Off and running...back wards.

So....it is funny to me that I am just now sitting down to post a blog about Spring 2012. And, as you can see the last post was written when I was beginning Spring 2011. As you can guess, it's been a bit busy around here. The craziness has been good! We truly feel that we are onto something with this year with our brand! We have been featured in numerous publications, we have doubled our store accounts, and also brought on a new sales rep. Things are off and running.

As I begin to design Spring 12, I am refocusing on our successes, and also looking a bit back onto our beginnings. It may sound weird to look backwards to move forward, but hey that is where it all began...with a gut feeling and an idea. That should always be the focus.

Special...

It is not everyday that you get to feel special! Today I do...

I feel especially special due to an old friend introducing me to a new friend.

And, without prompt or proposal, this new friend believes in my vision.

That makes me feel very very special.

So here is a toast to those that make the effort to make another feel special.

And, here is a great vintage dress that will be in my SPRING 2011 collection.

I love the combo of the over scaled check with the crochet trim.

Enjoy!

Rompers!

The season seems to be riddled with rompers!

In both women's and kids lines I have found an abundance.

Here is of my favorites! And it fits into my themes for the season.

Vintage Romper-needs some serious redesign on the

body but the details are great!

Today I am mapping out how many styles I need,

this will help me to plan out how big the line will be based on

last season sales, and how I want to grow the sales for next Spring.

This is then balanced by how much I will need to invest in having them made up into sales man samples. SMS are the samples I take to market to sell to the stores. They represent what I will ship to them later that season if they place the order.

My line usually starts with 40 styles-20 boys/20 girls

Each sample is then costed out by the factory.

My average cost is around $10-$15 depending on the style

and fabric. My SMS cost is double this number.

So, to make my line in order to take to the trade shows, I need around $800-$1200.

I have to make 4 sales man sample lines so that each of my 4 showrooms has a line to

use during the season. 1200 x 4=$4800.00. And I have not even showed anyone the line yet!!

Spring is here...well at least my deadline to start designing it is!

Spring 2011 needs to be thought up, sketched out and submitted to my factory's by the end of this month. I am going to share this journey with you!

Today: Gather inspiration from other blogs, brands, stores and general creative outlets.

My favorite trend for this season are as follows (so far & subject to change along the way):

Chambray & Indigo

Seaside Hippy

Vintage Military

Western

I am thinking about a combining these trend elements for a traveling road show type look.

The mix of these all together will give a feel of carefree spring days and youthfulness.

I love the way these vintage items combine the stripes with the ditsy print!

I am digging it!

Get ready, get set...launch!

Now that my 2 favorite relatives are following me, I suppose I will actually start posting to this blog. Actually, it was in the cards anyways via a conversation with my business partner. She recently saw the blogger movie Julie vs. Julia. She and I were inspired, and perplexed by the plot. Then when I saw that I had new followers in the box inspired me even further. I only wish you guys were not the smartest folks on earth and therefore analyzing my word structure and spelling at every sentence. I will try my best to be as coherent as possible! I look forward to divulging my plans for 2010 in the next few entrees. Please invite all of your friends to follow our little adventure in the world kids clothing, cool happening, good music and the sharing of other inspiring information.

Momfinds posting

http://momfinds.com/blog/index.php/weblog/whats_acoustic_kid_hint_its_not_a_noisy_child/

The real deal...

Pie. 

It is a peach pie. The peaches were bought at a local farmers market. The pan was given to me by an elder. The crust made from real flour and shortening. It is funny how easy it is to forget the subtle joy in making it yourself the real way. This also leads me to other thoughts of the "real deal" in other aspects of my life. It is so very very important to once and an often while just put down the phone, turn off the computer, and remember what it was like to pick up the phone and call an old friend to just catch up. It is also import to give your kids unaltered attention once in awhile. While listening to my husband talking about his childhood and thinking back about mine, I realize our parents did. I don't want to sound like an old fud. I myself can't even image living without my phone, or internet. But, lately I have been considering finding a of a new wave of people that refused to use technology to communicate. But of course I would need to start a group or blog to find members. So for today, I am just going to stop typing this blog, and have a piece of pie with my husband and kids.