Changes in the Air

October zoomed by without a single blog entry from me and I apologise, because there was so much news! Our first Spring products materialised, friends' babies were born, a new fashion boutique opened right next door, loads of work was done on our upstairs kitchen and floors, and Dallas from Fat Freddy's Drop wore an outfit at the Music Awards styled just for him by my talented husband, Designer Duncan Mclean.
That's right - more photos of Dallas are to come in future blogposts. I have one funny shot of all us girls hovering around the hunk outside the changing rooms, shortly after he'd approved his look. But we're taking more this week with more of an air of professionalism. That's right, if Duncan's going to start clothing celebrities again, we have to get the portfolio from the experience, right? Otherwise, what's the point? Oh yeah- the fact that we're making friends with one of the Voices of the twenty first century, and he just happens to be a REALLY nice guy, whose HOT. (Can I just tell you, fitting this man had three design assistants giggling like I've never heard before).
Duncan has launched a new bag- this one comes in red or black denim. Isn't it gorgeous? We have three new tshirt colours for summer- a bright blue, a soft ash grey and raspberry. The tshirt dresses are now stocked, and the men have a casual chambre shirt. Next up and coming is a Vneck tank dress that's perfect for Christmas cocktail functions, a chambre skirt and shorts, and a jeano pant made from cotton drill. With all the designs and sampling, and making clothes for Dallas, it's a wonder how the staff find any time for actually just producing the stock for our stores.
Oh yeah... that's why we hired Kate, our third employee. Chances are you might see a fourth employee by the end of the year! Exciting! Congratulations to new arrivals over October: Good friends Tony and Maria Spear had their little Rosa, Al and Tory had one Trixie Bell, Steve and Wendy had their boy Xavier. By the way, that's not Maria, Tory or Wendy with the baby in the photo. That's Margo looking sensational in our shirt dress, with sister holding her baby, not even a year old. I put that in for inspiration to the new mums: life ain't over cos you squirted one out at fourty.
And the good people of Redunne fashion opened up their store in the old Mr Thank You just a couple of doors down! Hooray! That's three vital stops for fashion trends and Christmas clothing down our end of the hood (counting ourselves and Mindy's Juniper, of course- you can find some beaut bargains at the Salvation Army too). Newtown for style, a baby boom, and yummy mummies.
That reminds me- who made it to the Big Shwop? We have our store open on the same day so I always miss out on it, but I keep hearing it's the best experience ever for sustainable clothing hounds. Hope it went well again last Saturday. When we're not frantic in the back making stuff for celebrities we're upstairs sanding and finishing the floors and walls for painting and varnishing. A big shout out to Pete Tullock for his hard work chipping in, as well as Duncan's dad, as always. This is him with duncan, both wearing their parkas inside for a quick coffee break. Can anyone tell which one's Tom and which one's Duncan?

Newtown United!

The end of the Winter Season means we have Sports Prize givings to go to for both our children, and of course, this is the same for everyone in Newtown. When I took Grace to her Soccer Club last weekend, Wellington United, I was really excited to see so many people there I knew already. Customers in our store! Obvious customers: wearing our tshirts proudly. Once all the trophies had been handed out I zipped around trying to get pictures of everyone. To those of you who didn't get on the blog, forgive me: my pictures were just too terrible as I was facing into that beautiful sunlight that was streaming into the clubrooms. Aren't we blessed in Newtown? We've got great clubs for our kids, and great facilities too.
Tessa took a week off last week to go skiing on Mt Ruapehu with her boyfriend. For those of you who placed orders for products or alterations last week, excuse us if we were a day or so later in calling you. It was just Amanda on sewing and alterations for the whole week, and she was utterly exhausted by the end of it. Duncan was too: he's getting hoards of denim cut into all the different sizes of jeans, to send away to Auckland to get sewn. That means he's hardly getting any time sitting down in front of a sewing machine. It's all spent standing up and leaning over that cutting table, with heavy denim rolls to lift and lay out. Once that's all cut it will take a few more weeks for the factory up there to sew together, then another week to get laundered (preshrunk) then finally we'll be well stocked again in denim jeans. To everyone we've sent away lately without sizes 10, 11, 32 and 14, hang in there! We'll have your size soon and will call you as soon as it all arrives.
Any way, the jeans season is sort of over at the moment, and everyone seems to be thinking about their tshirts again. We're getting asked already about Summer dresses and skirts! The word is, we have some beauties coming shortly. We're on the final samples now, and plan to bring them out one by one with a window display of their own as soon as we can stock them in every size. With Tessa back and refreshed after a week's skiing, the production will no doubt speed right back up again, so look out for new stuff in our window when you drive by.
In the mean time, we'll see you sooner or later for a fresh tshirt. With such an early Spring, we've noticed a real surge in our screenprinting lately. Time for fresh tshirts! I hope the pictures here have inspired you.

We're seeing our DJ everywhere!

Despite breaking his arms, trying to do a backward flip off the monkey bars, James was up for a trophy at the Wellington Rugby Club's prizegiving. He was best forward for the Wellington Axemen, and was amazed when he heard his name called out. He expected no accolades, not only because of his arms, but because Duncan was the proud coach of the team. It's not really the done thing in rugby to hand your own son a trophy for best player. But these days, there's a trophy for best forward, best back, and most improved, so other boys won something too, and in the forwards' case, James really did shine. ANYWAY- I wore my new pair of black jeans, my merino hoody over my kiwi tshirt, under my denim jacket. I looked across the room to check out the other mums and dads and one guy just stood out. He was so hot! I looked him up and down and realized: not only has he got a cute face, but he's wearing head to toe Duncan & Prudence denim. I love it when I have an in as good as that. I strode right over and started chatting with him and ended up getting this great picture.
Duncan's band The Boganvilliers played at the Adelaide last weekend. What a great gig! I know I know - I sound like the proud wife, and yes I am. But they really have gone to a new level. If you don't want to take my word for it, you can see for yourself: punk chicks and plenty of bogans were right up the front dancing and stomping all night. The man on the mixing desk was none other than infamous Tony Spear, who's expecting the arrival his first child any minute now, but still had the devotion to mix up a wall of sound. Here he is in his favorite Duncan & Prudence Tshirt, the guitars, mint on black. I can't wait for the next gig Tony mixes, on New Year's Eve, and the Boganvilliers will be playing at that one too.
Anyway, I was appropriately decked out in my tomtit tshirt (the rock chick) and denim jacket, and what should I bump into but another Adelaide punter standing out amongst his friends in his Duncan & Prudence DJ. He seemed pretty chuffed to have the band leader's girlfriend bouncing over to talk to him, throwing my arms around him and asking if we could get a picture. Here he his, giving the DJ the homey treatment with hoody underneath.
Finally, our girl Grace had an end of season Soccer tournament for her Girls' League Team the Blue Dragons. It was a fantastic day and the girls just got better and better the more they played. They ended up winning the Trophy! And the star of the team, Anniella, won Player of the Tournament! To top it off, we bumped into Duncan Sargent, the talented furniture maker and artist from up the road in Newtown, and guess what HE was wearing! That's right, our fabulous Denim Jacket. Here he is with his daughter, whose team was beaten by my daughter's team just moments before.
That was on Father's Day, which reminds me: Duncan LOVED his Dad's Day Gift: a weekend in Melbourne come Labour Weekend. I figured it gives him something to look forward to through this tough part of the year, getting stocked before the silly season. Best of all, it's a present we can share. Hooray! Melbourne here we come!

It Will All Be OK

I just love the craffitti around town done by Nikki White. She's clever! Most street artists come in all stealth - under the cover of darkness as fast as they can, with nasty toxic sprays and often a message that's all about nothing. White's got nothing to do with that. She obviously takes all the time she needs to warm up the fences and trees she covers in her stuff. There's no nasty toxins: just loads and loads of wool! It takes talent to knit and crochet and embroider and weave the way she does, enhancing the environment as she goes. And love! Yay! What a message! More female craffitti artists please.
Duncan & Prudence have some craft of our own for sale for Christmas. The lovely Catherine Moffitt, an artist from Greymouth (and Duncan's aunty) blanket stitched all the brooches herself, and she's an incredible hoarder of all things beady and buttony, which leaves her with years of supply for her vintage bead necklaces. We sold out of her wax string beads almost immediately, but her three loop chains are hopefully staying in stock all the way to Christmas for $50. The brooches too, for $30.
I reckon the accessory that adds a splash of colour is just what the Wellington fashionista needs. Got too much black in your closet? Been looking and feeling like a little black storm cloud all recession? Here's the word from Duncan & Prudence: Accessorize!
And the word from Nikki White: It will All Be OK!

Spring Fever SALE

Days and Days of sunshine and hardly a breath of wind throughout all of August: what's going on? Did China really shift the earth's axis when they dammed up the Yangtze River? Or is Wellington simply the sweet spot in an otherwise havoc-ridden earth's climate change? Or perhaps I should just keep my mouth shut, September brings its own four seasons in one day, right? Well it's not as if I can complain when I speculate sales in tshirts will be down, like they always are, but then all of a sudden discover we're sold out in Men's Smalls and Mediums and Kids' Baby and 5/6 tees! All the other sizes are running low too! What the? I knew Duncan's new story of Winter prints was good, but not that good, that they'd pull people in off the streets in the middle of winter! But yes! We had to go into Spring production early, and Christmas is just around the corner!
The good news is, we've finally looked at our accounts and figure we're safe enough to hire another employee. Cate will be starting on September 21st - yay! You remember Cate, she was our lovely intern from the Fashion Institute. We can't wait to have her back again, especially Tessa and Amanda. They're dreaming of seeing the walls again, once the piles of cut tshirts on the shelves stop stretching right up to the ceiling.
Spring means we've signed on again to be supplier sponsors for the wonderful women at The Big Shwop. This year they're taking their frenzied event to Auckland as well as Wellington. I tell you what, this shwopping idea is so good I reckon they should think about taking it to Honolulu, Paris, NY and Tokyo. I'm sure they're way ahead of me- these cats are SMART.
We say goodbye to Pixel Inc. in Newtown, and boy are we devastated. Don't Go! Stay! Like Missy's before them, these guys have been lured into Cuba Street by the prospect of rubbing shoulders with ten to twenty other boutique designer stores, just like them. I hope the foot traffic is worth it guys, you STOOD OUT over here on the South Side. And you gave us the competition WE needed and deserved. But the good news is, People's Coffee look set to expand into that storefront now that Pixel's out of there. Hooray! More tables for people to linger in sunshine and lovely coffee aromas. Now if Matt can only do something about his staff's customer service...ahem. By the way, the Mr Thank You storefront is still vacant right next to us, if somebody is wanting to take Pixel's place as the next hip NZ designer thing on the South Side. Across the road from Pranah and Simply Paris, and built in best friends Prudence and Duncan, not to mention Mindy from Juniper. You know they say a recession is the best time to start a business, and we'll be happy to tell you all our secrets of success. Come on! Some body?
Hey, did you see me in the Wellingtonian?Yep, that's right, I'm still plugging away at my Black Project. It's never too late to get in touch with me if you or someone you know has a particular use for black in their lifestyle or culture. It doesn't have to be exotic - I'm still waiting for someone to talk to me about their life as a waitress, always wearing a long black apron and pondering why black is the colour of the service uniform. I'll be gathering people's stories and surveys for months yet people, so please drop me a line or come in to talk about it with me. I have a questionnaire document and I'm not afraid to use it!
Oops! I nearly forgot to mention: THERE'S A SALE ON! We have incredible hot designs coming in Spring, but there's still Winter stock taking up space on the shelves, so come in and find a discount, even if there's no more bad weather 'til April next year. Bought from our place, chances are you'll be getting something that never goes out of season, and eats anything you can buy on Cuba Street for breakfast.

Ethics in Our Industry and in Our Neighbourhood

The wonderful College of Creative Arts at Massey University, whom we've maintained solid networking ties with since before Duncan & Prudence was launched, is proudly hosting me as a visiting lecturer on Sustainable Style. Holly Rothwell in the Textile Design Department, it seems, was impressed with my presentation at the 42 Collective's seminar series on the same topic, and got in touch with me, asking me to turn it into a lecture for her Third Year Design Class. This is an open lecture, people, so every one is invited. The event will take place in the Theatrette, Old Museum Building, a landmark of Newtown, on September 8th. That's a Tuesday folks, and the room is booked from 12noon. I'll be fielding questions about the circulation of capital, Marx's theory of political economy, the ethical business policies of Duncan & Prudence, and ways to be an ethical consumer of clothing. I know I know, Marx ain't all that sexy, but doggonit, he was right! I've made our independent industry into a case study in order to apply his theory of surplus value, and how it can be achieved without alienation and exploitation of the workers who, by the way, within Duncan & Prudence are all but me Massey Graduates! This is a funny picture of me - the Capitalist - hugging Tessa - one of the workers and Massey Graduates in my enterprise. We're trying on the first samples of offcut denim hats we plan to sell all Summer. Tessa's wearing the one she designed herself. If you are keen to learn a little about the consumption of clothing in the marketplace and what hidden social relationships that entails between yourself as a consumer and the producers of your clothing, then come along. I'll try as hard as I can to make Marx as fun and fascinating as possible! If you're a geek like me, you'll be passionate about the topics, but even if you're simply passionate about fashion, I reckon you'll come away thinking a bit more seriously about what you're doing next time you shop for clothes. Hopefully, it will have you walking into our store more often, as an enterprise that's thought deeply about all the issues on your behalf.

Making Noise for a Good Cause

In collaboration with Dion of Peregrino Photography (that's him in the photo with me), Peoples Coffee, Red Design and Juniper, Duncan & Prudence are funding the production of a fundraiser CD, Sounds Like Newtown. All proceeds will go to the best little primary school ever, Newtown School and the much anticipated Newtown Festival 2010. If you are a parent of a child at the school you will have received an order form already for the CD. Families at the school are being offered a pre-counter sale discount, so place your order through the school with that order form if you can. If you are a member of the Newtown Residents Association, or a previous stall holder at the Newtown Festival, you will have received an email also, offering you the chance to have one sent out to you, wherever you are. But if you're in neither of these priviledged groups, you will still be able to purchase the CD over the counter at any of the collaborating business sponsors. The CD will be in our store from mid-September and cost $30 each.
It's a fantastic line up of local musicians all of which have played at previous Newtown Festivals. The Newtown Festival is renowned for its music repertoire: some of Wellington's hottest bands got their first gig on a stage at the Festival. Rio Hemepo from Trinity Roots is contributing a track, and so are Little Bushman, Hikoikoi, Twinset, Good Laika, The Nok, The Eggs, The Constituents, Jessie James, Andy Hummell, The Matarays, Newtown Rocksteady and Harbour City Electric.
What an amazing compilation of talent! Anyone feeling the love for Newtown, or nostalgia for good times had at our amazing Newtown Festival, will love getting this for Christmas. For all of you who come to the Festival, you will know what an incredible success it always is. This year the population was as high as 75,000! What you may not know is that the Festival Committee runs almost completely on volunteer talent and contribution, with a fight for dwindling grants and funding from Council and local commissions. I'm an active member of the Committee, and Duncan & Prudence are proud volunteers and sponsors on the day for the Green St stage. But without some major fundraising the entire future of the Festival is in jeopardy. If you were one of the 75,000 who enjoyed the fantastic music and sunshine, the variety of food and the amazing array of stalls at this year's Festival, then this is your chance to give back.
Similarly, the Newtown School is always in need of more funds to pay for upgrades and maintenance of its hall, as well as branch out in areas such as music education, theatre and dance, and more sports and recreation choices for the children. The senior kids at the School have worked hard to raise enough money for a Camping trip in the fourth term, but there are aspirations in the School for better musical equipment, lights and speakers for the School Hall, and a set of uniforms for the indoor soccer teams that play every Friday after school.
Duncan & Prudence have been members of the School's fundraising committee ever since James started there in 2005. We designed and screenprinted cool graphics on tshirts in 2006, then launched a tea towel in 2007. It gives us great pride to be involved in what we believe will be another great fundraising venture for the School, so please look out for the CD in our store come September. If you are a Newtown local and want to get in on the pre-counter sales, please sign up as a resident!