Inside The World Of Off-Price Fashion Sourcing - Kanchan Bharwani

Shivang (00:07)

Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of the ReCommerce show. Today on the show, I am joined by Kanchan Bharwani. Kanchan is a strategist who has helped brands turn surplus returns and overproduction into real growth. She started in the fashion world through the off price side, learning how to buy, negotiate and protect brand value while moving inventory fast. With a background in business accounting and psychology, she blends creative thinking with pure operational grit. Today, she's a trusted advisor to brands.

emerging designers and off-price buyers on how to make liquidation strategic and not just a reactive activity. Her approach connects consumer psychology, pricing behavior and brand trust in ways most folks overlook. Kanchan, welcome to the show. Thrilled to have you here.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (00:51)

Thank you for having me. Happy to be here.

Shivang (00:55)

Absolutely. Yeah, to start off, ⁓ what's your favorite quote or mantra that you live by?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (01:02)

Well, with work, I like buy with intention, sell with purpose. That is a very, that really resonates with the off-price fashion world, which I'm in, because I think that when we, I think every piece of inventory, when you place it in the right hands, it creates a win-win for both sides. That's why I like it.

Shivang (01:25)

That's

actually true. Everyone's trying to get the best out of a deal. And if your motto itself is to get everyone into a win-win position, people would come back.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (01:36)

Of course, yes. I think that should be the... I mean, I feel that in today's world, like a lot of negotiation tactics go by... I mean, the perception of it is always a win-lose, and it doesn't always have to be like that. It could also be a win-win when you strategize it correctly.

Shivang (01:56)

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. And also when you point the right incentives to people, sometimes the win is not that clear, ⁓ especially if someone's on the selling side, right?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (02:02)

Yes.

Yeah, of course, because they want a reason. I mean, for them, they need a reason of why they should sell to you and why would it be beneficial for them? Because, I mean, at the end of the day, when you do things even for yourself, you want it to benefit you, right? So it's the same thing for them. It's still human psychology at the end of the day.

Shivang (02:28)

Absolutely, that's a great start to the part. ⁓ So yeah, before we dive deep more into the conversation, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do, what kind of problems do you solve in the retail industry?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (02:40)

Yeah, so I'm a fashion consultant. Now I work in the off price space. A lot of people don't understand what is off price fashion, but it's basically where it's a situation where I help brands and retailers and manufacturers to find value in surplus inventory. Now to make it easy for your listeners to understand, like I will just use a very simple example.

Like sometimes you can in different countries ⁓ in the world, like in when where we are in US, we have off price stores like, for example, Burlington, TJ Maxx, those are called off price stores. Now, when you go to Asia, they call it factory outlet. It's actually one in the same concept. Now, what happens is what they carry over there are brands that we are very familiar with, I'll name drop some brands like Champion because I've worked with them. And then you have Eddie Bauer and you have

Old Navy, GAP all of that like those are very common brands that the whole world knows about it, right? Now what happens and what happens to what I mean what what I do in relation to that is now some of these brands usually cancel They place orders all over the world with the manufacturers because they're I mean they're huge right and What happens is they cancel on the manufacturers when the manufacturers do not honor their delivery dates?

or something that is supposed to be scheduled for summer, they wanna deliver it on winter. So that's not acceptable because of course the stores also have to think of their dollars and their budgets and what they're getting ready to put on the floor for the customers, right? So as a result, they cancel on the manufacturers, all of this millions of pieces, sometimes it's in hundreds and thousands, sometimes it's as little as 10,000. So they cancel on them. And sometimes the second reason they cancel is due to...

Say for instance, the simplest thing is the black pantone color is not the right pantone. And for us consumers, it's just black as black. Like we don't care, you know? But they do because they're the ones who are instructing the factory, right? I want particularly this pantone, but it is not honored. those are some of the reasons why they cancel on these manufacturers. Now, where I come in is I get to know these manufacturers and they tell me that,

Shivang (04:39)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (04:59)

these goods were cancelled on us. Now we're stuck. We need money and we need to kind of, we want to roll this and get rid of it from the warehouse to kind of ⁓ number one, not end up in the landfills, obviously, because it's sustainable. It's big on sustainability. The crux of this business is very big on sustainability. And also, of course, they want to clear their warehouse space and they need the funds to kind of continue rolling. So where I come in is I see the styles if I feel that, hey, this is suitable for

our market and our customers like this series of colors. This is an item that sells. will give them, I will discuss with my team and with my boss, of course, and I'll advise him, okay, I think this is the price we should go for because we can resell for an X amount of price. And that's when we come in, like, you know, like he negotiates, whatever we get it done. I tell them how to pack it, repackage it so that it looks good and sellable to customers.

we bring into the United States, we resell it back to the discounted stores. And that answers the questions as to why certain brands in seem to be in these stores seems to be very cheap. And they're like, how come in the real stores is like costing you two times more to pay on the same thing. So that's the reason. It's because sometimes they cancel due to I mean, they're pristine products. They're good products. They just get canceled on, unfortunately, due to some reasons like, you know.

Shivang (06:19)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (06:22)

So that's what I do. And that's the problems I solve in the industries. Basically, I turn their dead stock into money, you know, and for us, for us, like in United States, like when we bring it here, the problem I solve is it allows, I said it promotes affordable fashion that you know what I mean? Like, because with the today's economy, people, some people want to stay in trend without bringing the bank and it allows them to do that. You know, it allows the small businesses in United States.

Shivang (06:22)

That's super interesting.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (06:52)

to also get access to be like, hey, I don't have to buy container loads from you, but because they're small business, they're like, we just want to buy 5,000 units from you. And I can cater to that. And it allows them to grow too. It allows their business to grow because they have their own customer base for it. And for the big stores, enjoy. ⁓ They are able to buy the bigger volumes because, again, they also have their customer base for it. And the big picture in the US, obviously, for the economy. ⁓

Shivang (07:21)

Yeah, that's I think you're helping a lot of people in a lot of bad situations. You're starting with the manufacturer. They are stuck with the stock. So you're helping them, you know, improve their cash flow. You're helping, you know, commerce being more sustainable by getting all this stuff over and getting it into a consumer's hand. You're helping smaller businesses by making it accessible for them to, you know, be able to get those name brands without breaking the bank or, you know, without making that commitment for a truckload.

And you know, you're just, I think I really like how you're getting people out of a bad situation and making it a strategic win for them. ⁓

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (07:58)

And like lately I

tried I have to have to introduce this because a lot of people have the perceptions that goods in the United States are expensive like I'm talking about Importers like for us us importers we We like my company is essentially an importer, right? So we import from like at least 12 countries Okay. Now a lot of people have the impression that okay us

can only be an importer and we can't be an exporter because we are too expensive for that. So even that is something that I kind of like I had to break that because we're like not like recently I started opening a new market to Mexico and I'll be like, you know what? This style doesn't sell for us. So let's it was an old merchandise before even my time that I was working in Empire and they had it. So I started to be like, you know what? Why isn't anyone trying to approach other markets here? So

Let me try. So I started with a small store in Mexico and then a bigger store. And then we started exporting to even Dubai. So it's like the reverse. So it's like to show that it's possible. It's not what you think that is too expensive so we can act as it is so that we can have a channel to become an exporter. We can do. We can import and we can export if it's the right merchandise.

Shivang (09:18)

Yeah, I mean, definitely that resonates with us. have a few customers who do that. They ship out to Mexico. They ship out to Africa. So that definitely is an underutilized channel because people think it's much more expensive. I mean, challenge with that, which people have to solve is the tax work, the compliance work, the trade. You need to know the trade laws of where you're importing into. But if you can figure that out, if you have a distributor or a broker that can figure that out, then it actually is a really good channel.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (09:25)

Hmm.

of

Yeah, that works.

Yeah, for us, like how I work with these stores is they have, they usually always have offices over here. So thankfully, like I, like I tell them that, you know what, I want to, I mean, and they tell me in order to be compliant, these are, these are the things that we need. So I, you know, I give them that I give them the papers they need, whatever. And they arrange themselves to pick up from our warehouse so that I don't have to deal with the exports because they have their buying office over here. You got me. So for them, like, yeah, they just tell me.

Shivang (10:13)

Make sense.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (10:16)

this is a yes, that's a no for us. So what do you have like in our yes category? So I show them what we have, you know, and we're like, okay, this is interesting. This is another no, yeah, you know.

Shivang (10:24)

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah, super interesting. ⁓

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (10:31)

you

Shivang (10:33)

have a question, essentially given your background. We had an opportunity to look into your background and we were quite curious about how you ⁓ segued into fashion from accounting, design and psychology. I thought we'll bring this up, but what was that early journey like while you were entering this fashion world?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (10:55)

So you know when I started, how I ended up here, how I ended up in fashion is when I first graduated right, ⁓ I graduated in a university in Malaysia actually and I'm from Indonesia so I studied abroad essentially so when I graduated I came back home I needed you know I loved designing. Designing is actually my main passion. The only reason I did accounting in my college was everything else I found it too easy.

So I'm like, you know what? I want something a bit more stimulating. So I went for accounting. So that's the only reason I did that, to be honest. But I personally love designing. But in my university, they were not offering a full program that I can just do it in Malaysia to be close to home. I had to transfer here. to transfer. I was too tedious. like, you know what? I'm just going to do accounting, complete my bachelor's, come back home. I'm going to self-learn the design part of it.

And I really did self-learn my graphic design. That graphic design for me was, it's, can say 90 % self-learn. So when I got home, I realized that I love this. I want to build this business, but obviously I need to work somewhere and start earning first. Right? So I resorted to, to like doing this, like to work in an office to, to kind of see like the office of a relative of mine. And I was looking into it and I'm like,

wow, this is actually interesting like how she keeps getting like cheap branded stuff and stuff and I like those. I'm like, this is amazing. But how does this work? So I started over there and I realized that when I realized in her company, she was very good with the supply channel. She's very well connected with the manufacturers in Indonesia and stuff. But she was having a very hard time to get buyers. And of course, without sales, you won't survive. Right. So and she wasn't very tech savvy either. But

For me, it was also a brand new world for me. So I thought, you know what, let me get creative with it. Because again, my goal was I wanted to learn. I wanted to kind of build my design business, but I needed the money. So I wanted to work where it allows me to go home early and then I can continue to build whatever I want to build. So during my time over there, I kind of thought to myself, how do I help her with the whole buying situation? Because she needs the help, like to sell to somebody, right? So I started

putting her ⁓ in websites. At that time, Alibaba was very in. It was very, it's such websites, basically trade listings websites. So I started throwing ⁓ ourselves out there, like my company that, hey, this is what we can offer, whatever, and looking for buyers from ABCDE countries. And slowly, buyers from New York started approaching, from Los Angeles started approaching.

I think at that time it was also a new thing for them and they think that they could look for vendors there. So it was a good time to kind of dive into it. And that's what I did. So I started getting one out of like 30 to 40 emails I would send every day. I would get ignored with time and then suddenly one would reply me. like, oh, let me catch on this. So I did one, one, one. And then these people, believe it or not, are the buyers who's still there today. Like this is like...

two decades, I think almost down the line, they're still here today. They survived the whole pandemic situation while other businesses shut down, they survived. So they've really started, let's just say we grew together. around the time they started, it was the time that you can essentially say I started, like, you know, to help this business. So I started from there. did US, I did Dubai, I did buyers from Russia, I did buyers from Venezuela. Like it was various, like, you know, so.

Shivang (14:19)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (14:38)

I built that side of things and I started to enjoy myself. But the only thing I didn't want to be at that time was I'm like, you know what? I don't really want to be on the front screen of things. I'm okay to be on the behind the scenes to do this. Like I'll do your emailing as you basically. So I was doing that a lot and I started inviting one client after another to Indonesia. They flew in, they bought a lot and the business grew exponentially after a very short time. So I thought, okay, this was fun. Okay. Now I wanted to move on and do...

Shivang (14:50)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (15:08)

my own graphic design stuff and I was doing it on the side I was getting side projects which I was happy with as I decided to go I wanted to go full-time I got offered by one of the clients to work for him in Montreal so he's like I like what you do you know what I like and stuff like that you know and I think you if you're such a good vendor and you know what we like it will make you a very good buyer so I want you on my team you know so I was like okay but what do I do

Shivang (15:30)

Okay.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (15:35)

You know, like, do I sit in Montreal? Do I sit in Indonesia? Like, what do I do? He's like, I travel around the world every three months to buy. I want you to come with me so that you see, and there are certain moments that you'll have to go by yourself when I cannot come. Because he's a 60 year old guy. can't be flying out of Canada every three months for him. It's tiring. Right. So that's the goal of him training me. Now, of course, when I started to work with him, my, I think, I think my career.

like my career ceiling, I would say like just exploded to another level because I was exposed to so many different markets, you know, like I have a sister to Bangladesh, to Vietnam, to Cambodia. Like I was out of Indonesia so I could see what other countries were offering. What was he buying? Like how was his mentality when he negotiated? And I used to be scared because I would think that my God, he's so cheap when he offers other people. Like this people would...

We saw turn off. That's what that was my image about him until I traveled enough and thought to myself that I need to get this image, this perception of him out of my head. I mean, if he's a big company today, there's something he's doing right. Like he's taking his ego out of the way and just doing what's right for him. He knows what margins he needs to make for his companies to survive for company to survive. Right. So I mean, if I work for him, I have to be aligning on the same goal, you know, and

Shivang (16:46)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (16:56)

keep my own perceptions aside. So I learned from that experience. I was exposed to the items that he was buying. I was exposed to the way he negotiated, the way that he taught me that I carry with me till today is to never be afraid to walk out on a deal. You just have to say no sometimes. If their prices are too high, whatever, just say no. They always come back around 90 % of the time. So I cannot, I shouldn't be that person who'll be like, shit, I'm gonna lose a deal. No, doesn't work like that.

Shivang (17:01)

you

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (17:26)

They always come back. And you know, that's something that he instilled in me. Like this, my previous employer, I was with him for five years. Now, because of that work experience, now there are certain countries he has not tapped into. Like Ethiopia, he's never, you know, then I tapped into it. So it became like my personal thing. He would send me there. I would fly to Ethiopia by myself and I would work on deals from there. To Pakistan myself, which he will never fly to.

I had to work on deals with my... So there are certain countries that became my channel and he doesn't even want to get involved because he's like, listen, you know what you're doing? You're tough yourself with them. Like you will be able to do this, you know? So he just lets me be after that. And there's certain countries that people are so scared to go there because they have a bad image of like, oh my God, how can you trust the people there? How do you work there? I'm like, no, have to, again, I have to get that image out of my head because...

Shivang (18:21)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (18:23)

certain like yes people obviously in Africa is it safe yeah I mean like if you find the right person you're okay you know even in Pakistan you're going there by yourself as a woman like I get a lot of that I'm like no it's okay you know like I and till today like some of the vendors in Pakistan like we have such good relationships that people get amused how why can I have good relationships with them till today it's amusing to some of them because they refrain buying from there due to their own you know image of situations like over there and people

Shivang (18:50)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (18:52)

You know?

Shivang (18:53)

Yeah, I mean,

you've so you've traveled a lot. I believe you. mean, ⁓ you've traveled a lot and and yeah, I mean, buying is, know, like you make your margins while buying, you know, like you don't make it when you sell, make it when you're buying. So I, you know, hard negotiation is just part of it. And I mean, if one can learn that skill, it, you know, rest of the things become very easy, but it's not a very easy skill. So really I admire how you

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (18:59)

What?

Shivang (19:23)

built it through working with working with a person who has been through it all. And then not just that you improvised on it. You created new markets, you created new, you know, open new countries for the business. So that's I mean, yeah, I mean, I guess you're a bad ass buyer is what I would say. Like I've met a few people like that. But I would say I must be hard to negotiate with you for sure.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (19:48)

Yes, and

to them to be in the same room with them is sometimes like it has its own challenges because if you see me in person, I look very tiny. I look like a very young person and some I get people I get like people who are like people who are in the sense like they're factory owners who would be like, what we have to negotiate with you. Like sometimes I get that. But

Shivang (19:53)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (20:16)

You know, like again, like I said, I've been blessed to get some really good vendors and big factories who do not look at me like that because I, because I mean, like, I guess they are also as open as I am. So they're like, okay, let's see what you've got and what can you do for us? You know, that kind of thing. So they welcome me and for that I'm grateful, but yeah, I also come across people who would be like, you really?

Shivang (20:39)

Yeah,

mean, know, business people are business people. Everyone's trying to get the best margin for themselves. Everyone's trying to make money. But, you know, like, I totally understand and resonate with that misconception that, you know, why travel to that country that's a bad country or this is a bad country. You know, at the of the day, they're all people. People are people everywhere and every business is business everywhere. So

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (20:48)

Okay.

Yes.

Shivang (21:07)

I think brings to a topic that we wanted to discuss with you because you're ⁓ dealing with cross-border people. Trust is an important factor, as you said. There's literally thousands and millions of dollars of inventory exchanging hands. How do you bring transparency into this equation where the seller, in this case, the manufacturer slash vendor, feels super comfortable working?

with a new, with a company, with you, like when you like, how do you kind of build that established trust to go with that? You already mentioned you make sure that payments are done on time, but what are other ways you kind of ensure ⁓ that they trust you and they trust you enough to kind of give you, know, referrals.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (21:52)

Okay, so ⁓ well, number one is of course that word of mouth that goes around a lot in the industry. But secondly is I think the relationship that I built with them, I see to it, it's forget just payments. It's more of ⁓ sometimes their fear is, I told you that in general, their fear is always they can't approach the buyer if they have questions. I don't know why they have that image in the field, but I make myself approachable.

Shivang (21:58)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (22:22)

you got me. like for them, they know that if they want to come to me and say, how do we deal more with you? I'll share with them. This is what I'm looking for. A, B, Can you find this for me or not? This will allow you to deal with me more. know, so that's number one. And secondly, I think honoring your word is so important. It's not just in terms of payment, but also it's like I make them feel that dealing with me is a win win for them. It's like when you supply me this

what I ask you this one time, we're gonna continue coming back to you. And sometimes it's the vibe, you know what I mean? Like when you speak to somebody, you get a feel, like can you trust this person? Do you think like this is gonna go to a long run or not? Like I'll give you an example. When I was in Egypt, I was there for five days. I had to hop around a few ⁓ vendors over there, like their offices to look for deals. I just knew in my heart of hearts that this trip is not gonna be productive.

because most of them were yes yes yes yes but they would not come through with it and I start to see in their pattern when they started sending me messages like I can't pack the way you ask okay I can't do this I can't do that and they did not tell me all of this from the beginning you got me so I already had it in my heart that you know what that's not this is not gonna work out because like you can see that they just all talk and they just don't want to do it you know so

Shivang (23:27)

you

You

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (23:49)

Now

the people over like in Cambodia that I deal with and in Pakistan that I deal with. Like I said, like we know each other enough. And for them, it's because I keep coming through with what I see. So they start to build their comfort level. You know what I mean? That if I say, hey, if I say that I'm going to take this means I'm going to take this. So if I don't revert back to you in a day or two, it doesn't mean I'm disappearing on you. It just means I'm trying to get the details sorted on how to pack it. What colors do we want? What do we not want?

worry about it. So they know like if it's with me if I say done it's done. They don't question anymore. They don't worry and sit there and be like I need to have a backup plan if you don't take it. They don't do all of that anymore because like yeah it's the honoring the word is just everything. Honoring your word is everything here.

Shivang (24:39)

Yeah, definitely. mean, that resonates. You build trust with them by your actions and your actions kind of dictate their subsequent actions with respect to, yes, she has come through in the past, then she will continue coming through. Yeah. I think that is something that resonates with us as we operate in this industry as well. If you're able to earn trust by giving transparency by, know, sometimes it takes time, you know, things take time. It can take two days, three days to get back because

You're not just coming up with those details. You have to ask forward with the buyer and whatnot. But if they know that, you know, like if one knows that, hey, the other person is not sitting on it and is getting me the right details, ⁓ you know, it takes time. But yeah, trust is very important to build. What are the kind of non-negotiables that you see while working with your suppliers and vendors? Like you've mentioned some, right?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (25:12)

Yes.

Shivang (25:35)

people who cannot follow your packaging instructions, but like you've traveled the world, you've seen a lot of different vendors, manufacturers. What are those red flags that are like, like, yeah, no, this is not happening or never happening sort of a thing.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (25:53)

If I'm going to go to non-negotiables first, think number one for non-negotiables for me is we have to align in our values in the sense is we have to have an, because I've had bad experiences, of course, and I've had the good experiences. Now, like for instance, we have to align on what we, I mean, he has to align with me on what I need here. Like, so we have to have an understanding of that. Like for instance, I always say that, okay, hey, I only buy A grade.

Shivang (26:03)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (26:22)

please don't give me junk because I've had a situation where they shipped me merchandise and it was damaged. It contained holes, stains and all of that. And for them, it's just a one-time thing. They want money. You got me. So number one is I have to be able to sense that too out of them. Like, is this guy for real or is he just gonna, you know, like just do a one-time shot and be like, okay, I'll get some money, some profit and who cares if we send them junk basically. So obviously I need to first...

Shivang (26:49)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (26:51)

align with them to be like, do you understand what I need? I do not buy B grade, I only buy A grade. I mean, has to have a label, the label format has to be suitable for the United States. And most of them, most of the time, I always see it from the beginning first, you know, so I will tell them, send me the samples, I want to see, I touch the quality, I see that the label follows, it's compliant with what the US customs requires to bring goods over here. And then I give them an okay for it.

I mean, that's not negotiable, is we need to align first like that. if I feel that they are doing, you know, like the way they speak to me or something, it's just a one time shot, it's a no for me. Like, because for me, I don't want a one time thing. want, I would rather build a relationship with somebody that I can go long term with, you know, because it's much better, you know. Because if they don't, if we don't align or you're just doing a one time thing for me, then you're just not respecting me as a buyer. And

like what is there to deal with you further for? know, like our intentions have to be aligning for that.

Shivang (27:57)

Definitely.

So Kanchan, let's make a segue into on the consumer side of things. I think we have discussed about the sourcing side of things, getting inventory into the US. You're not just doing that. We're also working with brands of price retailers and in general retailers in the US market. ⁓ Tell us a little bit about that. how, like what are the incentives that or what exactly do

retailers look for in an inventory or in an assortment while working with you.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (28:32)

Retailers like the stores when they come to us I mean obviously they come with a set of data right to tell us that these stuff sells these stuff don't like Like for example like now we are in a transition to the fall season Always during summer keep in mind for us like during summer we buy for fall during fall we buy for summer We have to do one season ahead, right? So Yeah, we have to do a season ahead. So like recently like when we were working on, you know, JC penny stores

Like we are getting some of their, yeah, I'm working with a manufacturer in Jordan that ⁓ has merchandise that they produce for JCPenney. It's like career pants, but for ladies, like they have to wear those pants to work, very formal style of pants. So we really like it because like say Burlington stores really liked it. So they wanted it. But of course, because of the timing of the year, they started, of course, with their condition will be like,

you have a pink color or a coral color over here. I can't use that because we're transitioning into fall. So I have to be mindful and be like, OK, so we're going to have to keep the, we have to set aside the spring colors, in essence, and only ship them the fall colors because that's season they want. And they don't want to buy something that they have to keep for six months because it kills on the warehouse charges. So I have to look at that. I have to look at the trend. Like for instance, recently we got ⁓

Shivang (29:51)

course.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (29:56)

Like we work direct with Champion brand. Okay. And they had a lot of stuff that they wanted to liquidate. So now we know, I mean, we know for a fact, like if you walk around the streets or everywhere, like when you use Champion, you want to have Champion logo. You don't really want to be walking around the plain. You know what I mean? It's plain. Nobody knows you're wearing Champion and you wear that to show off. So, ⁓ when we had to buy from them, like I had, I purposely selected the ones which are loud.

You know, on the joggers must have the brand on this one says I purposely selected was we allowed to select. So I just selected what I think was good. it blew off in a week. I think it was finished. It easily was liked by the stores and they bought it very quickly. So we see what's trending as well. we not just what's trending, like what's like a white space that I could fill. Like in the company that I work for right now.

Shivang (30:32)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (30:53)

within Empire, like I work here right now, they used to be very strong in ladies wear, but they were not great with menswear. So since I came on board, I'm much better in menswear than ladies wear. So they have no idea that there's actually a demand for hunting gear. Now, I don't hunt, but in my previous company, I was working in a division of the apparel that I have to cater to outdoor.

clothing. I had to cater to hunting gear. So I start to learn. I'm like, my God, there's actually a big demand for fishing t-shirts. Like I just, I learned all of that and I brought it here to this company. And when I bring in things like that, my boss would be like, what on earth is this like Xtratuf Brand? Like it's, I'm like, it's fishing gear. And he's like, okay. I like, are you sure we can sell it? I just don't want to be stuck with it because such a niche market. I'm like, no, no, no, no, There's money to be made here.

Shivang (31:27)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (31:48)

And there's a demand for it here and you hardly get it here. know, I, you know, I brought some of those in again. Let's hold out in like a second. It is the same thing with the work wear and the outdoor. I, these stores, they, they, sometimes they say what they want and sometimes they don't. And I use my own thing to kind of observe that this company doesn't carry this, this niche, basically the outdoors and the hunting gear, whatever. So I want to try to bring it in because now they're, because now

Shivang (31:56)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (32:18)

my company's customers know that we are carrying menswear. Now I would rather expand on that and tell them, hey, in the menswear, we also have outdoor workwear hunting, you know, and they start to be like, we're sending our other divisions here who's in that side. you know, they send more and it increases the brand portfolio that we are able to offer and the collections that we're able to So, like I'm building it slowly like that.

Shivang (32:29)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (32:47)

Yeah, that's we do. Like they also come with data, but I also try to observe what they like, what they don't like. And I take it from there too. And so when I get offers, I filter to see like, okay, like for socks, for example, like I'm just working on a major socks deal. You know, for a fact that crew and ankle socks, silver and no shows, you know, that like the, it's not liner. The one that gets invisible when you use sneakers that actually doesn't move well. So when we were offered a major quantity, like the first thing was this.

Shivang (32:47)

Makes sense.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (33:16)

My boss told me, sit with me and go through this. So I just told the vendor number one, no, shows. I don't want this. And my boss said, no, it's okay. Let's take a little. I'm like, no, you're going to get stuck with it. We got stuck with it last time. know, so I had to know from there, like they give their feedback, you know, we have to listen because they know what they want.

Shivang (33:23)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, mean, last thing that you said, yeah, no shows, yeah, that's a no-no for me as well. Yeah. ⁓ Those aren't really socks for me. think they are more uncomfortable to wear than the regular ones. ⁓ But yeah, mean, reflecting on what you mentioned, I have to summarize. You look at a lot of data. You look at what is the demand in the market, what your customers are asking for. And then you...

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (33:40)

That's a little weird, no?

Shivang (34:04)

Then you're also looking at trends and this is I'm like listening through you're also doing a lot of planning. I'm assuming because as you said, you're always planning a season ahead. ⁓ How do you manage all this like with you know, like, you know, like let's assume you have 100, 100 manufacture, 100 sellers, 100 retailers. How do you keep this all, you know, going especially with all this planning ⁓ seems like a lot of work.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (34:30)

Yeah, it's also work. But that's okay. You get used to it, right? Every day. I mean, like, I sometimes it is overwhelming, yeah, because it's a lot of work. for me, like, I believe in when I'm in that state that I'm just overwhelmed, I don't know where to start. It's like I break it into small chunks and be like, okay, okay, I'm not going to look into all of this today. I'm just going to look into this 10 things today. And at least make sure I get that done. And then the next day I go to the next one. I mean, I make it into

Shivang (34:54)

Makes sense.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (34:58)

in the chunks that I know it's doable for me without being overwhelmed. So I will just shut everything out and focus on that little chunk first. When that gets done, I move on to the next one. You you make it into little nuggets that you know you can accomplish for the day as opposed to eating the whole thing and be like, I cannot do too much.

Shivang (35:09)

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah,

mean focus is everything, prioritizing, you know, what 10 things are most important to be done through the day and then ticking off them.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (35:22)

Well, prioritizing. Yeah.

The first step.

Shivang (35:28)

That's really interesting.

⁓ I think you've already mentioned one example in your, you know, in, a, as as a, as an, I think we've gone through some stories. You've mentioned how you kind of create opportunity out of close outs and whatnot. Is there any one that stands out for you? You know, we'll beep out the brand's name. That's what we do. Normally we don't want to mention like brands names. So you don't have to worry about that, but

Is there a create, is there a like a legendary story that you still reflect back on and say that, Hey, this is where I really, you know, turned ⁓ a huge pile of clothes out into a high performing inventory.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (36:04)

Thanks a lot.

There's two stories actually I recently what I did was the one before this that I did in Ethiopia was insane as well But recently also I did something insane was I was speaking to one of my vendors in and know What when my boss was traveling out of country? It was I think roughly last year in May if I'm not mistaken But the sales I said like I just got the sales report today after so long and I did not know that that flew off the shelves for this

Shivang (36:17)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (36:36)

like these stores. didn't know that, you know, I knew it would sell well. I did not know it would sell super well. Like that's the difference. Like I was ⁓ speaking to one of my manufacturers, right? And I just had an idea. like, you know what? Stores like to carry Christmas related clothing, Christmas graphics and whatever. They like to carry it sometime in September. So sometime last May, I started thinking, what can I do? And I started thinking, what's the dead stop? Like what's generally stuff that don't sell?

Shivang (36:42)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (37:05)

And I spoke to my vendor and I'm like, wait a minute, do you have sweatshirts? Because blank sweatshirts don't sell. Okay, it's something that is considered dead item as opposed to blank hoodies. Blank hoodies still sell, but sweatshirts, no. So I thought, okay, this is a good chance. If it doesn't sell, I'm gonna knock off so much price and I wanna be able to get it very, very cheap. And what I will do is I will give them, because I'm a graphic designer, I design some Christmas ⁓ related prints like Merry and Bright and all the...

cute stuff. I sent him seven prints. I'm like, you find a good printer, okay, good quality printer that won't peel off and all the nonsense because it's going to be on a garment, right? Test it out, price it to me. Quote me, like how much is it going to be? So I knocked him down already on the garment price because I was ready to pay for the print price, but not the garment. Because anyways, the garment is a dead stock for them. need the money. So I took the advantage and I did that. ⁓ The prints turned out really nice. So I got it.

Shivang (37:46)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (38:05)

to United States and I thought let me display it in my showroom and see what happened. Whoever came, they wanted it right away. I think within a week I sold a good 27,000 units in a week. Just because people were like, I'm booking this book, book, book, book. And just this week when we were talking to one of the stores.

They were like, hey, this is I'm just going to update you with some of your items that just did really, really well just because it is this time of the year again. So maybe we can replenish. Right. So they sent us a report and I was shocked because that Christmas sweatshirt is apparently one of the highest selling in this store before. And I was a bit surprised because that is something that we used our own brand because it's something that I made from scratch. Right. You know what I mean? Like it's my own made it. So it was not somebody else's brand. It's my brand. It's blank sweatshirt that

Shivang (38:48)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (38:55)

I use my boss's brand obviously, because he gives the brand to me to do whatever I want with it. So I slapped our brand. I put a nice hang tag that looks expensive, very Christmassy type of thing. And then the images were all Christmassy and it sold like the next day. It sold out. I had to cap it and be like, sorry, I cannot give you any more. Otherwise it won't come on time if we keep making it, you know? Like, I, because I came up with the idea late. So like at this time of the year, like they're like, we need more of this now and we'll give you more window.

Shivang (39:08)

Mm-hmm.

Hehehe.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (39:24)

ship basically so you have more time to collect more quantities for us because I had to stop them like do not order anymore I cannot take it like I'm gonna be late for the ship you know so I didn't know it would blast like that like I just got the report apparently it went crazy like that collection and another thing I did was when I was in Ethiopia and I was working on a couple of deals ⁓ of menswear that Macy's stores cancelled on them I worked on it like we cleaned out

Shivang (39:32)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (39:53)

a couple of containers from there and then I was walking around the factory I observed a fabric that was very interesting I've never seen that fabric before okay so I touched it and like this is so nice like what is the composition and she was like we know you know this would be very nice for spots where I just thought of that I don't know randomly I thought of that and he was like okay so do you have something you have a design in mind you want or whatever like since I've dealt with you now I know you like I'll do anything for you like you know like you like what do want you know

Shivang (40:02)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (40:22)

So said, you know what, let me go home first to Indonesia. I'm going to send you about 15 designs. Please play around with it. Like follow my colors, follow my, follow the designs I ask you. I want to see what visualized the real thing. I want to see the photos. Whatever doesn't look good, I'll tell you not to send to my boss and whatever looks good, I'll tell you to send. So he did that. Long story short, he did that. My boss loved it. He was like, I don't know where this came from, but okay, I loved it.

Shivang (40:22)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (40:48)

We put our own brand again. Okay. So we made our own collection of active wear from a leftover fabric that nobody knew what to do with it, basically. So I really liked it. So I thought, you know, we moved, when my boss happened to like it, we moved forward and we started giving the guy orders like 160,000 units at one go, 160,000 units. One day the guy told, I mean, the guy's very grateful because all of this happened also during the pandemic and that kept his factory up.

Shivang (40:56)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (41:17)

because otherwise he had to let go some employees. So first thing was that. Second thing, he told me that, you know, I'm running the entire factories running only this production for you. OK. And he told me that, by the way, I want to ask your permission. I'm going to to where was he going? I think it was somewhere in Africa as well. This is an Ethiopia based guy. I think in Kenya, they had a show called Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week. So.

I want to take some of these designs over there if you don't mind. ⁓ I said, OK, because that was my design. So he had to ask my permission. I'm like, yeah, sure. Go ahead. He was a very nice person. I am very flexible with him. So I'm like, yeah, it's OK. Make your money. Whatever. Do whatever you want. So he took my designs to Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week. It was picked up by Google's company called Roly. It's one of the famous sportswear brands in Spain. They picked up.

Shivang (41:43)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Thank

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (42:13)

430,000 units of just one design. And then they moved on the second one and then they were on the third one. after that, like basically that kind of broke this guy's door into Europe because of that random design that I just designed at the blue. So that was very, it became like a whole ripple effect, like even for him, for the manufacturer.

Shivang (42:17)

Wow.

Mm-hmm. Makes sense.

That's

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (42:37)

And now that I'm not even with that company anymore, like I'm not working for that Canadian company who I did this for anymore. The production continued till today from the same damn leftover fabric. So now he has to make that leftover fabric, like actually knit it. And because of that is like, I actually have to now, now I'm ready to buy a knitting machine just to make this leftover that you really like because I keep getting them orders, you know? So I'm like, okay.

Shivang (43:02)

You, that's,

I think you really created a market for that, you know, manufacturer. I'm sure he must be grateful. ⁓ It's, it's, it's very resourceful of you, I would say, like looking at empty t-shirts using some branding. So you are like listening through this. What I could understand is there was good quality material. Then you had some trend analysis or understanding of the market that Christmas, Christmas.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (43:11)

Hey sister!

Shivang (43:31)

printed a Christmas themed product cell. So you kind of, you know, mixed a few things together and I'm sure when you were doing it, you were thinking of the problem in hand, but you know, that's with most problems, right? And opportunities where you're trying to solve a small problem, but you don't know what kind of an opportunity you can create. So that I think opened up the Europe for him, which is super interesting.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (43:52)

See you here.

Shivang (43:57)

That's a really nice story. think not just high performing inventory, but I guess you made him a high performing business owner out of Ethiopia. That's really nice. ⁓ So, Kachin, also tell me, do you source inventory from brands that are already in US, or is most of your supply coming from manufacturers outside itself?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (44:06)

Yeah.

Both, I actually do both. I do from

the direct brands over here. Like I told you, Champion is direct from the brand. Keen is direct from the brand. So we do have papers for it. Like, I mean, you know what I mean? They authorize us, like, you can sell. These are the items that we are authorizing you to sell. And then they send it to us. We resell it. So.

Shivang (44:26)

Got it, got it.

Makes sense, makes sense.

Mm-hmm.

Makes sense. mean, totally agree. Invoicing and having the lineage of where the product is coming is very important ⁓ for sure. So like in that situation, when you're working with these brands, what is the mindset of these brands in general? Are they looking at liquidation as a last resort or are they looking at it as a e-commerce channel where ⁓

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (44:46)

Yeah. ⁓

Shivang (45:03)

You know, so what I've seen in the industry is some brands plan for it. Some brands see this just like they would see a direct to consumer channel or a wholesale channel. There is a re-commerce channel and there are some that are like, all right, I didn't plan for it. Now it's in my hand. What should I do at the last minute where a new shipment has to arrive and this part needs to go out. So what kind of trends do you see? you see like people, brands approaching it as a fire sale or as a strategy?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (45:11)

Mm-hmm.

You know what I feel that some of these A lot of these brands keep in mind when they do when they get into doing liquidations, okay and ⁓ It's always almost always because they are overstocked in the sense that they place too much orders from the manufacturers because their Forecasting was not the best probably like for instance right now with the whole inflation thing going on over here

Shivang (45:40)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (45:58)

Like who expected this to shoot up so much? Who expected tariffs to suddenly be there so much? It was unplanned. You know what I mean? So a lot of it is also because of their forecasting was they believe the trend is going to say, for instance, such colors or such trends are going to stay a while, but it doesn't. mean, in fashion, everything changes so fast. You got me. So I think it's a forecasting issue from their end. So they overproduce and

Shivang (46:04)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (46:26)

But keep in mind though, I mean for them, because they produce so much and like so much in quantity that they are also mentally prepared because they know that, listen, they also, I'm sure they do a whole risk analysis thing so that if they know if they have something that's a hundred grand pieces, for example, a hundred thousand pieces of a unit, sorry, of a style or something, like this thing, maybe their cost is $5, for example.

And they know that if they're going to go to their retail stores, right, at least they have to send at least it's a hundred percent markup or it's going to be 200 percent markup. OK, now I'm sure that they understand that at least out of this hundred thousand stock, if we sell at least 50. OK, and it's going to sell for 200 percent markup naturally, like the balance just becomes free goods. You got what I mean? You kind of make your money already from the first 50.

Shivang (47:20)

Yeah, yeah, you've already made your margins.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (47:20)

You got what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm pretty sure they also do.

Yeah. They also do the risk analysis, which is why they, I mean, the brands have stores for a reason, right? Because they know when people walk into a store, they pay for something. They don't know that a t-shirt costs only $2 or $1 to produce. They will pay $15 for it because it's a brand that they like, you know.

Shivang (47:42)

Yeah, I mean, especially in the like in the apparel industry, the margins are huge. You make something for two dollars, you sell it for twenty dollars. It's all I think in the fashion industry. It's about the pricing perception is like, you know, like how what is it? What is the story around your brand? ⁓ And does that story give you the power to charge more to the customer? Would they feel comfortable with paying more? So like do these brands in your experience also see

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (47:47)

It's huge, look at this.

Yeah.

Shivang (48:13)

You know, for example, you know, let's take, let's take Nike for an example. Nike might have a challenge or a problem that he, uh, I sell a T shirt for $15. If it starts selling for $3, you know, off price retailer or discount retailer, that's going to hurt my overall brand. So what I'm trying to ask is like, do you see them caring about brand equity as well while deciding where this product goes?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (48:37)

They are very selective about who they partner up with. Some of these brands, okay? That's why I said like previously, not well, not previously, would say no, correction. This is the normal thing for brands to do is they will always approach of price stores first. Like they would approve, if they know that they are overstocked, they will go to Ross first, Burlington first, TJ Maxx first. It's natural. They would want to go to the stores first because you get more money from them than you get from people like me, okay?

Shivang (48:40)

Mm-mm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (49:07)

So they would go there first. And there was a time where they would not even look at importers or distributors like us to give us a chance to buy from them. Like they wouldn't even look at us at one point, you know? But post the pandemic, I think things really, really changed. And they are open to more channels to be like, okay, if the stores are gonna buy from them, they're gonna be picky.

Shivang (49:09)

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (49:31)

They're going to say we just want this, we just want this and period. But we'll pay you your money, your price, whatever. Now for people like us, we have the room to say this is how much we'll pay you, this small. But we're going to clear the whole warehouse from here. And that's on its own, it's a different strategy and consideration for them because they want, they also need the space to build new things for them. You know what I mean?

Shivang (49:53)

space.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (49:56)

Yeah, and we have the market if we buy it that much, then we have a lot of market for us to sell. It's a win-win for both of us.

Shivang (49:56)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, 100 percent. mean, an off price retailer can only take too much, you know, so much. It doesn't solve your entire problem. They they're not going to take the entire assortment out of out of your hands. They'll only buy what they can move, what their forecast say. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, I've also seen the same pattern where a brand would first approach an off price channel and then kind of consider the other ⁓ avenues that are available.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (50:08)

One

Yeah.

Shivang (50:29)

Awesome. Now we're moving on to the last two sections of our conversation. So these are more reflection questions, advice sort of questions that I had in mind.

What, if there's one thing that you can change about how industry handles unsold goods, what would be that one thing that you would want to change about what's happening in the industry right now? Something that is out of your hands, but you would want that this would be a way.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (51:04)

If I can change one thing, like I would change the stigma. That's what I would do if I can. Yeah. It's like, because some people would believe, ⁓ like unsold doesn't mean unwanted. You just have not found the right channels. So I would change the stigma is what I would change.

Shivang (51:18)

Mm-hmm.

Definitely and I think that stigma will only change with what's happening on the consumer side like more people are now open to buying pre-loved ⁓ second hand ⁓ like thrift store, thrift shopping is ⁓ live shopping all of those these. Yeah.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (51:41)

It's big over here. It's very big over here through

shopping. Like for if it's an off price, it's more of like discounted stuff is not such a bad thing. Like you if you know the story behind it, you'll realize you're buying the same damn thing you're seeing in stores. But yeah, if you if you know the story behind it, you'll understand that you'll be like, yeah, I'm never walking into that anymore.

Shivang (51:57)

Yes, yes

Yeah,

I mean, if consumers try to understand the off-price, the liquidation in this world, they would not buy firsthand from many of these brands. ⁓ All righty. Is there any exciting project that you're working on or idea that you're exploring right now? Like something that you're excited about at work right now or in general?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (52:14)

This is...

Right now, I'm I told you like I just started opening new channels of export for us So for me, that's like my new baby right now I'm purposely doing that because I want to I really want to break into the markets of ⁓ to Mexico and then more like it's now want to break into those market because there's a lot of potential to be Found over there. It's just I know that we were not doing it enough because we're focusing on domestic obviously and I'm also focusing on

Shivang (52:29)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

That's right.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (52:51)

like how you're asking me, do I only import or do I also work with local brands, like the brands directly as in over here? We've been doing that. Like I've been working towards that for a couple of months right now and it's been working out well. But another thing I'm also working on right now to find new channels is when we import goods, right, you know, we have to use forwarders, right, shipping forwarders. Now,

Shivang (52:56)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (53:16)

I make very good connections with these forwarders because again, they people that I work with for ages already. So now they have connected like there was one time because they connected me, I now start to look for more. They connected me because of the tariffs, by the way, because of the tariffs that is happening right now. There's a lot of merchandise that actually stuck in the port. Okay, because they're like.

the buyers tell them, you know what, I can't take it because I can't pay you 100 % on top of our price already. It's, it's crazy, you know, or a certain percentage. Like they don't want to take it. They, that's kind of how they are. I mean, they're not deliberately hurting the supplier, but it's already hurting them to pay something so much. They're the let go of the goods and let it be stuck and not do anything about it. Now I get to know these forwarders are introducing me to the direct manufacturers for those. they're like, Hey, this brand went bankrupt.

Shivang (53:45)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (54:09)

So they decide not to take their goods and they're just leaving it in the port. It like it's there again. It's pristine goods. It's good. It's great. Whatever. But it's just unfortunately stuck because of the situation. Now I get to know these manufacturers and now they're getting to know me and they're spreading again my name around to be like, is your good stuck in port collar? So they would call me and be like, we have these merchandise stuck in the port. How what can you do to help us? And I'm like, listen, your charges and the port are probably a mountain right now.

But again, like I will take care of it if you give me my price. So it gives me a chance to squeeze them on the price. And then also, like some of these warehouses where they store the goods, they are dying to get rid of the goods because they need the space. Now what people don't know sometimes is you can actually negotiate with those warehouses. It sounds like you can't, but you actually can. So I'll just tell them like straight up that.

Shivang (54:39)

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (55:05)

This is how much you want. I'm only paying you 20%. I don't want to pay you more. And they will, they will not even argue. yeah. Okay. And the next day they will allow me to release the goods. So I start to make new channels that way. So there has been merchandise worth, worth the, the, the entire container or whatever. Like it's worth like 400,000. Like for example, I will negotiate, you how much 20,000. That's what I'm going to pay you. Yes. I mean, I take advantage of those tricky situations right now.

And then there was a brand that was like, we want to clear out 1.2 million units from you. want to, I said, we need to clear this, this, this, this. And I'm like, okay, so how much do you want? Like, you know, I was discussing my, my, my boss was like, yeah, they want like a dollar a piece. I'm like, no, 20 cents is what we're going to give them. Because we, again, you can see from their mentality that they're desperate. So.

Shivang (55:52)

Yeah.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (56:03)

You and my boss is not a hard negotiator. am. So I have to be like, no, like you have to ask. Okay. So, and then we get what we want there and we really get what we want. And he's just like, my God, like you're so cutthroat. I mean, well, you're getting what you want. you know, makes everybody happy.

Shivang (56:04)

Yes.

Yeah, I mean, I think brands and these sellers who are so I've also had instances where, you know, a manufacturer has already landed the the merch on a port in US and the order got cancelled and now they're paying for to the port and but in my case, what I found is even at that point, I'm not a very hard negotiator like you. So I have walked away from many deals like that where I would have, you know, I tried to squeeze them, but didn't get squeezed. So there's something that you're doing that I

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (56:33)

Yeah.

Shivang (56:50)

to learn from you about negotiating with these people. ⁓

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (56:53)

You have

to look at, you know when merchandise is stuck in the pot, there's actually few parties and one of it you can negotiate and there's others that you cannot. Yes, but the one that most of the time is the storage that you can negotiate with, not the forwarder. The forwarder, it's more of, well, they are also dying because you know why? They also want to pay the liners, right? Because they have a contract with the liners.

So I squeeze both of them. just, I'm thoughtless about it. I will just do it. I will squeeze them and I'll squeeze the other one and the... This is what I want. Like, and I also question them. I'm like, look, it's been sitting with you for four months. What are you going to do with it? Like, please explain to me. Do you have anything you can do with it? No. Okay, good.

Shivang (57:28)

Yeah

Yeah, you're just going to throw it away or, know, like if you don't sell it, then you're going to just pay shipping costs, sorry, your storage costs and whatnot. So yeah, you just tell them the incentives, I guess that, hey, yeah, that's very nice. This has been really fun. Want to move to the last part of our conversation. This is lightning round, just like one word, two word answers. Don't think too much. And this is more, you know, less to do with work and more to like learn more about you as a person.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (57:46)

Yeah, exactly.

you

Shivang (58:09)

⁓ So, yeah, first question, are you ready?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (58:12)

Yeah, I'm ready.

Shivang (58:15)

Awesome. What's your favorite book that you book or podcast, whatever, however you consume information that you'd recommend others to read.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (58:24)

I like The Alchemist book. It's a very old book, a very old popular book. I love The Alchemist. Have you heard of it?

Shivang (58:34)

nice nice I have not heard of it is it is it a fiction got it ⁓

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (58:35)

Yeah, the Paulo call.

You

know, yeah, it's kind of, but it's basically about, it's very me, like it's about chasing your dreams and then you're turning lead into gold. It's about what I do basically. So I like it there. I enjoy that book.

Shivang (58:49)

Got it. Nice. No,

that's really nice. Yeah. I I'd have to read that one. I usually read mostly nonfiction, but I'll have to read that one. ⁓ One brand that you think is quietly crushing it in the off-price or resale world. Like one brand champion.

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (59:07)

No, champion. Yeah,

their socks, especially. My God. Yeah, it's really good.

Shivang (59:16)

Nice. ⁓ We've already spoken about your deal negotiation skills. I'm not going to bring any questions about that. But last question from me is, if you weren't doing what you're doing today, what would you be doing? What would be your preferred profession if not what you're doing today?

Kanchan - Empire Apparel LLC (59:35)

I would be a graphic designer. I already was, but I mean, I had to kind of let go of that on the side because I'm so busy with what I do today. But ⁓ graphic design, I would continue to do that. I love doing that because it's very stimulating for me. you know, like I like to design. So for me, you know, when I before I started working for this company, I was running an online store where I was designing these, you know, like how people design merch.

know, graphics for the merch, right? So I was doing the same and I did it out of fun, like just for a side project, whatever, I did that. And I start to find a niche. I enjoy finding niche and I enjoy kind of coming up with sayings for niche that people don't look into. Like for instance, I made merch for, you're gonna, I'm not believe this, I made merch for funeral homes. The workers over there, like it's so dark, their job. So I made sure that I made sayings, which is,

like the definition of embalmer, like the job that fulfills my morbid needs, you know, something like that. Like I would create ⁓ fun stuff for jobs which are overlooked, basically. Like, so I had a huge market for that funeral home. Like, believe it or my mom is like, you are so morbid. I'm like, no, no, no, these are jokes for them. I'm not morbid. you know, like this is a market nobody's looking into. And even in the

Mm-hmm.

you

Mm-hmm.

I did much for people who nurses again, it's common for nurses, but under the big umbrella of nurses, you also have professions of nurses, which are again overlooked, you know, so I would hit those ones as well, you know, so I try to get creative with those. And then I would say create much for midwives. Let me jokes about.

That's really nice.

you know, like about what they do, like inside jokes about the things that they hear, that they, you know what I mean? Like I love doing, I did that before, but since I started working here, of course I couldn't, I cannot manage my time for God's sake. So I just, you know, I let it go for now. And that's what I hope to be able to manage and hopefully, you know, sometime in the future. Yeah.

And I'm sure you'll be really good at it. Like the way you are approaching it, I'm sure you'll be really good at it. ⁓

So

thankfully for the design skills I can make use of it over here for other purposes like you know what I mean like when I had to design that Christmas T's I had to do a research first in Costco and whatever that okay let me see what do the like mass market at large like what kind of sayings do they like like I cannot go to quirky if that's not what they like right so I see like basic stuff like Merry and bright that's else okay fine so I'll create something basically that what kind of images cells

big images or smaller or the crowded one. So I see and I take it up from there and I'm like, okay, let me create something that is interesting for the mass market with my version of it.

That's really good. Well, this has been a pleasure, Kanchan. It was really nice talking to you. It was super organic, you dropped a lot of nuggets. I think anyone listening would kind of understand. They'd really take inspiration from your negotiation skills, your grit, your hustle of how you put it all together. So thanks for the time, and thanks for ⁓ coming on the show.

Hello.

Of course, my pleasure. Thank you also, I told you, for your research again. Like your research was incredible. I loved it. I loved it.

Yeah, happy to do that. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

no problem