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!