Clothing & Funding Update
Hi everyone,
Well, I hope it’s warmer where you are, but here in Michigan we’re enjoying single digit temps. It’s been a crazy few weeks and I’ve had my New Year’s resolution to get this blog updated more often bouncing around my head. So hear I am to complain about the cold and the abundance of sick germs that seem to be everywhere, and more importantly to let you all know what is going on.
First of all a huge thank you to all who are watching and waiting for me to get these clothes out the door!! It’s been such a fun, crazy, hectic, and tense time getting things going. We are having the sizing samples made this week so that we can test out the smallest and largest sizes for fit. When you make a design you use a fit model in a middle size and then you “grade” the pattern up and down to the other sizes. Once these samples are tried on and either approved or adjusted we can put the clothing for our production test market sample into production.
Once that happens, I will send out an email to the list and let people go ahead and place orders. We are only making 600 peices to start, so the email will ensure people get what they want first. Because we are doing a smaller run initially, I will email the list to ask for their preferences in colors because we won’t be able to offer all colors on the test market run.
Outside of getting the clothing test market run ready to go, my big push has been for funding. I have been talking to lots of angels and am excited about some prospects that are coming up in the next several weeks. One of my challenges has been that the majority of angel investors (high net worth individuals) tend to be rather far removed from the problem I am addressing. In other words it takes most people a fair chunk of their lives to build up the wealth required to invest. The more I can show them, things such as the responses I have received on my blog or the many touching and wonderful emails people have sent, the better they are able to “see” the problem.
Once we have funding we’ll be able to expand our sizing (to include both Above Average and Plus Sizes, initially and then eventually to Slims and finally Average) and our line and produce more clothes to serve our community. We’ll offer more colors and we have some very cute items in development such as a hoodie pulloever and pleated skort that we can’t wait for you to see. We’ll also be able to start developing the social network which will become the heart of the RealKidz community.
Well thanks for your comments and your support! It makes a huge difference to me and helps me to keep fighting the good fight!!
Keepin’ It Real!!
Merrill