Direct to consumer. Describe what that means for this brand and for me. Make a diagram in which you can see how currently my income is fully made up of my paid job, and my brand is secondary to that. This means that time spent on the brand is limited but income from it also will be, so product costs can stay relatively low as they mainly need to support production instead of generating a living wage. A projected diagram can show how shifting the time spend and income earned through each channel can affect creative output and pricing, although it doesn’t necessarily have to mean products get more expensive. Maybe it’s more about the profit being used to support different things (at first it’s about stimulating growth and R&D, and once that has been achieved, income can and will support wages).
Think about a business model of funding, where a product will be released/produced once there has been enough backing in place. This can be done with time limits in place; if not reached before so-and-so the fund will be refunded.
Describe why these models are important to the brand’s ethos; forever growth is hurting the planet, our quality of life and our pockets too. There are different ways to undertake a business endeavour and this is one of them. Production in itself doesn’t have to be the problem, over production at the wrong cost can.
Our trip to Australia via Singapore has been incredible relaxing and we made so many beautiful memories as a family. During the past six weeks we have not had to worry about many things other then when we would go for a swim, where we would go to explore and what we would eat. It has been amazing to spend so much time together with the three of us and to spend so much time with Mathilde together. She has grown so much during this trip and has had so many experiences, it’s amazing to have been able to enable her in that way through this trip. And as husband and wife/father and mother, we have been able to focus on the things that are most important to us as a family; each other.
Now being back home after arriving early in a dreary and wet country, coming from sunnier and warmer parts of the world, it’s hard to stay positive and keep that warm and happy feeling we have had all throughout our holiday. After having had a good nights sleep and being together in our own quite and peaceful home again, and by talking about our feelings and experiences of the holiday and return home we start to feel a little better again. We won’t be able to have the sunshine all year round, or the warmt either, while we live in NL. But we will be able to have other things that are unique and special to our life here.
This trip has thought us some important lessons as well about where we want to go in life as a family and what we can do to get there. About how we can make our time in NL be great and what we want to prepare for for life in AUS. Before our trip we were getting bogged down by all the improvements we could and maybe would make to our current house. We treated this house as if it’s would maybe be our forever home, and were thinking of many ways to spend lots of money towards that. However, that was not our intention with buying this house or even by moving to NL. This holiday has been a reality check in that regard and we are happy about that.
There are a few things that we do want to do now we are back, and they are mostly all based on these lessons we learned from our trip. They are roughly the following things listed:
Make our house and its rooms more gezellig:
Printing photos of our trip will keep our memories alive and will give a warmer feeling to the house. Other artworks or objects can also help towards this.
Soft furnishings will help to warm up the house and make it feel more cozy. Think about curtains, rugs, lamps, furnishings like a chest in the bedroom or a bookshelf in Mathilde’s room.
Plants will also help with this. Our time in Singapore has been very inspiring in this regard (for interior and exterior planting). Tropical plants that can do well in our climate and evergreen plants in particular are good to look into. But also orchids are something I want to get for our house.
Spend money on things that will last us, and be critical on the money spend on the house itself:
Don’t try to redo everything in this house. Work with what you got and improve where possible/necessary in a way that is economical and practical.
Focus on the living areas and make those work, don’t focus too much on the areas of use (garage, cellar).
Improve on the garden but don’t do an overhaul.
Don’t start with redoing work that has been done already. Even if your not 100% happy with the result, first focus on areas that haven’t been touched or finalised yet.
Discuss more often the state of our finances and our wishes in saving and spending for the future. Where do we want to go and how will we get there financially.
Itinerary for reference (2024)
AMS10:25 21 Jan (Sun) Amsterdam, Schiphol Intl. SIN05:55 22 Jan (Mon) Singapore, Changi SQ 323 Airbus A350-900 – Flying time: 12hrs 30mins
SIN21:35 24 Jan (Wed) Singapore, Changi , Terminal 3 BNE07:15 25 Jan (Thu) Brisbane, Brisbane Intl , Terminal Intl SQ 235 Airbus A350-900 – Flying time: 7hrs 40mins
BNE 14:45 25 Feb (Sun) Brisbane, Brisbane Intl , Terminal Intl. SIN20:35 25 Feb (Sun) Singapore, Changi SQ236 Airbus A350-900 – Flying time: 7hrs 50mins
SIN23:55 28 Feb (Wed) Singapore, Changi , Terminal 3 AMS06:45 29 Feb (Thu) Amsterdam, Schiphol Intl SQ324 Airbus A350-900 – Flying time: 13hrs 50mins
A brand name idea that had strung a cord with me… further thoughts that came with it were the following:
My brand story is not about China in and of itself. It’s about multiculturalism and anti-globalisation and about making/the maker. That’s the root source of my inspiration and motivation. – A perspective on culture and how you see and perceive the world around you.
Brainwaves from 2023
Remember You don’t necessarily have to be able to explain yourself (brand), but it might benefit you if you can when you are asked too.
In the background I’m slowly working, building on this concept of a clothing brand (and sometimes an online gallery/store). Fleeting thoughts get stored away into a section where they brew until they have formed into a more substantial idea. Soon, I will have to capture some of them, for I can’t risk loosing them. But I have also realised that for me to actually progress towards these concepts of entrepreneurial endeavours, I have to mostly create and action things. It is important to get my thinking straight (and formalised into writing), but it shouldn’t stop me from progressing with intuition. The next steps are therefor not in order, but give a general overview of things to finalise and start semi-simultaneously;
• Write down core business manifesto/principles • Ideas for business operations (how things are sold) • Ideas for brand identity
• Start designing (print-out inspiration, create mood-board and draw designs)
• Educate myself on clothing making • Pattern drafting course
One big change has been that my almost decade long ‘obsession’ and main focus on China as an inspiration and reference point, has made way for other wider arrays of interests and inspirations. This, to be honest, has been a big step in the right direction for my ideas of starting up the clothing brand that I keep envisioning. To be able to have a broader range of inspirations to work from, gives me a wider scope and that is something I needed right now. It is motivating and I’m looking forward to see what I’ll be looking at for inspiration and will come up with in my designs.
Fashion brings joy, inspiration and beauty to many, but increasingly it seems like an unmanageable beast stuck in a rigid and unsustainable set of parameters that is has constructed around itself as it tries to plough ahead in the distracting and pleasurable business of producing new and desirable garments.
