A letter to our community - written 21st Match, 2020 as the UK went into lockdown.
Today was supposed to be the day we'd be showing you the colours we’ve chosen for our next jacket, Batch No.4, the Corduroy Chore Jacket.
But a lot has changed in the last week and so we have decided to pause the release of Batch No.4. Delaying it until a time that feels right.
Ahh. It already feels better just to put the news out there. Over the past two weeks we’ve been agonising over what was the right action to take.
Hmm. Tough one.
Because we were ready.
The jacket was ready.
Every detail and colour was ready.
Buttons have been ordered.
The limited edition label was ready.
Jim, our photographer was ready (Today was supposed to be our shoot day).
The corduroy fabric had been ordered and paid for.
That fabric will soon be finished, and ready.
But, our factory might not be ready.
With Portuguese schools closed half of our factory's workforce are at home looking after their children. And we don't know how long this will last. By the time we had planned to launch mid April, there’s a chance our factory will have closed out of precaution for a few weeks. And we couldn’t release a jacket, not knowing when we could deliver. It wouldn’t feel right.
And, what if the world actually wasn't ready either?
As Bob Dylan said, "times they are a changing". Our people are creatives and this isn’t an easy time for our industry. So many of you want to support us through this, but we want to do what we can to support you too.
We all have other things on our mind beyond shopping. If we are still shopping, it’s to support the independents who need to make payroll next week or have an office space they owe rent for. We’re lucky there’s just two of us, and we don't have office space to pay for.
So we have chosen to slow things down and live simply for the next few months, letting those who need to keep selling to take the lead.
When the time is right, we’ll be back with a jacket that we have poured all of our love and time into. And we can’t wait to show it to you.
So, when will we release Batch No.4?
To be honest, we don’t know right now, but we hope it won’t be too long. Our first thoughts are supporting our extended family. That’s our factory, suppliers, creatives and friends we work with. The longer we go without, the longer they do too.
When we can safely make again, we'll be back. We can't wait.
So, what will we be doing in the meantime?
We can’t lie, we really miss being busy. Busy was amazing wasn’t it. Total freedom. Visiting makers and factories. Public transport. Our incredible restaurants. A few weeks ago seems like a whole lifetime ago but sunnier days are ahead. We will all come out of this kinder, more patient and with stronger connections to the people we really care about.
So while we hunker down to protect the most vulnerable, we’ve got a lot to be getting on with. We'll be spending time helping other businesses whilst also keeping busy with a long list of our own. We’ll be starting by changing our communications a fair bit. We’re working on plans to bring people together and highlight the incredible creativity that comes from constraints like these. Expect something new in your inbox on Tuesday.
And until then, if you’re as nosey as we are, this is what our to do list looks like for the moment.
-
Product photography for Batch No.4 & No.5.
-
Publishing some updates to our site.
-
Skyping with Andrew Paynter.
-
Shoot planning for Batch No.5.
-
Finding time to read the Earth Logic Plan.
-
Skype sessions with an illustrator for an upcoming label.
-
Recording something secret.
-
Redesigning instagram stories.
-
Oh and Huw has just bought 30m of fabric for an experiment and he’s got the sewing machine out again.
-
Spend at least one day a week helping other businesses.
Stay safe and be kind,
Becky & Huw.
