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!"