Developing the Craft of Curation (Curation Series, Part 2)

You have likely received this proposal from a client: Develop a full merchandise line for their brand that reflects their brand image but is also loyal to their values and intent. It’s somewhat daunting because it involves multiple products, a complete colorways collection, and it must reflect the core mission of the brand.

In our last post, we introduced this new series on the subject of curation by stating that curation is the most underrated -yet vital- creative muscle in our business. In this installment, we wanted to get inside the mind of someone who thinks obsessively about the craft and skill of curation, a tastemaker who knows how to break down any merchandise project and curate products in a way that drives sales and delivers on brand value.

So, we talked with Jeremy Picker, founder of AMB3R, a distributor who has developed over 5,000 custom apparel projects in his career. I hopped on a zoom call where I found Jeremy in his Colorado office, surrounded by a space that looked more like a creative hive than an office, with stacks of fashion magazines, rows of art and design books, and that trademark intensity of his that sparkles with bright energy. After a brief catch-up chat, we jumped right into the heart of it:

Jeremy, we know curation is something we each do at some level, but it’s also something we don’t think about often, we might not recognize its importance in our own skillset or the value of curation in our sale process, so let me start with the basics: How do you curate merchandise in a way that inspires your client and opens sales opportunities? As a professional who is trying to get better at this, what skill should you develop? Where do you start?

It's hard to teach, but it's easy to do. It begins with observation. Paying attention. I’ve learned through the years to constantly be aware of what’s happening in the culture and to train your design eye to observe everything, from fine art to t-shirt graphics, to logos. It’s also very intentional. Spending time on Pinterest is not haphazard or blind scrolling, it’s market research. You’re very intent with your curiosity and you end up developing a deep reservoir of images and ideas in your mind. For example, I’ll disappear down a rabbit hole of studying design trends from 1940’s travel posters but it’s not misguided or misspent energy, that process feeds my design eye.

In this business, we’re not merely merch people, we’re not just channeling product + design only, but we’re making it all work in harmony: product + design + client purpose. What distinguishes us from retail is that, in a sense, we’re all creative directors, right?

We are, and that’s how we should approach our merchandising for clients, as creative directors. I work with designers but I’m not a designer. But I help make our design for the clients more purpose-driven because I’m able to offer an informed opinion about what’s happening in the marketplace, which puts a fire to design. A designer, typically, approaches design with incredible skill but they approach it one-sided, they need us to guide that skill on behalf of the client. For example, when we design, my thoughts range across multiple intents: from the client to the product and back again, ie, Is there balance in this design in accordance with the brand’s intent? Will this design look flattering on a female? We process those nuances through a filter because we know our client, we know what’s happening in current trends, and we know the product.

What’s the difference between just selecting cool products versus curating for a client’s purpose?

Empathy. Everything works toward empathy. Creative direction can be really easy, but you must have both, the creative side and the application, empathy fuses it all together. You must understand your customer, obsessively so. What’s their industry? And within that, what are their specific problems in that industry? Take the non-profit space, for example. Not every non-profit is the same, they each have their own audiences, their own culture, their own challenges. How you curate a line of product for a non-profit who is focused on clean water is dramatically different than how you curate a line for a non-profit who is focused on diversity and inclusion.

How do you move beyond merchandise + design into purpose, then?

It really takes -not just a good eye- but it takes caring. Really putting yourself into someone else’s shoes to care beyond the basics (the product, the design, the imprint, the colorways, etc.) but we must evolve that into intent: what’s the message? If you really understand a client’s message -what they are trying to communicate, what matters most to them- then it helps as you’re looking through vendors and products. A lot of people take the easy route and they think about product only.

For example, my biggest customer is doing a full refresh on their merch store right now, they’ve tasked their top three vendors to put together merch ideas for what’s popular, what’s trending. My strength is that I know their audience, I know it well. And I know their purpose and mission. I’m going to give them what they asked for, I understand trends in design and product, that’s baseline. But there’s more than that, there’s purpose and lifestyle. To be honest, I hit a wall at first. I got overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, I feel like I wasted a week wondering how to break this huge project down and then I got hit by a jolt of inspiration: I need to eat this elephant a bite at a time.

How did you break it down?

I decided to break it down by audience. They have five primary audiences, which means five unique lifestyles. Now that I’ve identified that, I can move toward product. So I move from the audience and their lifestyle, then to trends + categories, then to product.

And you developed a system to simplify all this?

Exactly. It took me twelve years to get to this point where I finally created a system for curation + merchandising in a way that’s easily digestible to the customer but also fits the AMB3R brand. It’s going to be much easier in the future because now I can follow a path. It works for me but I also feel like it would work for those who aren’t especially creative.

How does mission, message, and purpose fit into all this?

Back to that client example, one thing I also did was review their brand intent, their mission. I was digging around on their website to see if I was missing something for this merchandising program and realized that they have a gift catalog where you can choose where your donation goes (clean water, healthy food, disaster relief, etc). While many will choose to just donate money and not buy a gift, I wanted to create a campaign and a t-shirt design that encouraged them to WEAR YOUR GIFT, so I presented that design on ALLMADE tees (ALLMADE is a good fit because of the client’s mission of philanthropy) and showed them how to attract new supporters through the t-shirt while also keeping supporters close to the brand. Most people move straight from request to product and don’t factor in the organization’s overall mission.

Let me see if I can recap what you’re doing: Most of us get a request from the client and we go straight to catalog, to product. But you get a request and you process it through a filter: you’re already studying product + design trends (that’s one filter), and you know your client, their challenges, and their unique problems (that’s another filter) but when you combine the two aspects, that’s the magic behind successful curation which leads to sales?

Yes. And by opening up that lens, my approach has changed from a product-driven focus to solutions-focused.

But, let’s back up a sec and get real tactical: How do you stay on top of what’s happening with trends and product so that you can advise clients in a way that’s fresh -- but also in a way that doesn’t absorb all of your time?

The missing piece is the marketplace. If I have a client, and I’ve identified that, within that client is the lifestyle category of camping and outdoors, I’m going to turn to the leaders in that space for my trends research: REI, Moosejaw, Patagonia. I review their merchandise because I’m looking for commonalities -connections- between those brands. They’re all unique brands, unique to their own aesthetic and audience, but there are larger trends happening in the market that trickle down to each of these brands and I’m looking for connections between them. For example, I’ll go to the accessories category of each of these three merchandisers and look for common products, common shapes, common design styles. What most of us don’t do in the promo space is spend intentional time studying these retailers on behalf of our clients as a form of trend research. It’s a shortcut, they’re already doing the trends and market research for you. You don’t even have to be super creative, just intentionally observant to what’s selling by the most creative leaders in those spaces. Then you turn to your client -who trusts my expertise in supply chain, in sourcing, in design- and you mesh trends with intent.

When it comes to choosing a creative product for a client, what’s the difference between a gamble versus a calculated risk?

Take that example: that lifestyle audience for the client (the campaign and outdoors lifestyle), that end-user, is already buying a specific style of polo, jacket, hoodie and t-shirt, so, we cover the basics of what’s trending and the core product, but then we seek to expand the brand equity by venturing into other areas. Their audience -whom we know well- is purchasing other items beyond that at retail, so why not expand the brand equity by ensuring they are buying these through the brand or receiving these through the brand? They might also be interested in a yoga mat, gym bag, towel, water bottle, socks, sweatband. It’s our job to help them see that, rather than spending their money through retailers, divert that through to the brand. We’re matching lifestyle to brand and creating an emotional bond.

This sounds like a ton of work.

But my competitors aren’t thinking that deep. They’re just reacting, “here’s some great options for you to look at,” they go straight to product. I’m asking the brand question: how can this expand the brand? Create affinity for the brand? Build a community? It’s fast-thinking, billable. And rewarding. We want them (the end user) to carry that brand into every social part of their life.

There’s also some processing that you go through in your brain that you don't even calculate, that you probably take for granted. It’s muscle memory now. You’re rapid-eye processing styles, trends, colors, fabrics, logos, fonts, shapes, materials, use. But then you shift your eye toward micro audiences within your client. In a sense, you’ve taken a million options and shrunk them down into something finite and workable. It’s more than just “finding what’s hot in trends.”

Exactly. Trend does not mean trendy. There are core products that every brand should sell because they are proven, those are the best sellers. That’s a trend. No matter who you are, we all use water bottles. We use bags, we use apparel. We use head wear, we use outerwear. Don't reinvent the wheel.

What’s the system that you’ve developed now? Have you codified the process?

I have. When I’m curating for a client that I know, I’m already processing what I’m doing for them through what I know about them, but then I'm looking at four key areas: line development, trend reports, design, then finally, product. Line development is the product categories we should be presenting: t-shirts or hoodies, for example. We don’t show specific hoodies just yet, we simply set up categories so that we don’t get distracted by products. We don’t get tripped up, or confuse the client, by showing product right away, we don’t show the Tervis tumbler or the Origaudio speaker first, we talk high-level categories. We start broad then get granular. So, for example, we know we want three t-shirts, two hoodies, two hats, a bag, water bottle, stickers, and a journal. Then we look at the brand’s color story: design style, colorways, tone, the vibe of each customer. But we present product categories first before we get to design, otherwise we get impossible design requests like full-color on products that we can only do a few colors on.

What I like about this is that it gives you a path, a sense of control.

Yes, it’s something you control: even if you’re not in control of the creative, you’re taking control of the creative. And we’re starting off strong, demonstrating that we’re the experts. At the end of the day, it’s their brand but I’m the expert with the opinion.

Then color comes in?

Yes. We take the limits of their brand colors and compare that to color trends happening in retail and ask, how can we marry these and stay true to their brand story? How do we integrate what’s happening in trends/design? What seasonal aspect do we need to bring in? By doing this, we’re matching the demand of what the audience is already seeing in retail. It builds credibility.

So, product mix, color story, then design style.

Yes, we separate the design style into six different lifestyle categories. Are they more an action sports brand or an artistic abstract brand? If action sports, are they more the Volcolm? Hurley? Billabong style? Streetwear urban? Or are they more prep collegiate, Tommy Hilfiger or Abercrombie types? Or are they vintage retro? We funnel everyone into these categories. By steering the process this way, we’re giving the client the chess pieces to play with.

This sounds complicated on the surface but it seems like it just takes practice, it ultimately streamlines the creative process.

It’s not going to do the world any good designing for thrift stores or the garbage. If people in our industry aren’t leading with design, that’s where we end up.

Any last words of encouragement for those who want to become better curators for their clients?

I know it sounds like organized chaos but it’s not once you develop a system and it’s purpose-driven. Everything that seems chaotic is channeled and I would encourage you to find your own path, your own vibe. Learn from everywhere but learn to be selective with tastemakers. I learn from Pinterest. Instagram. Pantone has a seasonal trends magazine that I love, I use it to see textures, lifestyle images, fashion specs. I peruse Designspiration. The Dieline. Get tactile. Get away from the computer. I love old school magazines, I have a subscription to all the fashion magazines and I rip pages out. I don't care if it's lipstick, I’m looking at the colors they're promoting in that magazine, they're doing it for a reason. If I have clients that tends toward tweeds, I’ll buy Ivy league style fashion books. I recently bought a sketchbook from an artist and it cost $200 but he’s a trend setter, he does glasswork with foils and hand paints. You know Taschen?

The art book publisher?

Yes.

They just came out with a beast, the Adidas archive of their footwear collection, it’s ginormous. Follow Nike, Adidas, Puma. They’ve already done the research work for you. And observe cultures: I love to see what they’re wearing on the streets of Harajuku, Japan.

Whether you’re creative or not, you can learn this.

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Editor’s note: Jeremy has spent a lifetime honing in on this very special skill, a skill that many of us have developed to some degree, and one that we possibly even take for granted, it’s a skill that is becoming more highly valued by clients every day. In our next installment in this series, we’ll take Jeremy’s advice and help simplify your steps to create your own personal curation plan for future projects, plus provide insight into how to train your team on this vital creative muscle.