2011 - The Year in Review

We're a year older and a year wiser from the time we did the review last year and it's been another eventful year..Now, for posterity, I'll try chronicle the highlights (and lowlights) of 2011, here we go....

January:
- We celebrate our first birthday with TNT fervour..
- We quickly realise that January is a quiet month

February:
- We, not for the first time, make a silly but fun movie, "Lights On, Lights Off"
- Some common ground with John Rocha is found..
- Still can't shake off that love bug as love is in the air when cupid strikes..

March:
- We experience our first trade show, the Futura Fair, and the fallout that it brings.
- We're Irish Blog Award FINALISTS! A nice trip to an award ceremony..
- Rob gets a captive audience and talks twitter..

April:
- It's not easy to impress our post office lady, but we did it..
- We add a new dimension to LadyUmbrella as we unleash our illustrations..

May:
- We take part in the Fashion Stage at Mindfield, fun times and video..
- 40,000 tweets milestone passed, OCD much?
- Birthdays ain't what they used to be..

June:
- We take a Diet Coke Break..
- The Annual WOW Sale recap, a whole lot of wow..
- LadyUmbrella takes a Dip in the Nip

July:
- One of our illustrations wind up being used in an exhibition - nice!
- Some of our video superstars get catalogued...


August:
- We team up with GrabOne for one heck of a mad sale..
- We get a lovely mention in the Dubliner Magazine..
- Our time in the Loft, sadly, comes to an end as we exit stage Loft..

September:
- We take part in a Pop Up Shop in the Grand Social, fun times..
- A bit of Blue September action..
- We did the photoshoot for our 3rd collection of t-shirts, some behind the scenes pictures are always nice..
- A terrible pun but an ok video, our number one fan ;)

October:
- We launch our 3rd collection of t-shirts and the journey begins!
- Nevermind 40,000 tweets, in October I passed the 50,000 tweets milestone - yikes!
- We were finalists in the Dublin Living Awards for Best Fashion Retailer in Dublin which is, really, mental but cool..

November:
- How many t-shirts did you say were hanging on the rail?
- Some of our items got stocked in Kwilla in Kilkenny, nice!
- We secure a place in the Project 51 Pop Up Shop, big time ole..
- A tipple and a tee and another random pop up, good to be busy..

December:
- We get stocked in Babylon in Clare and also deliver to Project 51, quite a day..
- We get our first ever mention on radio on Today FM when Ray D'Arcy opened the phones for Irish online shop suggestions, what a nice surprise..
- The Friday Finger Point is born..
- The Blind Tiger Collective roars onto the scene with a ton of video footage and good stuff..
- To conclude the year we received a Christmas Card that we never thought we'd get..

And so, that was the year that was 2011..All in all, upon reflection, quite an eventful year with lots of interesting things happening..That is one of the things I really love about LadyUmbrella - I have no idea what is going to pop up..Random things like Diet Coke, Dip in the Nip, GrabOne, Twitter Talks etc - all fun things to be involved in and something I never thought I'd do in 2011..So, with that said, I look forward to seeing what interesting things occur in 2012 and hope that come this time next year I'll have another enjoyable review of the year to pen..

What can you remember about LadyUmbrella from 2011 or what was most memorable for you?


P.S. Sharing is caring! Our IT boffins have have got a new Facebook "like" button and Twitter ReTweet button on the top of all our blog posts..Give them a click and make us smile!

Project 51 Pictures & Update!

So, you might have heard (or, at least I hope you have) that Project 51, the shop on South William Street, have accepted our ladies t-shirts for their month long pop up shop..We dropped the stock into them on Tuesday and popped in on Friday to see how things were going...To the right we have an amateur picture taken by yours truly of our designer, Elena Montes Casado, outside Project 51 with their rather large and festive Christmas tree in the window in the background (you know it's a bad picture when it has to be described, never fear, good pictures to follow)...

The area that is set up for the 15 designers in the Project 51 pop up shop is really something else, a visual feast of colours, shapes, materials and design talent..The scent of fine leather fills the room and the carpet underfoot is plush and creates a soothing sense of calm..An ideal environment to investigate the intricacies of the fine crafts(wo)manship on display before deciding which item to make your own..A trip Dublin to visit to this pop up shop is highly recommended and when you get there you'll know why..

And, in one corner of the Project 51 pop up shop our t-shirts, La Tercera Coleccion, some with their effervescent salmon-esque hue, beam out - buy me (or so we hope :)). The (expertly taken) picture shows them just hanging out beside the fine leather of Garvan de Bruir..And, that's where a story comes in if you'd be so kind as to indulge me..

Garvan and I both happen to be from Kildare Town and both happened to go to the same secondary school - heck, we even got the same bus to school.. Granted, he was a few years ahead of me so it might just seem like a little coincidence but, try this on for size...Last year we were part of another pop up shop called Rough Diamond (option C) which had a few Irish brands for sale..Yep, you've guessed it, out if the numerous Irish brands and designers ourselves and Garvan were both selected for that pop up...And, then, there is the fact that a few years back, whilst in my IT mode (I studied IT in college), Garvan asked me if I could build a site for him - unfortunately I wasn't able to but I was asked which is another interesting overlap..And, if we really go down the rabbit hole, Garvans folks and my folks are good friends - lets hope they visit the pop up shop together hehe :)Anyway, that's the end of story, thanks for listening and now onto the update...

There is an important date coming up in Project 51 - on the 8th of December they are going to have 20% OFF everything in the entire shop so if you're looking for an iDEAL day to go then that might be it... Also, if you'd like to meet Elena, the creative Spaniard behind the whole LadyUmbrella brand, she will be in Project 51 on the 7th of December as part of the "Meet the Designer" aspect of the pop up..Ask her for her autograph or something and see her get redder than red with embarrassment in nano seconds ;)

So far our t-shirts have been on sale in the pop up for 4 days and we've received really great reports and sales updates back from our friend, and designer extraordinaire, Sinead Doyle who works there...We were very apprehensive that our humble t-shirts might not have worked in the pop up, given that they are surrounded by so many great designs and items, but it seems like our fears have been unfounded as they are selling really well in there - we're close to having to go and restock some sizes already which is insanely great and long may it continue!

If you're in Dublin why not pop in to the pop up and make a restock a necessity for us? And, if you've been into Project 51 what are your thoughts on it? Ole :)


P.S. Sharing is caring! Our IT boffins have have got a new Facebook "like" button and Twitter ReTweet button on the top of all our blog posts..Give them a click and make us smile!

LadyUmbrella Pops Up in Project 51

Yesterday I had the pleasure of "sealing the deal" so that LadyUmbrella will be part of the Project 51 Pop Up Shop for the month of December. We're delighted that our wares were accepted and will be part of the pop up shop.. If you've never been in to Project 51 then you have to rectify that as soon as possible - it is a really nice place with lots of great Irish designers in there like Sinead Doyle, Jennifer Rothwell, Heather Finn & Yvonne Ryan.. Our ladies t-shirts will be there from December 1st so put that date in your diary...Will we be seeing you in there in December?