It seems like forever since I had a moment to sit down and actually write out an update. We have been so busy:)
A lot has happened since we launched last year two months before a global pandemic would destroy lives, families and businesses.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge how much grief and pain there still is globally and how much many of us still need to process that grief. I am watching friends suffer as their family in India struggles with disease, heartache and the collapse of the medical system. I am hearing from my doctor friends and customers about the ongoing trauma they are still trying to manage in stressed systems here in Canada. And I am watching friends and family in the US and UK celebrate reopening and the effectiveness of the mass vaccination efforts.
So while launching a more elegant women’s wear collection while the world struggled to survive was a bit stressful at times - in the scheme of things - it is a very first world and privileged position.
Welcome to SophieGrace! The love you have shown us is amazing! I wanted to let you know that we are busy making sure we are using the absolute best and shipping options available. When we first started taking US orders we hadn’t quite figured out the speediest option but we are aiming to ensure we get you your packages to you within a week now and will continue to endeavour to make improvements on that.
PRODUCTION UPDATE!
We continue to onshore a great deal of our production and our design and product team is now working out of our manufacturing facility in Vancouver, BC. We are incredibly proud of our Made in Canada efforts and that we know the employees making our clothes receive above fair pay, benefits (of course medical- it is Canada after all:) and holiday pay. As a result of these efforts approximately 70% of our production is now in Canada.
That said we still produce some items with our partners in Asia as they have more experience with some of the the tailoring requirements we need at this time.
COLOURS!
YES! WE HEAR YOU!
We want more colour too and we are excited to launch our first NAVY items this month. And you can be assured that our navy will always be the same navy in line with the foundational concept the brand.
We will continue to add to our Foundational Colours and then we will be expanding into pop of colour on a seasonal basis without moving away from our baseline.
It hasn’t been a speedy process given the pandemic but as our sales have ramped up this spring we anticipate being able to bring more colour over the coming year. To our first customers - thank you for your patience with us. New colours will not take as long now. We promise:)
PARTNERSHIPS
We continue our t-shirt projects this month with the Otter Love T - benefiting Marine Mammal Rescue and Our Mother Love T - once again with a portion of proceeds going to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre in Vancouver.
We are excited launch our new Equal Pay scarf this spring too. A portion of proceeds benefiting Momentum.org and their incredible microloans program for female entrepreneurs.
POPUPS
As vaccination efforts start taking effect we can revisit our POPUP program across North America. We took a pause on this for obvious reasons but look forward to meeting you in person later this fall and into next year. Shoot us a note if you want us to add your city to our list!
SOME BUSINESS FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED
To date SOPHIEGRACE has been lead by a small self financed team. As we ramp up production and look to expanding our offerings we have been entertaining several different financing options - debt/equity/crowdfunding. We are always looking to balance being able to deliver quality product in a more sustainable and ethical way with growing our customer base. Making the right decisions as we managing financing our business also means staying true to our vision and values. At the moment we are do a smaller raise in private placement with accredited investors. We are excited to keep expanding our offerings and meeting increasing demand. I know many of our clients work in this space so if you ever want to drop me a note with your favourite capitalization tips I am always all ears.
That’s all for now. Please know I love hearing from you and seeing you in our clothes. Always feel free to drop me a note at emma@sophiegrace.ca. Our customers are some of the most inspirational women I have met. Getting to know you and learning more about what you love and what you want to see from us helps us ensure we are delivering to you the absolute best product we can.
