Our 2nd Birthday Sale!

Birthdays are special times of the year - especially when it's our own LadyUmbrella who is celebrating it.. Today, our LadyUmbrella is 2 years old.. My, she is growing up so quickly :)

When we started with LadyUmbrella we never thought we'd make it this far but low and behold, here we are..And, we have to thank you for being able to make it this far..The support and custom we've received from you has really been phenomenal and without it we wouldn't be marking this 2nd birthday..

And, speaking of marking the birthday, we're having a birthday sale! We're happy to give you 30% off everything in our shop this weekend when you enter code birthdaybash30 - you'll also get free shipping..We really hope we'll get to send something to you :) The code will expire on midnight on Monday..

Elena also designed the graphic to your right which features a variety of birds that have featured in previous designs..Can you figure out which birds are from which designs? Have a go! :)

Anyway, back to cake for now - stay happy all :)


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!

And the Facebook Fan of the Month is..

As you might have heard we're running a giveaway each month on facebook where we give our top facebook fan a t-shirt of their choice..To be a top facebook fan you have to like, comment and share our facebook posts and who have has the most points come the 15th of each month will win a t-shirt of their choice...Simples..And, this month, our first ever top facebook fan is........Vera Hayes! Big time congrats to you Vera and please get in touch with us to let us know which t-shirt you'd like!

Stay tuned for another winner, same time next month..it could be 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!

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!

Will You Win Our Facebook Top Fan Monthly Giveaway?

There are less than two weeks to go before we announce our inaugral top fan on facebook! Each month we're going to give a prize to our facebook fan that likes, comments, posts, shares and interacts with us the most by giving them a t-shirt of their choice...

You can see who is top of the charts right now and find out where you are in our top fan ranking leaderboard (it's tight at the top) and as you comment/like/share our facebook posts you'll move up the leaderboard..

We're going to give the first prize on the 15th of January and will give a prize out each month on the 15th, like clockwork :) For a chance to win you just have to be our top fan so get commenting, sharing and liking what you like on our facebook page...Do you think it'll be you? 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!

Rigu - Friday Finger Point

So, it's week 2 of the Friday Finger Point and I think I've got something that a lot of you might like..You know the way most things you can get for your camera are kind of dull and black/grey? Well, get ready for all of that to change thanks to the colourful camera accessories from Rigu..

This new company is based in Northern England in the Lake District, which, I'm reliably informed, is one of the most photographed places in England and hence it's possible for Andy, the company owner, to know when his mission has been accomplished..
"When most of the tourists and hikers are walking around with colourful camera straps I'll know that we've achieved our mission." I like the mission..and the products...

One product that really caught my attention was the iPhone4/4s tripod stand..Now, I don't have an iPhone but I know if there were a stand for my Samsung Galaxy S2 I'd be all over it in a heartbeat..Here's why..These smart phones have pretty decent cameras on them and most can now shoot in HD and the likes..The one failing though is that if the phone is being held any slight movement of the hand could result in a big movement in shot so a tripod would sort this problem out in jig time..Really, as far as cool/useful products go this one is well up there with the best I've seen lately (wow, how easily pleased am I?)..

Another item from the Rigu range that made be go "oooh, look at that, that's a bit nifty" are these camera bags..How can one get excited about camera bags you say? Well, because, they can be used for more than just cameras and they've got a nice wedge of padding for protection..With all the digital gadgets we have in our pockets these days giving them some protection is never a bad idea..Perhaps I'm showing my age here and starting to get cautious...At this rate if I'm not careful I'll be wearing knee pads when roller blading next ;)

So, a snapshot of some of the products there but the underlying ethos of this new company was summed up best by the owner Andy,
"Rigu was born from the idea that camera accessories don't need to be boring and black. Sometimes black is cool, but it feels as if in the camera world almost everything is black, people need more colourful options and that is what Rigu is here to do for you."
Given that what we do with LadyUmbrella is all about colour who knows, there may be a potential for a collab at with Rigu at some point in time in the future - for now we can dream..

Anyway, let me know what you think about Rigu..Am I right in thinking that the iPhone tripod stand is possibly one of the best things since sliced bread or perhaps some Hello Kitty Camera Straps tickle your fancy? And, what colourful Rigu products caught your eye?

Rigu - You've been Friday Finger Pointed!

The Friday Finger Point is a weekly post where I point the finger (in a nice way) at an online brand owner, designer or creative type..LadyUmbrella has been lucky to get lots of blog posts about us so it's our turn to give something back..Check out the brands and people pointed out each week, spread them on and let me know which ones you like!

Never Thought We'd Get A Christmas Card Like This..

When this LadyUmbrella venture started a few years ago I never for one second imagined that we'd receive Christmas cards from model agents, let alone Christmas cards from model agents featuring a model wearing one of our t-shirts but that is what transpired..

A few weeks ago Irish stylist Lisa Byrne got in touch and asked us if she could use our black LadyUmbrella Meets Peter Pan top for an Irish themed photoshoot she was doing.. Now, regular readers of this blog will know I'm not prone to saying no so without hesitation I said yes..

And, then, a few weeks later, we get a Christmas card from Absolute the Agency with our t-shirt being showcased amongst a whole ton of other Irish designers..Really, was, well, kinda cool you know? I didn't expect to get a Christmas card and I certainly didn't expect that our top would be selected for the shoot...Perhaps it's time to raise expectations? In any event, it was a nice little surprise just before Christmas, one I shall remember for a while...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!

The Blind Tiger Collective Pop Up Shop and Us!

By now I hope you've heard some of the mutterings from the grapevine about the Blind Tiger Collective - a pop up shop with 11 independent Irish designers - which is launching on Tuesday 20th December in The Little Green Gallery..The pop up shop will be open until the 24th - you're invited! This project has been brewing for a while now so, beloved readers, get comfy, read, watch and enjoy..Here's the downlow...

In mid November Dualta from Project A Apparel got in touch with me via the tweet machine and asked if we'd like our ladies clothes to be part of a pop up shop, The Blind Tiger Collective..Me, not being one to say no, quickly said yes and then we started to hatch plans.. Over coffees we schemed and tried to hammer out the details..Dualta had done a ton of work and had sourced all the brands for the pop up and got some great names like Turtlehead, S & D, Outcry Apparel and Dog Eat Dog Clothing..With the line up nailed down we moved on to "Phase 2 - Getting the Damn Word Out" (we didn't have a name for it, but, if we did...).


This is where the Bulgarian brilliance of Mr. Double A, Andrey Andonov, and his camera skills came into play. The first target to Blind Tiger-ised and caught on film was the Grand Social pub in Dublin.. We had grand plans of a grand Ali to be wheat pasted onto the side wall of the Grand Social (shown in picture) alas the roof was deemed, um, structural unsound, and the plans had to be put on the back burner..We did get to do some nifty wheat pasting inside though and Andrey was able to mix up this 20 second teaser clip for Blind Tiger, full of "what the deuce is that?!"..



The next step in the marketing efforts took us to Abbey Street where we we finally unleashed our Blind Tiger-ised Ali.. It took a couple of hours to get the installation up and whilst Dualta wheat pasted manfully I "worked the crowd" and gave out flyers and info to interested and curious passers by..The reaction we got was pretty cool and all we spoke to were supportive of the efforts and endeavor..And, there was the usual banter, some old guy asking if we were doing it for the Late Late Show before dancing in front of the camera, another asked if we'd put up an Ali like it on his house and another questioned "where are you going to put up Tyson?" Of course, it was all recorded by Andrey and the Naturehood Media Crew - here is the time lapse trailer..



We all know trailers are just preludes, teasers, to the full theatrical piece and so here it is..After Ali was put up we retreated to the nearest pub to record some interviews for Andrey to edit into the footage..Anyway, enough jibba jabba, enjoy...



As if all that wasn't enough to get some buzz going we had a photoshoot a cold Sunday a week ago and got a whole ton of quality pictures..You can check out the full lookbook on facebook.. We also got this nifty footage from Conor Coughlan - oh so many videos...This one was shot on a GoPro Hero2 camera and really looks sweet..



And, that is pretty much the story of the Blind Tiger Collective..It's all kicking off tomorrow and hectic last minute preparations are being put in place for the launch night..We've got DJs, free drinks and clothes - what more could you want on a Tuesday night..Here is your invitation and if you're in Dublin do try call in between now and the 24th - ideal chance for you to get your last minute Christmas shopping done..Hope to see you in there..

If you've read this far, fair play ;) Stay tuned for the post event update..