Reflections on the Year

2010 was a big year! Annie's Clothesline had our best year ever. We began 2010 by developing our logo and identity with a graphic designer. As a result we have a cool new logo and great colors to go with it. Work with him is leading us toward even more professional looking products by adding logo designs for our collections, new tags and labels.

Next, we tackled the website. We hired a designer from etsy to create a splash page for our site. Then we began implementation of a web redesign to go with it. The redesign is a never ending process for which I have to thank my webmaster, my father, for working so hard. Our site now includes pictures of our products on the left. When you click on the product you can see additional images of that product in the center of your screen. Our obstacle is that the large images take time to load so he is working on that now. Nonetheless you can still see more of what we have to offer in all of our collections.

We're still awaiting final sales from O'Child but we already know that we have increased our sales by over 600%! We have sales in stores to thank for that. O'Child Boutique in Bloomington has been our top seller. We have had a presence in the store for a little over a year now. Second in sales in Ballerinas and Bruisers in Zionsville. The patrons of that store love our coats. Speaking of which. My mother and co-owner made these beautiful coats for my daughters. Every where we go people are noticing them. Someone said, "What are those coats?" I had to say, "They are Annie's Clothesline!" Yes, we're heading for name recognition. The woman continued to say, "You don't see that in Bloomington. They look like they are from Paris." I said, "Well, now you do. And they're on sale at O'Child Boutique on the square."

The third store that sells our clothing, Ragpickers in Jasper has also had success in selling our products. It's the cutest store in downtown Jasper and is a great destination for gift shopping.

A dress at Ragpickers

We also did a decent bit of selling to friends and acquaintances as well as attendance at the Plainfield Tri Kappa Gingerbread Christmas craft show. We enjoyed the show and hope to attend again next year. We learned a lot from attending the show and it will help us in achieving our goal of attending the Country Living Craft Show in Columbus, Ohio in a few years.

Booth at Gingerbread Christmas

Thanks to everyone who supports us. We love our business and we hope you do too. Expect to see more growth and visibility of Annie's Clothesline in the future! Happy New Year!

Sale!

We had a great experience at the Gingerbread Christmas craft show. We hope to attend again next year!

New news-we have lowered prices on some of our Washboard Girls and Kate and Izzy dresses. We're offering over 1/2 off on the dresses posted on our Etsy store. Take a look. You might find something for your favorite little girl! http://www.etsy.com/shop/anniesclothesline

Come Shop Annie's Clothesline Saturday, December 4th

They say we're going to get our first major snowfall this Saturday. There's noting better to gear us up for the holidays than snow and shopping! It's a perfect combination so come visit our booth at the Plainfield Tri Kappa Gingerbread Christmas craft fair on Saturday, December 4th from 9am-3pm. We'll have discounted items and new ones to share!

Shown on Fox 59 News in the morning!

Our dresses and coats were pictured on Fox 59 news last Friday morning. View our products when Sherman talks about O'Child Boutique! http://www.fox59.com/videobeta/?watchId=d6495d42-4fef-4e3f-a63b-41d3df57f55c

Making the Sale!

We are overjoyed that people out there like our product! We have been selling well in all three stores this month. Ragpickers in Jasper sold 3 Halloween Treat bags and a Kate and Izzy dress in 2 weeks! Now we know where the bags will sell. We'll have some for Easter that are very cute.

Easter Bag

Our fleece swing coats are selling great at O'Child in Bloomington and at Ballerinas and Bruisers in Zionsville. We like making these coats and can make them in sizes 12 months to 6 in any color, as long as we can find the fabric. We have made them in pink, fuchsia, navy blue, black, and cranberry this fall. The berets are now available in O'Child and are made in fabrics to match the coats. Ragpickers will also have coats in a week or two. We are making a brown and a red coat for them in 12 month sizes. They are both adorable!

Princess Swing Coat in navy with pink flowers

We are now starting to gear up for our next endeavor, the Tri Kappa Gingerbread Christmas in Plainfield, Indiana on December 4th. We are busy making new items for the show and will bring some of our past items for sale.

Finally, to my followers, if there is a children's store or boutique near you that you think our stuff will sell in please let us know. We are hoping to expand into another store in spring 2011. We are considering an out-of-state store, possibly in Michigan, Illinois, or Ohio. I know we don't have many followers yet but I'd love to hear any suggestions.

New Items Added to Etsy

We have been so busy getting our fall/winter collection out to the stores that we had neglected our Etsy site. As of this afternoon we now have 11 items posted at http://www.etsy.com/shop/anniesclothesline. Some of these I have already shared with you on a previous blog post. The one we are still working on is the hat. It's way too cute when paired with the coats!

Annie's Clothesline Custom

We made 4 custom pieces over the past few weeks, 2 Princess coats (one purple in size 18-24 months and one pink in size 3T) and 2 Washboard Girls dresses. It's such a pleasure to make items for a specific little person. We can put a little extra heart into it.

Made for Grace A.