Behind The Scenes
Our Most Terrifying Launch
Today we are launching 60 new products to our range in a completely new craft. As much as launches can look exciting from the outside, on the inside they are stomach-churningly terrifying. Doing anything new feels intensely exposing – it’s something all of you who dabble creatively will have experienced. This launch is no different from that, just a slightly more public stage.
Whilst you are building, developing, and experimenting quietly behind-the-scenes it’s fun. But the as the moment you are going to have to show people what you are working on comes closer, that excitement starts shifting into a different feeling entirely.
Did you know that fear and excitement trigger the exact same physiological reaction? Sweating palms, pounding heart, tummy turning to mush. Please know that as I write this, I am sitting in the studio in Islington feeling all those feelings. We have done launches before, so why does this one feel quite so different?
A very brief bit of background
No one has asked for this
With the vast majority of the things we launch, we are responding to things our customers have been asking for. We can see the gap in our product offering and it’s not a big leap for customers to see why we are now filling that gap. Whether its new designs to an existing range, or a slight parallel to an existing product category.
When we launched our paint-your-own frames, we had been selling painted frames for months and been receiving no end of emails from people wanting to be able to paint their own. When we launched our virtual courses, I had been given the sign that this was going to be in demand because I had been courted by numerous virtual course platforms asking me to do it for them. When we add new designs to our embroidery or needlepoint ranges, we never need to explain why you might enjoy the method – we just need to show you nice pictures of the design and you’ll decide if you like it or not.
This is fundamentally different – whilst we identified a gap in our range for a quicker, simpler and more child-friendly craft, people haven’t come to us to talk about that gap. It’s very much something we think is needed, not something you have said you need.
No one has done products like this before
I’ll be completely honest, when I first developed our embroidery and needlepoint kits, I ordered kits from other companies to look at how they present things, how they write instructions, what information they give on the website. I could do that because nothing we do on our needlepoint or embroidery side is revolutionary – and whilst I believe the designs, the way we present things, the range that surrounds them is completely unique – I am not going to pretend I created the embroidery category. It existed for centuries before we did and will exist for centuries to come.
Now I am not saying we have invented applique – the quilters out there will be throwing their hands up in anger if I did. But what is completely different is the form, style and method of these kits (video below). I have researched high and low and not come across anything like this. There were no kits to sneakily reference when we developed our own – we have done this blind.
Now they don’t exist for one of two reasons: 1) no one wants to make things like this, or 2) no one has decided there is a commercial opportunity in this as a kit. They definitely don’t “not exist” because people haven’t used this method before – in a world of amazing crafters, of course people have done this craft. Therefore, the fact kits don’t exist like this makes me worry others are seeing something we aren’t.
See what a kit involves
It’s a different kind of customer
Some of you might be reading this and feel immediately keen on these products, but I have a feeling a lot of you might like the idea, appreciate the aesthetic, but think it’s not the craft for you. Why? Because it doesn’t involve needles. Because it’s very quick. Because it’s a totally different aesthetic. A lot of our existing customers love our products for the very point they are slow, for the fact they are technical, for the hours they fill and the patience they develop. In a way, this is counter to that – you can start and finish one of these kits in a couple of hours. You don’t need any special equipment or prior skills.
So, in some ways, introducing this range means finding a new audience. These kits are for those people who don’t have a lot of time, who don’t have the ability to commit to months on one project, who have PTSD from embroidery classes at school, who have children they want to craft with, who want to reward of starting and finishing quickly.
Whilst those people are somewhat different from the folk willing to commit a year of their evenings to making a cushion, my bet is that if the person who would like this craft isn’t you, you can probably all think of someone who it does suit. For me, it’s my sister – the person who has started a dozen of my kits and still never finished a single one. But someone who is really creative and I know would absolutely love to have more time making in their life – but just needs it to be on simpler terms.
It’s daunting though, knowing that 90% of people you are emailing aren’t your immediate customer.
We have really gone for it
Add to all these reasons, what makes this extra scary is that we haven’t just lightly dabbled in adding a new craft, we have gone for it more than anything ever before. For a bit of reference, when I launched the business 6 years ago with The Fables, I launched 6 designs. When I launched us into needlepoint with our Just So cushions, I launched 2 designs. So yes, maybe it is complete and utter madness to launch into Applique with 60 designs.
We received 10 pallets of tubes, have taken an extra storage space to accommodate, we have built new tables for cutting fabric, we have cut over 2000 pieces of fabric so far. We have invested tens of thousands in materials, branding, video, website. This is the biggest investment we have ever put into a single project, second only to our big website relaunch a few years ago. As my dad put it quite bluntly after seeing just how much stock we have… “we better get selling”.
So why have we done it?
I have been asking myself this question a lot over the last month as the launch has gotten closer and the reality of what we are embarking on has hit home. Believe me, it would be so so much easier to not launch things like this – how easy it is to just add a few new fables, or another needlepoint range. We have done this because I really believe in it. I believe so strongly that this is a craft we need in our range that from Day 1, I wanted to make sure it held its own amongst everything else we do. I didn’t want to enter a new craft with timidity; I want to show you my confidence in it and in turn I hope that gives you the confidence to have a go. Because I truly believe once you give it a go, you’ll understand why I have fallen in love with applique.
My life has changed a lot over the last few years – becoming a mother, another on the way, moving to my first proper home, my work becoming increasingly demanding, a husband who travels for work all the time. As a person these things have changed me and my outlook on creativity. I have finally understood where those people are coming from who say they don’t have time to sew. I used to think they were just struggling with patience, or not prioritising creative time, or not using the cracks in life efficiently. But actually, from the position I am now in, I understand the challenge more. Sometimes it’s not that you don’t have the patience, it’s not that you don’t have any time in the day – but it’s that the mental load of committing to a project that will take you months just doesn’t sound fun. You want to be absorbed in a creative activity, but you also want to be able finish the project and get that pleasure too.
For the first time in my life, I have really struggled with sewing over the last couple of years – it’s not bringing me the same pleasure it did before. I don’t expect that to be a permanent state of affairs, but at a point in life when I really feel stretched a million ways, I just want my creative time to feel immediately rewarding. I want to start and finish in an evening. Right now, where I am in life, that is immensely rewarding. I believe there are thousands of people out there like me right now, and so I want to make sure for those people, we show them from Day 1 a range of kits which could tempt them in. Because even when life feels mad, creativity still needs a spot.
What do I expect from the launch
So, with all that in mind, I feel so unsure about how this launch will go. In all honesty, I think it’s going to be a slow burn. The closest launch I can relate it to is when we introduced the build-your-own-bargello range: another range no one asked us for, one that’s pretty complicated to get your head around and that feels aesthetically quite detached. The reality is we sold more in the 2nd month after launch for our bargello range, and more on a monthly basis a year after launch. It was far from an overnight success but, over time, has really earned its place in the range.
I think applique will be like that. So, I won’t be measuring orders on day 1 as a hallmark of success – instead what I will be looking for is the first time a customer comes back to buy their second applique kit. Once we see those second orders come through, once customers start sending pictures of their framed pieces – that’s when we will really know if others feel about this how I do.
