OPEN LETTER TO ALL: Company Update (don't panic)
Hello all!
This is an open letter to everyone - devoted customers and irate ones, steadfast friends, and supportive family. I have spent several paralyzing months stuck in my head thinking over this exact communication and have finally reached a successful breaking point to be able to make this long overdue connection with everyone. A huge heartfelt Thank You goes out to the long-time customers, friends, and family who have reached out to check on us with their concerns over the months.
Anyone who knows us personally, or have been customers of ours for years, know that how we have conducted ourselves pretty much the entirety of this year is NOT. NORMAL. and NOT. OKAY. There is no amount of words or actions I think I could offer to adequately express how truly embarrassed, ashamed, and remorseful both Jinyo and I feel about our actions - as individuals and as a company - and how terribly some of our customers have been treated. I will certainly be doing what I can to rectify our failures in whatever ways possible, but I also know that, rightfully, we are forever a tarnished name for some folks now. That’s something we have to own and carry with us as best we can.
I love my partner, Jinyo. We truly bring out the best in each other, which has allowed us to dream up and produce so many lovingly-designed pieces that you have come to cherish in your closets. Unfortunately, over the years we’ve had to acknowledge that we also bring out the worst in each other when it comes to managing our shared Depression and ADHD issues. It turns out we have complimenting behaviors, mainly with task avoidance/paralysis, inability to focus, doom-scrolling, and bed-rotting. All behaviors that spell Epic Disaster when you’re trying to run your own company.
While we’ve had some hiccups before, nothing comes close to the downward spiral we’ve been locked in since pretty much the end of last year. We were genuinely naive and foolish to believe, with our known triggers and failure points, that we could handle several massive projects/life-changes all at the same time. In August we took on our yearly pre-orders for some new designs, and in October we made the main large move into our first ever home. What was supposed to follow soon after was setting up our new workshop and moving out of our old workshop of 15-something years. Of course I was prepared and ready to roll with whatever hurdles ALWAYS come up with owning a home, especially since ours had been gutted and remodeled before we moved in…well…mostly. I was not prepared for the almost comedic level of “if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong” that seemed to stalk us every step of the way, both with our move and our production process, and family medical matters on top of everything. Every delay, every mishap, with our vendors, our contractors, even with the house itself, swallowed us up before we really understood what was happening.
I had a brief moment of clarity around March/April when I finally accomplished something that, for years previously, I’d been unable to unsuccessfully see all the way through - getting social media and customer service help! But even that was short-lived, despite the gargantuan efforts of two amazing women, and I was back in a quicksand of my own thoughts and inaction.
Through a few medication adjustments over the months, amazing support from family and friends, and a serious heart-to-heart talk with Jinyo, we are finally here. Looking at the failures we’ve committed and working on what we do next.
So, here’s what's up!
PRE-ORDERS
We are currently reaching out to all customers that we believe have been affected and doing whatever is necessary to resolve their issue. I’ll be emailing each one of you directly, and then following up through our newsletter to catch anyone I may have missed.
At this time, we will be refunding everyone who placed a Pre-Order with us last August for our Voyage Skater Dress and Voyage Blazer. While we ARE still going to produce these, it’s obviously unconscionable to still hold onto anyone’s money who's waiting for it, and if I’d been in a better mental state a few months ago, we would have moved on this refund action much, much earlier. Once those two items are well and truly producible, any original Pre-Order customers will have the opportunity to re-purchase at their original discounted convention price should they choose to do so.
WORKSHOP
It’s blindingly clear that we are only able to focus on one large project at a time right now. And the immediate focus for us right now is to get our mother-effin’ new workshop situated. We simply aren’t able to function as designers or as a company without having that completed. In Stock items that you order will continue to be shipped out, but otherwise we’re going to be a bit hibernated as a company until we officially get our business completely under one roof.
These are our first few steps, with many more to come!
Yours,
Victoria (and Jinyo)
(plus Uhura, Seven, and B'Elanna)