AHHHH.....I just had a good workout, not a hard workout, trust me I dove off my elliptical a few times in agony, but a good workout as it was one I needed and I saw all the way through. As I was sweating it out I was thinking about this blog and how and what I want to write on it.
I am a bit nervous about putting my business' business on the web in blog form. I want so much to tell you all about the things that bring me joy and that drive me nuts with regards to work yet at the same time I want to give my company the best chance possible at success. As a CEO it would be all too easy to use this as my venting ground, or to paint such a rosy picture that it seems like one big advertisement for CROW Clothing. So, as a reality-TV fan (probably more than most would think) I’m going to take my cue from one of my favorite women-in-business-on-TV- Kat Von D of TLC's La Ink. Kat has a way of opening herself up to an honest reflection of her business' foibles but because she has such a heart of gold and really cares for her team and clients, I find that her opening up only enhances my support of her success. So here's a toast to Kat Von D! I hope my big heart shines through as much as heir’s does. Here we go....
I am dropping off my first wholesale order today. Greenloop in Portland has ordered twenty tiebreakers in time for father's day. This was our first big order and ironically I had hired a hand-sewing specialist the day before for the sole purpose of doing our ties. When the order came in I was ready to go!
Over the course of the next week, however, seamstress mania hit. Seamstress mania is a place where seamstresses think they know more than designers, want to tell you how to run your business, and sometimes even combine this with doing sub-standard work. I've already gone through two pattern-makers who not only treated me like I didn't know what I was doing but actually created errors in my patterns, and one seamstress who sewed all of our hoodies inside out, which apparently happens to every designer once in her career. In this case our mania came from three separate parties. One of our seamstresses keeps telling us what we are doing wrong. This is aggravating but I don't much care because she is superb at her job. Another - not so much. She combines the opinion with sloppy work, and turned in half of her contract work to me in a status that I could not accept nor deliver to customers or stores. She and I agreed this week that she would no longer work for us. The third simply took forever to complete her task and handed me an invoice for three times what the work was worth. Sigh. This has been hard on me because we want to take a very pro-worker stance, but that doesn't mean we can be taken advantage of, disrespected or accept sub-CROW quality work.
So getting these ties complete has been a bit of a challenge- and a great learning experience- and I say that honestly- not trying to put a spin on things. I've been earning my CEO wings this week for sure. (btw at CROW Clothing CEO stands for Chief Evolutionary Officer.) I cut the ties myself, and sewed the one-of-a-kind sewn-stripes into them (so if you buy one from this batch it will be extra special). We switched fabrics since three of our fabrics have been discontinued, and I had to return the ties to the seamstresses a time or two to get them to the standard that I expect, that our customers should count on, all the while keeping people happy enough to put good energy into our clothing, which is actually in our contract- no sewing angry! Of course anyone who has ever worked on a sewing machine will tell you that. At the end of the process it all turned out okay. Beautiful hand-sewn ties for dads and grads! Of course we still have to see what the retail client thinks, cross your fingers for us!
The good news is that I didn't let any of the conflict faze me. I know that people often misrepresent their skills, and that starting a business means some learning lumps. But I’ve definitely grown from where I was even a year ago in my life- I’m able to move on, and to be confident that things will get done one way or another....or another.
The other genius thing that happened last week is that I hired a production coordinator. Our best seamstress has been with us two months, and so I promoted her to Production Coordinator so she can talk seamstress-to-seamstress to the folks working on our clothing and I can focus on raising some working capital, design, and being a public face of the company, all of which is a lot of work. More on her later- I think I will do a post on delegating and setting company weekly goals.
For now, those of you in the Portland, OR area, (as of this post) you can get our Tiebreakers at Greenloop in Sellwood. They've also been accepted in to the Fashion Fights Poverty look book! Everyone else- find them on the web at http://crow-clothing.com
Onward!
Mantra for the week: "I run the company, the company does not run me."
Next challenge: Hoodies
damali
MamaBird
CROW Clothing
Sustainable * Eco-Friendly * Green *
*it's more than what you wear.
The Portland Chinook Book has a coupon for Greenloop good for 20% off your entire purchase or regularly prices items in the store or online.