Captured Melody Blog

Archive for October 22nd, 2009

Okay so after one day of walking around, I went to go look for some t- shirts in Heather Green.  Yet once again, no luck.  I did end up buying a different style of shirt in 2 different colors.  I will be heading back to the district on Monday and will continue to look for Heather Green t-shirts online.  I met a designer that is going to help me get some long sleeve burn out shirts.  Her name is Ari and she is really nice.  After my long day of walking around, I headed back home to get some rest.  As for this evening, I got to get back to my logo designer with my draw overs and notes.  I think we are really close to being finished.

Well checking out for the evening.  I have the task of setting up my outlook with my new email address.  And also  have to import and organize my contacts, so that I can keep track of what I’m doing and who I’m talking to and when I talked to them.  Hopefully by Tuesday of next week, I will have all my shirts ready to take to the screen printers, but I’m still looking for someone to convert and pep up my design a tiny bit.  I’m moving along nicely.

Woke up yesterday morning and left at 10am in my mustang with the top down and headed to the LA Fashion District.  I was on a mission to find me some blank t-shirts. Looking for items that you specifically need or a style in your mind is really tough.  My first stop this morning was American Apparel.

The parking lot had a security guard and the lot was filled.  The warehouse had an retail outlet and a wholesale showroom.  I walked into the outlet and was greeted by a cute and friendly male employee.  I asked him where the showroom was for wholesale and he gave me directions with a nice smile, I had to smile back.  I walked out the door and  made my way to the security guard center where the employees and buyers enter the warehouse.  I signed in and got my visitors pass and was motioned to go in the  freight type elevator. The cage had black and white pictures of women dressed in hip sexy clothing, it was very artistic and compelling within the moving environment.  It almost seemed like a scene in a movie that I was experiencing.  The elevator stopped and I waited a moment for the doors to open; being a little confused I thought to open the doors manually to get to my floor.  What an experience!  I entered the showroom and began checking out the selections.

I was greeted by bright and cheery Maggie, one of the representatives there.  She was very helpful. She signed me up for a wholesale account since I have my resellers permit.  It was my first experience formally handing in my permit and signing paperwork, I really felt achieved and was proud to tell her that I’m going to be selling the t-shirts to raise money for my film.  I think she thought it was a really fun idea.

There were a couple styles that I like but since I’m starting off fresh, I need to keep costs down.  Taking a big risk could be costly when trying something new, but you have to take risks to be successful.   Most saving were offered with cases or dozens of the same size, but single pieces are available.  Currently, they have 2 green ones that I am really interested in and I might be back if I cannot find them elsewhere.  Overall, I would definitely go back to American Apparel; the customer service was excellent and the prices are reasonable.  After I was done I rode back down the awesome elevator and  headed outside to my car.

Grabbing the bull by the horns and taking control of what you want manifests the universe to work for you in blessed ways, it lets you know that you are on the right path.  -ACTIVATE-

After closing the door to my car I got a call from my friend Lisette, she told me she needed to find A Thunder Cats Cheetara costume and she was headed to downtown to find what she needed.  Lisette and I meet up and we parked in an upper floor parking garage in the Fashion District.  It was great to see my friend cause we haven’t hung out in a long time. We got caught up quickly and went on our missions together.  Lisette was a great help cause she speaks Spanish unlike myself.  We walked so many blocks and visited so many stores.  Finding blank shirt that are true sizes is pretty difficulty there and so many shirts which were cluttered with designs.  Finding the right cut and material of t-shirt was crucial to my vision.  Lisette had a hard time trying to find the right colors for her vision to match her costume. We loved it when we were greeted by the occasional rude employee who looked at us and said “wholesale only.”  But to their dismay, I had my permit on me!  Ha!  I have to admit that this was about 50% of the shops we visited. But Lisette and I just made fun on them and had a jolly laugh about them.

So we made more rounds, walking round and round searching for what we needed.  We kept searching and then started to meet some cool owners and places with reasonable prices for smaller multiple sized packages.  I took my iPhone out of one of the shops and one of the employee told me no pictures.  I said “it’s okay, I want to see if my design will match the colors that you have.”  She took a look at the image, smiled and gave us great customer service.  I also really liked 2 styles of shirts they had, so I will be making my way out there again today to make some purchases.  I also showed the picture to a few vendors and they gave us ideas of what could be added to make it better.

Rhinestones!

The walk continued.  All of a sudden a middle aged street vendor came out of nowhere and held up a little plastic cage filled with two tiny turtles.  She told me that they were $8.00 and they eat lettuce.  They were so cute, I almost bought them, but I used the power of no and went on my way.  Lisette was getting tired and was starting to get thirsty in the hot sun so she bought a Vitamin Water.  I was still wanted to visit one last shop  in the time we had left.  I think at this point, Lisette was pretty impressed with my negotiating skills.  I was cutting deals left and right but the styles were not just right, I was hesitant.  It had gotta feel right.

At the last store we went to I finally found the shirt I was looking for, but it had a design on it.  Damn! Why does that always happen?  I asked the shop owner if I could buy the shirt without a design.  Her reply was hesitant then asked me “how many pieces?”  I told her about 20 or 30.  She almost gawked that it wasn’t in the hundreds.  My friend and I rolled our eyes and brushed it off.  We continued looking in the store and I eventually found the plain white shirt in the same style, held up the shirt and inquired to her again.  Her eyes lit up and her tune quickly changed, she paused then said “let me check.”  Either she forgot or she was just being a pain, whatever, she had what I was looking for!  The shirts came in packages of 2s/2m/2l.  I got 3 packages, thanked her and went on our way.

We finally made it back to our cars we decided to go to my place.  When I sat in car my legs were so tired and worn out.  They were happy to get a break.  I wiggled my toes and lifted my feet off the ground.  Ahhh…We got to my place and we carpooled to some dance wear stores to find leotards for her Cheetara costume.  While Lisette was looking for colors and sizes, I checked out the Halloween costume section of the store and young man asked me if I needed some help.  I replied with “I really don’t know what I am going to be for Halloween.”  He told me I should look at the sexy costumes.  I shook my head no and replied with my first thought, “Do you have any shark costumes?”  He looked at me strangely and said only for kids.  After that I went and found my friend and told her what I said and she had a good laugh.  Hmm.. I think I really want to be a shark… Lisette came out of the dressing room; still no luck on the costume end.  Are tummies were growling with hunger, so we  finished our day with a great steak tostadas from Poquito Mas.  The guacamole was amazingly very fresh.  And we got there at the right time, we left the place was packed.  I would highly recommend this restaurant  if are in the West Los Angeles area!

Overall it was a great to spend the day with my friend and find a style that  I was looking for that would be worthy to carry the Captured Melody brand name!  The journey continues tomorrow.  I’m going back to Downtown to visit some more stores and return to ones that had styles that I liked.  I have 2 or 3 more styles to find, before I take them to the screen printers baby!  Oh yeah!  -ACTIVATE-