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We are further developing the Feather and Twigs brand as a unique source of UK sourced homeware products, crafts, art and gifts, from some of our best regional and national Artisan Makers. Today's ethically conscious consumer is interested more and more in knowing and understanding quality products and their provenance. Over the next few months I hope to document on our blog our Artisan Makers, their products and their back story along with other articles of interest.
Being an independent retailer, however, their are many challenges, not just in finding the right products and Artisans but also dealing with external factors that can impact the business. Being agile and resilient is a prerequisite in today's retail environment. And, whilst researching my family history recently, I found my great uncle had these attributes too. Not only did his whole family (parents and 10 siblings) emigrate from Ireland in 1912 to the US, but he managed to set up a retail shop just a few years later after arriving in New York. The store which sold adult and children's clothing proved a great success and expanded to 6 stores before being sold to a bigger retailer some 10 years later. However, 1918 was also the year of the flu pandemic, so no doubt they endured not only the day to day retail business challenges but those of the pandemic too.
Over 100 years later we still have challenges, some similar, but some different. Take the digital world, we now as retailers have the opportunity to offer our products to the whole world, should we choose. Or, we can as a lot of small independent retailers do, focus purely on our own uniqueness and develop sales through our own communities. The bigger the vision, the bigger the opportunity but also the bigger the knowledge, budget and skills are needed.
Managing stock, changes is customer trends, supplier delivery times, changes in legislation etc etc, these are all challenges for retailers, however we are a resilient bunch and hopefully you can come on this journey with us and support us as we grow and evolve whilst retaining the sustainability values.
I look forward to welcoming you to our little shop or communicating with you online through our social channels.
Catherine
You may have seen the BBC 1 programme "Money for Nothing". This daytime programme is all about sustainability. Sarah Moore the presenter basically looks for items that are being thrown into a skip at a recycling centre and offers to upcycle the item free of charge. Sarah uses professional specialist designers to develop something fresh and exciting and, once sold, returning any profit back to the original owner.
Feather and Twigs was approached to see if any of the recent upcyc...
