It's Monday, the 11th of May, 2020.
Today we turn one year old.
At 9am on the 11th of May last year, we released Batch No.1.
That morning we were up super early. We spent the morning drinking far too much coffee while double, triple, quadruple checking everything on the website before our first jacket went live. Then we hit the button. It was out in the world. And we crossed everything.
We'd planned to have our store open for seven days. Hoping that by the last day, we would have sold enough jackets to put an order in with our factory. But you had other plans.
In 14 minutes, all 300 jackets from Batch No.1 had sold out.
Our minds were blown. And you didn't stop there.
Batch No.2 went in three minutes (I cried). So we increased the number we made to 500 for Batch No.3, and it sold out in 35 minutes.
In our first year, the store has only been open for 52 minutes.
We've packed up every jacket ourselves, and sent them to 28 countries. Two of you have proposed wearing one! There's been three trips to Portugal to see our factory. And countless trips to meet new mills and makers. We launched our first piece of print - Batch Notes. Our care label went a bit viral. And we experimented with our first podcast for Batch No.3.
In June, Becky went full time. 6 months later, I joined her. It's been a hell of a year. The best year of our lives. And we couldn't be more grateful for all of your support. Without you guys, this wouldn't work.
Our mission is to bring meaning back to clothing. Slowing down consumption and telling all the stories behind the clothes that we wear.
So, to start our second year off with good intentions, we wanted to do something different.
With the world going a bit crazy right now, we have wanted to help for a while but with the factory being closed, we couldn't make anything.
Until this week. Sergio and the team are back in the factory, and the sewing machines are humming again.
And that got us thinking.
What if we released a jacket that would support our factory, after so many brands have cancelled orders?
What if that jacket could also support our National Health Service?
This is Batch No.3.5.
It wasn't in our plan for the year. But neither was the year that we're all having. Things change. And we all adapt. We just wanted to make sure the change was positive.
For Batch No.3.5 we're bringing back the three-pocket chore jacket from Batch No.1.
In only one colour. Bills Blue. The colour of the jacket that sparked this whole thing.
There will be a new limited edition label, featuring artwork by Carl Godfrey.
And 100% of the profits will go to charity.
Batch No.3.5 will be available on the 30th of May at 9AM.
That's all we're going to say for now. We'll be back next week with more information on the release.
But before we go, thanks again for an unforgettable first year.
Until next week,
Huw & Becky
