Coldwater Ck (lenders, house, layoffs)

[mistyriver]

I feel like we here might have saved a few people some heartache.

Coldwater Creek announces employee layoffs



Coldwater Creek announces employee layoffs - Bonner County Daily Bee: Local News

[Publius4]

And headache... Thank you.

[mtngirlatheart]

At least they're living up to they're awesome reputation. :/

[mistyriver]

They just flew that company right into the ground.

[hatin11r]

Wow,this is interesting. We visited SP in Oct.and while on the lake cruise, met a woman who said she just relocated in June to work for CC. Hmmm,wonder if she fell "victim" or is a "cheaper" replacement. She actually knew a friend of mine in Houston,I'll have to ask him if he knows her fate......

[banjomike]

The fashion business is a particularly hard one.

One of my nieces got into it a while back; she's very creative, and began making children's outerwear for her own 2 small kids. Her daughter is a very beautiful child, and my niece took some photos of her wearing a coat. Like any mom, she showed the pic to some friends, who in turn showed it to a small local boutique, who called her and ordered some coats like it.

The coats sold out as soon as they arrived. One was purchased by a wealthy young mother who lived in New York City. About 2 months later, my niece got a call from a hot kid's boutique in Manhattan. The owner wanted an exclusive on her coats and ordered 100 of them.

At the time, my niece was working as a picture framer in an old converted chicken house that was on her rural property. It was a cinderblock shed that was wired and had water run to it, and she had set up her sewing equipment in one corner. Her primary customer for her picture frames is a well-known wildlife artist who paid her well, but was quite demanding.

She would not have the time to do both, so making the decision to make coats instead of frames was very hard for her. In the end, she gave up the framing biz as she believed the coats had more promise, and she filled the order by herself alone.

They sold out in a week. Another order came, this time for 200 coats. Once more, she did them all herself, but had to work extremely hard to finish so many in the time limit. By the time the order was completed, she was exhausted, so she contacted the boutique and said she would not do any more orders that large again.

But within a few months, her husband lost his job, and the boutique owner still wanted more coats than she could produce alone, so she accepted an order for 300 coats, and found some local housewives who wanted some at-home part time work to sew about half of them. Her chicken shed wasn't large enough to hold an order that large, so she rented a shop space in the downtown area and bought some expensive commercial sewing machines and other equipment to speed the job. The ladies came and went, each scheduling their times themselves.
This led to problems, as the ladies all wanted the same time period- the hours when their kids were in school- and there wasn't enough room for all of them.

The boutique owner rejected that half. They weren't up to the same quality level of my niece's work. She had already the ladies for their piecework, so all of a sudden, all the profit that was in the order disappeared. She had to let go the ladies who did the sloppiest work, causing a lot of bad feelings.

Then, as a final blow, the boutique dropped her because the word got out that the coat quality had badly slipped in New York City.

All that happened around 6 years ago, and she never recovered. She went up like a rocket and fell just as fast. Nowadays, she's sewing aprons and other commercial uniform wear for a few local restaurants who love her fresh designs, but they don't pay anywhere as well as the coats did. The only good thing to come out of it is she found an excellent financial and business advisor who has given her some much needed advice.

I don't know if she will ever try again to get back into the fashion industry. Her self-confidence was very badly shaken.

I can't even imagine how tough it would be to own a chain of clothing stores. It seems to be an industry where a few bad decisions can multiply and expand very quickly.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by banjomike

The fashion business is a particularly hard one.

One of my nieces got into it a while back; she's very creative, and began making children's outerwear for her own 2 small kids. Her daughter is a very beautiful child, and my niece took some photos of her wearing a coat. Like any mom, she showed the pic to some friends, who in turn showed it to a small local boutique, who called her and ordered some coats like it.

The coats sold out as soon as they arrived. One was purchased by a wealthy young mother who lived in New York City. About 2 months later, my niece got a call from a hot kid's boutique in Manhattan. The owner wanted an exclusive on her coats and ordered 100 of them.

At the time, my niece was working as a picture framer in an old converted chicken house that was on her rural property. It was a cinderblock shed that was wired and had water run to it, and she had set up her sewing equipment in one corner. Her primary customer for her picture frames is a well-known wildlife artist who paid her well, but was quite demanding.

She would not have the time to do both, so making the decision to make coats instead of frames was very hard for her. In the end, she gave up the framing biz as she believed the coats had more promise, and she filled the order by herself alone.

They sold out in a week. Another order came, this time for 200 coats. Once more, she did them all herself, but had to work extremely hard to finish so many in the time limit. By the time the order was completed, she was exhausted, so she contacted the boutique and said she would not do any more orders that large again.

But within a few months, her husband lost his job, and the boutique owner still wanted more coats than she could produce alone, so she accepted an order for 300 coats, and found some local housewives who wanted some at-home part time work to sew about half of them. Her chicken shed wasn't large enough to hold an order that large, so she rented a shop space in the downtown area and bought some expensive commercial sewing machines and other equipment to speed the job. The ladies came and went, each scheduling their times themselves.
This led to problems, as the ladies all wanted the same time period- the hours when their kids were in school- and there wasn't enough room for all of them.

The boutique owner rejected that half. They weren't up to the same quality level of my niece's work. She had already the ladies for their piecework, so all of a sudden, all the profit that was in the order disappeared. She had to let go the ladies who did the sloppiest work, causing a lot of bad feelings.

Then, as a final blow, the boutique dropped her because the word got out that the coat quality had badly slipped in New York City.

All that happened around 6 years ago, and she never recovered. She went up like a rocket and fell just as fast. Nowadays, she's sewing aprons and other commercial uniform wear for a few local restaurants who love her fresh designs, but they don't pay anywhere as well as the coats did. The only good thing to come out of it is she found an excellent financial and business advisor who has given her some much needed advice.

I don't know if she will ever try again to get back into the fashion industry. Her self-confidence was very badly shaken.

I can't even imagine how tough it would be to own a chain of clothing stores. It seems to be an industry where a few bad decisions can multiply and expand very quickly.

Coldwater Creek didn't start out and become huge as just a fashion business. They used to sell all kinds of things like windchimes, calenders, clocks, bedding, etc....all western themed in a tasteful way.
I think they lost their direction when they lost Ann Pence. She knew her market and when she left and her husband started indulging his massive ego, it was a matter of time. They moved away from the northwestern themed items and tried competing with companies like J. Jill, Chico's and Talbot's. But the quality went way downhill.
You wonder why people can't be happy with the success they find and have to keep enlarging.

[Para]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

You wonder why people can't be happy with the success they find and have to keep enlarging.

Not sure if it's the case with Coldwater but for other companies it's the shareholders driving the constant, unsustainable growth. I'm with you though, if I had the intestinal fortitude to start and grow a business, I'd be more than happy with a decent living, given that I can still stay ahead of the competition with a good quality product at a fair price in a niche market. Small enough to stay off the large organizations' radar but large enough to make a living.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by Para

Not sure if it's the case with Coldwater but for other companies it's the shareholders driving the constant, unsustainable growth. I'm with you though, if I had the intestinal fortitude to start and grow a business, I'd be more than happy with a decent living, given that I can still stay ahead of the competition with a good quality product at a fair price in a niche market. Small enough to stay off the large organizations' radar but large enough to make a living.

exactly. What led them to open brick and mortar stores with SPAS all over the country? I just remember people scratching their heads.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

Coldwater Creek didn't start out and become huge as just a fashion business. They used to sell all kinds of things like windchimes, calenders, clocks, bedding, etc....all western themed in a tasteful way.
I think they lost their direction when they lost Ann Pence. She knew her market and when she left and her husband started indulging his massive ego, it was a matter of time. They moved away from the northwestern themed items and tried competing with companies like J. Jill, Chico's and Talbot's. But the quality went way downhill.
You wonder why people can't be happy with the success they find and have to keep enlarging.

Is that what happened? I only know that the quality all of a sudden tanked. From great, classic designs with real suede jackets and good-looking NW style sweaters they went to sloppy greyish rags, and dresses that looked like muumuus. I still go there once in a while, hoping the old styles will come back...