Kickstarter

FAQ

• Where does the money go?

  Presenting a collection during New York Fashion Week can be expensive. The average for a full scale show runs upwards of $100,000. For this reason many first time or fledgling designers choose to have Presentations, which usually means models or mannequins dressed in the clothes standing around a room, away from the tents at Lincoln Center.

  Here is our budget for this presentation:

  Presentation:
  Sample Production -
  Ties (Brooks Brothers factory) bow ties & long ties           500.00
  Blazers (Martin Greenfield Clothiers)                              2000.00
  Invitations –
  Paper/Postage                                                             1000.00
  Venue Rental                                                               3000.00
  Catering/Drinks/Staff                                                     3000.00
  Models                                                                        4000.00
  Hair/Make-up                                                               4000.00
  Tailor/Alterations                                                          3000.00
  Incidentals  (shoes, accessories, decor)                        2500.00 

  
  TOTAL                                                                     25,000.00  

  Last updated: Sunday Jul 29, 11:47am EDT
• Why do you have to have a presentation?

  A presentation during NYFW is considered essential to show your collection to the fashion press and important buyers. Like any trade show, the industry players are gathered in one place during this week and go from show to show judging each designer against the other. A presentation allows a designer to showcase his or her vision. Anyone can make a tie or a blazer, but it is the vision and lifestyle you want to convey during a presentation. In the end, press coverage puts your vision before the industry, the retailers and the consumer at a fraction of the cost it would cost to run a full page ad in a fashion magazine. A free editorial -- in GQ for instance -- is worth whatever they would normally charge an advertiser for that page, usually around $50,000. Add up all the editorials and blog coverage a presentation receives and the value can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the end, 25,000 for a presentation seems like a bargain, relatively speaking.

  Last updated: Sunday Jul 29, 11:56am EDT
• SP, aren’t you rich? Why are you mooching for money?

  Well, thanks for asking. I like to remind people that my last name is Ray, not Rockefeller. I do know a few Rockefellers, actually, but I do not live anywhere near their financial bracket neighborhood. This is the source of the misperception I suppose. Yes, I do know a lot or rich people. And yes, I do attend fancy parties, get invited to unbelievable houses for the weekends and am very lucky to live the life I live. But let’s not confuse proximity to rich folks for actual richness.

  I have said many times as well as in the Introduction to my book Bill of Rites for the American Man, one does not have to be rich to live the good life. I am living proof of that mantra and this is the goal of socialprimer.com. The opening illustration is a caricature of me holding the door open to a fancy party, i.e. The Good Life. If one will only listen to my stories, act like you should, dress appropriately, then one can easily be accepted into the life.

  Why don’t you hit up these rich friends for cash? I’ve never been one to ask for money. It is the most uncomfortable thing in the world. Even launching this Kickstarter campaign was an agonizing process. I will let you know that there are interested parties waiting in the wings. My strategy is to raise this $25,000 for the presentation and then seek investment for the production of the collection. Also, as advisers tell me, this allows me to keep more equity in the eventual company. I don’t want to do all this work and then give away the milk before we even get started.

  What about your own money? Are you investing in yourself? Well, yes. I am investing my own money but as anyone who has ever started their own small business knows, it takes capital to get a business going. Kickstarter is an amazing way to harness the power of the Internet and help build Social Primer into something I have only dreamed of...it's own label of carefully curated and designed pieces for the new American gentleman. And it all begins right here with this collection of ties and blazers.

  And finally, I like the idea of a populist groundswell of support from our brotherhood before we approach the fat cats. Maybe this is idealistic and naïve, but it just feels more SP to do it this way.

  Last updated: Thursday Aug 16, 8:03pm EDT