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Weigh in: share your advice for Koi Swimwear here

Business Summary

Founded: 2006 by Jennifer Bharti, 27, designer and owner of Koi

Incorporated: 2007

Home base: Toronto

The products: upscale women's swimwear combining high fashion with comfort and function; glamorous separates (sarongs, tunics, dresses) to compliment the swimwear; prices range from $175 to $250 retail ($75 to $110 wholesale). Bharti's designs are usually intricate with extra details such as belts, buckles, lace and studs.

Target market: women from 18 to mid-forties looking for fashionable resort and cruise wear.

Distribution: Bharti does the wholesaling herself with part-time help from her sister Shannon, who works for American Apparel in L.A. The swimwear is currently carried by two high end retailers in Toronto (both in Yorkville), two retailers in Florida and as direct sales online from Koi's website.

Revenue: Sales for Koi in its first year were a modest $15,000; in the second year, sales increased to $20,000. Bharti wants to gross six figures in sales within five years, but realizes she needs strategy and a plan to get there. She says she has a reasonable profit margin. She's planning to drop most of the separates for her next collection (too fussy and expensive to produce) to focus mainly on the swimwear.

Goals: To build the Koi brand throughout North America and hit six figures in sales within the next five years. Her main focus is in developing the wholesale side of her sales. Bharti says it would be a dream come true to see Koi swimsuits in the window at Barney's.

Biography: Bharti and her sister opened family-backed fashion retail shops in Windsor while still in high school. Bharti ran the shoe boutique while pursuing a full-time degree in health sciences at Western, juggling exams with trade shows. She managed with the kind understanding of professors who admired her entrepreneurial spirit, but her heart was in fashion. The shops eventually closed with the decline in the Windsor economy.

After graduation, Bharti went to work in Toronto as a representative in the wholesale fashion trade. She was inspired to start her own line when couldn't find a swimsuit she liked while visiting her sister in L.A. Bharti quit her job and started Koi with her own savings and the support of family and her partner, now husband, who encouraged her.

Bharti has no fashion design training but says she's always been creative. She hired a pattern maker at the beginning and learned from him. She now does all the designs herself.

Biggest challenges

Manufacturing: Koi is still stuck in the start-up stage. Bharti produces the initial samples using a basic single needle sewing machine in her home workshop. She then brings them to a small Toronto manufacturing company (a husband and wife team with three or four people working out of their basement) that has skilled sewers who produce the proper samples on specialized machines for wholesale.

The same manufacturing company also makes the swimwear orders but it isn't big enough for large orders or rush requests. Also, if her manufacturer is busy, she's shunted at the back of the line because her volume is small. When that happens, she can't meet her deadline for orders — critical in the swimsuit business.

She realizes that if she was to get a big order from a U.S. retailer that she might miss the opportunity. However, that big order might also push her. If her present manufacturer couldn't handle it, she might be able to take that order to bigger manufacturer. She says she'll do whatever it takes to fill an order, even if she takes a loss.

Bharti has met with Phantom in Montreal about possibly moving manufacturing there, but hasn't decided yet. She would like be manufacturing overseas within the next five years because of the lower manufacturing costs. Bharti is half Chinese so she has an advantage in that she can speak Chinese if she goes to China for manufacturing.

Quality control can be a problem with overseas manufacturing if you are a small player like Bharti. She realizes that she would need to be there to supervise the manufacturing process, which is delicate and specialized for her designs. However, with her son only six months old, Bharti doesn't want to be away for long stretches right now. Marketing: Bharti has done little PR to market Koi. She admits she desperately needs advice in this area. Her swimwear is often featured in magazine fashion editorials leading to a burst of sales but there's no follow-up. Bharti thinks a celebrity tie-in would help (Paris Hilton owns one of her suits given through a film contact of her husband but Bharti couldn't meet with her as requested at the time, having just given birth to her son.) She doesn't have a marketing budget at present and wonders if this is where she should be allocating more of her resources.

Her L.A. fashion contacts through her sister helps here. During March break, Bharti took her suits to L.A. to be featured in fashion shows. She also plans to book a booth for Koi at the Miami Swim Show in July with her sister.

Expansion outside Canada: Bharti wants to grow her business with expansion into the U.S. because of the size of the market and because they can sell year-round in spots like L.A. and Miami. (She already sells Koi to Miami boutiques). She thinks she should focus on the North American swimwear market before attempting to sell overseas.

Wholesale representation/distribution: Bharti recognizes that it's time to have the Koi line represented by wholesale agencies in Canada and the U.S., but she is torn between whether to go with a fashion agency or one specializing in swimwear. When she was at the L.A. Fashion Mart last year, she spoke to several reps but didn't sign on with anyone.

She feels that Koi is a better fit with the fashion agencies who sell to high end boutiques rather than with the specialized swimwear agencies. But the season for selling swimwear don't coincide with the fashion seasons, so she doesn't easily fit there either. Timing is critical because if you don't show the swimsuits early enough, the buyer's swimwear budget may already be gone. Bharti said she's learned this the hard way. However, Bharti's indecision about whether Koi fits best into fashion or swimwear has left her without any representation at all.

The selling season for swimwear in Canada is short. Canadian retailers usually only order small amounts once a year with staggered delivery times. However, if a suit is "hot", they may want reorders quickly while demand is still high. If Bharti's orders are late, the shop may refuse the goods.

Website: Whenever Koi is featured in the newspaper or a magazine, she has a flurry of online sales, but business is uneven. She wants to improve her website and to build up social networking so that people post pictures of themselves in their Koi suits and share tips on hot vacation spots.

Requested advice from the panel

Bharti feels she's at a crossroads with her business. She's decided to focus on the wholesale side of swimwear but is unsure of what steps to take next.

Should she stay small and grow slowly or find a partner/investor and take the risk to go bigger?

While she doesn't depend on the company to make her living, she wants the company to grow and to establish Koi as successful brand in North America. As a self-described "control freak", she's concerned about retaining creative freedom if she accepts a partner or investor. She's also willing to take out a bank loan if necessary to move Koi forward on her own.

Bharti recognizes that she need a strategy to reach her goals but is not sure where or how to prioritize. Even if she stays small, Bharti realizes she needs to make some decisions soon. She asks what she should develop first: manufacturing, marketing or representation? And if she can only afford to hire one full-time person, what should that person do?

She's hoping the panel can help her and welcomes their advice.

For further information about Koi, go to koiswimwear.com