Parfet represents the Worth Collection, a line of upscale clothes for office and home which sells-by invitation only-out of the homes of well-connected women. It’s a Tupperware party gone tony-the goods are $350 silk dresses and wool-tricotine suits instead of plastic bowls for leftover meat loaf, but the principle is the same: shop in stores is out; customer service is in.
“The woman who sells the clothes also wears them,” says Caroline Davis, cofounder and president of the Worth Collection. “Because of her lifestyle, she attracts customers like herself.” As a result, she knows exactly the kind of attention they want: she keeps records of their favorite colors and upcoming social events so she can call when a collection comes in with just the right dress for, say, the company Christmas party. Using an old girl’s network that has fueled the Junior League for years, a woman with good taste and connections can attract enough customers to earn as much as $60,000 a year and still stay home with her children. Like Parfet, most of these women are not working to put food on the table-unless it’s caviar and champagne. Parfet, for example, was saving to take her husband on an African safari for his 40th birthday.
To do well, sales associates must fiercely guard their own turf. Sales associates work as independent contractors who develop their own businesses through networking. Each associate shows the collection for a week at a time four times a year, and earns 25 percent of whatever she sells.
Home shopping isn’t a new idea. It started about 60 years ago with the Doncaster company in North Carolina. The clothes were relatively conservative. Lately, the concept and the clothes have gotten sexier. Busy women appreciate appointments after dinner or on weekends. They like the chic styling, too, and, as department,-store service deteriorates, the personal attention is a prime incentive to drop by. Women are responding. Doncaster and the decade-old Carlisle company have representatives in almost every state and do an annual business of more than $50 million. Worth, still in its first year, expects to gross $10 million. It’s still not selling safari clothes, though. For her African adventure this January, Parfet will have to shop at Banana Republic.
