Barcoding & Endorsement Dramas

With the range nearly here, my thoughts have turned to sales. Where will I sell my product? Online only? Or will I pitch it stores like David Jones and Myer? Will I own my very own store one day? Of course I'd love to own my own store, but that's years down the track. For now, I'd love to have my clothes & accessories in the big Australian department stores. But how?

Toni-Maree has again been my saviour! After much research, she's found the answer: BARCODING! This is all very new and confusing to me, but Toni-Maree has taken charge and organised the whole thing.

I'll try to explain.. In order to sell to department stores (or any store, for that matter), you need barcodes for your products. You apply online, pay an annual fee and then await qualification. Apparently this process is much the same as applying to use Swarovski - you need to provide the company with a business plan. They won't just give you the barcodes, they need to aware of every single, specific piece. And even once you've paid your membership, you have to get through the red tape before they'll hand them over.

As well as figuring out the barcoding conundrum, Toni-Maree is also pitching to Swarovski to gain qualification to be able to use their name on our products as an indicator of quality. As we've used the absolute best of the best, we want to be able to tell customers this. We want them to know that we've cleaned every fabrication 5 times to test it's durability, that those crystals are genuine Swarovski and will stand the test of time. But of course, nothing is for free. The process of getting the genuine Swarovski stickers is a complicated one. Thank god for Fairy God Mother's!

Until next time,
CC xo

Camelia Carlton PJs

We have so much FAMOUS elastic that we're thinking of all new ways to use it in the range. Next up: Camelia Carlton PJs! We already had the oversized camelia flower print t-shirt, so are now creating a pair of silky pajama shorts in my custom fabric with a FAMOUS elastic waistband.

Now that the range is expanding, Toni-Maree advised me to create a new colourway in my custom fabric to add flair and dimension to the entire range. I've been playing around on Illustrator, and played around with different combinations in black, white and magenta. I tried a black background with magenta outlined flowers and then the opposite but finally settled on an all-magenta background and outline with white flowers. It's my key colour throughout the collection, and is bright, bold and funky for sleepwear!

The matching t-shirt will be an oversized fit with a giant pink camelia flower printed on the front, and FAMOUS Swarovski crystals adorning the flower. This is EXACTLY what I want to be wearing to bed!

Until next time,

CC xo

FAMOUS Elastic & New Product Inspiration!

So the FAMOUS elastic I ordered arrived last Friday so was just short of arriving before the range was sent to production. I was really disappointed at first, but have since had a new wave of enthusiasm for the range as Clint has gotten creative and thought of all new products!

Let me present to you the Camelia Carlton Men's Dance shirt - thanks to Clint's amazing creative streak (that's him pictured above - say cheese!) he has designed a tuxedo shirt with built in underwear for male dancers who face the problem of tucked in shirts coming loose during performances. The FAMOUS elastic will be an amazing feature on the shirt. Clint is such a genius, I honestly couldn't have though of this by myself! This new product will be going to production very soon.

Until next time,
CC xo

Going to Production

As soon as the swing tags arrived, Clint bundled up the samples and prepared them to be sent to production. I didn't realise it was so involved! Everything - from care label, swing tag, spec sheet and pattern (a.k.a "block" in industry terms) is put into a bag, with a production sketch stapled to the outside. If there are any errors on the block or production sketch, the actual garments manufactured will also have errors, so Clint has been meticulously going over each and every piece to make sure it is spot on.

We are having 20 pieces made in each style in Small and Medium. This is based on the dancer's physique, but Large sizing is available on request as it's a simple matter of angling the block. We also decided to go with S M over 8-12 to keep costs down. Most of the garments in the range are elasticised, so simply pull on over the head, hence fitting a range of sizes.

A few garments we are having made are:

• Sequined Hoodie - my first & favourite design!
• Black Bodysuit - thick black boyleg body with exposed zip at back
• Pole Pants - knee-length tracksuit pants in grey marle
• Dance Pants - long tracksuit pants
• Dance Tube top & skirt in high quality spandex
• Make up mini & maxi dresses - a personal favourite - simple spandex tube-style dress with elastic and frill around bust for those competitors who are having their make up and fake tan done in front of 300+ other dancers. Will be in washable black so make up stains are no problem

I'm also having a scarf made up in my custom fabric. Looks stunning, and elaundry has already had interest from a local business to manufacture as an accessory to their uniform!

Another new addition is the sequined hobo bag pictured above. It's a gorgeous slouch bag that you can wear across your body with silver sequined outer and custom Camelia lining on the inside. The inside of the strap is lined so there's no snagging to delicate fabrics, and a magnet clasp allows easy access. We've put an iPhone pocket on the inside and pleated the seam on the inside of the bag so the contents don't roll around. It wraps beautifully around your hips when you wear it!

You may notice that the black robe spoken of earlier has been culled from the range. Although I had faith in this piece, it was just too complicated to go to production, and would have been a much more expensive item than we had originally opted for. And when you took off all the trimmings and embellishments, it was just too basic and that's totally not my style!

So in a month from now, I will have my range ripe and ready to sell to Dancesport! I hope you all have your fingers crossed for me!

Until next time,
CC xo

Look What Arrived!

The mailman has been busy delivering things this week! My order from VistaPrint, which included my swing tags, hats, t-shirts and stationery arrived! Although I love the look of the hot pink camelia flower on the simple white background, we had a bit of a hiccup with the final cost of postage as each individual item was manufactured in a different country. Hence the cost was considerably more - so consider this a word of warning if you're thinking of using VistaPrint.

What else arrived is the FAMOUS and Camelia Carlton blings in Swarovski crystal! If you look closely at the FAMOUS bling you can see there's different sized crystals in the "F", whereas the Camelia Carlton bling is all one size. I got a bit creative and stuck the bling on the white hat. I've already worn it out today and gotten heaps of compliments! Just gives me a big boost that this range is going to be a huge success!

Until next time,
CC xo