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I have only had enough time to list two clutches on my new Etsy webshop and now I have to run to my actual work! But check it out!
I spent ALLLLLL last night taking pictures for this. After hours of playing around with camera settings and lighting, I was finally able to come up with pictures that I thought did justice of how pretty these clutches are!
I have plans to fill my etsy shop in the next couple of days!!
Posted by Fumi Bull at 1:50 PM | Comments (0)
My website has been open for approximately 18 days, 3 hours and 15 min. And I just received my first order ever!!!!
I just got home from dinner at my sister's place, opened up my laptop and checked my email like I always do, expecting an email from my Dad or maybe even two, and then I saw it! An order from Davie and Chiyo?? NO WAY. Must be some test email from my Dad or something.. BUT NO, it was a real order for a Vampire clutch!
....
Ok fine, it was from someone I know... a friend of mine who lives up North in a small town called Fort St, James. But still! An order is an order and it was totally unexpected!!
Thanks Rob, you made my day! :D
ps. 30 min until the post office closes; I'm going to mail it tonight!!
Posted by Fumi Bull at 8:17 PM | Comments (2)
So I've been busy in the last couple of days setting up my Davie and Chiyo Etsy shop. I must say, I'm pretty stoked about this! I just went through a stack of Japanese silk fabric with my sister the other day, and there are some extremely beautiful silk fabrics just waiting to be made into something of use. These are sample fabrics that were provided by my father's neighbor in Japan. He used to work for a kimono production company back in the day, and his closet is filled with silk samples! They are too small to be made into anything at all but of course clutches. How perfect?
The etsy shop should be up and running in hmmm ... I'm going to give myself five days! So go check it out! (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6822069)
Posted by Fumi Bull at 11:35 PM | Comments (1)
Hi!
So my website has now been open for a week and it seems there has been quite a few accesses to the website. That's pretty good news considering that I have been doing a very poor job of promoting the website! Couple of reasons for this. One is that I just don't have enough time in a day! With a full time job already taking up half of my day it becomes a bit of a challenge sometimes to juggle between spending time with my friends and family, doing basic chores (like keeping my one room apartment in order so there's enough space to get through!), and finding time for my extracurricular activities like this one! But another reason is because I'm a little insecure about my website ... with only five styles in the store with no 'cool' eye catching slide shows or model shots to promote the bags yet, I'm not quite ready to yell to the whole entire world, "Come check out my drop dead gorgeous website!!!!!"
Upcoming events on my agenda:
I am currently working on a new section on my website concerning the environmental effects of my shop. I want to do the best I can in order to make my environmental footprints as light as I can by using less packaging materials as possible, and the materials that I do use to be as environmentally friendly as possible.
3 new lines to be added to my shop:
Now, 'up-cycled' clutch is the new and exciting idea that I am going to try to promote in my shop. It may come in all styles and sizes, with one thing in common, and that is that the main fabric used in the clutch has come from a previously enjoyed item, such as kimono, obi, or a wedding dress. I have already gotten a hold of some beautiful vintage kimono and obi from my father's neighbour in Japan. Creating something that could be enjoyed in the present time, from something that would've either gotten thrown out or kept locked up to rot in the back of a closet, is the focus of this new line.
Now lastly is a Davie and Chiyo Etsy website. For those of you that have never heard of Etsy, it is an online shopping website kind of like eBay, except you are only allowed to sell hand made items. The reason why I want to open up a shop on Etsy along with my own private website is because it is a well known website that gets tons of hits everyday, making the marketing aspect of the business very easy to handle, and also because it makes it very easy to sell one of a kind items that is likely to come out of my new up-cycled line (which otherwise would be harder to do in my website that is geared toward selling multiple items of each kind).
Keep in tune for these up and coming events, and thanks always for following my blog! :)
ps. in case you haven't noticed, "Leaves in Teal" in back in the game!
Posted by Fumi Bull at 2:12 PM | Comments (2)
Ok, let me explain why "Leaves in Teal" is already out of stock when the website has only be open a DAY!! hahaha
Back when I was getting the materials ready to get the first batch of orders made by Chi Chi, the outer fabric for Leaves in Teal was out of stock at the fabric store. Therefore I had to make a special order for it. So no problem, I just sent the rest of the materials over to Chi Chi, thinking that once the fabric came in, I will then fedex it over. But the time when the fabric finally came in for me to pick it up from the fabric store, was unfortunately the time when Chi Chi was giving me the silent treatment (as I mentioned in a couple of blog entries back: Sitting... Waiting... Silence... Plan B??). So of course I didn't send the fabric over! The fabric just sat here while the Chi Chi situation cleared up. But at that time, my capital at hand for so short, that not only did I not have anymore money to get any more bags made, I didn't have any money to even ship the fabric over! So I decided to make these myself. So when I finally had some extra capital (like a week ago! haha), I made an order for some frames.
So don't worry, as soon as those frames come it (hopefully in a week or so????) Leaves in Teal will be IN STOCK, yay!
Posted by Fumi Bull at 3:41 PM | Comments (0)
Not only is this my very first blog of 2009, it's my first blog in over a month! :P
This was due to me being purely lazy and also caught up in too much other stuff like going to Christmas parties and celebrating New Years! (Happy New Years Everyone!)
Here is a little update of Davie & Chiyo since my last blog, about how I gave Chi Chi the 'go' to make the first batch. The first batch consisted of 4 different styles of the classic clutch line, about 30 bags each. I received the package all in one piece about 5 days before Christmas. This was a good and bad timing at the same time. It was good, that I was able to get my bags to those that really wanted to gift them as Christmas presents, but it was bad in that it was definitely too late for me to open my website to capture those Christmas sales.
I had mixed feelings when I inspected the bags in the package. They were all well made like the samples that they sent me earlier on, but there were different problems that I wasn't expecting. Chi Chi failed to follow my directions for the pattern placements on three of the the four styles of bags that I got made! And the one style was ok (marshmallow) because there was no way to screw up the pattern placement due to the symmetrical and consistent pattern of the fabric!
By pattern placement, what I mean is choosing which part of the fabric to cut for each side of the clutch. I gave them clear instructions on how I wanted each side to look and what I wanted each cut out to include (a flower and a leaf, per say), and they completely ignored my instructions and made up their own versions of the bags! Some do look ok, I have to admit, but I would have to say about half of them is not quite up to the standards of attractiveness that I was looking for.
This really made myself look at everything in the most realistic way possible, which lead to some changes in the future course of plans.
First of all, I am going to stay away from outsourcing production for a little while. Not only do I have enough inventory to start my shop, with zero marketing that I have done, it is quite unlikely that a 'sold out' situation will occur anytime soon. Secondly, I myself have the abilities to produce these bags as efficient and as well as Chi Chi has done without the headaches and costs that comes with outsourcing.
But the biggest issue of all that I am personally dealing with is the ethics of my business plan as a whole. I started out wanting to start a business, purely for enjoyment and to try to make a living out it, with a definite profit in mind. But somewhere in the middle of everything, other thoughts started to get in the way. With all the chaos that is going on in the world, last thing I wanted to do was be socially irresponsible. There are many issues at hand, such as:
1. production of the bags: when producing something, is the best way really to outsource it by mailing it to the other side of the planet?
2. materials of the products: where and how are the fabrics and frames made? How long is the actual chain before it finally reaches me? Is that length really necessary?
3. packaging and shipping: what kind of packaging materials am I using? Are they recyclable? Am I buying materials that is just going to get thrown out the instant the recipient opens the package?
4. product: is the product itself that I am making adding anything to life?
5. profits: when or if I make a profit of any size, what is that going to go towards? Is is just going to increase the size of my house and the size of my shoe closet? Or is it actually going to go towards making a real difference?
I can go on thinking forever, and is is definitely a good thing, but I also have to take action and make things happen. At this point, I have everything ready to open my shop with just some last minute testing and tweaking. So here goes, yay!
Posted by Fumi Bull at 3:19 PM | Comments (0)