what customers are looking for. So as new brands come in, they can assign them directly to a specific customer need the customer comes in, there's a much faster decision making when that happens. I think, you know, again, the elevated storytelling, curated environments. They take risks on niche brands because they want to be unique where bigger boxes aren't and then I think, you know, there's a whole conversation about authenticity today. We talk about authenticity and storytelling. I think that our market appreciates authenticity, and there is this natural authenticity that occurs in these small, smaller areas.
Emily Lane 06:20
Okay, so let's talk to a smaller brand or a new brand at this particular moment. What advice would you give them with regards to nurturing a meaningful relationship with one of these small businesses?
Bret Schnitker 06:35
Well, I think you gotta have a nice network of small businesses. One individual probably won't make or break your day. That's the thing that's going to spend some you know, you're going to spend some time doing you've got to nurture relationships with 200 of them, right or more. But, you know, constant communication is important. I think today we live in a world of transactional, automated emails, and that that doesn't work for those groups, for sure, I think co branded events walking into pop ups, you know, the old days of pop ups, curating events within each one of these local mom and pops. They appreciate it. They have an event that calls more customers into the store. Have a champagne, you know, evening or day. And I think that benefits both flexible terms, so mom and pops don't have the large wallets that some of these other groups do. So if you're pioneering a brand and you want to have more people take risks on your product first, if it's right, they're going to make they're good merchants. Most of the ones that are around have become really good merchants. They can tell a brand that will sell versus won't, but offering them unique terms, extended terms, if you can, it allows them to, you know, put more product in, allows them to have more conversations. It doesn't put pressure on them to pay right away, so that it's sort of consignment. There's a whole lot of conversation about consignment in our industry, and there are groups that only kind of work on consignment, but extended terms help manage some of the pressure on cash flow that the smaller brand might have and the store itself
Emily Lane 08:19
when in working in a consignment environment, do you have to worry about kind of the wear and tear of product?
Bret Schnitker 08:27
Always do. There's always a percentage of that. There's theft and loss. Sometimes there's contracts you can sign to make sure that the stores themselves are responsible for the loss themselves. But, you know, consignment is tough because things can season out. They can trend out, you know? And so I think extended terms kind of makes a little bit more sense, but you have to feel each one out. You have the relationship of the brand to the retailer is, is an important one. And so I think sorting those things out are, are good. Well,
Emily Lane 08:58
the strategy that you talked about of having a pop up or event, if you are going into a consignment environment, having events and things like that that drive people to come in and and see your product and try it on, would certainly be more productive
Bret Schnitker 09:16
well, and you get immediate feedback, right? You have clients that are trying things on, you listen to the feedback. And I think, you know, ultimately, the goal is celebrate the success with the with the mom and pops. As that feedback rolls in and purchases start coming, you know, they get excited too, if they see a, you know, there's a big boxes. Talk a lot about the real estate, the turn on real estate, the amount of dollars per square foot that a rack or a section will will turn and they have metrics and standards for making sure that they meet those minimums. It's down to a science, but mom and pops have that same thing. It may not be as sophisticated as the large stores, but, but you know, it's important for them. To see stuff moving, yeah, and so, you know, you've got to be pretty intentional about those relationships.
Emily Lane 10:05
I remember a mom and pop store that I used to frequent as a young person, many years ago now, and I remember seeing the wide variety of brands. This was an outdoor store, and seeing things that were really designed for that audience, these real people who are hiking and things like that. And I was so amazed by that product. And now looking back, this was 20 plus, 25 years ago. Looking back, these are serious names that are now pillars in the outdoor apparel industry, new at that time. Yeah, but, but much lesser known, are there some kind of amazing success stories of brands really leveraging these relationships to gain worldwide traction? Do you have any any kind of references of some of those success stories?
Bret Schnitker 10:59
As you mentioned, there are a lot of brands that have used this strategy to launch, you know, names like Patagonia Mountain Khakis, Stussy with surf wear. You know, these concentrated lifestyle shops. You know, mountain towns that have lifestyle shops, etc. There are a number of brands that have really been built and are very loyal to those mom and pops, because they're elevated experiences. They've built those brands, and they stay with them. Same with Surf Shop, same way
Emily Lane 11:31
it feels really connected to your your your customer. Yeah, yeah. So what are some of those logistical challenges that that you might face in in working with smaller businesses, as opposed to maybe some of those that are just wired,
Bret Schnitker 11:50
yeah, I would say first, like we talked about the number of businesses required to connect with, it's super important, right? You've got 200 or 1000 you got to connect with, if you're a small brand and you're kind of working through those details, how do you get yourself to all of those different retailers and have relationships with them? Those can be those can be challenging. I think for sure, smaller order quantities is are kind of the name of the game with these mom and pops. They, you know, along with that curated experience, they have smaller quantities, so they sell out, they create demand.
Emily Lane 12:28
Part of that's because their space is limited. Oh, often, right? You're kind of fighting for, yeah, Backspace or shelf space.
Bret Schnitker 12:35
A lot of them want to have a pretty wide breadth of assortment. So people buy multiples so they don't go really deep, but they expect, many cases, you to be able to back them up in case there's a runner and fill into that. So managing inventory levels are certainly there. And then, as we talked about earlier, you know, mom and pops have gone through different levels of health and challenge, and, you know, cash flow can be a challenge with those groups too. So you have to be, you know, you have to be sensitive to credit terms. You have to be sensitive to payment, you know, timelines and all of that stuff for sure.
Emily Lane 12:58
What are some smart solutions for helping to manage things like replenishment or inventory?
Bret Schnitker 13:21
It's tough when you're a new brand, because it's hard to forecast the level of demand. So there's going to be a period of certain volatility, because you don't have a crystal ball, but things to help launch and establish a better record with those mom to pop shops is all about making it easier for them. So creating pre packs that have a bell curved size scale, focusing on the sizes that sell more readily in depth and have less that sell less readily right within certain markets, that certainly helps drop shipping is is most of them would love that a lot of brands will have the mom and pop actually pay for the cost of coming from a warehouse, but if you offer drop ship, they feel like that's an added value and a service. We talked a little bit about this before. Replenishment is big on core basics with these mom and pops, if they if they take off and they start running, and they've got a lot of customers that really like that, they certainly want to make sure that they can get backed up and delivered timely,
Emily Lane 14:27
because it's their reputation on the line also, yeah, yeah,
Bret Schnitker 14:30
definitely. Digital B to B platforms, if you make it easy for them to sign on, put their orders in, there's a lot of new, newer programs that help connect brands with retailers and make things easier. And then, you know you want to be flexible. You know they sometimes, they'll go through difficulties if you if you give them opportunity, or you give them grace or flexibility. At times, loyalties built and. They'll give it back to you. It's a real people business for sure.
Emily Lane 15:04
Well, I like to think when you're doing this business right, you're, you are you are thinking about people? Yeah, building product for people. You're building a community, community with people and and certainly, a partnership with these mom and pop shops is very relationship based. Are there additional values that can really be fostered with these kinds of partnerships? Yeah.
Bret Schnitker 15:26
I mean, we all talk about buy local. Right locality is important. I think that they, for the most part, care about craftsmanship. They care about longer term. They're not into fast fashion as much so elevated experiences, and in turn, when you have better product, lasting longer, selling higher, more elevated product, not buying at such a rapid pace. You you encourage sustainability. They're open to, you know, slower fashion. They want a bigger investment with that for sure,
Emily Lane 15:59
that's great. Well, thank you. Do you have any other thoughts to share at the bar before we wrap this up and actually do get a cocktail?
Bret Schnitker 16:06
Yeah, I would just say there are one you know, in our experiences with mom and pops across the nation in different categories that we've worked with, they're a wonderful group of people. It is an ecosystem that should not go away. It is challenged. There's a lot of people trying to figure out other solutions, as we have this multi channel marketing, and people think it's convenient, but boy, the experience of walking into some of these curated shops, it's just wonderful. You get to you know, you get to see product you don't see everywhere else in mass. They really care about that experience. So I would say, support your mom and pop support local.
Emily Lane 16:41
I love that well. Thank you for those thoughts and thank you for joining us here at the bar today. Don't forget to subscribe to stay apprised of upcoming conversations.
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