Oh my, how long it has been since we've caught up. Far too long!
Sometimes if feels like the last 2 years have been a repeat of the same steps: search for a suitable manufacturing partner, find a manufacturer, lose said manufacturer, start all over again. You'll remember from our last update that manufacturing woes plagued us, and I'm a little sorry to report that the last few months have been a continuation of that.
But finally, with what feels like a pure stroke of luck, we finally managed to find what is shaping up to be the perfect partner for us! And so with measured excitement, a little trepidation perhaps, and heaps of hope, we are very excited to update you that things are finally on track for us to launch in spring/summer of 2022 as planned!
With the lack of social media presence, you might very well wonder what we have been up to. Well, quite a bit:
Searching for a manufacturing partner
We have been working tirelessly in the background to vet potential manufacturing partners. We have gone through rounds of conversations understanding their business and capabilities, testing out those capabilities by them providing samples of our products so we can gauge the quality of their work etc, and trying to agree on the economics of the deal. In the last 2 months alone, this has been with 3 different manufacturers, and for some reason or other, things always fell apart. Until now...
We are now going through the sampling process with a manufacturer that feels the right fit for us, has the right ethical and sustainability credentials, has demonstrated excellent quality of work, and most helpfully is willing to support our start-up journey by providing us with feasible pricing at this stage of our journey. To boot, they will also be supporting our marketing efforts to help make us a household name - our success is their success, and they are committed to supporting that!
Intellectual property protection
I recently attended a wonderful workshop hosted by the brilliant Kate from Make it British, and amongst the many nuggets shared on the day, she also touched on the issue of brands protecting their intellectual property. This had been something that had been weighing heavily on me as our flagship product is our brain child that we would very much like to protect. But speaking to various lawyers thus far had proved discouraging as most of them dismissed the idea as prohibitively expensive and often times not worth it.
Cue Kate, and her mention of the ACID organisation in the UK and how they can help. Countless hours and 3 sessions with different IP specialists later, and we now have a firmer picture of what we need to do to protect our interests. This feels like incredible progress. The costs are still somewhat eye-watering; but doing nothing and getting ripped off will prove to be even more costly.
A new dawn
It finally feels like a new dawn; with new possibilities to seize and make the most of. It has been incredibly challenging trying to get this brand off the ground in the current climate. Everything, from the wars raging, the cost of living crisis, and the lingering effects of the pandemic on the manufacturing sector, have all meant that we have had to adapt. This can only be a positive thing as I imagine our survival as a start-up will very much depend on our agility and responsiveness to challenges.
And so I remain ever hopeful and positive, and continue to put one foot in front of the other even when the fog makes things a bit hard to see.
I can't wait to share more news with you soon, and I hope you'll join me on social media and on the newsletter for more news to come.
With all my love,
