Thanks for your great Feb. 20th write-up of Beau Ties Ltd. I’ve started my own blog and would love to hear from all of you.

Bill Kenerson, President, Beau Ties Ltd. of Vermont

Interesting point on the “crafters.” I am personally guilty of having lambasted that set (it’s just sour grapes: they’re actually selling product while I’m just thinking about it). I feel/felt guilty for NOT being a crafter–I tend to hang out with crafty types, and they always wondered why the hell I wasn’t in the market (I’m waiting till I have the resources/skills to sell a more professional product?) Then I read Kathleen’s book, and had a glimmer of hope. Then I read a book on the history of the original arts and crafts movement towards the beginning of the 20th century, and felt I understood my place in the market.

Interesting thing to note: it was born of a belief that arts & crafts conceived of and made entirely by one person were inherently better than mass produced products. But while most of those that adhered strictly to those tenants, it was the people who blended the new aesthetic approach with mass manufacturing that attained the most success and lasting respect: think Tiffany, Wedgewood… Anyway, what they realized, I presume, was that it’s ridiculous to reinvent the wheel when you can hire skilled craftspeople who are languishing for work…We can do the same, yes?

(okay, those of you who caught my inference, yes, I hope to be a Tiffny or Wedgewood. Um. Doesn’t hurt to dream big, does it?)

The other thing that’s been interesting me is the really, really long history of mass manufacturing in China. The had it figured out hundreds of years before England, at least when it comes to porcelain and clothing. It puts a slightly different, and more urgent spin on outsourcing: perhaps it’s not just cheap prices that drives manufacturers to China; are the Chinese more adept at mass manufacturing??

Well yeah, that’s kind of what I had in mind, this blog to be DE central with a blog roll as needed. Specific questions could -are- being dealt with in the forum. I could post on other topics as they’re brought up depending on demand, based on questions people send to me.

I have received varying benefits of having a blog. My biggest benefit is increased traffic to my store. In the mean time, my design blog helps me to work through my thoughts. The difficulty is in starting to write. It is hard to come up with a theme or topic. But after you start, it is hard to stop!

If you are not familar with blogging, start with Blogger. It is probably the easiest. If you wants lots of bells and whistles you may try wordpress. Since I know designers don’t have lots of time to blog, Blogger is the quickest and easiest to learn.

I too am not so sure about the ‘warts and all blog’. I do feel that it is important to have a close relationship to our customers. I believe this is where I will get the most important feedback and promotion too.

I guess my question is. ‘How far do we go?’. I don’t have an answer to that. Perhaps we just go as far as we are comfortable. I had a person emailing me wanting know how successful I was selling online, and why I started and so on. I was happy that I got that email, don’t get me wrong and I answered some of the questions too. But I didn’t give them all the information as I didn’t feel comfortable with it. (Oh, and it didn’t come from a customer) But on the other hand I thought of Kathleen and her point in her book about not thinking that everyone wants to copy your ideas.

Also, a thought about joining the community (Actually I’ve been thinking about it all day.) I am already part of this community (as well as some other DE’s ) however, yet another question. ‘What do we do once we have joined up?’ Do we support each other and advise? or will we be just links on this website? ( which I am sure we are all happpy to be on) I know some of us produce similar products but for different market segments. Will that be an issue for us? And what about Coutorture? DE links would be great to have there.

So I am throwing some questions and comments out there for all DE’s to think about and comment on. Let me know either here or my blog. Hey maybe this should become a DE carnival!

I do recieve these daily Fashion Incubator blogs, and find them informative to read, so I wanted to let you know that I’m out here! Thank you!!!!

Many of them consider themselves “crafters” instead of DE’s and since you’re geared for a production environment with a very professional focus, I’m sure some of them are intimidated. The mindset that I’m close to finally breaking free from, and that I know many of them struggle with, is the notion that they have to do everything themselves. Reading your book affirmed that’s a destructive mindset, but when you feel that your work is so personal, its hard to break out of.

Christina, I understand not wanting to sound like a novice or a hack. It’s a fine line to walk. But I’ve gotten feedback from customers who really liked that I wrote about how my scissors broke, or that I sewed through my finger. I figure I can’t beat Target on price so I have to do it with quality work (which is hard to show on a website) and with personality. Essentially sell myself as well as my product. Sell that I care about the quality of my work, that I adore my customers and the nice or constructive comments they give me, sell that I make mistakes but I do my best to fix them and learn from them.