Before you sign anything for fall, you need clear answers on eight things: the opening order minimum and what it takes to reorder, how deep the size curve actually runs in the bands and cups your customers wear, ship windows with a firm cancel date, the return authorization process for damages, whether the brand controls who else sells it near you and online, what marketing and swatch support comes with the account, your payment terms, and how you will exit if the line does not sell.
Most of these live in the rep's head, not on the linesheet. That is the whole problem. A brand can look perfect in a showroom and still be wrong for a store whose average fit is a 34G, and you will not find that out from a lookbook.
Work through the list below with the rep on the phone, in order, and write the answers down. If a rep will not put an answer in writing, treat the unwritten answer as unfavorable, because it usually is.
Opening order minimum and reorder minimum
Two separate numbers, and brands often quote only the first. The opening order is what you commit to get the account. The reorder minimum is what you must hit every time you replenish, and it is the one that governs your cash for the next two years.
Ask for both in dollars and in units, because they are not interchangeable. A $1,500 opening order at $32 wholesale is roughly 47 pieces. Spread across four styles, two colors and a ten piece size run, that is not even one of each. You have bought a sample rack, not a sellable assortment.
Also ask whether reorders can combine bras and briefs toward the minimum, and whether a single style can be reordered alone. A brand that requires $500 per reorder but lets you mix styles is far easier to live with than one that requires $300 per style.
The arithmetic to run before you agree
Take the reorder minimum, divide by your average wholesale cost, and you have the units you must commit each time you replenish. Then ask yourself how many weeks it takes your store to sell that many units of one brand. If the answer is more than eight weeks, the minimum is too high for you and you will end up sitting on odd sizes.
Keep reading: How much inventory do I really need per fitting room to keep appointments moving?
Size curve depth in your actual customer range
This is the question that separates a brand you can fit in from a brand you can only merchandise. Ask for the full grade, band by band and cup by cup, not the marketing summary of "28 to 44, A to K."
What you want to know is where the curve thins. Plenty of lines run to a J cup on paper but stop at a 34 band above an F cup, or offer the 38 band only through a D. If your fitting book skews to 32 to 38 in F through H, a brand with that gap will fail in your room even though the size chart looks generous.
- Ask which sizes are cut every season versus made to order or carryover only.
- Ask which sizes are typically the first to sell out at the brand's warehouse, and in what month.
- Ask whether the sister sizes actually grade or whether the pattern is blocked at one cup and scaled.
- Ask if wires change gauge or width across the range, because that changes who you can fit.
Then check the answers against your own history. If you can pull a list of your customers' confirmed sizes and see that a quarter of them sit in 36GG to 38H, a line that thins at G is a no, regardless of how it photographs.
Delivery windows and cancel dates
Fall bookings usually ship in a window, not on a date. Get the window in writing and get the cancel date with it. The cancel date is your protection: if the goods have not shipped by then, you can cancel without penalty.
Ask specifically about partial shipments. Some brands will ship what is ready and backorder the rest, which sounds helpful until you have paid freight twice and received the 34DD without the 34F. Ask whether backorders ship freight prepaid, and whether you can set a minimum fill percentage below which the whole order cancels.
For fall goods, a window that closes after October 1 is late for a boutique that starts holiday selling in November. Say that out loud to the rep and see what they offer.
Damages, defects and return authorization
Bras come back. Underwires poke through, hook and eye tape frays after two washes, a whole cut order can have a bad elastic lot. What you need is the process, not a promise.
| Question | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| How do I report a defect? | Named contact, email with photos, RA number issued |
| How long do I have? | A stated window from receipt, plus a separate window for customer worn returns |
| Credit or replacement? | Credit on account or replacement piece, your choice |
| Who pays return freight? | The brand, on their label, for confirmed defects |
| Shortages on receipt? | Reported within a stated number of days, credited without a return |
If the brand's answer to defects is "send photos and we will see," you are the warranty department. Price that into your margin or pass on the line.
Keep reading: What does a full Saturday on the fitting room floor teach you about staffing levels?
Territory and online seller policy
Ask three separate questions here, because reps often answer one and let you assume the rest.
First, is there a physical territory, and how is it defined? A radius in miles is cleaner than a zip code list, and a zip code list is cleaner than nothing. Second, what is the policy on online sellers, including marketplace listings? Third, what does the brand's own direct site do during your selling season?
That last one matters more every year. A brand that runs a twenty percent site wide sale in mid October has just marked down the goods you bought at full wholesale, in front of your customer, while she is standing in your fitting room. Ask whether the brand blacks out promotions during key retail weeks, and whether wholesale accounts are told about sales in advance. Ask whether they will honor your price on a piece they discounted, or issue markdown support.
Marketing assets and swatch support
Small items, easy to forget, meaningfully expensive if you have to make them yourself.
- High resolution product photography you are licensed to use on your own site and social, on white and on model.
- A size chart in a printable format, and a fit guide your staff can read in five minutes.
- Physical swatch cards for the season's colorways, so you can pre sell to a customer without pulling stock.
- Fit samples or a fitter training session, in person or on video, before the first shipment lands.
- Point of sale material that matches your fixtures rather than fighting them.
Ask whether the brand runs a co op advertising allowance, usually a small percentage of your seasonal purchases reimbursed against approved spend. Even a modest allowance covers a local print run or a boosted post, and many brands never mention it unless asked.
See how FitRoomLog handles this for lingerie and bra fitting boutiques
Terms, dating and the credit application
New accounts are frequently proforma, meaning payment before shipping. Fine for a first order, expensive as a permanent state. Ask what it takes to move to net 30, and how many on time payments they want to see first.
Ask about seasonal dating. Some brands will ship fall goods in August with payment due in October, which lets the merchandise start earning before the invoice comes due. That single concession can be worth more to your cash position than a two point discount.
Read the credit application for a personal guarantee clause. If it is there and you would rather not sign it, ask to start proforma instead. That is a normal request and a reasonable rep will not blink.
A one season trial structure that limits your exposure
Do not take the whole line. Structure fall as a test you can read cleanly.
- Pick two silhouettes, not five. One everyday t shirt bra, one that does something your floor cannot currently do.
- Buy two colors: one neutral that matches your customers' skin tones, one that photographs well.
- Go deep in the six to eight sizes your fit history says you sell most, and take a single piece in the sizes on either side of that band.
- Set a review date at week ten and write it in your calendar the day the order is placed.
- Decide the pass mark now, before you have any emotional investment. Something like: sixty percent sell through by week ten at full price, and at least four repeat fittings where the customer chose this brand over one you already carry.
- If it misses, do not reorder. If it passes, expand cup range before you expand silhouette count.
The trial only works if you can measure it, and measuring it means knowing which of your customers were fit into the new brand, in what size, and whether they came back for a second one.
Where to keep the answers
A brand decision is a fit data decision. The reason you know a line thins at G is that your own book says a meaningful share of your customers live there, and the reason you know the trial passed is that you can see repeat purchases by brand and cut.
FitRoomLog holds that record: every customer's confirmed size, the brands and cuts that worked for her, and what she bought last. When the fall order lands, the same record tells you exactly who to message, in her size, on the day it hits the floor. Start with your existing customer file and the next buying appointment gets easier to argue.
