Breaking the Blog Silence

I realise that I am not a natural Blogger. It has been 7 months since my last post! I also know that as much as I would love to blog more often, time just does not allow. The last 7 months have been spent increasing our main line offering of dog coats and jumpers, and I have been putting in a huge amount of time working  on our Knitted Dog Jumper Kits.

Some of you might have bought one of our Knitted Dog Jumper Kits and have already enjoyed knitting a warm jumper for your dog. Since launching this product in September last year, it seems that they have great appeal with dog loving knitters. So I set about improving the offering and increasing the range of sizes. After all knitting is my great passion....

I wanted to add jumpers for Toy Dogs and Dachshunds so I designed jumpers that would flatter these dogs. Then I got my small but growing team of knitters to work with the needles. I chose Rowan wool cotton for this range as I love this yarn and have knitted jumpers for Bruno with it in the past and know that it is a great choice. 

We took some great photographs.....sourced a box that is made in Kent, sourced some knitting needles, sewing and cable needles, checked and rechecked the patterns, then I was ready to order the yarn....and to my dismay, one of our 'girl' colours had been discontinued!! Some deep breathing was undertaken, new colours were chosen, knitters were set to clicking again, and new photographs are being done this weekend.

Then we will be ready to finalise the artwork, get the patterns and labels printed, and kits assembled so that we can start to offer them to you lovely dog loving knitters! 

There is even going to be a dedicated website for the kits, but more about that in the next post. 

 That will be keeping me busy for a few more weeks, but I will be doing another post shortly. 

To keep up with the day to day stuff, please follow us on Instagram @redhoundfordogs

or Facebook Redhound for Dogs

Important New Stockist

I mentioned it last time, our newest stockist is White Stuff!!! yes, White Stuff, the wonderful clothing brand, who have the most dreamy shops and clothes, chose us to supply them with Dog Jumpers and Bandanas way back in January! We have made them 3 exclusive jumper designs and 3 exclusive bandana designs. 

The products were launched on their website last Friday, and featured in the Christmas Pull Supplement that went out with the Winter Catalogue last week also. As far as I know they are available in the Edinburgh and Kingston Stores. 

Here is a taste of what they chose

The beautiful Marine and Turquoise Tweed Gloucester Jumper 

The pretty Mulberry and Lilac Flower Gloucester Jumper

A stylish Red Bird Bandana

And the iconic Paisley Bandana

It seems like so long ago since I went up to White Stuff HQ to see the collection and select a colour pallet that led on to these designs. We are very proud to have been selected by such an iconic brand and to supply them with dog products for the very first time. 

So, if you live in Edinburgh or Kingston, you can pop in and see them in the flesh, or buy on line at 

www.whitestuff.com

Happy Busy Days

How can it be that three months has gone by since my last blog post! 

 What has been keeping me busy I here you ask! For this I feel the need for a list.

Shooting our Autumn/Winter products with our favourite photographer (on the hottest day of the year)

Getting an order ready for the lovely White Stuff - yes you read that right, they have seen the sense in adding in some stylish dog clothes to their product list, and are taking delivery of some exclusive dog jumpers and bandanas next week.

A re order of waterproof dog coats for our friends at Hawkshead, who have put them into 4 of their shops, Hawkshead, Buxton, Falmouth and Betws-y-Coed. All dog friendly shops.

Getting ready for Burghley Horse Trials, our biggest show of the year, and attending the show two weeks ago.

AND Getting the Knitted Dog Jumper Kits ready to launch at a trade show that we attended last week. ( this is a project that has been keeping me busy for the last 6 months )

so, you can see why there is no time to blog! 

All in all a very exciting time here at Redhound, and October sees the Kits going into several stockists, and our collaboration with Holland and Holland on beautiful wool tweed dog coats will be coming to fruition with delivery into their Mayfair store. 

I'd like to share a taste of the new Autumn products that are now available on line.

And the Knitting Kits......

Just a little taster, they are all on the website now, so if you love your dog and love to knit, why not get a kit and knit one of our super stylish dog jumpers. 

I sign off with every intention of writing to you again in less than three months! But Christmas is looming.....

Debbie

A Pictures Says it All

While walking with the whippets this morning I got pondering about why our business is growing in these tough economic times of cuts backs and osterity. Pictures, Images I thought, that is one of the reasons. 

A chance meeting in 2010 when a lovely lady came into my little shop in Totnes to buy her labradoodle a bed and a collar. She commented on a water colour picture that I had of Bruno on the wall (painted by my very talented friend Andrea Franklin) and we got talking about how I had sold the shop and was about to launch my new Dog Business and how I needed to find a photographer. Ha! said she, I am a photographer! 

You know those times when you meet someone and it just seems right? Well this was such a time, and Maz offered to take some pictures of our dogs to see if she was up to the job!

These are a few of those images and you can see that I knew immediately that we were going to work together. Maz creates a kind of magic that she captures through her lens and such a serene way about her that we are all relaxed in her company, and the results show. 

So the big photo shoot was booked, I recruited anyone that I knew who had a dog to model and we all met up in the picturesque village in Devon where Maz has a home. The weather was kind to us that day, and I thought I would share a few of my favourite pictures that weren't selected for use, but sum up the lovely day we had.

You couldn't meet two such different dogs, Blue, elegant, Henry, scruffy!!

My dear friend Len with his whippet Barney, true love!

Whippets know where the treats are! Barney, Cloud and Bruno

The delectable Blue, so relaxed!

Henry had the hots for Dolly!

Oh we had some fun that day, and considering that many of the coats and jumpers didn't fit the dogs, we managed to get enough images to launch our website. 

Since that shoot in 2010 we have done one every year, and are preparing to do the next one in July. Now things are much more organised, we recruit models through social media sites, and I make garments that fit perfectly. Of course we have had the weather to contend with, in 2011 we had torrential showers and sun, in 2012 we had the hottest day of the year, and who knows what this July will bring! Whatever the met office throws at us, we find a way to make the best of it as I think you will agree! 

My two rascals

Billy and Andreas PINK wellies!

 Nolly and Tinker such great friends

Hot Dog Nolly taking a break!

True companions

The star of the day, Frank! 

Maz takes amazing photos of people too, and you can look at her fabulous work on her website

www.lightanddayphoto.com

I will see you with the results of the next session with our favourite photographer in the next post. 

Debbie x

Twelve Weeks Later!

I know that I said in the last post that I wanted to write this little blog at least once a week (!) but when I saw that it had been 12 weeks since my last post even I was shocked!! 

So, what have I been doing in that time? Working my little socks off of course! At the end of February we got a rather lovely order for our wax dog coats from a well known store called Hawkshead, who do fab walking gear for you and your man, and now do fab walking gear for your dog! And their stores are Dog Friendly too! 

They have taken six of our most popular sizes, small, medium short, medium, whippet, and the two sizes of our Kent coat, that covers the belly and is great for westies and spaniels.

They also chose most excellent colours, green, brown and tartan. So, if you are in Hawkshead Village in the beautiful Lake District, and you have forgotten the dogs coat, or just fancy trying one before you buy, pop in to their wonderful store! 

That kept us busy until Easter when we delivered. 

Then it was full steam ahead getting ready for Badminton Horse Trials which last year was cancelled the day before we set off! This year the weather did us proud, the sun shone, and the peeps came out in their thousands, and I mean thousands! What a busy show that is! And so many fabulous dogs, all shapes, and all sizes! 

OUR best seller??? Bandanas!! they accounted for a third of all products sold! Obviously the fashion accessory for dogs in the horsey world! 

As usual we met lots of whippet customers who bought our wonderful soft collars, our warm jumpers and our properly shaped wax coats! We love whippets! 

After five frantic days of selling we packed up the van with a lot less than we went with, and headed straight to a local pub for a meal and a well deserved drink before heading back home, there by missing all that Bank Holiday traffic! 

That is where the time goes! The day we got back was my birthday, and it was the big 5 0 this year so I have been celebrating since then, with champagne, good food, and a Girlies Glamping weekend at a local Featherdown Farm. I can recommend it, maybe I will write a post about it......we'll see how the time goes!

See you all in a week or 12!

Debbie x

Best Intentions

My intention has always been to write my little blog at least once a week! But my actions have not been so. 

Running your own business is extremely rewarding but also extremely hard work! In the days before we all had a computer in our houses let alone on our laps, when I left work, I did just that. Now it seems much harder to leave it. So, our evenings are often filled with paperwork, or should I say computer work, and posting on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. 

Hence no time for blog writing and I seem to be filling the gap with Instagram. I think that I really love the fact that Instagram is a sort of instant micro blog, and gives me lots of opportunity to chat to customers, and other like minded peeps!And I post on there at least 3 times a day, sometimes more!

 So, if you are interested in knowing what is going on here at Redhound, do follow us on one of the above, or if you like to dip in and out, then please do continue to read my little blog, albeit infrequently written! 

Thank you for reading.

A Good Start

I cannot believe that it is the middle of January already! It's been non stop at Redhound HQ.

Week 1 was spent getting orders out to customers, and week 2 making new samples for Top Drawer, a trade show that we attended to show our wonderful little collection of dog products to the world of retail outlets, big and small!

New styles included four new bed fabrics, all very yummy, as confirmed by one stockist in Devon who ordered 70 of them!! ( she has two shops ) and new shops in Northumberland and Suffolk.

Dog clothes are going to be big business this year, I can't say any more at the moment, but watch this space!!!

2013 is looking mighty fine for us at Redhound, and in the words of that song 'things can only get better'!