Feel free to contact me to respond to any of my posts! Thanks for reading...
- Melody Wilson
3/21/09
Kids' Fashion Photography
It's so difficult with little kids to get everything right in a photo. I'm impressed with Melanie Reyes' work here, in a recent photo shoot for Pixyworld.
She gets the most of the details of the clothing, while still getting a cute smile. I'm a sucker for a twirly dress, and she even got a little twirl into the photo!
Hats off to you photographers -- without you, there would be no online shopping!
3/20/09
Confessions of a Linkaholic
OK, so I may be just a little bit obsessed with Page Rank -- not that I use checkpagerank.net to check my google page rank, link popularity, and those of all the stores around me on every google search. I mean, just some searches -- the important ones!
Pixyworld doesn't exactly have a huge advertising budget these days. It's basically sweat-it-out, knock on zillions of e-doors, and hope somebody puts up my link somewhere.
Now, someone came up with a clever idea when they invented linkmarket.com. What better way for a starving designer to feel like she is shopping, when she's actually working?? You get a shopping cart and everything -- it almost brings a tear to the eye.
You don't have to understand... just nod and smile. I'll be OK. (Especially when I make it to a 4!!)
3/19/09
Overseas Manufacturing: Pros and Cons
Pixyworld is dipping its toes into the deep waters of overseas manufacturing. We're starting with one collection, as an experiment, this season. Amazingly enough, we found a factory that is willing to come low on minimums and even make one fabric in an extremely small quantity.
But there's more to overcome than high minimums. How about shipping cost -- not just shipping for the product, but back and forth for sample fabric, patterns, samples, & counter-samples!! Using a courrier service like FedEx has its advntages when it comes to speeding up customs delays, but the expense is truly daunting. It's adding dollars to the production cost of each piece, not to mention the dollars that will be added when the final product is shipped!
At this point it looks like it will come out a wash -- anything we save on labor will be made up for in these shipping & import costs. But my hope is that if we can develop a relationship now, as our volumes increase we can start to see some savings. At any rate, I'm excited about the product, which I think is going to be incredible.
3/18/09
Hitting the Runway in Michigan
We may not be LA or NYC, but my little town of Ypsilanti, MI will be hosting an annual fashion event, starting this May 9-10. Dressed on Washington Street will have 4 runway shows over the course of two days, including "Wearable Art" and "Recycled Clothing." Pixyworld will be participating on Sunday afternoon, with our mini-models hitting the runway for the first time. Those who are too tiny to model alone will be accompanied by their proud dads.
Any local mini-models sized 18M to 5T who are interested, please get in touch with me.
There are still spots open for apparel and accessory designers too. You can contact the event coordinator at the What Is That Gallery in Ypsilanti, at 734.485.0113, or email dressed2009@yahoo.com.
It's been a disappointment this year as far as Pixyworld sales, compared to Amazon and the Pixyworld website itself.
One thought is that maybe eBay shoppers are just looking for too much of a bargain -- they don't want new boutique kids' clothing, for the most part. Another is that the fixed-price listings eBay has been pushing are not getting the exposure they promised. My husband, who sells discount men's watches in his eBay store, says his traffic is down from last year, even though he has more listings.
Rumor has it that eBay was trying to be too much like Amazon, and lost the excitement that was their greatest strength. Perhaps a mid-course correction can still bring back the eBay magic!
3/16/09
The Idea for Pink Jungle
The popularity of animal print fabrics in women's apparel seemed like an opportunity for Pixyworld to do something trendy and yet fun and kid-friendly for little girls. My daughters love to see character on their clothing, and while I had not considered this look fashionable before, their enthusiasm put it in a new light for me.
Putting monkeys on the lower part of the dress and the jeans legs felt like unique twist, rather than simply slapping them on the chest of a tee-shirt. Then, I searched for a tropical-looking floral to complete the themed patchwork look. Voila: Pink Jungle!!
She gets the most of the details of the clothing, while still getting a cute smile. I'm a sucker for a 
The popularity of animal print fabrics in women's apparel seemed like an opportunity for 
