Ladies who trunk

Trunk shows abroad deliver on sizeable premiums, a Blackberry full of customer contacts and an all-paid-for holiday - all in all, a sweet deal.

It was a snowy day in February and all of Brussels was in structured monochromatic winter clothing. Trupti Bellad wondered if anyone would brave the weather to come and buy kaleidoscopic summerwear by an unfamiliar Indian brand.

By the end of the day, over 100 people had showed up and bought more than half of the 300 pieces of clothing and accessories (¤90 on average) Bellad had carted along (most of them without trying any on).

Two days later and people were still calling about a second showing. So Bellad put together an impromptu second sale. "I sold the equivalent of an average two month's of retail sales in one-and-a-half days," she says.

Bombay Se is Joy Whalen's brand new clothing label. After an unsavoury experiment with retailers in Mumbai, Whalen decided trunk shows was the only business model she could effectively manage herself.

Armed with a larger-than-life personality and a truckload of friends all over the world, Whalen didn't find it difficult to locate sponsors for her sales excursions.

A Gulf-based financial group with future interests in retail pre-bought her summer '06 collection and shipped her and her trunk to the prosperous community of Fisher Island (near Miami) where, according to Whalen, "Island dwellers came in their $400 Michael Kors shorts and cardigans and thought nothing of a $180 embroidered tunic".

"That the company made lots of money on marking my clothes up was none of my concern," she says dismissively.

Trunk shows are exactly what they sound like, although suitcases and garment bags have replaced the axiomatic strapped steel trunk. In trunk shows in the West, established designers (or their representatives) offer their most loyal shoppers the first glimpse of their entire collection for the season ahead, often the exact same clothes worn down the runway... sort of a book-ahead opportunity for devoted fashionistas.

Several young Indian designers use this sales method to get a toehold in new markets. Amusingly, fashion old-hands, who have also been known to transport entire collections to the homes of high net-worth NRIs for private viewings, are uncomfortable with the term "trunk show".

A representative for Tarun Tahiliani remarks, "I couldn't categorically say he participates in trunk shows. It depends on the potential of that market and whether it fits into his schedule."

Jatin Varma, who debuted this year at the Wills Lifestyle Fashion week and is making his progression from mass market to designer retail, has no issues with saying he does trunk shows.

Last month he participated in a UNICEF fundaraising trunk show in London. "I am only taking 10 pieces, so sales will be irrelevant, but you never know who you'll meet," he said before packing his bags.

And it's not just desi darzees that are trunking, it's retailers too. Renu Bothra owns You, a Bombay based designer store, and has regularly carted her wares "" both in-house designs and designer stock "" for shows abroad. It's usually friends that invite her and it's always a serious sales proposition. "I carry at least 200 pieces of clothing with me; the idea is to sell out," she says.

It's interesting to note the third party liaison in this affair "" an easily conjecturable well-travelled, partygoing, Blackberry-toting caricature. Wha-len's contact in New York is a local African-American who organises her bi-annual trunk show for a laugh and a paltry commission (Whalen forces that on him).

Over wine and cheese and clothes trials, he chats up locals he'd never get to developing conversations with on the subway or at the local Starbucks. "He loves a good party," laughs Whalen.

Surina Narula, London businesswoman, non-profit fund-raiser, and highly publicised party-thrower is known to organise serveral charity trunk shows in London.

Other NRI aunties derive social currency from showing off their designer pull (not unlike their counterparts in India who organise sales of Parsi gara sarees for their friends to purchase at a premium over an afternoon of chai and samosa).

There are others for whom this a serious commercial proposition (translatable to a 20 per cent commission), only a slight deviation from their professional mainstay. Aida Bakhet is an independent PR consultant, having put in four years in luxury PR in New York before moving to Brussels.

She is organising a second and third showing for Bellad in Brussels and Antwerp in July, and potentially even in Geneva and Paris later this year.

"Aida is the perfect marketer, says Bellad, "She would stop people on the street and say, "You look like a trendy person, you'd love this show," or sit at the neighbourhood coffee shop for hours inviting everybody."

Identifying the audience is the first step to throwing a successful trunk show, and Whalen, through some trial and error, has figured out that her clothes are best received by "urban buyers of African American and South Asian ethnicities".

Similarly, Bothra frequents NRI-rich cities Hong Kong, Bangkok and Nairobi. "No Mumbai retailer can ignore NRIs, it's very important to let yourself be known to them so they can frequent your store on their trips here," she explains.

For some, trunk shows go hand in hand with an existing retailing model, for others it's a stand-alone business option until it leads up to greater things. And then there are those who simply use the shop, mark up and sell method.

For all, it's a great opportunity to travel, socialise and understand their customers firsthand. And make some swift bucks on some pretty sizeable premiums.