A/W2010 Photoshoot

It is that time again, to get the photo-shoot done so all publicity material can get printed.

Last season, we did it at an allotment in North London, which worked really well. The LOs were able to roam and just do their thing and the fact that it was a sunny day really helped. Apart from a couple of minor tantrums, all went according to plans.

We drove around looking at a few locations the week prior to the shoot. Found some pretty amazing locations (one of them being Rye in East Sussex) but due to the weather conditions and the short days, we were somewhat limited to where we could go.

After lots of stressing about, we finally managed to find the perfect location on board Bluebird of Chelsea, a beautifully restored yacht form the 30's which is conveniently moored at Cadogan Pier, just a few minutes from our office.

What we did not foresee was what it would be like to have a bunch (well, three) over-tired toddlers in a cramped space ..... quite chaotic to say the least and very messy ! However with lots of patience from the team (and models) we managed to get what we needed before it got too dark.

Only thing left to do now is designing the printed material and website......

In the meanwhile, here is a little preview.

November is here !

Can not believe it is November already !!! Where did time fly ?! I remember, like it was yesterday, that I still had months left until A/W2010 had to be ready but now we are only a few weeks away !

So what have we done during the past few months ?! We have designed and redesigned. We have sourced fabrics and trimmings. We have finalized all choices and found out some items are already out of stock, so had to re-make choices. We have started working on our accessories range. We have contacted photographers and stylists to get them booked in for upcoming photo-shoot. We have contacted web-designers to start working on our new website. Well, the list goes on.... but yet, it feels like we haven't done a thing !

Moody, sophisticated, playful.... and fun. That's how I would describe our next collection for now. Delicate trimmings with chunky wools, heavy velvets with soft cottons, silk and felt... it is all about mixing colours, textures and to have fun.

Collection will be launched at Bubble London on 31st January.

Look forward to hearing your comments then.

Day before leaving

It is almost 2am and I am still working, trying to finalize A/W2010.

It is quite a few months until I have to show the collection but want to get organized this time, partly because I want everything to be "perfect" but also because I will be away for the whole of next month.... and by the time I get back, I really need to have everything finished and ready to be sampled.

We are flying to Hong Kong tomorrow, trying to meet with some potential buyers, as well as spending some time with my family. Dropping kids of in Hong Kong and off we (DH and I) will go to Japan/Tokyo for Playtime Tokyo. I have never been to Japan and am very excited about getting some feedback about Jakeandmaya.

Would be so great if one didn't need to sleep..... There just isn't enough time in a day to get everything done !

Will keep you all updated from Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Ps. had a meeting with potential client to design their private label collection for S/S2010 today. When it is all confirmed, I will let you know who they are... but in the meanwhile, I will not jinx it and keep it secret for now. Wish us luck and you may see us in a top quality shop very soon !

Jakeandmaya at Bubble New York

We had not brought with us a lot of props for the show but thanks to the kindness of Barbara, The director of North American Bear Company, who lent us some gorgeous stuff, we managed to put together a rather cool stand (I think anyway...).

The show as a whole was very nice. The venue (Cedar lake) was very cool and atmosphere was great. It was very calm and relaxed ... unlike some other shows that tend to get a bit manic. I am still in two minds about whether that is a good thing or not. Sometimes it did seem a bit too quiet but then at the same time, the quality of buyers were good so does it matter if traffic is not huge ?

We had a lot of interest from the press during the show. A lot of buyers (including some "important" ones) also came by and really liked our collection. Not many orders were placed during the show but we then had quite a few promising enquiries/orders since !

And guess what ?! Due to the success we have had during Bubble London and Bubble New York, we have managed to negotiate lower production costs with our factories. We can now offer all our products at 20% lower price !!! This is great for our future retailers, cause they can now be a bit more flexible with their mark-up and hopefully achieve better sales.

We are currently in conversation with some very cool stores but I better wait until everything is confirmed before revealing it all.....

Big Day for Jakeandmaya

Things have been fairly quiet at Jakeandmaya in the past 10 days, just catching up on e-mails and trying to finish our website mainly, so I can send our details to interested buyers.

However, had a very important meeting with a very important buyer today. Could not believe it when they contacted us a few days ago to set up a meeting ! To my relief, she was lovely to deal with and didn't make it too hard for us.

What she expertly picked out was in my/our opinion the strongest pieces and also the most "commercial". Talking to her about customers buying behaviour was not only interesting but also very useful. She was able to give us very good insight in what people buy and what they don't. Not that we want to design a collection that is entirely commercial but it is all very useful information.

Meeting was reasonably short and very to the point. She knew exactly what she wanted and that was it ... She will try out S/S2010 here in UK first and if it goes well, she will place us in other stores worldwide. So let's pray that it will all fly off the shelves !!!

Now just have to wait for their final order confirmation and in the meanwhile work on getting some other cool stores on board.

Watch this space !

PS. Bubble New York confirmed our stand for August today ! Look forward to testing the US market !

Collection Launch At Bubble London

Our debut collection has finally been launched !!! It was launched at Bubble London at The Business Design Centre earlier this week. It was a totally amazing experience.

On the day before the show, we (DH and I) set off to the venue to set up our stand. Feeling reasonably calm and relax ... until we arrived at our stand. All of a sudden, I realised how important this was. This was the moment of truth. Are we doing the right thing ? What are people going to think of our collection ? Will they like it ? What if they don't ?!

Anyway, we did what we could over the next couple of days to stay calm and it all turned out very well. We had a lot of interest, from both buyers and editors. The responds was incredibly. I felt so pleased ! I have been working on this collection for months and now, finally having it all in front of me and getting the responds that we did was the most amazing thing ! Can not wait to start designing for the next season ! But way before that, I have to make sure that this collection will be in some fabulous stores next summer.

A few cool stores have already placed their orders and I have a few more meetings set up to discuss others over the next few weeks. But I can not tell you more at the moment, you will have to wait until next year to find out more about our very exciting stockists !

Ps. thanks to all my twitter friends, for popping by our stand to show your support !

S/S2010 Collection Photoshoot

Been trying to organize photoshoot for Jakeandmaya's S/S2010 collection for weeks but had to cancel several times, due to bad weather conditions but we finally managed to do it last week.

The weather looked a bit iffy to begin with but cleared up quite nicely towards lunchtime, thankfully.

We all woke up early to drive up to North London to meet the team, ie. seamstress, stylist, photographer and assistent. Conveniently, the chosen location, a beautiful allotment, was within minutes walk from my PIL's, so we could all meet there for breakfast.

All samples had just been picked up that same morning so it was a bit like Christmas for me, unpacking it all. It was the first time I saw the whole collection together....what an amazing feeling ! I had been working so hard for months to get this collection finished and here it was, right in front of me, all done !

Every garment was checked, making sure quality and details were up to standard. I would say it was about 99% ok, just a few details that needed changing here and there but overall it was perfect !

The stylist and I then put together about 10 outfits together for the shoot (very exciting to see how the different garments worked together) and then we headed down to the allotment in search for specific locations. Flowers were in full bloom, produce was growing... really cool !

After lots of walking back and forth we were set to start shooting. Model nr1 (ie. my DS) was called to location. He was changed back at PIL's and carried down... which turned out to be a bit tricky as his clothes quickly became creased ! Along with him came all freshly pressed (kindly by my MIL) outfits.

I am slightly/very biased but the first outfit looked amazing on the model ! The shoot started. Model nr1 was like a pro ... until I noticed we had placed him on a red ant hill !!! The poor boy had big bites all over his leg (I discovered later) but being the professional that he is, he bravely carried on ! Needless to say, he wasn't as keen to move on to the next shoot, plus he was by now very tired after an early morning. We soon realized there was no point pushing the poor boy, as he was exhausted and needed his late morning nap. So, off we went back to base and he was cuddled to sleep. Bless him. Model nr2 (ie. my DD) was already sleeping.

Not much we could do without models, so MIL organised coffee and cake to be brought down to location for everyone ... and this is when we not only lost the models but also lost majority of the outfits !!!! The photograper's assistant spilled an entire cup of strong black coffee on the clothes !!!!! Arghhh... I must NOT panic... must NOT swear... I could not believe it ! Coffee ALL over the clothes !!! DH calmly removed all clothes and took it to nearest dry-cleaner. I prayed that it will all be ok. So many things could go wrong at this point... may not be able to remove stains, may shrink, colours may bleed etc. They were my only samples made and Bubble was only a few days away !

In the meanwhile, the little models woke up from their beauty sleep and we had to continue the shoot, despite what happened, as the window of their available work time is quite short... We did what we could with what was left. Model nr2 was amazing in front of camera. Very natural, very cute and extremely professional ( LOL).
We got quite a few shots done with Model nr2 before we called Model nr1 back again. He still wasn't keen but nothing that a little bit of bribery with food couldn't fix but then a new problem arised.... how can we hide the large pita bread/apple/sandwich/tomato etc. in the shoot ???

Anyway, cutting the long story short here. The shoot went very well. We all had fun, incl. the models and the clothes all came back from drycleaners completely stain free !

Ps. it was such an amazing day, not just because we did a good shoot (the team was amazing) but I also realized how lucky I was to have such a lovely family. DH was there to help, BIL went and fetched last minute props for us, PIL pressed all clothes, baby-sat, made tea/lunch for us... I felt very blessed. Things would have turned out quite differently if I didn't have them all around.

Jakeandmaya Confirmed For Bubble London

I am so excited ! Bubble London confirmed our space for their next show this morning.

For those that are not familiar with Bubble, it is one of the most popular children's trade-shows in UK, attracting buyers from all-around the world.

We were supposed to take part in last years show but due to lack of time (with trying to set up Monsters and Munchkins and no nanny etc.) I decided to delay it.

However, I did manage to get some pieces made for Monsters and Munchkins' store last season, where the responds have been great. So again, I will make a small capsule collection exclusively for Monsters and Munchkins this season, which consists of a couple of A-line dresses for the girls, a suit for the boys as well as some basics. This is currently under production, so we should get it in-store in the next couple of weeks.

The philosophy behind Jakeandmaya is to create children's wear that is stylish but yet comfortable. The terms that we often use to describe our "style" is traditional with a contemporary twist. We try to make children's clothing that is fun, but without making it too typically childish (ie. princesses, trains etc.). We use prints and embroidery inspired by traditional children's motifs to bring the garments to life and we use unusual colour combinations to make it unique.

You will see, you will love it (I hope).

Ps. US shows are still being confirmed at the moment but I will keep you posted.