Hello my Lovelies,
no I did NOT forget about you - how could I? But times were rough for me in both lifes and that´s sorted now ;)
I even went back to going out - not to clubs yet mind you... but... yeah mostly to the London Sims - you know about my Anglophilia ;) (oh shush yes I know I´m nuts - love you too) and I was asked to write an article for their blog, I suggested an article about quality because some of the London Sims are starter sims and I am always eager to to spread quality - especially within the new meat *grins* (hey we all love eyecandy don´t we) so...here it is:
Hello my lovely readers,
my name is Akasha Sternberg and I´m a blogger and shopping advisor. I randomly talked to Debs Regent about the importance of quality and why people should invest in it and she asked me to write an article about it - yes I know I was surprised, too - but I gladly accepted.
Now you see all those nice clothes in shops ... on flickr, facebook, blogs, people inworld... and then you see the prices. Quite a lot of people turn away and complain how expensive everything is. The truth is - it IS expensive! YES! But then - it doesn´t HAVE to be THAT expensive!
One way to save money are GROUPGIFTS! Look out for the groups of your favourite designer and join it. Yes some groups will charge but thats ONCE and less than 90% in the store would cost you usually so - just pay it ;) - you´ll get one free item of quality each month (SL limiting us with 42 groups doesn´t help here AT ALL)
Another way are Subscribers - they do not eat groupspace and still inform you about SALES - which leads me to the next point. Sales are often advertised in FashionGroups, subscribers, facebook groups.
A very fun way to save a LOOOT of money are hunts. You go from store to store and have to find a hidden ...bag...or symbol which gives you a gift (some are 1L but I´d say the majority are free) and sometimes stores put out more than 1 item or have freebies for the hunters or whats not.
Now let me explain why some things still cost more, sometimes up to an insane amount of L. When you produce an item as a designer you
- have to buy/design the template (most I know use photoshop for it)
- have to texture it
- have to write/buy scripts if you want a resizer option or whatsnot
- I heard a LOT of ranting about how hard it is to learn to design mesh items - which SL is freaking out over... for a good reason usually ;)
- you have to take vendor pics (the vast majority of designers do model their own creation to avoid the costs of booking a model - time and moneywise)
- you have to upload pics and item (I THINK you have to upload each...sleeve, collar, jacket-bodypart,... seperately...but I´m not sure there)
now in RL you pay people for their working time as well - in SL you refuse to - when it´s a LOT of time they invest in designing outfits. I don´t want to count the hours I´ve waited to spend time with my designer friends cos they were dwelling in Photoshop designing new items for their customers, always looking for new ideas and inspiration.
Let me fill you in about the time it takes to advertise a product As I mentioned I´m a blogger. Now the styling, taking pics, the tiny amount of editing I (am able to) do, writing the actual entry including stylecard... takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Promoting the entry - so people notice it - takes 1,5 hours up to 2 hours at times. Now some designers cast live models, prefer marketplace shops, most have both marketplace and an inworld store - some only have an inworld store ( which means tiers to pay - a LOT of tiers - each week).
Another popular way is to look for bloggers to blog about your items (most even give their review copies for free) or hire live models (usually they get to keep the items or have discounts on the store stuff - or of course get paid).
The highclass designers are involved in a lot of runway events and magazines - those include costs as
- advertising prices
- time to produce those pics (models/photographers needed? editing time,... upload costs...)
or for a fashion show
- the money to pay the coordinator, host, models/agency, time to promote the show/pay a promoter
that´s a lot huh?
That is why I invest in quality - I do even have quite some custom items - I´m just a fan of exclusiveness and quality... I can´t help it I guess. Now you don´t have to spend the amount of money I do - no not at all. Even with just 10$ or 20$ you can be sorted having quite a handful of quality outfits, a nice shape (make sure it´s modifiable) and skins, hair,....
Now ask yourself if you are willing to spend a little amount of money for quality?
If the answer is yes - keep your eyes open and shop till you drop - or ask a pretty avatar you come across for help - or just drop your humble Akasha a line and I´ll do my best ;)
Thanks for your time,
Akasha
I hope people will get my intention *grins* - may SL´s future be even prettier. I´ll be back with new outfits VERY soon ;)
I love you my Lovelies,
take care
Akasha
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