The last time I was on vacation was in Milan- 2020, Fabric Fair. I call it a vacation, because trips outside of Poland are usually what I associate it with….
I will warn you in advance- this blog from now on will be a diary of sorts. I want to tell you what the beginnings looked like, which had a very big impact on what is happening now.
So let me go back to that above-mentioned “vacation”.
Milan was wonderful, fair…. In feeling equally delightful. The trip was short, but resulted in enthusiasm, excitement and energy to work on starting my own brand.
I admit- the first design model on which the entire first collection is based was invented long ago. My first drawings still hang on the corkboard….
The enthusiasm and drive to work lasted as long as the keenness to cooperate by the studio that made my designs. That is- until the first prototypes were made.
While the design itself delighted the contractors -the material I ordered, to create it-not quite so much. Working on such materials was the first experience for me at that point, on top of that I felt a lot of pressure to account for the financing of the project, i.e. the timing of its settlement.
Not to put too fine a point on the ecological leather from which the first collection is made – it was supposed to provide lightness, it is durable and resistant to mechanical as well as weather actions. All the initial assumptions, as a result, fulfill their role. And I consider it a success.
However, the fabric is so thin that made it difficult for the contractors to work.
Nevertheless, the invoice has been paid-and the order has not been completed.
The question probably occurs- how is this possible? If the order was paid-why was it not executed?
Basicly because we were not bound by any contract. It was idiocy, and I was neither so young nor so stupid at all. However, I treated it as a quick job, which for the studio would be a matter of a few weeks of work-which we were agreed on, and for me one invoice to pay, and we would finish the subject quickly and efficiently.
Time was pressing. The funds I received to start the business were intended to be spent at a specific time, and in the early stages of the pandemic, transportation of the ordered materials was severely hampered, so all the deadlines shifted heavily. The order for the bags was done, the approximate date was set, so I set about organizing the photo shoot.
Without prolonging- For the session I got 4 bags of only one model from the sewing shop at the last minute- that’s why the session of the first collection is quite truncated…. (I sewed the hamper E and mini at another person- the design is easier, so I was able to make it in a smaller studio).
Eh… there were many promises, at many stages….
I, as the owner of the brand, felt the brake in promoting the collection, because I knew that the stock was quite low…. The sewing shop was not sewing new bags. The situation staggered, and at some point I had to return to full-time work to avoid drowning.