TOTES AMAZING
A while back, whilst styling a lovely client, we got to talking about another lady, with a love for colour.
‘Have you heard of Totes’ Jan said
’Like, as in the ‘tote’ bag’ said Lauren
’Nooooooo, like as in the awesome runner/fashion lover/blogger’
’Ahh - no?’ said Lauren
’Well, you must must must - she’d love your products!’
And that’s basically how it all started.
The next day I messaged Alison Stankard and mentioned a friend had put me onto her and I wondered if she may like a few of our pieces to try. She said she was very honoured and that people never send her stuff!
So my products went down South, the lego coloured ones anyway. And I got on with my day.
A few weeks later, another friend sent me some images from her social media, of Alison wearing my designs. Not just wearing them though. Rocking them. She looked wonderful and really gave the designs a fabulous canvas.
We had a quick chat about doing a collaboration, and after a series of events, we got a little date in the diary.
The thing about my products are this;
They were created on my kitchen table.
They are designed with the wearer having an interest in COLOUR
They are a statement piece, setting off any outfit into it’s own league.
You come to them in your own time. It has to be organic or it isn’t going to work.
People just ‘get them’, adore them and wear them even better than myself at times.
The collaboration with Totes really started out of a mutual respect for each other’s style, the love of colour and supporting small business. Since meeting ‘in person’ in Manchester, i’ve realised that there are just some people who are genuinely out to help others and spur them on. As a fellow mother of three (plus a dog) I’d like to thank Alison for being such a ray of sunshine on a cloudy Manchester day.
A Special Thanks to You…
“Use LOYAL21 at checkout for a 20% discount across the entire site. Includes styling and colour services. Valid until 15th December 2021”
“Use LOYAL21 at checkout for a 20% discount across the entire site. Includes styling and colour services.
Valid until 15th December 2021”
Growing my own brand has been quite the journey. I have been extremely blessed to have seen growth in my following over the last six years. It’s strange to think back to 2015, when the kids were little (I mean tiny), I was working away into the wee hours on The Colourful Edit imagining where I could take it and knowing that it had strength.
I said to hubby at the time, if this doesn’t work, and my ideas are awful, I’ll get another job once they are all in school.
‘They’, the reason, are my three children, Mac, Nell & Quinn. Balancing the load has never been more tricky (especially post lockdown), but my work allows me to have the time with them, then have the time building my brand, when they are at school, or in the evenings, so that they can look back and think, wow, my mum changed things up and made people feel good about themselves through her colourful ways.
My first ever pop up shop saw customers coming in to check out ‘the rainbow girl’. I’m not sure everyone got it at the start. I’m not sure I knew how to even talk about it. Most of you just saw the beauty in my idea, but needed confidence to embrace the colour. Mainly, you all just wanted to embrace the creativity and support me. You all know who you are, and you are still with me to this day, looking damn fine and embracing colour, and encouraging people to do the same. Some may call you my Brand Ambassadors!
2020/2021 has been such a rollercoaster. I’m not sure we are talking about this enough. Everyone is feeling the burn, from my GP friends, to my mum friends to my small business friends, teacher friends to my overseas friends. What’s worse, no one has any of the answers.
Amongst the personal worries that come with being a mum, wife, daughter, sister and friend. Business wise, I’ve had to combat a lot of change and uncertainty for my small ‘but mighty’ business. Growing from strength to strength, with opportunities to Pitch with the likes of Trinny Woodall, to panicking the next month with my Studio closed, no footfall and no ‘colourful news’ during the Pandemic. Not to mention dealing with the ‘copy cats’ and ‘idea thieves’ who aren’t worthy of the mention (but one day may get their stage). Strategies for growth were popped on hold, whilst new strategies for the ‘new norm’ were popped quickly into place. Pivoting and thinking outside of the box is something I do quite well as an ‘ideas’ person, thankfully.
The one thing I can say however, is that there is so much power in colour and the joy and hope it can bring. You all were using it through lockdown to create happy zooms, sending on colourful gifts to loved ones, and post lockdown 99% of my clients are all encompassing of the COLOUR. This makes me soooooo happy!
I have lately been working with Katie on my new Website and this week we have launched. It’s been a while in the making. I wanted to showcase everything we stand for at the Colourful Edit and all our products & services. I have revisited a few of my styling and colour services and revamped them in a way that will best serve my clients (and myself) in terms of best value. There are some price changes in some areas, but these are reflective of the service provided. The products are now easily listed and shopable - I hope you’ll agree.
So, I conclude…
This has been a long winded message of THANKS!
Thank you to you all for sticking with me, supporting me, booking in with me and wearing my products. I’m offering 20% off until 15 December across products and services. So if you have been thinking about a colour session, you are more than welcome to order vouchers using our special code LOYAL21 at checkout.
Lots of Love,
Lauren xx
Mini Creatives - Campaign Winner
The brief was for the kids to use our yarn, to create something which would bring joy to people over Christmas. They could use their imaginations, other recycled products to explore their meaning of Christmas.
Back Story… During lockdown, being a mum of three myself, I always found it was lovely to see the kids crafting. As a small token, myself and the kids created 100 mini packs for local kids to collect and create with. Using recycled yarn, as I do, to make something beautiful.
After the year we have all gone through, knowing the joy that kids can bring, and with use of a sustainable fabric, I wanted to tap into this sentiment for my upcoming Christmas packaging. We always send pictures to our closest and it brings joy. How nice would it be to involve the local community and schools, in helping us with our art and putting a smile on our customers faces.
PILOT SCHEME
The brief was for the kids to use our yarn, to create something which would bring joy to people over Christmas. They could use their imaginations, other recycled products to explore their meaning of Christmas.
We made up 16 large boxes of our ‘yarn ends’ and we hand delivered these to 16 local schools. We had over 200 responses. Out of these 200, we shortlisted to the five below. We were completely blown away by the entries and the talent of all the children involved.
Each of the children will receive a gift from The Colourful Edit, and hopefully we will be able to meet in person to have a chat about what inspired them.
However, there must be a winner…
And the winner is… Alfie’s Reindeer.
We love this one so much as it really resonates the magic of Christmas, the carefree spirit and elegance of the animal, the peacefulness of the night and the joy inside colourful homes. We loved the print and pattern choices and the magic this creates.
Well done to Alfie and we will look forward to meeting with you soon! Your artwork will be printed and delivered to all of our customers over the festive period.
FURTHER NEWS…
Not only has the response from our primary schools been incredible, but The Colourful Edit has been approached by Dr Aude Le Guennec, Assistant Professor in Design studies / Design anthropology at Heriot Watt University, School of Textiles and Designs who has showed great interest in our creative campaign;
We are currently collaborating with anthropologists, educators, practitioners and museums professionals on a series of projects where we are exploring ways children interpret their clothes, co-create with adults and how this could inspire the industry for a more sustainable and inclusive society. And every initiative on this approach is really inspirational and informative for our project.
This has prompted an even greater initiative, to run a bi-yearly programme to involve both lower and upper levels of the eduction sector. Heriot Watt University are happy to support and collaborate with The Colourful Edit on this initiative and we will look forward to bringing together our ideas.
To the children (present and future) who have been/will be shortlisted we would be delighted to educate and help them find out and explore further into the world of fashion and sustainability.
So - look out for EASTER campaign kids!
FURTHERMORE…
We are also delighted to announce that as well as the winning postcards, we had such amazing entries (honestly so tricky to choose), we have decided to created a pattern design with some of our favourite entries! Have a look at the sneak peak!
