Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Sato.
Hi Lisa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My business partner, Debbie Shapiro, and I have been in the infant and children’s clothing and accessories industry for over 30 years. I co-founded a children’s boutique in the Larchmont Village area of Los Angeles, called Flicka, back in 1992. My business partner, Debbie Shapiro, was a central figure in her sister’s children’s clothing company Maxou back in the 90’s. We opened our showroom, The Dressing Room, back in 2000, representing a variety of top brands we sell to retailers.
Currently, while business is challenging due the economy and the tariff situation, we’re pushing ahead as we always do, and hope things come down to a manageable and survivable rate for everyone. There’s a lot of uncertainty for anyone who produces and sells goods that come from overseas.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There’s always bumps and struggles along the way. We had challenges back in 2009 due to the recession and some strikes that affected us locally, since everything has a trickle affect.
Covid was incredibly challenging for our business, but we had surprisingly solid sales in swim and loungewear during that time period. A lot of our retailers got creative and started doing Instagram more than ever before, putting together gift baskets for Easter and Passover.
Now we’re dealing with the tariff situation, so we’re pushing hard for retailers to purchase goods that are currently in stock, because we really don’t know what’s going to happen next. Most of our vendors have goods coming out of China, with some vendors who are looking to move goods to other countries, who tend to have lower tariffs, for production. Unfortunately, the US does not have the infrastructure that China has built over decades, to simply move production to the US. And it’s important to note that China, over the years, has in fact upped their game significantly. They have true artisans who make quality product. It’s not all inexpensive and cheap product.
Thankfully, we do have a small handful of manufacturers that are US made.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are a multi-line showroom, representing infant and children’s clothing and accessories, selling to better end boutique stores.
We specialize in offering a wide variety of products and styles, especially in gift and accessories.
I feel one thing we excel in is our level of customer service with our retailers, which we feel is incredibly important in business. We also love working closely with our vendors in order to give them feedback from their customers, so we can better produce and serve their needs with product they’re looking for.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
In our industry, I like to think that we champion one another, between vendors, retailers and sales reps. Everyone looks out for each other. Our industry is predominantly run by women in the repping field and we all tend to lift each other up in all of our collective endeavors.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thedressingroomla.com
- Instagram: thedressingroomla.com
Image Credits
I just wanted to give you the list of brands from our showroom, if I haven’t already. I’m just listing brands of particular note.
Shade Critters
Iscream
Bestaroo
Bling2o
Vintage Havana
Sunshine & Glitter
Baby Dot Com
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