On The Market -- Salisbury Craft and Gift Fair

So this week has been every inch a busy one since we're preparing for our first ever in-the-flesh day of trade, as part of Mynt Image's Craft and Gift Fair in Salisbury. The event will be held on Saturday 1st August in the Guildhall, a beautiful and historical building dating back to 1795. We're really looking forward to seeing how the public receive Holoholo, being able to chat to passers-by and hopefully making a few sales throughout the day.

If you happen to be in the area or are planning a day out in the city, please do pop by and say hello! You can find the Guildhall in the town centre near the outdoor market, the fair will be open from 10-4 and I can guarantee there will be lots of beautiful things to ogle throughout the Guildhall. Hope to see you there!

#EtsyRoadTrip

Etsy UK Blog / Holoholo / Etsy In Bristol

Over the weekend we made it to a brilliant event hosted by Etsy as part of their Community Road Trip, which is currently travelling up and down the UK. It was a chance for current and prospective sellers in the area to meet up and talk art, craft, making and selling, as well as an opportunity to hear from part of the Etsy UK team in the form of a talk by Seller Development Specialist, Francesca Ormezzano.

As well as getting to meet others in a similar situation - those with creative backgrounds working from home, often alongside another form of income - it was great to hear from a representative of the company with a wealth of experience and so much knowledge about what can make or break an Etsy shop. Holoholo pieces have been available to buy through Etsy for a few months now, but I have known for some time that we're not getting the best out of the platform. With such a huge community of users and sellers, as well as an established reputation as one of the biggest online marketplaces for handmade and vintage goods, it should surely bring a network of support and a great deal more customers for any business like ours.

It has always been a concern of ours that the popularity of Etsy could, in fact, work against us. With 1.4 million sellers and 32 million items available, we did wonder whether it was possible that Holoholo would get lost among the hoards of great items on the site and that it could be an unnecessary use of our time. However, having attended the event on Saturday it was clear that there are certain things that really make a shop stand out from the crowd, and that the opportunities offered by selling on Etsy far outweigh the pitfalls - as long as it is done right! This week I'll be dedicating some time to improving our shop, which will include composing new titles and tags, creating a more cohesive shop homepage and really knuckling down with planning another photoshoot.

Another exciting thing to come of the event was our introduction to Etsy Teams. The day was attended and promoted by the Etsy in Bristol Team which, as you might expect, is made up of sellers from Bristol and the surrounding areas. Becoming part of a team means joining a friendly community of local shops, learning from others' experiences and sharing information about upcoming events and news as well as taking part in team projects in order to improve your shop. I've sent our application off to join the team and am looking forward to hearing back and hopefully making some great new connections.

All in all it was a brilliant day, and I'm so glad the event was offered and that we were invited to attend. There are plenty of exciting things to get on with now, so I'll sign off and get back to planning all the new changes to the shop. Happy Tuesday, all!

Fast Fashion: The Facts

Because, let's face it, who doesn't love an infographic?

Presenting to you a few of the key facts about fast fashion - what it is, who is involved, and most importantly, who is harmed in the process. This should give a little further insight into our motivations for working in opposition of fast fashion, and give our followers an idea of what is really behind that £2 t-shirt from Primarni.

It's so important to share the truth behind the low cost, high volume culture we are so used to - it is of course not in the best interest of the big high street stores to publicise the dangerous and inhumane working conditions of the textile workforce that provide us with a great price but not so great quality. Hopefully this will provide a little food for thought!

As always, you can learn more about sustainable fashion at www.holoholo.co.uk and shop our collection of handmade, handprinted ladies wear.

Sustainable Fashion Facts

Last week as mentioned, we updated the website with a few new things including a page chock-full of information about sustainable fashion. It was a nice opportunity for us to share some of the reasons behind the fabric and process choices for the Holoholo line, and also a chance to explain a bit more about the darker side of fashion that is not so well known.

Please do head over to the Holoholo website to have a read, and feel free to share with everybody you think might be interested!

Website Relaunch

Happy Monday, all! It has been a few weeks since our last blog post, so we'd like to get back to the usual routine with a little relaunch of the website. It's been down for a few days while I've been working on some improvements in the way of graphics and some extra info, and now it's back and ready for action.

The biggest change is our new page, which you can find by clicking the 'Sustainability' link at the top of the site. Here we've added a bunch of information on sustainable fashion in order to add any questions our visitors may have. It includes information on different types of sustainable fabrics and a list of other great shops for ethical ladies wear and accessories. Head on over and take a look, and let us know if you found the new page helpful!

Swatch Watch

Somehow it is already Thursday, and therefore nearly the end of what has been a rare four-day working week for many (lucky devils). We're getting down to it today and taking a closer look at three new fabric options that are under consideration for the development of our first collection. A little variety never hurt anyone, right?

These fabrics are all from the same line as the one that currently features in each of our pieces - which you can see here - and are therefore all still made from Organic cotton. They are also all crossweaves, which is what makes them so interesting and unique. This simply means that the yarn used for the warp and the weft are two different colours, and when woven across one another, blend to create a multi-tonal fabric.

We placed the samples together as you can see above, including a swatch of our current fabric, in order to get a feel for what the colours would look like as a collection. To be honest we are pretty impressed with how well they work with one another. The next task, of course, is to test out some prints on each one to see how they look and also to ascertain whether the current ink colours will work or whether we need to add a few more to the assortment we currently have on the go. Check back soon to see how it goes!

Thinking About Denim

All images from The Sartorialist.

After what has been a whirlwind few days for us, we're back in the studio throwing around some ideas for improvements to the collection. As you may be able to tell, denim has been on the mind and so the current mood board is looking rather blue (in colour rather than sentiment). We have some new organic fabric samples on the way, including something a little bit different which I may keep up my sleeve for the time being.

In other news, we're also looking at new printing options that will hopefully take some of the labour out of the process and reduce garment lead times, which is never a bad thing. Stay tuned to see what we come up with. Happy Wednesday!

Wear With Holoholo -- Jewellery

The first Holoholo collection has been a labour of love - and I'm talking lots of labour and lots of love. It's great to see it in full now, and to be able to sell it to some lovely people as well. As one of the key facets of our designs is that they suit a minimalist style, it has been a source of joy and ever so slight procrastination to find accessories that can be paired with Holoholo pieces for that laid-back, chic look.

As usual I have had to look no further than Holoholo's Pinterest for inspiration - and have honed in on a few of my favourite pieces created and sold by small businesses around the world that I feel would team beautifully with any Holoholo garment.

Tiny Gold Bar Studs by lunaijewelry on Etsy / Dainty Gold Bar Bracelet by SincerelyDelightful on Etsy / Gold XL Earring by Lumo / Horizon Necklace by Kertis on Etsy / Green Aventurine Crystal Necklace by AghartaJewellery on Etsy / Geometric Bangle Set by Country Road / Hammered Gold Stacking Rings by LexLuxe on Etsy

The array of amazing jewellery that can be found when you go a little off-piste from the usual high-street or enormous online stores is something I really love about the internet - and Etsy is particularly brilliant for finding handmade pieces that you may have never come across with a standard google search. If you find yourself on the lookout for a new something special to finish off your outfit - or even a statement piece upon which to build a look completely - I urge you to take a look at what you can uncover in the world of small businesses and boutiques. Now I may or may not be off to make a little purchase for myself...

Starting the Week Right

Print by the brilliant AndSmile Studio

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may be familiar with my Monday ritual which I try to keep to in order to begin each working week with a bit of structure. When working for yourself, whether it be freelancing for another company or owning your own business, it can be hard to remain as productive as you may otherwise be if working within a team structure with a systematic approach to producing work and getting sh*t done.

Over the last couple of years since deciding to start Holoholo I've read about others' ways of keeping the work-flow going, ranging from a man that suits up every morning as though he was going to the office (not something I have tried yet), to the usual tips of waking up early, not working where you sleep and taking a walk outside after lunch. The little ritual I have honed since working from home is to have a regular slot on the blog on a Monday to add a smile to my day - a virtual cup of coffee if you will. Unfortunately real coffee makes me sleepy so it's not so good as a motivator in this office.

The idea came from my intense love of Pinterest, on which I created a board called For Mondays which is where I pin to for my Monday posts. I pull a few of the images at the start of the week, put them into a short post about the week ahead (not forgetting to link back) and voila. It gets me in the routine of actually producing something - a teeny tiny achievement to start off the day - and provides a bit of much needed structure. And it requires me to go on Pinterest which is never a bad thing.

If you're interested in the blog's previous Monday posts you can have a browse through them by clicking here, or using the navigation in the side bar just to the right of this post. It would be great to hear of any things you regularly do to keep on top of your workflow - do let me know in the comments. Happy Monday!

Launching Holoholo -- Beautiful Sustainable Clothing

So it's true, March has somehow rolled around and the first few signs of spring are here. It seems the sun has come out to celebrate our official, bonafide launch, and what better way to encourage our future customers to buy some new things for the warmer months ahead? Head on over to the website to see each design in full and get your hands on one of the first ever Holoholo pieces. I'm in the process of writing up a spot of info on how the purchase of sustainable clothing affects you as a wearer and not just the environment and the supply chain, which will soon make it onto the website for everyone to have a read of.

As we move forward into trading territory, the blog will still exist and as well as documenting the progress of the business, it will also feature more information about sustainability in fashion, the printing processes we've used and plan to expand into, and much much more.

You can follow us on Facebook now to keep up to date with everything that's going on, as well as on Twitter and Pinterest, too.

It would be amazing to have your support on these platforms in order to help reach as many people as possible, so please do like and share to your heart's content and let your friends know who we are and what we do!

Thank you so much to everyone that has been following the journey - it would be lovely to know what you think of the first collection and what your favourite design is. Pop a comment below or drop me and email and let me know your thoughts. Happy Tuesday, all!

Whiteout

Big old learning curve. Huge. We're now at the last stage of prep, about to take the final round of photographs for the website since the original outdoor shoot last week left a little to be desired. Just need to finish setting up the lighting and we can go ahead and get these babies shot. Happy Monday!

Preparing for Launch

We're getting pretty official over here, setting up the new Facebook page and taking no end of photographs to try and get the right shots for the website. It's currently in maintenance mode while I mess around with images and layouts, but will be live next week and ready for action. Such fun! It would be fantastic if you would head over to our Facebook and give us a 'like' ahead of launch, you'll be the first to know about anything new/exciting (unless of course you follow here as well, which you are more than welcome to do!). Thank you!

Home Stretch

Still not quite up and running, but very nearly there. There's some care label and logo printing to do and then the final and seemingly long-winded hurdle -- photographs. I was hoping to take them with natural light, but since we seem to have had the greyest few weeks ever (not exaggerating at all) that may not be possible, in which case I'll need a crash course in bounce flashing (sounds slightly dodgy) from my resident photographer (boyfriend). This post is not sponsored by whomever invented the bracket.

All to be revealed ever so soon. Happy Monday!

Almost There

Another Monday, another day hard at work getting everything together for launch. Luckily, it is not a requirement that I look remotely presentable, as that would definitely be a stretch today. Creating a set for photographs is next on the agenda, which may involve the purchase of some MDF, but luckily my tiny town is probably used to seeing me traipse around the high street looking rather unkempt in paint-flecked clothing, leaving a trail of loose threads wherever I go.

Hope your start to the week is as productive, though hopefully not quite as tiring as mine. Happy Monday!

Piling Up

Sewing is happening, and although it's not January any more I'm not going to get down about it - it's better to get everything done properly than rush it for the sake of an arbitrary deadline. Not long to go now, though. My working Monday is far from over, so what better time to have a ten-minute ice cream break and set up the next episode of Judge Judy to attempt to take in over the noise of my sewing machines... this could prove fruitless. Happy Monday!

Blue Monday

Today has been a blue Monday at HQ, but not in the traditional sense, thankfully! It's been a day of printing dresses, tanks and tops for our launch at the end of the month. It's quite likely I have blue in my hair, and it's certain I have it all over my hands, but luckily the majority made it onto the lovely organic cotton of the first Holoholo pieces.

It's all cutting, printing and sewing this week, which is nice as it means a break from computer-based endeavours that do get a little monotonous after a time. Getting on board with Google Webmaster Tools has been interesting and definitely helpful, but it is a welcome break to get a bit messy and get some clothes made.

Happily, things are moving forward nicely and we should have everything up and running within the next couple of weeks. Hope your Monday has been far from blue!

Roundup

2014 is nearly up, so it seems only right to reflect on the year that's passed, look forward to the coming one and get together a collection of hopes and goals for 2015.

Toward the end of this year it's been fairly tough at my day/evening job; had it not been for the great friends I get to see every day I may have crumbled after one too many eight hour shifts on my feet with barely the chance to neck a mini bag of chocolate buttons and chug my daily can of Sprite. It's always the busiest time of year for the industry, and therefore it's somewhat to be expected, although that's little comfort when trying to fit in all the usual Christmas activities whilst attempting to launch a business alongside a heavy workload. I've no intention to spend the last post of 2014 complaining, but it does sometimes help to give a little insight when it may look as though I've been slacking a tad in documenting the Holoholo journey.

We really are heading toward our soft launch next month, which will see the first collection of pieces available to buy, and our first set of marketing campaigns going live. There is still plenty to do (the rabbit-hole nature of marketing means one could easily get lost looking at options and not resurface for several years) and therefore we're a couple of weeks off from the launch, but as soon as it's possible we'll be getting the pieces live and allowing you to once and for all have the opportunity to own a Holoholo original.

One of the tasks on the agenda for early 2015 is to get in contact with some bricks-and-mortar stockists that will take on a number of pieces to sell in their boutiques, in order to reach a wider audience and to give customers the opportunity to see each garment in the flesh (or cotton) before buying. This is great because it means visiting some of our favourite towns and cities to liaise with stockists, which is always enjoyable despite being technically classed as 'work'.

We hope to sell to UK customers as well as internationally, and aim to reach a number of countries by the end of the year. If we can gain some international stockists too, then fantastic!

The main goal of the coming year however is fairly simple: to grow. Not only to grow on a sales and financial level, but also to improve our processes and services by learning from experience and adapting to the realities of the market. It may be that one area of social media is making no impact, or that the website crops up with some unexpected kinks - the important thing is that we move on and continue to make Holoholo the best it can be, for you and for us!

It's really exciting and a bit daunting to think that in a few weeks we'll be live and ready for action, but really it is what I've been working toward since the day I started this blog, and it'll therefore be a proud day when the first Holoholo piece is sold and sent off to a new home.

A great big thank you to everyone that has stopped by throughout the year to have a gander at what we've been up to, especially to those that come back regularly and check out what's new at HQ. I look forward to revealing all in the near future. A happy and prosperous new year to you all!

We're Pinterested

It is no secret that I have a real thing for Pinterest; each Monday I feature images found on the brilliant site to brighten up the gloomiest day of the week. Excitement is currently at an all time high as Holoholo now has its very own dedicated Pinterest profile. It's still early days yet but the boards are coming along nicely and will soon be multiplying.

It would be amazing to have your Pinterest support and have you follow us on this new (to us) platform if you already have an account, and if not... it's totally time to get yourself signed up. You won't regret it!

Take a look at our boards here and give us a follow. Thank you!

Box Me Up

After what seems to have been a lifetime of searching for packaging solutions, ordering samples, trying them out, realising they don't work and starting all over again, it seems we have finally hit the jackpot. Small cardboard boxes made using recycled materials, coupled with luxury tissue paper (also recycled) and a lovely bow made from British made baker's twine. Not forgetting the all important mailing bag which - you guessed it - is made from recycled plastic and is fully degradable.

We had yet another decision to make on the paper - this time on the colour. The ones pictured are grey, peach and tan, from which we've decided on the grey since it goes nicely with the twine and the brown of the box. The peach was too pink, the tan too similar to the box itself. Sorted.

Now all that's left to do is look forward to being able to wrap up the first orders and put these decisions to good use! As well as everything else that's left of course. Time to put in the orders for the boxes and tissue... Happy Wednesday!