Time Flies

I can’t believe I've been back from China for two months already.  I haven’t posted since early March.  There’s been so much going on and not so much going on all at the same time. 

My trip to China was absolutely vital.  We were having issues with some of our patterns but by sitting with the pattern maker at the factory face to face, I was able to clear up some of his concerns.  Our designs are unlike anything they make so it can be a bit confusing for them.  For example, he doesn't understand why the knee placement is so short.  But through Joey, my sales representative who speaks good English, we were able to work through the issues at hand.   Having photos and samples are a great help in communication as well.  

We received the samples about a month later of the youth girl and youth boy in denim and three different styles of the ladies jeans in black.  We've redesigned our ladies styles with improved sizing and we've changed the waistband that the ladies jeans currently have.  We’re also going to offer more sizes as well.

Once our samples arrived, Jill made appointments with all the models.  The youth boy was a successful fitting and we just started production on those.  The youth girl, unfortunately, was not a good fit.  We still have a few more adjustments to make before I feel we are ready to put them into production.  This youth girl style has been a real challenge for some reason…not sure why!

The Sheryl jean and the Diva jean samples were also good.  We will no longer be reproducing the Emily Dip Down style; we've altered the style now with a different shape that we feel will be a better fit for more ladies.  This new style will be called the Rebecca Dip Down jeans and all three ladies styles are now in production.  The other factory that I have been working with just sent us samples of the Danny and Jacob Dip Down style in black.  The fit was good so we’re starting production on those two styles as well. 

We’re also introducing our new website this month.  We’re making our website more user friendly and more fun.  Photos and testimonials of our customers who have sent us pictures of their loved ones wearing our jeans and tees will be splashed throughout the site.   We can’t wait to show off their happy faces.

Our new site will also explain in detail about our exclusive “try-on” service.  This service makes ordering risk free and assures each customer of a perfect fit or their money will be refunded.  The first order takes a little time to get it right, but once the correct size is established, the next order is easy.   We’ll help each customer with their order every step of the way.

Since our first video is now a little outdated, we are starting production on a brand-new one.  We hope it will bring everyone up to date on our progress.  We also will include a how-to-measure video to make measuring more clear as well.   We know it can be intimidating to those who have never sewn or taken measurements.  But getting a great fit is worth the extra effort!

We also have some new marketing plans.  WE NEED MORE SALES!  Downs Designs needs to get the word out to more people who need our clothes.  I think I will talk about these ideas in my next writing.  I want to discuss in more detail about some of our new ideas to “spread the word”. 

Follow our progress on our Downs Designs Facebook page…so much is going on these days!