Dear friends, they say you learn from your mistakes. In which case, we must be learning a lot this year.
So far we’ve failed to stem a tide of bird droppings, we lost track of thousands of pounds, and we rattled one of you so much that you told us, “We need to talk" and "I am hereby placing a formal demand". Uh oh.
So this week, we wanted to take you truly behind the scenes with a round up of our recent failures. And you can be the judge of whether we’ve learned anything.
Some people get leaks in their roof. We got worse.
Earlier this year, someone had been cleaning on top of our warehouse, and – innocently, we can only assume – swept all the bird droppings into the gutter.
Not long after, we had a humungous downpour, the gutters overflowed and our office stunk like someone had just taken a hot shower in a cesspool.
We tried to water-vacuum the carpet but it didn’t make a dent. So instead we took a knife to the floor and got that carpet as far away as possible. We’re slightly traumatised by the experience, but we’d rather cut up poop-scented carpet all day than deal with the next problem again…
We failed to keep track of 1000s of pounds.
Our accounting software broke. The software that lets us know if we can still afford to be in business.
Not only that, it broke at the worst time, the end of the financial year, when Keval, aka Mr Finance chases down stray numbers and does snazzy financial things against a ticking clock.
This year he’d dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s early. This year was going to be easy.
Then just as he was beginning to put his feet up and take extra long lunch breaks for the next few weeks, we realised something was very wrong.
Thousands of pounds that supposedly should have been there, weren't there. Uh oh.
Expletives may have been uttered.
We had no idea when the issue started or why. We’re not software developers. And it was many excruciating days before we could even begin to figure it out. This is not what we imagined when we decided to set-up a “fun, creative, ethical fashion brand”.
The good news is the numbers are being triple checked and are looking good and healthy. The bad news is…
We failed to make this person visible from space and were issued a formal demand.
“Dear Yes Friends crew, we need to talk…”
This was how one of you began your response to our recent survey.
It was the kind of “we need to talk” that precedes BIG CONVERSATIONS in relationships. But all we know about this person is they live in Germany – because they set the scene so well…
“I was walking through town last Tuesday – one of those rainy German spring days where the sky looks like an unwashed dishrag…”
Quite evocative, right? That’s a good dishrag metaphor. But the scene setting didn’t end there.
“I counted exactly 47 people wearing black, 23 wearing grey, and one rebel in navy (he looked tired). It was like watching a German expressionist film, but without the artistic merit.”
They told us our wardrobe wasn’t helping and then said...
“I am hereby placing a formal demand for the following pieces… A mustard sweater (so I can be mistaken for a very chic hot dog). A cactus green sweater (because plants are thriving and so should I). A burgundy red sweater (for the drama, the depth, the 'I drink wine on Tuesdays' energy).”
Washed and neutral colours were not going to be enough for this flamboyant human.
“I want to be visible from space. I want toddlers to point at me in awe. I want pigeons to land on me thinking I'm a parrot.”
We have probably failed to fulfil this person’s bold and bright wishes.
But the one thing stopping us is democracy. We crowd source our ideas for what to make next. And on almost* every form we’ve seen the majority just prefer the darker (or neutral) side of life.
*with one big exception being you loved the bright red dress on our last survey, but you've got to wait till next summer anonymous person from Germany.
If you’re in the colourful minority, we did release a handful of things recently that might make toddlers point at you.
Our brand new La Vita Generosa T-shirt, in Amalfi Blue.
Our Rust Heavyweight T-shirt. Alright, alright, maybe it’s only semi-bold, but I’m sure we can find something else…
Our Sage Stripe Puff Sleeve Dress is kind of bright if you—
“And please, I beg you,” the German respondent told us, “do NOT come at me with pastels. Pastels are for 1950s hipsters sipping milkshakes in a diner…”
Alright it’s a pastel, a PASTEL. We admit it, anonymous person from Germany. We’re coming at you with pastels.
We’re Yes Friends: Ethical, affordable, very occasionally colourful.
We’re going to embrace it and leave you with this final show of dark and understated colours…
