Too Many Tights!

Last Night A Fashion Designer Saved My Life

1. Well, it is Sunday afternoon here in Australia and I am gearing up for an epic Monday. For those of you who don't know - we were forced to close the shop twice in February due to an excessive amount of awesome stylish women buying our clothes.

First world problems, for sure.

And we're not going to shut again!

I can't 100% guarantee that, because girls might go crazy and buy waaaaaay too much stuff. But I think we're just going to hold tight and ride the metaphoric wave. Speaking of waves... AWESOME WAVE PICTURE!!!!

Yeah, I bet you never saw that one coming.

2. I got an email with this in it from my organisational peeps:

 

Due to the latest shark attack, we have had to rethink our strategies on how to keep all the little sharkies happy. We used to let them buy what ever they wanted (even if it wasn't actually made yet) then try our hardest to print it, cut it, sew it, snip it and pack it in a reasonable time frame.... obviously this was not working. So... our new system:

Everything that is up at our store is in stock - so orders can start going out ASAP! 

If we happen to sell out of a style that we plan on keeping around for a while it will display as "CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK".

Styles that are limited on numbers and we will not be reordering are "LIMITED".

If we sell out of a size of a style that is "LIMITED" it will display as "SOLD OUT".

This means that sharkies won't have to wait too long for their orders to be packed, as they will only be able to order something that is already here. Although, do keep in mind that for every one packer we have a zillion orders... so it still might take a few days!

 

So NO MORE OVERSELLING! In other words, if we don't have it in stock, we don't sell it. That means that there will be a lot more 'out of stock' notices at the shop. In the past we let overselling happen so that girls didn't have to do multiple orders and we would just get the pieces in as fast as possible. That made things more challenging and complicated because we ended up with hundreds of half packed orders waiting on single items. Now, if it's not in our shop, you can't buy it. But, of course we will try to restock the pieces that have run out as soon as possible! (Also - insiders tip.... the Retro Gamers and the Bloodwings will probably run out quite soon. Then we'll try to get more in March.)

Also... NO MORE PRINTED SKIRTS! Whatever we have, we will be selling out of. We do have some Wallpaper skirts that were never released, so they will be released on Monday, and we will just sell what we have i.e. not many. (I'm still deciding whether the dresses will suffer the same fate).

To ease the pain for those who missed out on printed skirts, we have some other stuff for you to nom on:

• Trippy Chess Skirt (LIMITED)
• Velvet Mulled Wine Skirt
• Midnight Velvet Skirt (LIMITED)
• Bubblegum Pink Skirt (LIMITED)
• We will also be bringing back a few more Toxic Electro Leggings (in all three colours!) (LIMITED)

So I'll see you 4pm Brisbane time... and let the par-tay begin!

;)

 

 

You Have Some Explaining To Do, Young Man!

Okay, so I think I need to fill a few of you guys in with what's going on at the moment with our little fashion label. A lot of you are probably quite confused. 

• Why does the shop keep shutting?
• Why do they keep running out of styles? 
• Why do they keep discontinuing items?
• Why can't they bring back this piece?

Some people have been really negative, saying that we don't care about our customers, that we're not organised, and that we need to get our act together.

So let me do some explaining... :)

Here are the facts:

1. We care about our customers A HUGE AMOUNT! That's why we have to shut the shop.

Most of our sewers, packers, and customer service girls are sharkies themselves, so they genuinely care about other girls who are buying stuff. We lose sleep at night if we feel like we're not on top of orders. 

Seriously, you have no idea how much the peeps at BM do to keep Black Milk going. We have had several incidents where people have been really sick but come to work anyway because they really want to get their work done. A lot of people come to work early, stay late, and cancel appointments because they really feel the burden to get the work done. I don't ask them to - they just really believe in what we're doing.

However, we are victims of our own success. The growth of the community has meant that a huge amont of pressure comes on us to keep up.

Of course the solution is obvious, when demand outstrips supply prices go up. Whether you're selling oil, cars, or flowers, that's how it works.

That's where things get challenging - because I'm not willing to put our prices up. I would feel like I was excluding lots of sharkies who are struggling to buy a lot of our stuff already. So we shut our shop instead.

And so we sell ... nothing.

For those who feel critical of the way we run our business, think about that - we would rather sell nothing than put our prices up and hurt some of our customers.

As for the next claim, that we are disorganised. Can I just say that no company in the world can easily keep pace with the kind of growth we experience every month. We're selling clothes - not MP3s!

And we sell more clothes in the first minute of a release than we did in 2 entire months last year. It's not like we're taking holidays and chilling out while peeps are waiting for their stuff.

We also make all the clothes ourselves. It's not like we just go out the back to a container from Shanghai and pull out another box! For most of us, clothing manufacturing is a 'faceless' thing. Containers magically turn up from overseas filled with clothing (even though we know that they are made for a few dollars by a labourer in the third world).  It's important to remember that these clothes are made by real people. :)

The last issue that I should mention is that we are not 100% independent. We have suppliers - and many of them are just not set up to deal with the kind of growth that we experience.

Very often we have telephone conversations that go like this:

"Hi, we are trying to get some of these...."

"Yes, we stock them, we have twenty five in stock. How many would you like?

"Two thousand."

Silence.

"Well.... we have twenty five."

This is a horrible, horrible fact - you can't grow faster than your suppliers. Australian suppliers in the fashion sector are not set up to deal wth explosive growth - because explosive growth is so rare. Manufacturing is shrinking in Australia. The growth of China has meant that most Australian apparel industry suppliers have downsized, or gone out of business completely.

So we get pressure from all sides:

When we don't sell stuff, we get pressure from girls who are GOING TO DIE if they can't get item X.

So we sell item X.

And when we do, we get pressure from girls who are GOING TO DIE waiting for item X.

So we have to close the shop because hundreds of girls are waiting for item X

And when we close the shop we get pressure from girls who are GOING TO DIE unless the shop opens again.

I can't win! Whatever I do, I am leaving a trail of dead female bodies. 

====================================================

The good news is that we have some big plans for this year adn some really awesome stuff is on the way. :)

Internet hugs for all.

x

jL

 

 

Can I tell you a story?

A long time ago in an ocean far far away there lived a little shark named… Timmy. Timmy loved nothing more than swimming around in the deep blue sea, eating other little fishies. When he did he would make a deep satisfied sound... “nom nom nom”.

One day Timmy was swimming, ‘nomming away’ when he met a small orphaned clown fish with a fin deformity named Emo. Timmy was sohappy because killing disabled fish made him feel like he was promoting diversity. 

“No, don’t eat me!” said Emo. “I know a place you can nom all you want and never run out!”. 

“Where?” asked Timmy, who by this time was wondering how he was able to pronounce words without any kind of vocalic laryngal structure.

“Amity Island!” said the clown fish. “The majority of the population there is clueless teenagers without pants!”

Timmy was intrigued and decided to swish himself over to Amity Island, and he found that it was indeed as the clown fish had described it - shark paradise! Timmy decided to stay. And so Timmy would spend the summer eating legs and torsos, without a care in the world.

But then something happened.

The word got out, and before you could say pi to 1000 decimal places, Amity Island was surrounded by hundreds of ravenous sharks, just like Timmy! One day Timmy went to the beach to nom, and discovered nothing but blood, crushed bones and bikini bottoms.

“What?!” he said to himself. “This used to be my hunting ground, now every shark and his dog is down here, and there are no more teenagers to eat! No fair.”

He sulked for a good 5 minutes after which his primitive shark brain forgot what it was sulking about.

It was about then a wise old Orca named St. Kylie the Merciless found him and told him a powerful truth:

“Timmy, all ocean predators deserve to kill teenagers and feast upon their severed limbs, should you begrudge your fellow sharks this? Be patient, young Timmy, there will always be teenagers to prey upon and perhaps in even greater abundance!"

At this, Timmy was glad, and patiently waited for more people to kill.

The End.

Commandment #5

Commandment #5

 You shall not make critical comments on other women's bodies.

Duh.

The fact that I have to point that out is pretty sad.

And if you're a woman and you need a guy (!) to tell you that making negative comments about women's bodies is a no-no... you really need to take a good, hard look at yourself.

Sure, I know you think you're being really progressive - staging your own little witch hunt to find protruding hip bones and ribs … but the truth is, you're just trying to work out you're own body issues by bringing other women down.

Sure, keep telling yourself that you're actually promoting 'healthy body image'. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Actually… no, let me change that. I've got an idea...

I give you permission to fully critique any woman's body on the Black Milk Facebook page … with one tiny condition. You simply need to post a photo of yourself wearing a swimsuit, and write a little note underneath with the following:

This is my body - please feel free to critique it. Be honest. Tell me what you do and don't like about it. Am I too fat? Too thin? If you have an opinion, please share it, and while you're at it, why not give me some advice about my eating habits.

Any takers? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you..."

"But" you protest "I'm protecting young girls from the big bad fashion industry. I want clothing companies to promote healthy bodies. I'm fine with girls having different body shapes, as long as she's healthy…".

Who are you exactly - her mother? No disrespect… but I can't remember anyone actually asking your opinion on the matter! Her health is none of your business. 

And - it must be asked - are these self appointed critics really interested in healthy bodies? So why do they only seem to criticise the boney girls and not the curvy girls? Criticising  either end of the spectrum is equally unacceptable in the BM community.

Peeps put their pics up to share their look with like minded girls. They don't do it to be criticised. And, of course, if girls do constantly get their bodies criticised when they show photos, what's going to happen? Girls will stop posting photos and the Black Milk Facebook page will become as boring as... well, every other fashion label's Facebook page.

I have a very simple policy - if you comment on a woman's body and I think that your comment would hurt her feelings if she read it... you're gone. No warnings, just kapow.

There are a couple of other commands that go along with this one:

1. If your body shape is criticised you do not need to justify yourself.

"She's so skinny, that's not healthy, she should eat..."

"Aaaaargh - I do eat, I promise! I eat more than a man. I totally eat like a hippo all day! Look, here is a photo of me stuffing my face with cream filled donuts, with chocolate on top ... and - look! - the donuts are inside a burger served on top of a  deep fried dolphin. And if you don't believe me I have a doctors certificate saying that I have a high metabolism. Please believe me - I'm a total pig!!!"

No one needs to go justifying their eating habits to anyone else. It's your body.

2. You shall not criticise BM for the girls in photos we post

"So why doesn't BM shoot plus sized models? Why not promote diversity?"

First, because my job is not to promote diversity, it's to make awesome clothes. I can promise you that I will never choose a girl because she meets some modern criterion of 'diversity'.

The girls we like are girls that we feel have the look and the attitude to rock out in our clothes. Diversity never even comes into it. Bossness does. (And just because I don't post your photos on Facebook, doesn't mean I don't love you.. because I do, okay?!)

3. If you're a guy, any comments on women's bodies, positive or negative, is dangerous ground.

Sorry, dudes, that's just the way it goes. You might have the best intentions, but there is just always going to be something awkward about strange men complimenting women's bodies - especially on a women's clothing website.

If I feel like a guy is commenting more on the girl's body that the clothes... gone.

I want the BM community to be an environment where girls feel totally safe and free, without ... awkwardness.

I should also point out that this is not a criticism of guys  per se. I'm sure that I have personally made more girls feel awkward than any other guy on earth! I mean, I stroll up to girls on the street and start chatting to them about their pantyhose.... ! It gets awkward pretty quick, I can tell you....

:)