This is my last blog pre-Christmas,  and possibly before new year... depending how much work I do over Christmas.

The only work I plan to do is designing new frames.  The peaceful quiet I get over Christmas is second to none and is a great time to consider the overall design direction.  Grandparents to take care of the kiddies, orders slow down but mainly, everyone else in on Holiday... so no one can ask me any questions!

We had our Christmas party this week.  It was a fab night and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I did marvel at the change from last year... as I supped on a nice glass of red wine I thought "where did all these people come from?" Last time I looked, it was just me, my sample bag and a pair of shoes with holes in. 

A good party!

Checking your designs...

I have asked to be shown any "interesting" bespoke frames.  I might have to stop this.  Every morning there is a big pile of glasses on my desk.  I have to say that our Opticians are designing some incredible frames.

These are just two I liked today.

2010 Designs

I have a started doing something a little crazy .... but I just can't help myself.  In 2010, I want to make some giant leaps forward with the main collection. I am implementing a tradeshow strategy for 2010 which sees us launch 50 to 60 new frames PER SHOW.  The main difference is, however, there will be only ONE of each frame. 

This time of year I was expecting the Bespoke orders to slow down.  So I designed 150 new frames ready to slot in to the quite production.  Here you can see me this morning musing over the designs. The main problem is ..... Bespoke did not slow down.  What’s happening?  Today was our 3rd busiest day of the year!!!!!!!!!!!

This doesn't bode well for 2010... well it does and it doesn’t.  I am slightly nervous at how FAST we are growing.  Today I asked Dicky to present a contingency plan for a 300% increase in business by May (we are ONLY planning for 100% increase!)

Bespoke prices

Here is something for you to comment on. 

Pricing.  I have a problem. Below you can see a simple acetate frame and a combination Bloc ti with normal ti. This frame can't be launched.  The RTW version of this Bloc Ti frame would be the same price as its Bespoke version.

There really is only one answer I can think of.  Instead of having a fixed Bespoke price, we change it to a fixed UPGRADE price.

So, some simple frames would be a little cheaper and more complicated frames would be more expensive. A fixed price is not possible, unless we fix it quite high.

Anyway, let me know what you think.  I'm still deciding on the final upgrade price, all input would be welcome.

Supertool

Here is a tasty little teaser from Supertool.  I am TESTING a new function in Jan where you can order a PREVIEW of your DESIGNER frame before you order it.  It will be a paid for service, something like £10 for the design preview. It will go on our test site at the start of Jan, if people like it, I will open it out early in the year.

This feature below is going live from the start of Jan.  See the portfolio below.  We will be adding a picture of the frame under the photo. This is so you can see the difference more clearly. It is sometimes hard to see it on the face.  I HAD planned to do side views as well, but after a test market for two months, this was decided against.  The feature below is part of a load of new features available from the start of the year... which I'll let you all know about on or around the 8th of Jan.

Finally, this feature was added last week.  You can now sandblast front and back parts of the frames. Someone asked me for this during DESIGN SCHOOL.  .... and I thought.... "why not!"

We had a lovely surprise today from one of our Bespoke accounts.  Henning and Henning Opticians in England have sent us something rather special.

As you can see below, they have had a special customer in, who obviously needs a new set of bins to drive Santas sleigh.  Since it is such a rush, we have all voted on Option 2 and today I have created a technical drawing and put it on OT production.... lets hope it will be another "on time" bespoke and be ready for December 24th!

A close up of Option 2

 And here is the drawing! (actually, it is really rather nice!)

Of course, once Rudolf got back from his Optician in Weybridge, Surrey, he simply had to tell his boss about his new Bespoke glasses.  Not to be out done, it seems, Father Christmas has nipped out to his local Opticians erm.... in The Netherlands (Hans van der List) and has ordered this lovely frame.  He said he couldn't wait for a Bespoke and beside "there is nothing wrong with this one" he said with a jolly ho ho ho. (lets hope this sorts out the squint)

Thanks to both Family Van Der List and Lucy, Lisa and Amy for making us all laugh!

November.  What a month.  A month of records.

1.       Biggest ever intake of Bespoke Orders

2.       Biggest ever sales of RTW

3.       Lowest errors on Bespoke frames (in comparison to sales as a %) by Opticians AND us.

4.       Most hired new staff at the workshop in one month (since we started)

5.       Most people attending Design School in one month

6.       Most hours worked per member of staff.....

What can I say.  It is an exciting place to be at the moment. Or rather, I think we are all looking forward to a quieter month which December should bring. 

I have finalised my Sunglasses today.  Only problem is.... I can’t think when I can fit them in the production schedule.  Increased Bespoke sales have gobbled up my RTW capacity and I really wanted to have these in the collection by January.  I.e. They were due to hit the production line today.

Well, here are some of the frames I’d LOVE to see... let me know what you think... I’ll try to squeeze them in!

One thing I guess I should mention is the delivery times.  There is some impression, based on the odd email I've been getting, that our delivery times are getting slower.  Actually, this is not the case.  I wrote this in an email today to one of our customers and I think it is worth sharing with you all.

“94% of our Bespoke frames have been going out on target. 

On the whole, this is how long it takes, from receiving an order, to it leaving our workshop:

Simple Acetate with normal lungs (e.g. Pressure Joint or C joint or NO joint)  - 12 days

Acetate with T joints – 19 days (soon to be improved to 14 days we expect)

Combination acetate – 19 days  (effectively these are like making two frames her but I think we can improve this by a few days within a few months)

Titanium frames – 19 days

Rimless frames - 10 days

If there is a QC problem, you should only notice on the following delays:

QC Fail once (Chance of failing 8%)

Titanium – 4 days

Combination frame – 4 days

QC fail two times (Chance of failing 1%)

Titanium – 19 days

Combination acetate – 19 days

So you can imagine that when we are making 1000 frames in November, 10 of these frames FAILED QC two times. 

Titanium is the only area we have a problem and relates only to the plating / colouring.  If the frame fails plating once, we can re-plate (4 days delay).  If two times, we have to remake the entire frame since it will not be good enough quality to re-plate more than twice. “

ADDITIONAL COMMENT FORM ME: Delays are a result of our high standards of QC.  Many frames which fail QC would not bother the average consumer or Optician.  We only deal with exceptional Opticians, therefor, I have made it quite clear, a delay is better than sending a frame which is not perfect. 

This sounds rather defensive.  It is not intended.  We are doing an amazing job at the moment and although a handmade individual product can SOMETIMES take a little longer to get perfect, I have to say we are getting pritty damb good!