Hey Friends! If you've been following along with us for a while now you may have noticed a few changes over the last year and seeing as the end of 2023 is almost upon us (!!!!) we wanted to share a bit of the story to bring you along on our journey.
A bit of background
We are a small business and since our inception in 2016 the world has changed a lot. We believe in evolving and want our business to serve our customers the best that it possibly can. So when we learn lessons we try to enact changes that align with our values and enable us to evolve in a smart way. We adjust things and learn, and that process cycles. One thing we were originally doing as a brand was releasing seasonal capsule collections. In recent years we have found this has become rather arbitrary (sometimes winter is early, sometimes it's late -- hello climate change! Some people are traveling to the northern hemisphere and want wool coats in January!)
Following this traditional fashion calendar pushes the creation of product and trends for the sake of filling catalog gaps and marketing calendars, instead of to meet a real customer need. We feel strongly that this old way of operating, which is pretty standard for the fashion industry, is outdated and no longer appropriate. This is especially so for us as a brand and our customers who are looking for timeless styles not a seasonal "fad" style. With all this said we are no longer releasing our "seasonal capsules" and will instead place greater focus on releasing our timeless styles in various fabrics and colours knowing these are styles that are tried and true. You may see us style the same pieces for Spring and Autumn in various ways and we will of course introduce new styles over time, however it won't be all new pieces every single season. We will continue to package styles together as "capsules" where it works but less tied to a season as we have done in the past.
Pre-ordering
Another way we have evolved is the introduction of pre-ordering. This came out of the COVID years as a result of shortages in fabrics and delays in shipping getting fabric here to NZ for our production. We have kept this as a component of our business today to ensure we are continuing to meet the demand for our most popular styles. Instead of only making one run of a style and then it being gone for good we are continuing to make styles that customers are loving.
If you're not familiar with pre-ordering it is simply placing an order with us before we have made the style. We open preorders when a style is just underway in the production process and endeavor to fulfill all preorders within 4-6 weeks of the order being placed. At any stage along the way, if you say changed your mind or found something else and no longer wanted the order, you can cancel a preorder.
Alterations
We have had an AMAZING response to offering multiple lengths in our various pant styles. In case you've missed it we now offer three lengths petite, standard and tall. The success of this has lead us to now offer an alterations service so you can get your pants in a custom length and save yourself a trip to your local tailor. Interested? Check it out, here.
Photography & Creative
One final change you may have noticed is to our photography and creative. We felt that studio images although beautiful do not always capture how product looks in real life. We are working to photograph our product in more of a variety of ways. Over the coming months you will see more images of our team and customers (if you want to share we LOVE to see you in your Issue pieces!) instead of just using models in a photo studio. There is definitely a time and place for both but as we evolve we believe more diversity and natural photography is more authentic for us.
As always we are so grateful to you our amazing customers for your support. We are grateful for every order you make and love to get your feedback so please don't hesitate to share your thoughts and ideas with us. We are here for you!
XX
Hannah & Robyn