Earlier this week I recently sat down with Julie Lee the sales rep for
HELLZ BELLZ (via the Museum Group (1 of the most sort after sales agencies)). She is a hip brand manager with a couple of fingers of the pulse of the ever evolving Street wear/ Youth Culture market. Her history in the game is not just helping to get the numbers up for one of the hottest brands on the scene....
PEL: How did you luck up upon your current position?
Julie: Well, my previous experience and
COMPLEX and
Atmos kind of allowed me to network in this industry. A friend of mine had gotten an email from Dre (of the Museum Group) that he was looking for an additional salesrep. My friend felt that I was a good fit for the job so they forwarded it to me. Essentially it was my back in the days networking that got me here.
PEL: So what did u do at ATMOS?
Julie: I assisted the creative director. I did everything for him, I went to the trade shows, I helped him pick out products. I was like his third hand.
P: What about COMPLEX??
J: I assisted the fashion editor for 10 months and I helped on photo shoots, product placement in the magazine. I assisted the sneaker editor. It was fun
P: You said just 10 months at COMPLEX?
J: Yeah,... It started out as a 3 month internship, but I stayed for a while because I enjoyed being there. They were compensating me a little bit and it was a hot place to be.
P: I remember you telling me that you also worked at
L.A.M.B. When you left COMPLEX is that when you went there?
J: No after COMPLEX I went to ATMOS. I stayed there a little while, then I went to L.A.M.B.
P: How was L.A.M.B.?
J: It was ok, but it was a hand bag division. It was licensee and Mr. Tim Schifter owned it....
P: What was the name of the company?
J: It was called
Schifter & Partners . He owned
LeSportsac and sold it. Then he got the rights to produce
HARAJUKU LOVERS , L.A.M.B., and
Jill Stuart. I also heard that he is also doing
NINA RICCI handbags as well.
P: So what did you do over there?
J: Just a lot of assisting.
P: Did you go overseas?
J: No. I assisted alot of the departments and divisions.
P: Were you still networking and stuff while being in there?
J: Yes it gave me the opportunity to network with people in a different sector of the fashion industry. People that were not associated with the street culture. I got to meet alot of department store buyers. At times I was so conscious of what I was wearing to work, because it was a very image conscious atmosphere. You had to be very polished everytime that you entered the showroom. I remember one day I wore some Jordans to work and I felt out of place. It was really, really weird so I ran out the office and bought a pair of new shoes and came back.
P: How do you feel the atmosphere is of the Street wear industry?
J: Well this industry is way more laid back, because it is driven by young people. I kknow that the investors tend to be older, but the people that run the scene are all young. They are really hip, they are really happening. You know the workign atmosphere is laid back but people still work really hard.
P: What is a little jewel that you would drop to give people a better undersatnading about sales and what you do?
J: I feel like in sales your main goal is to understand the product and to deliver it to the buyers. The key is to deliver it to the right buyers. So where ever you place your product is going to determine the image of your product. That is a big part of sales. If you have a super cool product you don't to put it in all of the urban stores, because then degrades the integrity of the brand. So as the sales person you have to really push your product in the right direction while keeping the numbers up. Some people don't want their numbers up.
P: Why wouldn't they want their numbers up?
J: Because they don't want the product to be to saturated in the market. Especially in this culture, because everything is based on limited edition and exclusivity.....
We then got interrupted by the alarm of the emails coming to her inbox. Betcha' it was more HELLZ BELLZ orders.
Ohhhh did I mention she plays the cello and piano...
