The Next Generation: Reshma Patel’s Quiet Storm

I’m always on the lookout. There’s never a time I’m not thinking about finding a new designer. So much of Quiet Storms’ vision surrounds supporting emerging designers in this space.

Exciting design can come from the furthest reaches like Poland, Barcelona. I connect with these designers either through Instagram or planning to see them at trade shows. I’ve started doing Skype introductions to meet brands if they can’t make it to Paris or New York or aren’t quite ready to put themselves out there at that level. It’s about starting conversations and watching these younger brands develop and evolve.

On Trade Shows

I typically walk the Woman/Man show in New York and in Paris I love to go to Premiere Classe. This season I went to the Garmentory show for the first time because two of our designers were showing there.

I didn’t pick up anyone new but it was a very curated and intimate experience, which feels like a similar vibe to Quiet Storms. Our designers said it was a really positive experience. I know there are bigger shows, like NY Now and Coterie, but for us it makes more sense to connect with designers who don’t have mass distribution and are more likely to show in a smaller space.

“It’s a life pursuit to create an interesting and compelling retail space.”

We’re still so new in the retail space and still operating like a start-up, but also trying to create an elevated retail experience through our store and website. We’re in the process of redoing our entire website to better optimize it for online shopping so our physical store is still the main channel for people to purchase and connect with the collection.

That being said, online sales are 25 percent of our business at this time and we want to develop and grow that. Because of the designers we curate and the unique point of view that we have we feel like there are a lot of women outside of Williamsburg and Brooklyn and New York City, for that matter, who want to be able to follow along with what we’re doing.

Even local clients use the site as a resource to browse and then come into the store with a very intentional purpose. It acts as a place for inspiration and connection and sales, but it’s also a portal for us to connect with women and potential clients,

They use it in ways we hadn’t necessarily expected originally. We thought people would see something they love but hesitate to make the purchase (online) because the collections we sell can be very sculptural, or it’s not necessarily clear how a piece works. But I think as some of our designers become more well-known--like Charlotte Chesnais or Sophie Bille Brahe, J. Hannah, Azlee--people are seeing the collections other places so are open to buying online.

On Instagram’s Shopping Feature

Once we redo our site I’m open to looking at Instagram shopping. Personally, I love the platform as a place for discovery and I worry that if we put shopping bags over every image it takes something away from that, but at the same time, we’re here to sell jewelry.

We see from our analytics that people are using Instagram for discovery then going onto our site as a next step so if we can make it easier for them by listing a price (through the shopping feature), then that’s fantastic but I worry it could have an opposite effect. If you see the price immediately you might not dig any deeper to learn about the designer, why a piece is priced like it is and the materials, all of which you learn from our website.

On Men Shopping for Women

I opened Quiet Storms as a jewelry store for women to buy jewelry for themselves, but about 30 percent of our clients are men shopping for women. It’s a lot more than I expected.

It’s been nice to connect with men who say, ‘Wow, there are so many unique things here that would be perfect for my wife.’

 “I don’t think of jewelry as a commodity or disposable; it doesn’t go out of fashion.”

Some men come to shop for themselves as well. In 2019 we want to expand our unisex offerings.

On the Pace of Retail

When I first started the space I thought that jewelry operated outside of the larger fashion bubble, that it didn’t have the same seasonal demands, that it didn’t have the same expiration date.

But the demand from consumers makes it so fast-paced. People see something on social media or on an influencer and they want it right away. That’s trickling down into jewelry. We have to be more adept at keeping up with the demand and staggering our deliveries and always having something new to offer our clients.

Our designers do push back, which I love, by only creating new pieces once or twice a year or when they’re inspired.

I respect that because I don’t think of jewelry as a commodity or disposable; it doesn’t go out of fashion. We believe in buying pieces you love and treasure forever and we look for designers who feel the same way.