How to best create a catalog of products
Follow the steps below to emerge with a splendid catalog - or a few - to showcase your Art and your Wearable Art.
This can all be done directly in your Artist Portal (see links below), or you can always use the great website Canva.com which is full of possibilities in terms of designs.
Choose your Products & collections
The first step of all will be to think about the reason behind doing a catalog. Simple isn’t it? Not so much when you have a lot of possibilities!
We suggest you begin with a general one, THE catalog that will represent you and your Art best. Reflect on your works and your artistic direction. This catalog should scream “You” when people see it! The artwork you are more renowned for, a biography, pictures of you and/or your Art throughout the years. It is less about the products and more about your Art in general. Spread some products across the catalog but don’t let them overshine.
Once you have a general catalog to show around, you can go on and design dozens of them! For every new collection you are proud of, new assortments of products that will interest a great pool of customers, special events you are being a part of, or Holidays throughout the year.
After that, begin to think about the artwork you want to display.
They are the main focus and what drive you to create your Wearable Art line in the first place. They are your essence and what will be most important. The products are only the medium to diffuse your beautiful Art even more.
Once you chose your artwork, ponder which products to add to your catalog. Things you could and should consider:
Do I already have some best sellers?
What is my type of customers? What are they looking for?
To what intent am I planning this catalog? For example, for the Holidays you should consider a gift-giving section and occasion dresses, for an event on the beach you should consider light summery products, etc.
What are the ensembles I can create with my products? Think about your main pieces, a dress, top or bottom, and add some accessories to go with them
Most of the work is now done, yeah!
2. Think of your assortment to display
Once you know what goes into your catalog, time to think about how you want it to look!
The display of products and art makes a great difference at first glance. Here are the concepts you could think about, do you want the pages to be about:
the artwork; every artwork has its page and products linked to it
the similar products; every dress on the same page, every top on the other one, etc.
or the potential ensembles you could sell; mix & match of art and products, or just by putting accessories or overpieces beside a spotlight product
You could also create categories for easy reading and look, like for a Holiday theme catalog you could have these different sections that mix&match art and products or not:
Gift-Giving; all Home decor & Fashion Accessories
Dress up for the occasion; dresses & sparkling tops
Comfort during the holidays; all sweater knit products
etc.
3. Add stories & descriptions
And now, time for add-ons!
Do you have a particular story for a product or the artwork represented? The people looking at your catalog want to know! They want to feel the history behind each piece. What is your Wearable Art? What makes it different from everything else? It’s basically you! Your personality, your artistic direction, your experience. It’s important and greatly valuable.
Also, add substance to your catalog simply by answering potential questions upfront:
What is the cost for each piece
What are the fabrics used
What sizes do you offer
How does shipping work
How can they order from you, do they have a limited time
Add a longer description for each product if necessary or if you have key points
What is most important is the experience; people look up to you and they want your opinion. That additional information is crucial to building a long-lasting business and will benefit you in all the steps you make in your promotion.
4. Share!
Now that you have spent time preparing and pampering your beautiful catalog… it’s time to show it to the world!
We strongly suggest that you print your catalog at least once because it’s always a good thing to have in hand whenever you go. Remember, this shows your artistic work as well as demonstrates the endless possibilities of your Wearable Art line. Even if you’re going to an event where you won’t show your products, you might talk about it and people will be interested, and right there, boom! your catalog comes in handy. They check it, they love it (obviously) and they might contact you to order some or go to your Storefront when they come home.
Sounds too good to be true? Not at all! A lot of artists have told us they were stopped in the streets or at the groceries store from people they didn’t know to get asked where they get that dress or that tote.
Print more copies if you want to talk to boutique owners or have a popular fair/event coming where you will meet a lot of people. Also, if you plan on giving some catalogs, make sure to always keep one for yourself!
Other tips & tricks to share:
Have a blank order form to go with each catalog, either created by yourself or in your Artists Portal by creating an empty order with the products in your catalog and downloading the open order PDF
Send it via email to your newsletters subscribers or to your loved ones
Share the pages on your social media, it’s a good way to demonstrate a lot at once and be different than the same picture rotating!
Create a Live event to show your catalog and go through it with your fans. It gives you a chance to speak about your journey
Learn other tips on our “Promoting for free” article