Last week Mike and I went to see Lynn and Liz at FHC to discuss additions to our existing line up. Patterns for these will be completed by the close tomorrow and then we can go and get samples made up.
One of the knowledge areas that we are short on is material. Cotton is relatively simple, it has a weight, will shrink by x%, can be dyed (sometimes), and can be made into virtually anything. However other materials are proving more tricky to source for example Micro Fleece material. Mike is on the case, and I trust that he will find a supplier so that we can add a micro fleece to our collection in time for the Australian winter.
Working names for new product lines are:
Eddie
Jess
Lottie
Laughlan
I will be posting photos of the samples as and when they are made and will be looking for feedback from you all.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Audi Victoria Week 2010 Geelong
4 beautiful days over the Australia Day weekend. An amazing amount of interest and some good sales to boot.
Markets are always going to be a challenging arena for premium clothes, when a lot of the other stalls are selling product at a 1/10th of the price to ours. However, every sale is another person that has been converted to the Larrakin way.
We will continue with markets as a way of getting our brand out there, and to get customer and potential customer feedback.
Thankyou to all that showed up to see us in Geelong. It is much appreciated. We took some photos of the event over the 4 days:
Markets are always going to be a challenging arena for premium clothes, when a lot of the other stalls are selling product at a 1/10th of the price to ours. However, every sale is another person that has been converted to the Larrakin way.
We will continue with markets as a way of getting our brand out there, and to get customer and potential customer feedback.
Thankyou to all that showed up to see us in Geelong. It is much appreciated. We took some photos of the event over the 4 days:
One of the wooden figures on the foreshore dressed up in a Gareth.
Larrakin sandwiched between skin cream and sunglasses
What a beautiful day!
Monday, January 25, 2010
What's in a name part 2
I have 2 daughters, Amy (6 years) and Jess (3 years). The girls hoody, is named after Amy. To date Jess has not had a line named after her. To date this has not been a problem
Last Tuesday I was looking after Jess for the day, and I took her up to see where all the clothes had been manufactured at CGT in Brunswick. Vicky and Nicky at CGT were delightful and it seemed that all was well and the trip had been successful and enjoyable for Jess.
10 minutes into our trip back to Melbourne, Jess begins to ask why there isn't a Jess in the range. I explained that the next female line would be called Jess. This wasn't good enough. "I wanted to be first!" was the refrain from the back seat. I explained that this wasn't possible as we were already selling the Amy top. The result was tears and exhortations about wanting to be the first.
Note to self: never underestimate the power of a name to a 3 year old and never ever put one child ahead of another in the high stakes of naming a new product!
Conclusion: the next female article of clothing (a skirt) will be the Jess.
Last Tuesday I was looking after Jess for the day, and I took her up to see where all the clothes had been manufactured at CGT in Brunswick. Vicky and Nicky at CGT were delightful and it seemed that all was well and the trip had been successful and enjoyable for Jess.
10 minutes into our trip back to Melbourne, Jess begins to ask why there isn't a Jess in the range. I explained that the next female line would be called Jess. This wasn't good enough. "I wanted to be first!" was the refrain from the back seat. I explained that this wasn't possible as we were already selling the Amy top. The result was tears and exhortations about wanting to be the first.
Note to self: never underestimate the power of a name to a 3 year old and never ever put one child ahead of another in the high stakes of naming a new product!
Conclusion: the next female article of clothing (a skirt) will be the Jess.
What's in a name part 1
If you have read the blog, you will know that we decided to name the clothes after people we knew who had inspired the design.
So I received this e-mail from a very good Australian friend called Eddie:
"For a Aussie brand the product names may be (which is understandable as they are most likely people from the project ) a bit .......urban and ........English............if you know what I mean."
Very very good point.
To recap, names to date:
Benjamin
Laura
Jules
Gareth
Amanda
Finn
Amy
Jilly
So the next male product will be called Eddie, and thereafter we will look to make sure that they are not too English
Thanks Eddie for the frank and incisive observation. You are our Australian conscience.
If any of you have suggestions for names for male and female lines, please e-mail me:
rupert@larrakin.com.au
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Facebook Group
We now have a Facebook Group. Just search for Larrakin Clothing and feel free to join to get regular updates.
Audi Victoria Week 2010 - Geelong
We have been lucky enough to secure ourselves a last minute berth at the Audi Victoria Week 2010 in Geelong starting tomorrow 23rd Jan until Tuesday 26th Jan.
We are in position 10 and the map shows where we are at.
We look forward to seeing you there.
We are in position 10 and the map shows where we are at.
St Kilda Festival
Yesterday we got confirmation that we will be allocated a site at the St Kilda Festival on the 6th and 14th of February.
I will update blog when we know where and when.
I will update blog when we know where and when.
St Kilda Beach Night Market Part 1
As discussed in previous posts, we have decided initially to used markets/ festivals and online as the main channels to market. Opening a store will happen, but we want to start small and grow organically.
The St Kilda Beach Night Market is a melbourne classic. Started around 6 years ago, it is the very trendy St Kilda area. Here is what they have to say about themselves:
The St Kilda Beach Night Market is a melbourne classic. Started around 6 years ago, it is the very trendy St Kilda area. Here is what they have to say about themselves:
The St Kilda Beach Night Market is a locally produced and independently run event that brings together a community of artists, crafters, designers and buyers to create a unique series of summer night markets. For ten Thursdays in summer, the Night Market bursts onto the seaside village of St Kilda to transform O’Donnell Gardens into a luminous and effervescent town square.
With close to one hundred stall-holders, the St Kilda Beach Night Market creates a unique environment for showcasing, selling and of course buying gorgeous things.
Why all the fuss?
The St Kilda Beach Night Market is a beautiful, vibrant and unique outdoor markets, attracting thousands of Melbournians and tourists alike who enjoy its magical summer twilight atmosphere.
Located in between St Kilda’s famous Acland Street and Luna Park, then tucked beneath the palms of O’Donnell Gardens, this distinctive market transforms the rolling lawns into an exotic vibrant village. Shop, eat, dance, relax, and play. etc etc
So we applied and were accepted and were given instructions on what we needed to do for the first market date of 10th December.
At Queenscliff we had noticed a market stall made by a company called Robian which we liked the look of. It seemed very compact, sturdy and we could hang the clothes off waterfall holders. So I contacted them and arranged delivery of a unit in time for the 10th December.
I was away on the 10th, so Mike, Amanda and Claire a friend of ours went down to set up shop in one of the hippest areas in Melbourne. By all accounts the instructions for the tent were appalling and it took a considerable amount of time to get it erected. I was in the UK, when I got this on my email:
Amanda and Claire dressed to sell. On the left was a witches coven and on the right a rasta shop. At this point we were debating whether we would struggle to attract our demographic.
But yes, you guessed it the weather gods were still annoyed with us and it rained non stop from 5pm-8pm when they all made the wise call the pull the pin and go home.
The following week, it was my turn to set up. This had to be a solo effort and again it was pissing down with rain. I got the stall up, and there must have been 50 people that actually bothered to turn up. Had some lovely conversations with the organiser Michelle who was depressed with the start of the festival. I called it a night at 8.30pm and packed up with Juliet who had come down to give moral support. This week no-one to our right, but the witches coven was still next door
Over the Christmas period we decided that we needed a clearer sign calling out the fact that everything has been made in Australia. I got a nice man from Signarama to do that for me.
The next market was on the 7th Jan, which we were unable to make, but we started again on the 14th Jan. This time it was hot at the start, and Amanda and I were in the chair this week. We timed the set up at 1 hour 15minutes. At 4.30 we sold our first T-shirt to a Russian family who wanted something Australian made to send to his dad back home. The sign seemed to be working. Other family members came down and we started to get really busy as the photos attest (both customers in the stall bought stuff). Forgot the mirror so had to use the camera on the mobile to show people what they looked like:
Amanda left with the kids at 9.00pm and it was left to Mike and I to see out the last hour and then pack up. There was one stall near us that was grabbing a lot of attention, a kind of oriental healing where the healer whistles and snorts while he is doing the treatment. Not an issue normally, but these guys were going for it and it was getting very tempting to ask the music makers in our end of the market to crank up their music. This week we had a slightly grumpy man to our right selling cheap clothing and beads and the witches coven to our left.
Yesterday the market was on again. Once more Amanda and I set up, although only took us 1 hour this time. First sale to a French lady who loved the Laura t-shirts. Not as busy as the previous week, but solid traffic. Juliet and the girls and Mike, Finn and Lottie all came down. It is starting to become a bit of a family outing now. To our left the coven, and to the right a guy selling cactus fridge magnets.
Slightly changed set up this week, with T's to the left and right and the sweats at the back. Lots of interest and positive feedback.
Came up with a good marketing plan, put a T-shirt on one of the kids which says, "If you don't buy something, I won't get fed" and have them as per photo below!
We will be at the St Kilda Beach Night Market on the following dates:
28th January, 4th February, 11th February, 18, February and 25th February.
Come down, bring your friends for a great evening out and of course your wallet to buy some Larrakin clothes.
The Website Shoot or where the hell is George Clooney when you need him?
In parallel to getting all the clothes manufactured we needed to get a website up and running. A friend of a friend put me in touch with a local company and after initial conversations, I met up with the web designer, Irma Zimmerman to discuss the look and feel of the website and what I wanted to deliver to the end user.
Building the site was apparently relatively trivial as we were not looking for any flashy effects initially, but the problem part was the photography for the site.
So we have a dilemma
We need the site up on the day we start trading at Queenscliff on the 28th November, but the clothes are not going to be finished until the Friday 27th. We would have no time to photograph and then get them on the website if we shot them on the Friday. Irma agreed to guarantee Saturday am launch if we got her the photos on Wednesday afternoon, so the stage was set for a photo shoot on Wednesday morning.
Photo shoot! I've never done one before so we enlisted the help of a friend Kerin, who has a strong marketing background in clothing and her daughter Georgie, who would take all the photos. Kerin then magically persuaded a friend to be the female model, Claire, and due to my first choice of George Clooney not being available, I was left as the male model.
Tuesday was spend getting all the samples together for the shoot in the right sizes so we could get lifestyle shots as well as product shots.
It is agreed that we will use the rotunda in Sandringham and the beach as the location. 9.15am having dropped my daughters off to school, and sporting a 25 day old beard for Movember, I arrive with all the clothes in Sandringham. The weather gods are not keen to bless us with sun, however there is a really moody light coming off the bay. Georgie likes it, the Claire the model likes it, Kerin likes it so I like it.
First up is Claire, and it is clear immediately why she is in such high demand. Fantastic photos and our clothes look magnificent.
Then there is me. Well I will leave you with the fact, that at some stage soon, we will be reshooting the male products with a different model
Finally the group shots were hysterical, with friends and family all involved. While quite basic, it gives off the brand attitude.
Kerin and Georgie working with Claire. Check out the moody light.
Mike coming dressed as the producer
Building the site was apparently relatively trivial as we were not looking for any flashy effects initially, but the problem part was the photography for the site.
So we have a dilemma
We need the site up on the day we start trading at Queenscliff on the 28th November, but the clothes are not going to be finished until the Friday 27th. We would have no time to photograph and then get them on the website if we shot them on the Friday. Irma agreed to guarantee Saturday am launch if we got her the photos on Wednesday afternoon, so the stage was set for a photo shoot on Wednesday morning.
Photo shoot! I've never done one before so we enlisted the help of a friend Kerin, who has a strong marketing background in clothing and her daughter Georgie, who would take all the photos. Kerin then magically persuaded a friend to be the female model, Claire, and due to my first choice of George Clooney not being available, I was left as the male model.
Tuesday was spend getting all the samples together for the shoot in the right sizes so we could get lifestyle shots as well as product shots.
It is agreed that we will use the rotunda in Sandringham and the beach as the location. 9.15am having dropped my daughters off to school, and sporting a 25 day old beard for Movember, I arrive with all the clothes in Sandringham. The weather gods are not keen to bless us with sun, however there is a really moody light coming off the bay. Georgie likes it, the Claire the model likes it, Kerin likes it so I like it.
First up is Claire, and it is clear immediately why she is in such high demand. Fantastic photos and our clothes look magnificent.
Then there is me. Well I will leave you with the fact, that at some stage soon, we will be reshooting the male products with a different model
Finally the group shots were hysterical, with friends and family all involved. While quite basic, it gives off the brand attitude.
Kerin and Georgie working with Claire. Check out the moody light.
Mike coming dressed as the producer
Getting ready for the group shots.
We were done by 11.00am, Georgie went home to edit and photoshop the images, and told me they would be ready by 3.00pm. I collect them at 3.00pm and then drive them to Irma for the exchange. We go through the photos and decide on what styles for the website.
In the background Mike has been organising the screenprinting of the kids hoodies, so on Thursday he collects these, takes them home. Amanda then photographs the lifestyle shot and zooms down to the beach to take product shots. Irma has these by email close of play on Thursday.
Saturday morning 4.00am the website goes live. www.larrakin.com.au
This is the home page:
It is a transactional website, so we can take your money online, and it is free delivery to anywhere in Australia. The rest of the world I will charge just what it costs us.
Please let me know if you want anything or have any comments on the site
From sketch to sample in 3 easy steps
1) Get Mike to sketch it on a piece of paper
2) Take it to an understanding pattern maker that is prepared to use herself as the model
3) Take pattern to manufacturer for sample:
That's it, and this is Jules in our collection
3) Take pattern to manufacturer for sample:
That's it, and this is Jules in our collection
The Launch
Saturday 28th November is a bit of a special day. It is the day when something we had only started talking about 4 months before, became a reality. We opened our store to the general public
Queenscliff music festival is legendary in Victoria as the blurb below says:
Minister for Tourism and Major Events Tim Holding came as a special guest of the festival and in his address made particular mention of the award winning nature of this festival which being in the Victorian Tourism Hall of Fame for the most significant Festival and Event in the state, also holds a national title for the same award and was this year nominated in the prestigious Helpmann Awards for Best contemporary Music Festival. Tim was impressed by the way the Festival integrates the township, and generates widespread and lasting benefits to the town and the region.
We arrived at our spot at 7.30am with the view that we had to be up and ready to trade by 9.00am when the festival kicked off. So after a round of coffees to wake us up after the 1hour 30 minute drive from Melbourne we got started. The first thing to mention is that it was a beautiful morning, clear blue skies, but there was evidence of a significant rainfall and storm the previous night. Some of the food stalls had blown over, but the forecast had been for fine weather on Saturday, and rain showers on Sunday, so we were happy.
Thanks to our earlier preparation and 4 focused individuals working in sync and harmony, we were able to get the tent up by the 9.00am deadline. Here is what it looked like:
This is the front, A frames to the left, tables to right
Inside, the A frames looking great
Mike and Amanda next to changing area and wearing their Larrakin tops.
Pretty quiet until 11.30ish, people brushing themselves down after a long night the previous evening no doubt. And then we started getting people walking in, feeling the clothes and then at around Midday, we sold our first item to a member of the general public. It was an Amanda sweatshirt!
What became very obvious from the get go, is that there are significantly more women that browse than men. It also became evident that Mike and I were more than likely scaring these customers away, when we were in the tent. So pretty quickly we decided that Juliet and Amanda would be front of house and we would be back of house support.
Things were bubbling along well, customers coming in, the wind getting up and cooling the street down, and really positive feedback.
Then the wind really started to rage, the sky changed colour and at 2.00pm when the street was packed with people, it started to rain. I return to the Queenscliff web site review at this point:
With healthy ticket sales and great undercover venues, the euphoric crowds embraced the drought breaking rain on Saturday
Yes, you read that right.... "drought breaking rain" On our launch.
And at this point we wished we had made up some Larrakin umbrellas.
The rain did not stop until Sunday, by which time a lot of the festival goers had left.
We learned a great deal from the two days:
1) Women prefer buying clothes from women.
2) We needed a different way to hang our clothes. A table is not good enough and in high winds gets blown away.
3) We need to communicate that all our products are made in Australia
4) Customers loved our products, the quality, the classic cuts.
5) Rain kills footfall at markets
6) We do sell to our target demographic, but there were not enough of them around before the rain fell.
7) The name and logo was universally liked, subtle but strong.
In conclusion we were amazed, happy and knackered that we had managed to deliver against our goal of having a range of quality, classic, clothes all made in Australia and that although the weather had been against us, we sold to people that had never heard of us.
In life, you sometimes have to put yourselves out there to see what you are made of. We did and on this occasion were not found wanting.
Queenscliff music festival is legendary in Victoria as the blurb below says:
Minister for Tourism and Major Events Tim Holding came as a special guest of the festival and in his address made particular mention of the award winning nature of this festival which being in the Victorian Tourism Hall of Fame for the most significant Festival and Event in the state, also holds a national title for the same award and was this year nominated in the prestigious Helpmann Awards for Best contemporary Music Festival. Tim was impressed by the way the Festival integrates the township, and generates widespread and lasting benefits to the town and the region.
We arrived at our spot at 7.30am with the view that we had to be up and ready to trade by 9.00am when the festival kicked off. So after a round of coffees to wake us up after the 1hour 30 minute drive from Melbourne we got started. The first thing to mention is that it was a beautiful morning, clear blue skies, but there was evidence of a significant rainfall and storm the previous night. Some of the food stalls had blown over, but the forecast had been for fine weather on Saturday, and rain showers on Sunday, so we were happy.
Thanks to our earlier preparation and 4 focused individuals working in sync and harmony, we were able to get the tent up by the 9.00am deadline. Here is what it looked like:
This is the front, A frames to the left, tables to right
Looking from side towards the entrance of the festival
Inside, the A frames looking great
Mike and Amanda next to changing area and wearing their Larrakin tops.
Pretty quiet until 11.30ish, people brushing themselves down after a long night the previous evening no doubt. And then we started getting people walking in, feeling the clothes and then at around Midday, we sold our first item to a member of the general public. It was an Amanda sweatshirt!
What became very obvious from the get go, is that there are significantly more women that browse than men. It also became evident that Mike and I were more than likely scaring these customers away, when we were in the tent. So pretty quickly we decided that Juliet and Amanda would be front of house and we would be back of house support.
Things were bubbling along well, customers coming in, the wind getting up and cooling the street down, and really positive feedback.
Then the wind really started to rage, the sky changed colour and at 2.00pm when the street was packed with people, it started to rain. I return to the Queenscliff web site review at this point:
With healthy ticket sales and great undercover venues, the euphoric crowds embraced the drought breaking rain on Saturday
Yes, you read that right.... "drought breaking rain" On our launch.
It was pretty grim
And at this point we wished we had made up some Larrakin umbrellas.
The rain did not stop until Sunday, by which time a lot of the festival goers had left.
We learned a great deal from the two days:
1) Women prefer buying clothes from women.
2) We needed a different way to hang our clothes. A table is not good enough and in high winds gets blown away.
3) We need to communicate that all our products are made in Australia
4) Customers loved our products, the quality, the classic cuts.
5) Rain kills footfall at markets
6) We do sell to our target demographic, but there were not enough of them around before the rain fell.
7) The name and logo was universally liked, subtle but strong.
In conclusion we were amazed, happy and knackered that we had managed to deliver against our goal of having a range of quality, classic, clothes all made in Australia and that although the weather had been against us, we sold to people that had never heard of us.
In life, you sometimes have to put yourselves out there to see what you are made of. We did and on this occasion were not found wanting.
My mother always told me never to leave things to the last minute.......
Friday 27th November. T minus 23hours to Queenscliff and launch of Larrakin Clothing.
Website
Not live
Transport:
Hired a van first thing for the weekend
Tent:
Collected tent in Van
Jilly Bags
Collected first thing from Dandenong. Sharp pair of scissors required to tidy up all the edges on 20 bags. Note to manufacturer- should have been done onsite.
Thankyou's
Flowers for Lynn and Liz at FHC, Vicky and Nicky at CGT and beer and Ouzo for the men at CGT. Delivered to Lynn and Liz at 1.00ish, and CGT at 3.00ish
Clothes
Collected 495 pressed, labelled and boxed garments from CGT at 3.00ish. Hot day, lots of smiles and banter.
Website
Not live
EFTPOS machine
Working and charged
Customer Bags
Printed and dry
Petty Cash
$156 in coins
A frames, signage, tables, seats, invoice books, car stickers, frisbees, business cards, spare labels, bunting, mobile changing room, plastic boxes for clothes, hangers, mirror
Check
Website
Still not live
Folding all clothes and putting them in plastic boxes
11.00pm done
Packing up van in preparation for morning
12.30am done
Website
4.00am Live
Leave for Queensliff
5.30am
Website
Not live
Transport:
Hired a van first thing for the weekend
Tent:
Collected tent in Van
Jilly Bags
Collected first thing from Dandenong. Sharp pair of scissors required to tidy up all the edges on 20 bags. Note to manufacturer- should have been done onsite.
Thankyou's
Flowers for Lynn and Liz at FHC, Vicky and Nicky at CGT and beer and Ouzo for the men at CGT. Delivered to Lynn and Liz at 1.00ish, and CGT at 3.00ish
Clothes
Collected 495 pressed, labelled and boxed garments from CGT at 3.00ish. Hot day, lots of smiles and banter.
Website
Not live
EFTPOS machine
Working and charged
Customer Bags
Printed and dry
Petty Cash
$156 in coins
A frames, signage, tables, seats, invoice books, car stickers, frisbees, business cards, spare labels, bunting, mobile changing room, plastic boxes for clothes, hangers, mirror
Check
Website
Still not live
Folding all clothes and putting them in plastic boxes
11.00pm done
Packing up van in preparation for morning
12.30am done
Website
4.00am Live
Leave for Queensliff
5.30am
Preparations for Queenscliff
In the run up to the launch at Queenscliff we had to work out how we would display the clothes and other products. We had secured a site 6mx3m and found a tent from a local company that would work.
10 days before the festival we set the tent up in Mike and Amanda's back garden to see how it could look and make sure that setting up on the day would not be a nightmare.
This is how it would look from the front, with the 3m facing the walkway. Mike had made up some A frames to put clothes on:
Pretty impressive and we had two of them. We also had 3 trestle tables, some fantastic bunting for the outside and hanger to display all the styles. We needed some bags to put the clothes in once sold, so I got a box of recycled brown paper bags and then got a couple of rubber stamps made up and spent quite a long time printing each bag front and back with our logo and website:
Some of these now have small paw prints on as one of the cats decided it would be fun to walk across the entire floor.
At the very least, as alternative vocations, Mike can get into furniture manufacturing and I can start an arts and crafts class.
10 days before the festival we set the tent up in Mike and Amanda's back garden to see how it could look and make sure that setting up on the day would not be a nightmare.
This is how it would look from the front, with the 3m facing the walkway. Mike had made up some A frames to put clothes on:
Some of these now have small paw prints on as one of the cats decided it would be fun to walk across the entire floor.
At the very least, as alternative vocations, Mike can get into furniture manufacturing and I can start an arts and crafts class.
Pushing the Button Part 2
We had to be ready to sell stock on 28th November which was the first day of the Queenscliff Music Festival so the 2 weeks running up to this date are a bit a whirlwind.
Many many trips up to Brunswick and down to Dandenong (See the Jilly Bag).
Amanda. Originally we had planned on three colours, Larrakin Blue, Light Blue and Black. When the material was rolled out on the cutting table at CGT, the two blues were superb, but the black was a disaster. The dye had not fixed properly to the material, so we had to pull the black and go with the two blues.
Gareth. Originally we had planned on two colours, Larrakin Blue and Grey, but the grey had the same problem as the black, it was patchy and not fit to made up.
Both the black and the grey was sent promptly back to the dyer to see what could be done, and CGT cracked on with making the sweatshirts.
Benjamin and Jules were also being made at this point, and fortunately there were no issues with any of these
The Jilly Bag. This is our super top secret ingredient material beach bag. This came about when I was thinking about how could we reuse discarded material to make a bag to put our clothes in at point of sale. I thought about a lot of different products, rice bags/ sacks etc and ended up focusing on sails. Melbourne has a very strong sailing community and a good friend (Jilly) offered to try and find some to see if we could convert them into bags. At this point it became evident that it was unrealistic to make these into give aways, but there could potentially be a market as beach bags. Then began a voyage of discovery to try and find someone able to manufacture such a thick material. Firstly, I managed to secure, from some very generous boat owners some old sails that were to be thrown out. I then contacted a company in Reservoir who specialised in manufacturing Jeans and went up to see them with a sail. Initial discussions were very positive and the owner promised to have a sample made up of the pattern that our designers had put together. Come monday, I called and was told that "no can do" "too difficult" " would cost $100 to manufacture 1 bag". Unfortunate to say the least and I saw my dream of a sail bag disappearing. So after reclaiming the sails, I phoned up a second hand sewing machine distributer and asked about the price of a heavy duty machine that could cope with sail material. I was given a price and was about the hang up when I asked if Steve knew of anyone that had machines and skill capable of doing what I wanted. He gave me a name of a man in Dandenong. I called, set up a meeting and low and behold found a factory that specialised in making articles from tough material like canvass and vinyl. Tan liked the challenge, I gave him the pattern and agreed a time to collect sample. 2 hours later the phone goes. "The pattern doesn't work! We can't do it". My response was to ask whether he had another pattern he could use to mock up a sample and to see how it looked. He said yes and we agreed a time to collect. 2 days later I returned to Dandenong to collect the bag. It was great, but too small. I didn't have the time to go back to the pattern maker, so taking a couple of empty wine boxes, some sticky tape and a long ruler, I set out to make a pattern that would work. I returned to Dandenong that afternoon armed with my DIY pattern and was reassured by Tan that this would work, and he committed to have 20 bags made within 3 days. I collected them on Friday 27th November, the day before our first market.
And finally, just to challenge ourselves even further, we decided at the last minute to make up some kids hoody's in pink for the girls and red for the boys with a screenprinted design on the back. Fortunately the material dyed well and Amy (girls hoody) and Finn (boys hoody) were born.
Throughout all this we had to manage the flow of manufactured product from CGT to the embroidery company Golden Cup and then back to CGT to be pressed, labelled and boxed ready for sale. The operation at Golden Cup is phenomenal and their machines are state of the art. Our requirement for the embroidery was pretty complex. On Benjamin, Jules, Gareth and Amanda, we wanted contrasting logos on the front and contrasting names on the back. So each garment had to be embroidered twice. Under immense time pressure, Golden Cup were able to deliver and able to have the garments back to CGT in time for us to collect the pressed, labelled and boxed garments.
So we are now at Thursday November 26th........
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