July was certainly a busy month for Downs Designs. We had our booth at the NDSC Conference in Washington, D.C. and also had a booth at the Upside of Downs Buddy Walk at Progressive Field the following weekend.
This year we were able to drive to the conference. It made a huge difference because we saved
hundreds of dollars in shipping costs. There
were three of us, Jillian, Robin and myself.
Robin works for my husband’s medical practice and has been with us for
eleven years. She also helps out at Downs
Designs when I need her; so three women and all our “stuff” packed into my SUV
made for quite a carload. The drive was
actually not so bad. It took us about
6.5 hours in all and the weather was picture perfect.
The next morning we were busy setting up our booth. The doors were opening at noon and we had a
lot to do to get ready. But with all
three of us working together, we were all set up with time to spare. The exhibitor’s hall was huge and there were
so many vendors, about 80 in all I believe.
We had one slight problem; there was no internet available in the
exhibitor’s area, so our credit card equipment was useless. But it was only a slight aggravation and we
worked around it.
With people in and out of sessions all day long, the traffic
was extremely busy during the “break outs”.
We were glad we had two dressing rooms this year and both were in use at
our peak times. We had all our ladies’
and children’s jeans available to try on and order. We had samples of the sizes of the Large Teen
Girl jeans but ordering those will have to wait until they arrive in our
shop. They are due in around the end of
August, just in time for school shopping I hope. We also had a sample of men’s jeans to show
as well, and everyone was disappointed that they were not available yet. They are in production now and will be
arriving in our shop about the end of September. We are also waiting on the samples of the
Large Teen Boy jeans. Once we test the
fit on those, we can begin production.
The last size we are working on is our Large Youth
Size. We have not had a boy and girl
model for that size group yet, but we did find some volunteers willing to help
us out long distance. It’s certainly not
the best way for Jillian to design a pair of pants, but at the time, it was the
best we could do. So we’ll see how that
works out…still not sure.
The event was great exposure for us and we met so many
people that were excited about what we are trying to create. But one of the most important things we get
out of these events is that we are able to see how our jeans fit a lot of
people, not just the model that Jill uses to design them. Everyone is shaped so differently and Jill’s
designs must be able to fit most people and we also realize that we cannot fit
everyone perfectly. But I must say, she
has done a brilliant job!
Sunday afternoon the event was over so we loaded up the car
and headed for home. We were tired and
happy to be home, but I must say I enjoyed the entire experience. I look forward to next year’s event in Denver
and Robin will definitely be joining us, she was a great help!
But no rest for the wicked…the Buddy Walk was the very next
weekend. I love the Buddy Walk though…it’s
so much fun. I don’t take dressing rooms
or have people trying anything on; I just talk to people, show samples of our
jeans and have brochures to hand out. The
energy and excitement at the Buddy Walk cannot be described. About 4000 people are in attendance and it’s
like one big party in the street. 
My favorite part comes after the “walk”. The disc jockey gets everyone moving and the
kids start dancing. Thanks to the hard
work by the staff of The Upside of Downs, this is one of the most fun events of
the year. Even the weather
cooperated. It was not too hot and the
sun was shining. Funny thing though,
right after the event was over, it rained like cats and dogs.
Some really good news too … we found a boy and girl model
for the youth sizes. Their parents are
so kind to help us out. Now Jill will
be able to work her magic with this age group.
I can’t wait to see how the Youth sizes will turn out.
So with July coming to an end, I’m satisfied with the
results. Hopefully by the end of this
year, we’ll have a pair of jeans for most of the hard-to-fit kids and
adults. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
