Well, seeing as my last blog post was about Small Business Saturday, it's probably time for a little update, huh? ;P
This year has been flying by and we are heading quickly into the warmer months (at least here in the northern hemisphere!), when Standard of Grace outfits really shine! If you follow me on Instagram, you'll already know about the news I'm about to dive into, but I thought this was a good place to share the details about how and why we're going to run things a bit differently for embroidered outfit releases.
So, what's changing?
Until now, I have primarily been pre-making outfits in sizes and styles that I've chosen/work best for the textile and releasing them as ready-to-ship pieces. What I'm going to do instead is offer a select number of made-to-order listings, (from one featured textile per release) where customers may choose the exact style and size of outfit they need.
Why make this change?
While pre-making outfits makes it easier for me to ensure the textile is maximized to its full extent, doing it that way makes it so that I am constantly guessing at what sizes and styles my customers are looking for. I know which sizes/styles are the most popular, but since quantities are so limited and I like to vary the options, I typically only make one of each size/style, so even the most popular ones are limited to one or two per release. Changing the format to made-to-order makes it so that if 5 listings are available and all 5 customers want a 12/18 month romper, then they can all get that outfit/size, whereas before I would probably only have one 12/18 month romper available.
The Pros
The cons
How long will listings be available for each release/textile?
Listings will be available for 48 hours or until they sell out, whichever comes first. I'm limiting the time they will be available so I can best maximize the textile and pattern lay/cut out all the outfits at once. If any fabric is leftover after the 48 hours, then I will sew up some ready-to-ship pieces and sell them individually on my website.
Anything else we should know?
I think that about covers it! Anything else about the nuts and bolts of ordering/shipping/etc can be found/will be updated in my FAQ section on the site!
Thanks so much to those who have continued to follow along with me for a while and to those who are new to Standard of Grace! I hope this change works well for us all! And if it doesn't, then we'll just change it back. Ha! ;)
featured photo provided by @carolinebrookes and @rachelleighprocell
The Holiday shopping season is upon us and that means Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday deals are popping up everywhere! I wanted to take a minute to highlight here on the blog how Standard of Grace will be participating this year!
Firstly, I want to acknowledge that I don't run very many "sales." I take pride in pricing my products fairly for the amount of time, materials, and quality of craftsmanship that goes into each one-of-a-kind piece. But that being said, I have been SO blessed by all of your support this year of my small shop, so it only makes sense to offer some special promotions on Small Business Saturday to show my thanks and gratitude. :)
So here's what you have to look forward to!!
I really hope these offerings bless you all as much as you've blessed me this year! Sales will go "live" at midnight PST on Friday, November 23rd and will run for 24 hours! You will be able to find the Early Access Passes and Shop Credit Promos under the "Small Business Saturday" collection that I'll be creating soon!
Please let me know if you have any questions and thank you again for all of your support!
xo-
Andrea
I debated for a good while before deciding to switch site hosts for my website and finally bit the bullet! I decided to make the jump for a few reasons, but mostly, this platform provides increased functionality for me to be able to provide you all with the best experience while shopping on my site, and probably most importantly for you all, it accepts Apple Pay! I've been receiving requests for Apply Pay for a loonnggg time and when it became clear that my previous site host had no immediate plans to integrate that payment option, I knew it was time to look elsewhere.
This platform also just has so many more options to customize my website and your experience on it, and I like that it can grow with my little business.
It may take a bit to "work the kinks out," while I get used to how this new site works, so bear with me, but I hope you all like the new changes!
Photo above by @a.mariska
]]>Hi, friends! I first want to thank everyone for following along with me this last year (or beyond if you've stuck around that long!). This summer was crazy and busy, just like all the best summers are, and I'm so excited to continue the momentum into the fall season.
I mentioned some updates in my Instagram stories recently, but since those only last for 24 hours and IG algorithms are super weird and many people probably missed it, I decided I'd post those updates here where they can't disappear until I want them to. ;)
The main update is that there is going to be a price increase that will be implemented on all releases starting in the month of September and all custom orders starting in the month of November (customs are already full through October, so I'm honoring the old prices on those orders).
Outfits will now be priced on a sliding scale based on a few factors: condition of the textile, extent of the embroidery on the outfit, the popularity of textile in the past (if I'm able to find a duplicate textile), popular colors/designs/trends. All of these factors are left to the discretion of the maker.
Here's what the new prices will look like:
Swing Sets: $85 - $105 (based on factors explained above)
Rompers: $75 - $95 (based on factors explained above)
I want [all of you amazing!!] customers to know that this increase is based on many factors, so it is not an arbitrary increase just to "make more money." After much thought and consideration, I've found that this change is necessary at this point in time in order for my business to continue and to grow. I cannot even begin to explain how much I appreciate all of your support and the fact that you choose to spend your hard-earned money on the things that I create. I am continually humbled by this unique privilege and I promise to keep finding ways to better serve you all!
Lastly, I want to mention that along with a price increase comes an upgrade in the way my products will be packaged! All Standard of Grace outfits will now be sent in sweet cotton muslin bags that you can store and keep your one-of-a-kind outfit in once your girl has outgrown it, and that bag will be shipped in an eco-friendly recyclable kraft mailer, which falls in line with my mission to reduce waste and be both intentional and economical in the way I do business. I hope that you all like this new change in the way you receive your special pieces from Standard of Grace! I’m so excited for what’s to come!
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