It continues to baffles us. The amount of our products we ship to Australia. We're not bragging about the figures, more how you guys down under seem willing to pay up for the bonkers shipping fees we have to charge.
The other side of that coin and what we also see from behind the scenes is how many shopping carts get bailed on too, fair and very justified when you're confronted with the current figures.
Well, you'll be glad to hear changes are afoot. Meet Jeff and his uber-babe girlie Laura. Those who keep a loose eye on what we're up to will recognise Jeff. 'The multitool', as he's known (we named him that (sorry mate, hope it's not stuck)) jumped on board and started working for S+S when he became fed up with his London job and hit us up. We met through friends as he'd heard about us lot jumping into the frigid North sea on surf missions. As a hungry and keen travelling surfer the lure of fresh shores and new waves tempted him into a few missions around Europe with us and being an entrepreneurial guy he also fancied dipping his toes into the world of online retail and appreciated we could provide him with an insider look at how it roughly works with his limited time in the UK.
J dawg is a Margret River boy, For those that in the know, more relevantly, the surf savvy among us will feel rage and envy of untold levels. The South Western tip of Australia is very much hallowed ground for surfers. The Indian ocean throwing beautiful (usually chunky) lumps of ocean onto a short but varied stretch of coastline, reefs, sand, points, outer bombies if thats you're thing, it truly has it all.
The offshore trade winds that hold these lumps of groomed water in such perfect form is also the same wind that breathes through the famed vines to create some worlds best vino too as I'm sure the wine heads among us will be able to testify. A damn good place to cut your teeth and while we sit here staring at the baltic and grey North sea the question of who has it right is very much on our minds daily.
Jeff, unfortunately for us, has had to bail and head back home as his time on our shores was was up.
Gutting for us for load of reasons, our workload especially hates it as we haven't even been bothered looking for a replacement as his 'multitool' status has rendered the search fruitless. Photographer one day, conversion installer the next, awning rail machinist and pro packer extrodinare (p.s, if you're a Jeff, hit us up). While he well and truly squeezed the juice out of his two year woking holiday visa we certainly didn't have the cheddar to sponsor him (not that he wanted to hang around here much longer anyway) nor the government consider us worthy of granting such things.
Jeff leaving has been a kick in the nuts for us but good news for you folk down under as, before he left, we hastily thew together the inner workings of an AU distribution setup in the form of Jeff handling and managing S+S AU. We've been approached more times than we care to admit about individuals wanting the rights to bring S+S into Australia, for us the main concern has been the inner workings. The way we do things. We're kinda particular verging on OCD crazed. The way we attempt to conduct ourselves, deal with complaints, returns, sticker packs, box taping, folding, photo taking. It goes on... And on. And while we're the first to admit that we are not perfect it was this stuff that we feel is truly important and is the very fabric and backbone of our brand. Certain things can't be got across on a Skype chat and others are so hard to get across at all. Jeff not only knows better than anyone, his keen eye for detail and the way things should be done goes above and beyond us mere mortals. That sits well with us here and in that, there is no one more qualified for the role in our eyes. We also convicted him to get a T5 too. Full postman spec. Awesome. Laura reckons she's about to start mobile Pilates classes in it.
For now, you Aussies will still have to go thought this site and buy from us and our UK warehouse (sorry). However for the exact dates, the price difference, events, products and all other AU and southern hemisphere questions feel free to give him a shout over on jeff@stitchesandsteel.com
We are truly excited to be putting these steps into action after so much work behind the scenes and are delighted to have Jeff onboard.
Welcome to the shit-show mate.
Forth goes the road!
