New Patterns to be Released on September 8

Our two newest fall and winter styles have just gone off to press and will be ready for delivery in time for the season’s September 8 launch date. We’re holding off release of these new styles during August so that they are fresh and new for your shop immediately after Labor Day when your customers are returning from their summer vacations and thinking about starting new fall projects.

We will preview the new styles in next month’s newsletter and will provide you with pre-ordering information. All pre-orders will be shipped to arrive at your store prior to the official September 8 release date so you’ll be ready for your customers.

Does your shop have a devoted Oliver + S following? You could consider building a little excitement in your shop during the second half of August in anticipation of the post-Labor Day release. Feel free to contact us if you need any marketing support in this area.

Display Bags Now Available

Over the last couple months we have been talking with our retailers about how they display Oliver + S patterns at point of sale. We’ve seen many clever ideas ranging from cute display baskets to book stands to lunch boxes to hand-made Oliver + S pattern catalogue books.

One theme we heard from a number of our retailers was that they display many of their patterns by hanging them from peg boards. Because of their unique packaging, Oliver + S patterns can’t easily be displayed in this manner.

After listening to your feedback, we’ve decided to assist retailers who want to merchandize our patterns in this way. Going forward, for our direct wholesale customers, we will be making round-holed, clear plastic display bags available at no additional cost with each order.

We’ll follow up with you after you place an order to determine if you would like to receive display bags with your patterns. We’ll save your preference and will ship all future orders with the bags if you have requested them.

We want to help you merchandize our product as effectively as you can. If you have any other merchandizing ideas or feedback for us, please share your thoughts. We would love to hear from you.

Article in American Quilt Retailer

And, speaking of merchandizing, the July issue of American Quilt Retailer (arriving in mailboxes this week) features an article by Liesl that presents six effective strategies for merchandizing children’s clothing patterns in a quilt shop environment. If you haven't received your copy yet, you can download a reprint of the article from our website. Thanks are due to a few of our retailers for generously sharing their most effective merchandizing strategies. 

Also be sure to also check out the informative piece on the gray market when your copy of the magazine arrives.

Oliver + S Discussion Forums Launch

Last month we launched an exciting new website feature that you and your customers should know about.

The Oliver + S discussion forums are designed to provide a virtual community for people sewing with our patterns and to allow them to discuss other topics of general interest. Since officially launching the forums a few weeks ago, there has been active discussion on sewing questions related to a few of our patterns, and there have been some helpful hints and ideas shared for using Oliver + S designs in new ways.

There is no charge to use the forums. All you need to do is create a username and password to begin participating. Please use the forums yourself and point your customers who sew with Oliver + S patterns to them as well.

Blogroll

Over the last month, we have been publishing a series of posts on the blog related to the principles of fabric selection we introduced in our last newsletter. Each of our posts covers one principle and features examples drawn from the Flickr group and from your customers' blogs that highlight the principle.

For this month’s blogroll, we thought we would point you to our blog posts from this series. Each of the photos in the posts gives a link back to the source of the image. Take a few minutes to review the posts and click through to see the source for the image.

• See the child before the outfit
• Think sophisticated and understated
• Look at the supporting fabrics in a collection, not necessarily the central prints

Additional posts to come in future weeks:

• Solid colors and neutrals can ground a bright, busy print
• Be eclectic; don’t be afraid to mix collections
• Look for updated versions of traditional prints
• Tonal and two-color prints look very fresh
• Approach juvenile prints with caution

For More Information

Email: information@oliverands.com
Website: www.oliverands.com
Phone: (866) 231-9639