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Posts from the ‘Day-To-Day’ Category

Jan 24

How Important Is It, Really?

Team Bento is currently on our annual sabatical, this time taken in Georgetown, Penang. Of course, I couldn’t visit another country without engaging in a little of one of my favourite hobbies, window shopping.

Something rather curious that I’ve spotted here is that it doesn’t seem to be essential to provide information about either fabric or country of manufacture of the garments being sold. I’ve been trying to rationalise this in my mind, but for me these make up such a very large part of my measure of value.

Here it seems quite acceptable for garments to be sold with literally no tags except the one showing the brand. At first I thought it was perhaps just at markets – items that were handmade by emerging designers and thus more difficult to police – but on closer inspection in a department store I discovered that this is actually a widespread phenomenon.

In Australia of course, it’s compulsory (and legally enforced) that we show not only the fabric used but also the country of manufacture and care instructions too. There are even guidelines for how long the tag should remain readable.

So… how important is this information to you? Do you ever look at the care tag, fabric tag or country of manufacture before purchasing an item? Does it factor into your decision making?

Jan 16

5 Comments

Gosh

Something rather curious happened last week, and in the spirit of transparency, I want to tell you about it.

In about October last year, I did an interview for a major glossy magazine. The journalist asked me to put together a list of ways you could incorporate sustainable / eco-chic dressing into your life, matching each list ‘item’ with a product. I did just that, writing a very thorough list, providing facts and figures, interesting little tales and referencing not only Bento products, but a large number of other products that I use myself and really love.

I’m thorough about this sort of thing and the journalist was thrilled at the level of detail I’d provided (I figure it’s always better to have too much and to cut it back than too little and have to pad it out).

I didn’t hear any more about the article and figured that like so many of these things, it had be scrapped or put on the backburner.

So you can imagine my astonishment when I was sitting in my beautician’s waiting room last week and flicked open the magazine in question only to discover they’d taken what was effectively an article I’d written, stripped out every mention of me and of Bento but kept reference to all the other products.

Perhaps it was an accident. Perhaps they think I’m a nobody and never will be so it’s okay. Perhaps they imagine I’ll never advertise with them so no harm is done to their bottom line.  Whatever the reason, it wasn’t cool… and it wasn’t a nice way to find out.

Dec 23

3 Comments

How To Shop Smart In The Sales

It’s a well-documented fact that retail isn’t going well right now… not just in Australia, but all over the world. And whilst many stores have started their post-Christmas sales early, we all know they’re keeping something up their sleeve and there’s likely much more to come.

Bento was built on the idea of less is more. Buy less, but spend more on each item. Buy better quality and pieces you’ll love rather than spend your hard-earned dollars on cheap junk that will quickly find the back of your closet and ultimately be the source of a rather frustrating ‘what was I THINKING?!’ moment. Quality over quantity.

Of course, sale season is a great time of year when you can get more bang-for-your-buck and fill your wardrobe with those covetable, timeless pieces and more fashion-forward finds for a fraction of the original price. But that’s only if – IF – you’re smart and you don’t get distracted by the allure of big discounts and well-known brands.

So, without further ado here are our tips for getting the most out of the biggest sale time of year…

1. Do your homework - now’s the time to go through your wardrobe and think about what pieces you’ve actually wanted for when getting dressed throughout the year. Now’s the time to buy those nude pumps, statement necklace or cropped black jacket. If you go in focused, you can come out victorious.

2. Ask yourself this question - if your house was burning down or you were making a quick getaway in the middle of the night Bond-girl style, would you take this piece with you? If not, is it really worth spending your money on? Save the cash from this purchase and all the others in the same category and put it towards something you’d risk your life to go back in to that burning building and rescue.

3. Learn quality from advertising - just because it has a brand you recognise on it, doesn’t mean it’s good quality. Check elements like the location of production, sturdiness of stitching, care instructions, fabric make up and any if there’s a guarantee.

Overspending in the flurry of sales is a lot like overeating in the flurry of parties. You might be able to justify it to yourself at the time, but the time will come later when you’ll wish you’d been smarter in your choices.

But that just means you should focus on the caviar and stay away from the potato chips.

Enjoy!

 

Nov 28

2 Comments

How To Apply For A Job In Fashion (or anywhere for that matter)

In the last ten days or so, I have individually read over three hundred job applications. I won’t go into the details, just take it from me that’s a lot of sorting.

There are some people out there who know how to throw together a decent application. What I have been incredibly surprised at however, is that the vast majority of people haven’t got a clue how to successfully apply for a job. With this in mind, I thought I’d share my tips for applying for a role in such a way that you’ll get an interview.

Some notes:

  1. If you think the job looks interesting, chances are other people do too. Remember this process is competitive and you need to stand out in your application – and for good reasons, not bad. Proof read and spell check at least three times before sending the application.
  2. The devil is in the detail. If the advertisement asks for something specific in the application, make sure you not only include it, but make it VERY EASY to get to. Don’t ask the interviewer to click on things and navigate to places to find what they want to see. It’s WAY easier to just reject your application.
  3. You’re looking for a first date, not a marriage proposal. Remember: the purpose of an application is to get the organisation interested enough in you to ask you for an interview. They’re not supposed to hire you on the strength of your application alone.

About cover letters…

These aren’t optional. Not only MUST you have a cover letter, it must be customised. It must address the selection criteria outlined in the advertisement and it must be correct, articulate and succinct. If the job you’re applying for has over 300 applicants, do you think the reviewer wants to read a page or more of wordy text about your life history?

They don’t.

Here’s the basic formula I use for cover letters. You’re more than welcome to pinch it:

Dear [First Name]

I wish to be considered for the [role title] position as advertised on/in [location of advertisement], reference number [number].

I believe I have all the skills necessary to excel in this role including:

[bullet points addressing criteria from advertisement]

Most of all however, I’m really [passionate / excited / interested / whatever] about working for [name of company]. [Here you need to do your research about the business and include a sentence outlining WHY YOU WANT THE JOB].

Thanks in advance for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I can be contacted via reply email or on [phone number].

Regards,

[Your First Name]

Here are the important things to note about this template:

  1. The letter is specifically addressed to a person. 90% of the time this name will not be in the job ad. It’s your job to find out what it is. Make a phone call, stalk them online. Work it out. About 0.5% of the time you won’t be able to find it and that’s OK – you can write ‘To Whom It May Concern’. Just for goodness sake make sure you spell that sentence right!
  2. The bullet points address the specifics in the ad. Just by glancing at this letter, they’ll be able to tell if it’s worth reading your resume or not. Sometimes the ad will outline the selection criteria. Sometimes, you’ll have to work it out yourself. For example, say a job ad was only two lines and said something like ‘Fashion designer looking for assistant to help with running of label’. You can instantly work out stuff like:
    a) you’re going to have to know about fashion
    b) you’ll need to be organised
    Then you can look at their website or do some research and find out the specifics of the business. If they do all their manufacturing offshore then it might be really helpful that you speak another language, if they have no social media presence and you know how to build Facebook fan pages then that might be handy. If you have extensive experience as an EA that’ll definitely be worth outlining.
  3. You’ll need to tailor the language used and tone of voice in your cover letter to reflect the advertisement. I saw a job ad a while ago that advertised for zombie killers. The actual job involved video game programming. To me, logic says that you wouldn’t write the same cover letter for these guys as you would for a bank but everything I’ve seen in the past few weeks tells me not many people think this way. Just take it from me as true.

As for resumes, well that’s probably another post in its own right. What I will say is that like your cover letter your resume should be largely customised to suit the type of role you’re applying for. I have four resumes. Each one of them is 100% accurate, they just each talk about different aspects of the jobs I’ve held.

Whilst I’m on the subject, less is more when it comes to resumes. Here’s what you DON’T have to include:

  1. Your age or date of birth
  2. Your marital status
  3. Sexual preferences (don’t laugh, I’ve seen this one in the last few weeks)
  4. Home address
  5. Contact details for referees
  6. Your hobbies (except in extraordinary circumstances where they’re relevant)
  7. Blow by blow details of each and every single job you’ve ever had (unless you’ve only held one or two)

This post is rapidly becoming extremely long, so I’ll stop here and cap it off by saying that above all, don’t make yourself look like an idiot. If you’re going to say you have amazing attention to detail, don’t spell the word detail wrong. If you want to say you’re committed and loyal, you’d better make sure you’re not using your work email address and have been in each of your jobs more than 18 months.

Good luck!

Sam

 

Nov 7

2 Comments

What I Know About Sizing

I heard a rumour recently that the Australian government are considering researching and then issuing standardised sizing in Australia. Admittedly, I find it entertaining that in my wardrobe I have everything from a size 6 to a 12 and 26 to 30 in the denim department. This isn’t a weight thing – they all fit right now. In fact, the 30 is snug and the 26 is loose. Go figure.

Anyway. When the sizing decision had to be made for Bento – not just how we were going to measure things but what we were going to call those sizes, I asked everyone I could think of. I wrote to Bloomingdales in the US. I asked our blog readers, Facebook fans, strangers at parties and my family. What this ultimately ended in is that Bento is sized on a 1, 2, 3, 4 scale – not 8, 10, 12 (AU and UK), 2, 4, 6 (US), 3, 5, 7 (Japan) or anything else.

This is for a few reasons. One, it’s easy to tell what is bigger or smaller than anything else. A 2 is bigger than a 1. So it’s fairly universal. Two, it’s hard for women to get caught up on what size they “should” be and instead focus on what looks good when the sizes are just relative to each other.

In all honesty, this has been a bit of an issue. Manufacturers really don’t like you messing about with the system. When they can’t see it, people get confused and want to convert the sizing to something they know.

Here’s the kicker though… when people see Bento in person – they want it. This has always been the case. The quality, cut and longevity speaks for itself. In person, the sizing system suddenly makes sense. Customers don’t get fixated on the fact they’re used to being a size 12. They try things and look at the fit and the cut and how it feels rather than some arbitrary number. It becomes far more like a personalised, handmade experience from years gone by than the ‘off the rack’ system we’re used to.

Of course, fundamentally it’s not any different… it’s just about getting past a barrier we’ve become used to and focusing on what’s important.

With all this in mind, I can’t decide if I’m for or against standardised sizing. As long as a label can sort out their own sizing and stay true to that, does it really matter what it’s called?

But what do you think? Should we have one system of sizing in Australia? And if so, should it be compulsory?

Sam

Oct 24

Bento x Adorn

We’ve been hoarding this image for a while, but we can now show you this shot for Adorn Mineral Cosmetics in which the models are wearing Bento.

These knits are from our Spring/Summer 2011 collection and are in a featherweight cotton so they’re perfect for the warmer months (think combatting airconditioning and in the evenings when it cools off).

Click on the image for a larger version!

Oct 20

3 Comments

Should We Make This Dress?

Wholesale orders for Autumn/Winter 2012 have so far, been slow. Less than ideal, yes… but more a comment on the current economic environment than the calibre of the collection.

Anyway, with wholesale orders being slow this means we have to make some tough decisions on a few styles that we haven’t received orders for. Do we pay to have them made anyway and sell them online or in a pop up shop? Or do we just scratch that style completely?

One of the styles up for consideration is the Eliza wrap dress, shown below. It’s 100% Australian merino wool jersey and will retail between $299.95 and $349.95 depending upon the volume made. I’m actually not a big wearer of maxi dresses, but I like to try every single Bento item personally before they go into production. Put simply, you feel things in wearing that you can’t see on a model.

You can’t really tell from this picture, but the front of the dress is cut in a tulip shape so it comes up at the front, meaning you can see boots or tights you’re wearing underneath. It’s also less likely to get wet when it’s raining! Finally, it can be worn as a long cardigan too.

The weekend just gone, I wore the dress out shopping… and was literally inundated by people asking where it was from. At one point I even had a small crowd standing around me wanting to know about it and touch it.

So now I’m thinking – should I pay to have this dress made for sale? Would you buy it given the price listed above? Keep in mind that I don’t have endless wads of cash. If we make this dress, we won’t be able to make something else. There’s no value making it if it won’t sell.

 

Thanks for your help!

Sam

Oct 8

5 Comments

The Bento A to Z of Melbourne (part one)

As a Melbourne born label, we thought we’d take a moment to celebrate all that’s good about this city.

Here’s the first part – A to K…

A
Aesop
Natural goodness for your skin that smells totally scrumptious.
www.aesop.com

B
Bopha Devi
Cambodian cuisine that’s fresh and flavoursome.
www.bophadevi.com

C
Canturi
Australian designed and made… hands down the most beautiful jewellery you will ever find.
www.canturi.com

D
Dead Man Espresso
Definitely amongst the best breakfast venues in town.
www.deadmanespresso.com.au

E
Esc
Great coffee in the Docklands part of town.
833 Collins Street, Docklands

F
Fraus
The place to go for galettes. Oh, and over 20 flavours of hot chocolate.
www.fraus.com.au

G
Gelatello
Dark chocolate gelato. Enough said.
166 Chapel Street, Windsor

H
Horse With No Name
A gorgeous multi-label boutique that stocks Bento and our favourite footwear friend, Habbot.
209 Greville Street, Prahran

I
Inkr7
Fantastic brunch spot and also make their chai from scratch that you can take home.
7 Inkerman Street, St Kilda

J
Journal Cafe
Sit. Drink. Read.
253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

K
Kenzan Sushi
Best miso we’ve ever had and DIY sushi rolls.
Postal Lane, GPO

 

This is one of those times when you wish some letters in the alphabet would repeat. What makes your list?
 

Sep 29

1 Comment

You’re FIRED.

As you all well know, we’ve had some interesting difficulties with stockists and suppliers deciding that legal contracts are more like “guidelines”. Sure, anyone who’s been even briefly exposed to a media outlet in the last 12 months will know that retail is pretty dire right now… but does that excuse completely immoral and illegal behaviour? We’re not talking third world starvation and theft to feed families after all. It’s a basic case of – as my dad puts it – ‘I’m going to prop up my business with your money’.

Bank bashing is a national sport in Australia, but folks… THIS IS WHAT BANKS ARE FOR.

Right now our debt collector and lawyers are about to issue a warrant for seizure of goods for someone that owes us thousands. Another accounts person told me this week to “take a chill pill” when I followed up on an invoice that was more than 3 months overdue. People who deny ever having taken delivery of stock are ignoring us in public places.

Really, people? Really? In my previous life the attitudes I’ve encountered recently would have been grounds for formal warnings and ultimately termination of employment.

I don’t want to be someone people dread talking to. I don’t want to be the bad cop. But honestly, what am I supposed to do? Is there an answer here? Or is this a type of judgement day where the good and worthy are being sorted from the rubbish?

Sam

Sep 16

You Must Read This

If you have any interest in fashion (if not, what are you doing here, exactly?!), you must read this post and blog in general by a former boutique owner and friend of ours, Lorena. In this particular post, Lorena covers some of her learnings about building a wardrobe and offers insights into the inner workings of a boutique and how you can be the kind of customer such stores will favour.

It’s possible that many stores and labels won’t want people to heed her advice around buying less but buying exceptional. For us, it’s exactly what Bento is all about.

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