Cheers!

After a full on week of meetings, our first Squidpreneur course at the Kingston University, a round table at Claridges and getting our first SquidKids stockist (WAHOO!) we felt we deserved a glass or two of bubbles last Friday night at Beagle; awesome restaurant bar in Shoreditch - definitely check it out if you are in the area.

Squidders xx

SquidKids Logo

So excited to reveal to you our SquidKids logo! As you saw from one of our earlier posts we have been working on the logo for a while as we wanted it just perfect; the font, the colours and the splashes!
It is a very colourful busy logo - but that is exactly what SquidKids is :)

We hope you like it! xxx

Meetings....

A little round up; Website is finished but not fully completed - you know how it is; still a few details for perfectionists like ourselves to be totally satisfied with it! But it is looking good. We plan to launch the website to the public around July 2014 to coincide with the products being available in store... :)

Had our first meeting with Harrods last week. It was very positive and they really liked SquidKids. Only problem is where it would sit in their store as we are not a high end luxury brand.. But it was positive so lets see.... More meetings lined up this week with high street stores so fingers crossed!

Do excuse the poor quality picture - but do you remember the scene from the wonderful Mary Poppins Walt Disney film when she keeps pulling all sorts out of her bag? Well Viviane and I giggle that when we go to meetings we are like Mary Poppins - the products and ideas just keep coming out of the bag and sometimes it's a bit much...! Passion over bubbling ;-)

Wish us luck! xx

SquidKids Filming Day

                                                                                                              Two of our gorgeous acting crew

                                                                                               Being super innovative

                                                                                                               Film Crew

                                                                                    One of the runners filling up the waterbombs..!

On Saturday we shot our SquidKids promo film with the help of Spritz and Simplo. We were ever so lucky that Jane of Highbourne House in Guildford allowed us to use her beautiful home for the day, especially as it is also a very popular bed and breakfast - it was the perfect location.

I think we were dreaming when we thought we could tell 11 children what to do for the day...! Our script pretty much went out the window and we had to improvise, and what fun it was! The weather also decided it would rain for most of the morning and early afternoon - so we had the children playing in the rain... Thankfully their parents were obliging.

The feedback about the SquidKids collection was so positive and reassuring which was so nice to hear. We are absorbed by it every day so sometimes ones judgement gets clouded. Fresh eyes and minds viewing your products is key and the response was so wonderful it made our day.

Biggest thanks goes to the wonderful children and their parents - we couldn't have done it without you!!

Squidders xx

P.S sorry you were probably hoping to see some of the designs.. That would spoil the surprise! :)

SquidKids Logo

As we all know the Logo is super important to whole look and feel of the brand. We are working with Spritz Creative (we have worked with them before on SquidLondon's new re-brand) and we have finally made a decison on our Logo. The font was the easiest bit - but the colours and graphics always throw a spanner into the works! You will see the picture of the Spritz team above painfully (so to speak) trying to find the right colours that we all agreed on. Pantone colours are tricky things sometimes..!

Squidders xx

P.S. Can't wait to show you the logo!!

Business Trip

                                                                                                                                         Silk Screen Printing - Our Printing Studio    

                                                                                                                 Typical Chinese Business Lunch

                                                                                           Lunch With Our Quality Controllers - Hong Kong

                                                                                                                                              Hong Kong  

                                                                                 The Squidders in Hong Kong with an old University Friend

 
Apologies! It has been rather hectic, you know building a new brand and all ;-)

We recently got back from a business trip to Hong Kong and China. We always enjoy these trips as it is super important to solidify our business relationships and also friendship. We have been working with some of our contacts now for over 5 years and you build up a lot of trust and mutual respect for one another. We visited our new clothing factory where we will be making the kids clothing and our new boot factory too.

It is always very humid and overcast in October - so you don't ever feel like you get any fresh air which is the hardest part. Whilst we were in Hong Kong we were fortunate to meet up with an old friend who we went to The London College of Fashion with us - he lives in Hong Kong and is just setting up his own Womenswear label - super exciting!

Enjoy the pics!
Squidders xx

Snail Mail

We had some fun designing our SquidKids letters for the buyers. Cute little characters, our lovely childrenswear designer has come up with, dancing on the page.
Fingers crossed the buyers fall in love and book up meetings with us :)

xxx

Happy Friday!

The best way to end a week is; having a super productive meeting, the 'todo' list created last time all ticked and being totally on schedule, if not a little ahead!
Have a fabulous weekend.
xxx

Celebration Time

There are times in life that call for celebration. We had that such time last week and we had to force ourselves to take a step out of the studio and go and have lunch (at 3pm we were starving) and a glass of bubbles. This is not because we are boring or too serious...! Its a strange feeling to describe, but when you have worked so hard for something to the point it is almost dragging, that once you get it, it becomes a relief and you are already onto the next challenge - if that makes any sense at all! Maybe ambitious is the word?!

Needless to say we had a delicious lunch at our local Turkish café Troy - they do a mezze buffet of hot and cold salads and raised our glasses to the official start of 'SquidKids'! 

xxx

Photograph taken with our trusty iPhone5.

Design Check In

The checklist is growing larger and the time frame is getting smaller.
Our new childrenswear designer is doing a splendid job of bouncing ideas back and forth and working with our feedback from the 'Focus Group' we had last Wednesday. But also using her own experience and knowledge of the industry to try and create the perfect balance of designs, not easy at all....

We are heading to Hong Kong in less than a month to touch base with our factories and discussed the new product ranges (exciting) and also to meet our current distributor whom we have never met in person so that will be super. We will also be having a meeting with our inspection and standards company as there are many British standards involved in children's clothing that we have to make sure we cover. There will be one night of socialising - a dear friend of ours that we meet at the London College of Fashion lives in Hong Kong - so it will be lovely to see him, and what Hong Kong nightlife has to offer - hopefully some good cocktails.

xxx

NB: Photograph from www.onstartups.com

Creative Ideas Meeting

We had an ideas/implementation meeting this morning with our branding guru down at Spritz Creative. We definitely made a visible pathway in regards to our brand image, website and some interesting point of sales ideas..! We can't wait to see them materialise and show them to you. Fingers crossed we achieve the innovative yet slick sophistication we are aiming for.. wish us luck.

Please note the image above is a card we received courtesy of a happy Squid customer!

Happy Happy

It's a rainy day and we are sipping on peppermint tea in our studio as we trawl through our never ending to-do list....! A few more happy things to keep us going, plus its Friday :)
Wishing you all a restful and fun weekend, hitting Monday all refreshed and ready to go!

xxx

Focus Focus Group (sounds like hocus pocus!)

Last night we had an awesome focus group with 12 beautiful, energetic and on to it Mums! It was so interesting and boy did we learn A LOT! We will have to spend this afternoon digesting all the information and maybe slightly changing our design direction. The knowledge and passion involved with dressing ones children can be quite intense. Some of the favourites brands and shops included:  Zara Kids, Jools Oliver and her Little Bird collection for Mothercare, H&M, Boden, Le Petit Bateau and Polarn O. Pyret to name a few.

It would seem that Mums prefer a more classic look, not too crazy or over bearing but with a hint of fun... tricky!  Do let us know of any brands you like for your children or for your friend's with children?

xxx

Welcome to SquidKids

Some of you may already know us as the Squidders; SquidLondon is a brand we have been building up for the past 5 years and a brand we love and will continue to grow.
SquidKids is a new brand we are creating under the SquidLondon Umbrella (see what I did there) and it will be focusing on all things fabulous and fun for Kids!

This blog will follow our SquidKids journey - we hope you enjoy the ride as much as we will!

EJ & Viviane xxx