As my other pants are waiting to be decontaminated from a very stinky showing of the newest Star Trek (worth it!), I decided to put my rant-y pants on. I just had an email in my inbox with the caption: "Before You Ask Brands for Free Stuff, Do These 3 Things." Sigh. Now, the actual article is geared towards building relationships with PR companies and not the sort of designers I feature here, so perhaps the article is irrelevant for bloggers like me. However, I have heard from two indie designers in the last month that they are frequently asked outright for free stuff (or, worse yet, money) by fashion bloggers and, as a result, do not have a high opinion of bloggers in general. So, I have a feeling that many bloggers don't realize that there is a difference between large labels who devote large portions of their budget to marketing and indie designers who likely are doing everything on their own, do not have extra stock to throw at anyone that promises them a link, and may be living from sale to sale. Chances are, they can't even afford to give you a good discount if you're willing to buy a piece from them to test it out. So please, pay attention to who you're asking for things if you really must. Better yet, don't ask anyone for anything. If a label really likes your blog, thinks you're a good match for their product, and can afford to send you things for free, they will. If you have to ask, you shouldn't. I was under the impression when I started this blog that fashion blogs were intended for people who were genuinely excited about fashion to write about the designers they love and get other people excited about those designers. Don't become a fashion blogger in order to fill your closet. Be cool.
(Photo I took of Coney Island, hopefully not representative of the number of people who know what I'm talking about...)
