News
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AfterPay now available - but what is Afterpay?
Afterpay is the reason that we have moved to a new ecommerce platform - the joys of which I won't detail here. Be glad you haven't been anywhere near me for the last week! So what is Afterpay? Afterpay is like a layby but in reverse. You order your goods, they are dispatched and you pay them off over 4 fortnights. If you pay within the allowed time (4 weeks) you only pay the purchase price of the goods.
How to you Access It? Afterpay is a payment option like paypal or credit card when you get to check out time. You click on the button and it takes you to the Aftepay site. If you don't have an account you set one up, if you are an existing user you just enter your account details.
What happens if I have to return goods? You simply let us know that you wish to return part or all of your order. Once you have returned the goods we will let Afterpay know and all future payments for that order will be cancelled. If you have already made one or more payments, the instalments paid will be refunded to the credit/debit card that you used to place the order. Once Afterpay have been notified by us, Afterpay will process the refund immediately and send you an email to confirm that the refund has been applied.
For further information please see https://www.afterpay.com.au/
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WHO Magazine 12 Week Challenge
We were incredible honoured to be contacted by a stylist for WHO Magazine asking if we could provide apparel for a photoshoot for WHO Magazines 12 Week Challenge. I think that any one who puts themselves under the microscope of the public's eye on a weight loss challenge is incredibly brave, so immediately agreed.
Coming back from the Christmas break I picked up a copy of the mag at the airport and was really delighted to see 3 incredible ladies wearing apparel that we had supplied under the Lowanna Australia brand.
What delighted me most was how wonderful they looked - they had all worked hard and it must have been a great reward to come to Sydney, get hair and makeup done, have a make over and be pampered for the day.
I'm hoping that we can do a follow up with these lovely ladies and share there journey with you in the near future.
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To Move or Not To Move....
that is the question! I have been using the same ecommerce platform since we first started. I love it 'cause it is easy to use. Like an old friend really. Comfy and easy to deal with. We are used to each others quirks. But then came Afterpay! Lots of customers asking why we don't have it, when we will be offering it.
Fantastic idea, quick, lets sign up... Oh, no! Volusion don't offer Afterpay and being me once I have made up my mind I want it yesterday.
A quick check around to see who is offering it and after some agonising and lots of testing I decided to change to Shopify.
So what does this mean for you. Well, we have kept the lay out the same and hope that the only difference that you notice is that you have the added option to pay by Afterpay if you so choose.
We have moved all the customer data over so have a record of prior purchases and all your account details.
If you experience any difficulty at all though please let us know. We hope that you continue to enjoy your shopping experience with us.
Regards, Jacquelyn
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Drum Roll please..... It's Photo Shoot Time!
As a young child did you ever wish to be an air hostess? Imagining it to be filled with glamour, excitement, totally amazing? Then you went on your first plane trip and realised that it wasn't so glamorous after all?
That was me with the photo shoot - especially when I got stuck with the ironing - but more of that later... I rocked up on time having received a call from the shop (over an hour away from where I was) asking if I had remembered to leave the spare keys with the takeaway next door. Ahh that would be a no, they were still in my handbag. Nearest other spare set was 50 minutes away. Oops.
I bounded up the stairs lugging my suitcase and hangers. Well Stephen lugged the suitcase, I kinda bounded! Into the studio to meet up with the very nice Erica and Ben again and to meet Sue the hair and makeup lady.
When you book models it is generally for a minimum of 2 hours. I thought that would be heaps of time but no, wrong again! Hair and makeup time intrudes on the 2 hours. It is really important therefore to have some one who does a great job but is also quick about it. If for example hair and make up take 1.5hrs you only have 30 minutes left or have to pay for another full hour if you over run. You don't get that many outfits shot in 30 minutes... We staggered the models so that they come in an hour apart, so the shoot should all be done in 4 hours. We chatted with Sue about how we want the models hair to look. A bit hard when you have short cropped hair that you do nothing with - and never played at being a hairdresser when you were a kid!
Our first model entered the room. It was Jess. I was so excited when we were able to hire her. She was the model that The Iconic used in their photo shoot and just oozes joy at being alive. She raced off upstairs to get made up which left Stephen and I idling around. That is until Erica asked about shoes. Apparently it isn't up to the models to bring suitable footwear and if I want shoes I need to provided them. I quickly decided that bare feet are good feet!
Next Erica mentions that the steamer is all ready to go. Errr, what do we need a steamer for? All the garments need steaming before they are worn. But this is sportswear and I have specially chosen the fabrics so they don't have to be ironed - ask my husband I DON'T IRON!
I do now :(.
Jess comes down and it's all systems go. Ben starts to get used to my naming convention - green top, black pants, mesh overtop...
Danielle arrives ready to sit in the makeup chair. Danielle and pink are made for each other. She looks stunning, super athletic one hot Mama! For some reason the photos that I had seen of Danielle showed mostly her face and torso. It is a shame as she has really long legs and looks great in tights. Luckily she brought trainers with her which reinforces the athletic look. Fooled Ben by calling one of the shoots Butterfly top - broke my naming convention totally.
Mercy arrives hot off the set of Channel 9 at Willoughby. This is when I get hit with a dose of reality for these models. Sounds glam being on TV, then off to model but reality is that Mercy was up before 6, had a 2hr public transport trip to get to C9 before 8, then back to us before performing again for a few hours then off to another casting. Luckily Erica had thoughtfully provided food (including chocolate biscuits) as Mercy hadn't had a chance to stop to get anything to eat. Off on a tangent, I had wild imaginings that the studio would be filled with loud music, drugs, tantrums, dramas for a photo shoot. Must have read to many cheap novels, nothing could have been further from reality. We didn't even have a little Ricky Martin to add a bop beat! Just soothing music with happy, calm professional people :).
And then it was all done. The models leave soon after their allocated time is up. I didn't really to get to chat to much with them - to busy steaming.... but the chatting I did get to do reinforced my opinion regarding how lovely - and normal they are. Danielle is a mother, Jess likes dossing around in lounge pants, Mercy went to an International School.
Ben is searching through the shots starting to make a first pass. Having looked at some of the shots I have absolutely no idea how we are ever going to be able to pick only a couple. There are so many fantastic photos.
I am not sure that I would enjoy doing this on a daily basis - there is a lot of hanging around and the styling of things and making sure that not a hair is out of place drives me demented.
What was interesting to me as a small business owner was listening to the talk of how the advent of digital has made any one with a camera think that they are photographer and that prices have dropped not necessarily commensurate with skill and equipment. For example, Erica's camera was a recent purchase in the region of 30k. You have to take an awful lot of photos to pay back a camera that expensive. That is before you pay rent on a studio, for an assistant and all the other normal overheads a business incurs. The parallels with retail and manufacturing were noticeable. In retail the cheaper manufacturing offshore has failed to take into account the quality and experience of onshore operators but in all fields price appears often to be the majority purchase decision determiner over quality and experience.
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My First Casting Call....
Yesterday was the first casting call that I have ever attended. From the lessons that I learned, it won't be the last!
When Stephen first said that we needed to take a look at the models before the photo shoot I was a bit (OK, a lot) sceptical. I mean, they are professional models and we had looked at their photos on line so what more was there too it right? Wrong. I am so glad that we went through the process and if I were using different models would do it all again in a heartbeat.
First trauma though was deciding what to wear. I normally dress to please myself but thought I might feel like a flea amongst the models (I am 5'3") so high heels were the order of the day. Then I traumatised myself over what a sportswear designer should wear, then I gave up and went as me! The models were probably going through the same though process, and pay little attention to what the designer is wearing in any case.
Next trauma was hearing there was an accident on the M5 that was delaying traffic considerably more than normal. Luckily that had pretty much cleared by the time I got there and I made it to Lot 5 Studio spot on time. Caught up with Stephen and then it was time to meet the models.
Up the stairs and time to meet the photographers and the first model. Danielle is a total professional who swung into action with practised easy. It was great to watch some one who knew what she was doing. She looked really fabulous in the clothing which was great. I was rubbing my hands with glee at this point thinking that it would be an easy morning. Off she went. Time for us to check out her test shots and then onto coffee while we waited for model number 2, and waited... Unfortunately her sat nav had us firmly located in the storm drain on the vacant lot next door. Luckily she found us though as she was really great as well. A really happy cheerful person is Mercy. Took it all in her stride when Stephen told her she would look great with the hoodie over her face.... Mercy had a sense of humour though and even though that wasn't what Stephen really meant, said it was the first time she had been to a casting where the client preferred her with a paper bag over her head! She was taaalll and had bigger heels on than me, so that was my cunning plan out the window. Just as we were wrapping up Bridie came on in. She has the most fantastic warm smile and later said that it was her first casting call. A few star jumps had her at ease (not sure that she was expecting that to happen). Unfortunately she was too small for the garments that I had as she was really delightful and the photos that we did get came out wonderfully. The next models weren't due for some time so we took a quick visit to the marker to pick up some more garments for the actual photo shoot on Friday. A model turned up in our absence. It was the one both Stephen and I had thought would be fantastic. Unfortunately she had given up smoking and put on 2 dress sizes since her latest photos. As few of the models had day time jobs they had to come around after 5pm and I couldn't hang around that long, so I headed home to receive photos through later. We had 3 more great models turn up and in the end it was a difficult decision to choose the 3 models.
The photographer told me that models were finding it a little tough at the moment as there wasn't a lot of work out there which was interesting. I was also surprised how normal the girls were. I am not sure what I was expecting but I didn't feel as short as I thought I would and they were all lovely to talk to. It is funny how when you aren't part of an industry the perception if it you have. The day involved a lot more hanging around than I thought it would. I am now looking forward to the actual photo shoot where I wasn't before.
Afterpay is the reason that we have moved to a new ecommerce platform - the joys of which I won't detail here. Be glad you haven't been anywhere near me for the last week! 
