Bringing The Store To Us - A Skirt Sports Trunk Show!

Last weekend I had the fun opportunity to host a Skirt Sports Trunk Show in my home.  You may be asking, what is a Skirt Sports Trunk Show?  Well, let me tell you.  Skirt Sports is my favorite running/athletic clothing company! In fact, I love them so much I became an Ambassador for them. The only downside to Skirt Sports is that, outside of their Boulder, CO location, they are an online company and this makes it hard for customers to always know what size and or style is right for them. There's a bit of guess work involved when ordering something.  Well, this just doesn't do for a customer focused company like Skirt Sports and they decided to come up with another way. They decided to send the store to their customers! Enter the Ambassador Captains! Skirt Sports is sending many of their styles, in a large array of sizes (XS-XXL) to the Ambassador Captains to display for trying on purposes in a location of the Ambassador's choice.

I was so excited when I was given the opportunity to host one of these shows!  I've actually loaned out some of my own items to friends who have wanted to try on something from Skirt Sports and I also field many questions related to size.  Unfortunately for my friends, my closet only consists of one to two sizes so unless they are my size (and hello, how many people are the exact same size), my closet and knowledge of sizing doesn't help them much.

I decided to host the show in my home (a very good excuse to do some much needed fall cleaning) and opted for an open house style of show.  This allowed people to come and go as their schedule allowed throughout a 4 hour time period.  I sent out an invite through Facebook as well as lots of verbal invites.  I tracked down a clothing rack from some good friends who own a dry cleaning business (shout out to Hill Street Cleaners) which was perfect for displaying the skirts and tights that were sent to me.  As for a place to hang the tops I had to get creative.  It took me awhile to figure out how to display these but as I was folding blankets and prepping to hang them on my quilt rack it came to me ... my quilt rack!  I had to elevate it on my coffee table so the tops wouldn't drag the ground but once I did that, it was the perfect solution!  If you host a show, I highly suggest a real clothing rack and the use of creative outside the box thinking.

Here are all the Bottoms Skirt Sports sent displayed on the clothing rack.  Styles included: Tough Girl Tights, Wrapsody Skirt, Lotta Breeze Capris, Redemption Capris, Gym Girl Ultra, Happy Girl Skirt, Cascade Skirt, Go The Distance Tights, and the new Toasty Line, all in their full array of sizes.  Also sent were the Jette Skirt, Jette Capri, Lioness Skirt, Redemption Knickers, and Redemption Shorties, in size medium.  Also sent and displayed is the Double Take Reversible Jacket in size medium. 

My Quilt Rack made the perfect rack for the tops!  Displayed are the Tough Girl Top and Toasty Vest in sizes XS-XL as well as the Jill DD bra. Items also sent and on the other side of this rack are the Free Flow Tee's in sizes XS-XXL, the Free Flow Long Sleeve and Free Flow Tank in sizes S,M,L and the Kelly D Bra.

 Last I displayed a bunch of my own stuff on the table so people could get a feel for other styles as well as some of the previous patterns.  I included the much asked about Gotta Go Skirt.  I was honored to have a couple of other local ambassadors join my party and they too brought some of their own things. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo with all their stuff included in this stash. We had a LOT of stuff on display!

Me and fellow Ambassadors Marie and Kriss.  I'm so glad they made the traffic congested drive to attend!  

I had a lot of fun prepping for this event. Skirt Sports sent me a few giveaways which included their super awesome hair ties and a promo code for everyone who attended as well as a bit of reimbursement for food or extras I provided. This was awesome of them and I can't tell you how many people thought it was super great of Skirt Sports to care about helping with the food costs! Bonus points were earned in the minds of my guests over that little extra touch. As for the planning, it reminded me of planning for my kids birthday parties and I had to remind myself to back off.  This wasn't one of their parties.  I didn't need a huge loot bag to send home with everyone but that didn't stop me from hitting up the Dollar Tree Store and putting together some small fun swag bags.

The hair ties and print outs from Skirt Sports as well as a few additions I found at the Dollar Tree. 

I had to come up with a fun way to tie the candy treats into the Skirt Sports theme so I made up these little inserts. Too late, I realized I forgot to include the tissue paper in the quote.  I meant to make a fun comment about how one can carry tissue in their pockets for those times when nature calls and society doesn't provide.  

After I set up the house my 13 year old son said it was "too pink and too pretty" for him to be in.  I thought it looked lovely and fun!  Guess it's good it wasn't a party for him! 

I found pink vases, goodie bags and these awesome pens at the Dollar Tree. The pens worked great for writing names for givewaway drawings and also to track styles and sizes on the forms provided by Skirt Sports. 

 I loved the pattern on the table cloth and the plates and napkins because it reminded me of a pattern one would find on Skirt Sports apparel.

In addition to the decorating and swag bags I also printed out a list of clothing items that came in XXL.  I knew I was going to have attendees in this size range and since not all the clothing comes in XXL, I went ahead and listed out everything Skirt Sports makes in this size (which is a lot).  I set aside rooms as dressing rooms, brought a stand alone mirror downstairs and also directed people upstairs to my workout room with more mirrors.  It's not vain to see how something looks on you, it's smart!  We joked about trying out the clothes on my treadmill to see how they really worked in action.  We joked because sending a bunch of sweaty clothes on to the next Trunk Show would not be in good taste.  Yuck!  But I can assure you, they are great in action!

The Trunk Show wasn't quite as I imagined.  I thought I'd have time to sit everyone down in a group and discuss the advantages of all the wonderful styles, maybe have a fun game, have a big drawing for the giveaway's, play the trivia game Skirt Sports sent me.  None of that happened.  Well, I had multiple drawings over the 4 hours, so that happened but none of the other stuff did.  Once people began arriving my home became a blur of activity.  I was caught in a fun whirlwind of hello's, questions, good-bye's and multiple fashion shows as people came out of dressing rooms to get opinions.  T'was the nature of hosting in an open house fashion with people coming and going at various times.  I was so grateful to both Marie and Kriss for helping field questions as I could not get to everyone at once.  That said, I'd still do it in this fashion again as it did allow for more people to attend.  And it was still loads of fun!

If you don't live near me and were unable to attend my Trunk Show, keep your ears and eyes open for a Trunk Show near you!  It's traveling the country and could be in your neck of the woods. If it is, I highly encourage you to attend.  There's nothing better than getting together with other women and trying on these awesome products!

I received compensation for food and treats as well as clothing from Skirt Sports for hosting the Trunk Show.  I did not receive any compensation for writing this blog post.  My blog and love of Skirt Sports is all my own!  I also did not receive compensation from Hill Street Cleaners for mentioning them in this blog.  My shout out is my own because they are awesome.