State of Things at Volante
On a Personal Note...
It seems that more of my life is measured by these updates and blog posts than I originally thought possible.
I’ve been a little bit out of the public eye for the last few months — I haven’t been at cons, even the ones I’d most like to do, and I won’t be going to any more this year either.
The biggest news in a long time has arrived, and it’s personal news that I’ve been feeling a little protective over. Perhaps it will be big for Volante Design, but I hope not. I think it’ll probably rock David and my worlds, but I hope that despite our absence the business and community can keep cooking along. Enough preamble!
We’re having identical twin boys! This is a long awaited new phase in our lives! Like so many families we got scared by the pandemic and unlike most families we had the monumental work of keeping our little business alive and thriving. While the world is by no means fixed, we feel like we’ve got room to try something new, and boy are we going for something big!
It's a little more than we bargained for, I won’t lie. It’s pushing us to take lots of steps we might not have taken RIGHT AWAY, but it's also the most fun. The idea of having two matching hooligans makes me smile even when I’m running to throw up something perfectly innocuous that I liked yesterday. I am already pretty in love. It’s also pretty scary. There is so much newness and so much I don’t yet know how to do or handle. But I am growing (literally and physically) to meet the challenge. If you aren’t doing something that excites you and scares you a little, I believe you’re missing out on life!
Before you ask the question I’ve come to expect: no, twins don't run in our family, no, we don't currently have plans for a line of baby clothes, and yes all the goofy twin jokes are welcome.
I’m due in February, but the thing with twins is… they’re usually early and way harder to predict, because of course they are! Of course we’d be doing it in double time, in hard mode.
Everyone we tell seems to have a similar reaction, “you would.”
I guess we would. I love that we would.
Here we go! A brand new adventure has already begun!
Thanks for being part of our lives in whatever way you’ve been here. It means a lot.
On a Production Note...
To say that the world of supplies and availability has turned on its head is an understatement. While we've done pretty well moving around our schedule to make things work out, most other folks we work with are backed up, delayed, or downright frantic. All that goes to say that we're working to make all the things work.
Our production schedule has been a bit effed. There are way more things on pre-order than we'd like. Things we thought we’d have here months ago. The Rook is a good example. We’ve had it cut and ready to be sewn since June, but the stitching house is totally backed up and can't get it done until late September. There will be some more delays, and like the Kickstarter we’re doing everything we can. We prepared well in advance, but there were some factors that even in our “slowest timeline” were way off. I don't have to tell you that things are different since Covid, but in the manufacturing world this is worse than most other places, and it seems to be harder to catch up than you would think.
TRF stock is coming along — some designs will go straight to TRF and some will get split between our online shop and the physical location. This added load of production in a fairly short time window is adding just a smidge of extra work all around
Thanks for your patience with us! We’re doing our damnedest!
A Kickstarter Note...
We are so close to done! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. All the custom OPS bags are done, and all the bags that have not yet shipped will ship this week. I'm sorry not to have notified folks sooner — we had a Covid case that slowed us way down. The good news is that everyone is feeling better and the OPS bags are shipping out.
Phew!
The Saint backers know what's up, and they have made a choice to wait or to get a bag sooner. That part will take a bit longer to finish.
We'll be doing an end of Kickstarter Livestream on youtube and IG on Thursday at 4pm EST if you care to ask questions, say hello, hear from us about the journey, and let us know what you think!
The remaining OPS bags will go live on our site on Thursday, so if you have folks asking about your bag, we'd love it if you would direct them to us!
Thank you as always for your support and patience over the course of this project. It is great to hear your thoughts about the bags! If you want to do us a favor, write a review on the product page when it goes live Thursday.
On a Stock Note...
A lot of our stock is out at Dragon Con and Pax Prime this week, but we’ll let you know when it does come back.
We do have Ronins and Automata Vests in stock and ready to ship right now that are heckin gorgeous! I have a feeling that the Ronin is going to go on to be a champion for a long time. But that is of course up to you. It’s such a snazzy little jacket!
Sometimes we get asked if our reviews are filtered or fake, as the fact is we have a LOT of 5 star reviews. There are certainly some 4 stars and even occasionally something lower, but we aim to make the best possible item. We may not be the cheapest jacket out there, but the Ronin and Automata Vests are great examples of entry level Volante products that let you experience the Volante look and quality for a very respectable price.
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