* blog
Seasonal change...
It's the end of July and already some summer stuff is starting to hit the shelves... Is it just me or are we changing seasons way too soon??
Being the avid skier that I am, I consider winter to continue right through to September (or in the case of the North Island, late October). You're still layering on the warm clothes, battling the harsh weather condidtions and doning the beaning. So then why are summer clothes starting to grace themsleves on the shelves? Is that what we all want, or is it driven by the greater 'fashion god' to trick us into thinking we are nearing the end of a season?
Call me old fashioned but to me this seems crazy. There is no way I want to be looking at summer clothes now. Hell, last weekend I went out and bought myself a hat with a pom pom! And this weekend I'm rugging up to hit the slopes.
I spose the idea of 'new' is always a winner for any shopping guru, but it really does make you stop and think doesnt it..! So on that note, I better stop complaining and start designing our winter 2011 range... already we are very late apparently!
> Tuesday 27 July 2010
Running your own business... it's certainly not a walk in the park!
At the start of this year when I decided to flag in my design job and work full time on Billi Tees, I had this idea that life was going to be less hectic. I could work from 8:30am till 4pm and would get away from the computer, go for a walk everyday and really have a more chilled out day... Boy was I ever wrong!
In the four months of working full time I have got a whole new appreciation as to what small business owners go through. The saying, 'Jack of all trades' couldn't be more true. Your day is chocka block doing things from marketing, sales, HR, PR, design and web stuff... not to mention all the business planning and goal setting (you're meant to do!!). I mean crikey... how is one to achieve when you can't concentrate your full amount of time on one thing (like what I used to do as a designer).
I was discussing this with my dad a few weeks ago, saying that it was really hard and I constantly feel like I'm out of my comfort zone... his reply was 'Yip, it certainly is a challenge Jasmine, but just think how brilliant you will be when you're 40'... 40!! Crikey, that's 9 years away, is that really how long it's going to take?
So, this is a 'hats off' to all you small business owners out there that are feeling the same... a bit run off your feet as we are 'Jack of all trades'. Cheerio!
> Wednesday 21 July 2010
Summer, here we come!
Well, not really, as we still have the coldest days of winter to get through yet. But that's the rag trade hey. You have to be soooo far ahead of time to ensure you get your stuff on the shelf when you need it. And so we have been told, 'Get your summer stuff done now!'
Billi is heading out on the road next week selling in our summer designs. It's almost broken us getting the designs finished, the patterns finalised and the print samples ready, but by crikey, we made it, and I think we deserve a beer!
She's heading to the South Island, as we are branching out and getting stockists on board. This will bring her back to her old days of being a sales rep, driving the length of the country time and time again.
So, it's time for me to have a beer... and get back to selling winter stuff. We hope you are enjoying the merino. I can tell you, I don't get out of it!
> Thursday 8 July 2010
The aftermath of Field Days...
Well, to sum it up in one sentence it would be fair to say... The Farmers LOVED our stuff!
Field Days rocked, and we will be back there again next year, boots (and scaffolding) in all! It was an awesome experience and it was great to see how well our new Merino was recieved...It flew off the rack!
If you want to hear about the whole thing, check out our Facebook page. I have written a day by day summary... and it's too long to paste in here. We have pics and all loaded up too, so we'd love for you to check it out.
Click here to view the Billi Tees Facebook Page
> Wednesday 30 June 2010
Pass my gummies... We're head'n to Field Days!
So last month we decided to give Field Days a shot. 4 days in Mystery Creek amongst all the farmers... hmmm, is this the right thing for Billi Tees? Well, hold the phones as this is one polished event. Sure, there may be all the farmers in their gummies, but what about all the wives, girlfriends, kids and more?? Apparently close to 120,000 people go from around the country, so that in itself was a good reason for Billi Tees to be there.
We're working to a super tight budget, but that hasn't stopped the creativity. We're decking our stall out with hessian, scaffolding, beer crates, foliage and more... kinda like a woolshed – but instead of the sheep, we'll have their clothing!
My mate has sent us up their fantastic 'Buscot Station' wool sack stencils, we have 20 beer crates coming from the kind chap at Super Liquor Te Rapa, and Euro Scaffold (Rotorua) have trumped up with all the scaffolding to hang our wears on. I think it's fair to say, we have some pretty awesome mates who are going the extra mile to help us out. Thanks team!
So, that said, it's time for me to start packing the car for my drive up to Hamilton on Monday. We'll be setting up on Tuesday, then ready for the hordes to come 'flocking' in from Wednesday 16 June - Saturday 19 June. If you're in the hood, come and see us. We've got some amazing deals on our clothing, and enter the draw to win $500 of our fab new Mighty Merino clothing. Baaaa!
What stall are we in?
We're in the Bledisloe Pavilion, at Gate 4. Stall BLED 17
www.fieldays.co.nz
See you there for a woolly good time!
> Friday 11 June 2010
Good Bye Pork Pie – go you good things!
Back in March 3 kiwis from the Southern reaches of NZ (Well, Queenstown to be precise) flicked us an email asking if we might want to sponsor their team (aptly named Good Bye Pork Pie – after the great NZ movie where 2 boys and a girl head out on a crazy adventure in their mini from the top of NZ to the bottom). Their quest? To drive 1/3 of the planet in a car less than 1.2l in the name of the Mongol Rally.
Now I am not sure about you guys, but I'd never heard of this 'er rally, but it's fair to say that after one look at the Mongol Rally website we were keen as beans to get in behind them!
The rally doesn't start until 24 July, but the trick is, that they need to rally round support and raise over 1000 pounds to enable them to start rallying. This is a pretty tough ask so we thought a tee was just in order. Ben our fab new freelance designer, jumped at the chance to design the supporters tee that Billi Tees are selling. Tees are $45 and $10 from each purchase goes to their charity, Christina Noble Childrens Fund. Check them out here.
The team have made an awesome start to fundraising and this weekend are off to Wales to meet some other teams to get into some rally action. We'll be following them on their adventure, and of course supoorting them all the way. We hope you guys do to! Check out their FaceBook Page as well as their own website to get the full low down, and to follow the action... Sweet!
>Friday 4th June 2010
Our winter stuff is rolling in...
And all I can say is YAY!! This range has been a massive job but as you can see, is worth the wait. Fabulous merino hoodies, zippies, V necks and more. And don't think thats it. We will be loading more as it hits the shelves over the next 2 weeks. Oh, I am so excited to get mine! I'm off to load more so I'll see you soon... drop us a line and tell us know what you think of it!
>Monday 24th May 2010
It's been a while...
Well, from looking at the last entry, which may I add was back in January (crikey, that has been a little slack!) one would think nothing much has been going on to report about. In fact, loads of behind the scenes stuff has been happening, and probably the biggest is Jasmine coming to work on Billi Tees full time. That's right, after 6 years of leading a double life with 2 jobs, her RSI got the better of her and has decided to take things a little bit easier... or so she thought. She's been 3 weeks on the job and has hardly had time to breath. There's a load of things that she will be taking charge of, and one is this blog (hopefully it will be a regular thing!). Social media is another area... we have only been doing this a little sporadically, so here's to a lot more chat from us. So for now, that's the low down. Our wicked winter range is starting to hit the shelves and is due to woll out over the next few weeks, so be sure to keep watching. Cheerio!
> Wednesday 5th May, 2010
A month off...
Maybe its been a bit more, but its been wicked. Travelling around the south island with the family in tow enjoying the sunshine and everything else that was thrown at us. Pohara Camping ground in Golden Bay sustained us for a few nights, and we build a fence at the farm. A few wines and some pretty good fare along the way have contributed to my jeans shrinkage...so if you are a bit like me and enjoyed the good life for a week or two or longer...send us your photos or videos please! billi@billitees.co.nz or enter our competition.
> Tuesday 19th January 2010
Fancy a bit of online shopping myself...
Its only just occured to me today that we've been busy lining up all your shopping and I've forgotten to do my own! And what better way to do it than online, so this year I have shopped with a couple. Its been an interesting journey, using the canterbury nz site for kids cricket jerseys, the warehouse for some kids toys, noel leeming for an electric shaver for my man. It certainly beats waiting in a que, and driving in the Auckland traffic!
> Tuesday 15th December 2009
Thar she blows...
We have so much going on with the wicked new site its getting hard
to keep track of it all...so what I want to know is what everyone
thinks of it? its a big change for us and we're pretty proud of the
effort..but that doesn't make it easy to use or satisfying for our
shoppers? Hey if I can use it, its must be shopper friendly...!
>Tuesday 24th November 2009
As the saying goes, all's well that ends well...
...it seems to me that its getting busier by the minute at this time of year. As this week draws to a close its no different! Our new website taking precedence of anything else in our efforts to launch on Tuesday (this week just gone!) Ha! Well, okay we have had to move it over a week, but thats not bad. Good things take time, you know...Christmas is the same, it takes a whole year to get here, but boy when it does it makes itself known! Its getting close to down tools time for the year and put your feet up...
>Monday 23 November 2009
I'm a bit like a Kea I love all things new and shiny...
It probably goes without saying that every girl loves getting new stuff, even if its not directly recieved. New stuff is just exciting. Part of the excitement is seeing the look on other peoples faces when they see new stuff too, mostly that is how kids react as they are so animated. Equally the animation can be unhappy. Occasionally my husband my try a new beer and gets the same look on his face. I 'm all up for getting kicks out of new stuff, big or small it makes your wednesday a bit more like friday...
>Monday 16 November 2009