NYIGF August 15 - 19 booth #4129

Sunday August 15th is opening day at NYIGF at the Jacob Javits center in New York.

This season I will be in booth #4129 in the Studio division.

Look for perennial best sellers - Be Nice or Leave, No Whining and Call Your Mother, as well as some exciting new introductions.

A couple of my favorites making their debut next week:

Real Big Deal

First major national publication! Monogram pillows featured on page 74 of the June 2010 issue of Real Simple in the Gift Guide section.

I became good at Twitter, now let's try Facebook

Many of you probably follow me on twitter already. I love twitter. Sometimes I post really professional, business related news. Sometimes I rant about traffic (and potholes). Sometimes it's just...

I'm about to have my 1,000th tweet moment. Very soon. I think this is something to be proud of.

But it's time to step up the game a little bit.

alexandra ferguson (that's the company) now has a Facebook page.

I'm still trying to figure out how to link to said facebook page. But I did figure out how to put that nifty button on the side bar to the right of the blog. Click that. 'Like' me. Done. Company collective ego boost: +2 points. Thanks.

Oh, and Happy Earth Day! Earth Day actually marks the 1 year anniversary since Etsy made me their Featured Seller. I still feel so honored to be a member of those ranks, and am blown away that a whole year has gone by already. Lots to celebrate.

Taking it on the road...ATL

Last weekend, my Roving Ambassador (mom) and I took a trip down to Atlanta to meet with the Daniel*Richards showroom at the America's Mart to discuss representing the alexandra ferguson brand. In just a couple of days, there will be 7 reps covering the following cities (and their surrounding areas), pounding the pavement with the sales tools we have been preparing -

*Atlanta
*Chicago
*Dallas
*DC/Maryland
*Miami
*Central Florida
*Minneapolis

If you are a retailer in one of these areas and are interested in setting up an appointment to see the line, email me at af@alexandraferguson.com and I will send you their contact information.

As usual, I don't do anything by halves, and our sales packets took full advantage of my presentation obsessions. Along with a couple of actual samples, reps are getting a beautiful fabric-covered binder with line sheet, color card etc, and a water bottle sample showing the different stages of becoming felt. Thursday night, we realized that the caveat we were missing was a logo-branded tote bag to carry all these things in. In a rush of mad creative fury, we made 8 (ahem first proto sample somehow found its way to my coat closet at home).


I have a feeling you will be seeing sassy canvas totes on the etsy shop very. very. soon. I promise to announce it here when they go live.

Besides a successful and exciting meeting with Daniel and Richard, the sleeper super surprise highlight of our Atlanta getaway? The food!! Here was our gastronomic itinerary:

Fri a.m.: breakfast at Star Provisions
This is such a gorgeous gift boutique in the West Midtown area with delicious goodies to eat. We shared an asparagus quiche, and mom had local all-natural Greek yogurt. If you are in Atlanta, you must must must go here.

Roving Ambassador at Star Provisions - we shopped for 2 hours. Kid in a candy store. No joke.

Fri afternoon: beer and nachos on the rooftop at Tin Lizzy's
The weather was 75 and full sun, and cocktails seemed in order. This hotspot in the Grant Park area was exactly what the doctor ordered. Waitress was concerned I might be sunburning, and that seemed like an awful nice problem to have in March.

Fri dinner: delicious seafood at super trendy Two Urban Licks
Atlanta mega hotspot, black walls with deep red accents, hundreds of flickering candles and garage doors that opened up onto a deck area. Favorite part? These oversized (like 3ft) paper flowers. I tried to find out where to buy one, but it turned out the owner's wife handmade them all just for the restaurant. Took a picture, but the mood lighting made it a moot point.

Saturday dinner: down and dirty Southern BBQ at Fat Matt's Rib Shack!
Total cost of our meal was $25 - Glass of beer, 1/2 chicken, 1/2 rack of ribs, mac and cheese, cole slaw, and collard greens...Soo messy....Soo delicious. The line out the door moves quickly, and gave us a minute to make some friends.

Now that's what I call a business trip!

"If Taylor Swift was an etsy product"

I don't check google analytics as often as I should, but sometimes there are some super fun surprises in there...Like this article in Slate about Taylor Swift. I'm reading it wondering how all those people went to my site from a piece about her Fairytale song, and then I got to the end...Thanks Slate! Love it!

The Morning After

NYIGF, #5500, Jan 30 - Feb 3 2010

Show is over. Cars are loaded and home. Orders are written and being processed. Staff is being put into place to begin production. Emails are flying. This afternoon will be dedicated to a studio overhaul, which (not joking) is actually one of my favorite things to do. I am nothing if not organized. In light of other terms being used to describe me during set up and show, I think I am settling on "detail-oriented" (thanks, Katherine, from one to another).

There were some very clear best sellers at show this collection - Be Nice or Leave knocked it out the park, particularly in the 22" size. That was no surprise, as it has been the best selling style since the very beginning.
Some new styles were also a smash hit - You're Right and Stud both shined. That we were positioned right next to the men's bathroom is an interesting coincidence.



22" ampersand in the block font was also a no-brainer. I was so happy buyers were responding to that one because I am personally obsessed with it. In fact, it was really exciting to write several monogram orders. The monogram series has been so popular for me at retail, and I know it will be a good one for brick and mortar stores.


It's not yet noon, but already my brain is filled with so many exciting ideas for the next six months. Lots of live retail selling events are up in the air all over the country, as well as taking the collection to far flung corners of the globe. There was so much feedback for the collection, and I can't wait to start designing into some new ideas I have. I will definately be back at the NYIGF come August - but most likely you will look for me in the Studio section instead of Handmade.

As always, information for wholesale and retail selling events will be posted here, so check back for dates and booth numbers.

Countdown

This time next week, I will be checked into the New York International Gift Show. I will have painted my space, wielded my power tools to mount the display shelves, and drank way too much coffee. I will be wondering why I felt compelled to sample every style in every color in every size (not kidding there), and how I will manage being in booth, rip roaring ready to sell at 8:30am every day for the next 5 days.

But this is the part where I am so grateful for all those years working runway shows in fashion industry. This is actually my favorite part of a show season - it's the last week. If it isn't on track by now, it isn't getting done. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Weeks and months of planning are all coming together in a seriously magical way (like, really, there will be a collection? ready? on time? really??) (oh - and it looks good too??)

fritillaries

The spring 2010 collection is a mix of best sellers from the last year and new styles. Some favorites that are coming back include Go to the Gym, Tree of Life, and Seahorses. Let's Make Out has been a roaring success at retail for the last 5 months, but will be new to the wholesale market. Two of my favorites that are debuting this week are Call Your Mother and Fritillaries.


Lots of major company overhauling is timing together with the opening at NYIGF. I have been working with Jaime from Bluestitch Books to re-do my logo and branding. My website, www.alexandraferguson, is completely down right now, so don't visit it. But that too will be coming back stronger than ever (or at least without broken links). The etsy shop (which you can visit) will be getting a makeover.


Maybe I'll even blog more...

My company turned 1 year old this past Saturday, January 16th. Happy birthday, company!