Renegade Write Up!
9.19.2008
Well, it's been a few days since the show and I'm finally [mostly] caught up with backlog here in Atlanta. What makes things a bit tricky is that I'm moving "headquarters" (office + storage + shipping space) into a larger place soon but before that I'm taking yet another road trip up to NYC with some friends, and shortly after that I'll be doing a show in North Carolina, so I'm in this weird limbo stage where I don't know whether to unpack everything and get organized or leave it be for the next trip... I think laziness will determine this round, to be honest. In the meantime I'll just be rummaging through a bunch of bins for the orders...
In any case, I'm way overdue for a writeup on the Chicago show, so here it is!
Firstly, big thanks to my pal Jason who flew over from Hawaii to help me out with my booth and served as the official photographer for the trip. All of the pics here are his!
As you might be able to tell from the images, it was a dreary weekend. And not just the occasional, gray drizzly spells, but total torrential downpour (at times). The night after the first day I sat soggily in my bed and was equal parts amused and annoyed at learning that it was actually record-breaking rainfall that day. Yup, real nice.
Sunday was a little better though. Though it was still rainy for most of the day, it did start clearing up in the afternoon, and by 4:30 there was a really nice-sized crown ambling through the displays on Division Street. We also figured out how to make things a bit easier on ourselves by buying some thick plastic siding for the tent. We didn't have this the first day, which let a ton of angled rain into the booth and onto us and the products. Fortunately nothing was ruined, but it made for a pretty cold and unpleasant experience.
But despite all that, it was just amazing how many people were there for the show. Most local, but even some from other states who'd traveled up just for Renegade. Their die-hard-ness was inspiring, and helped me stay positive. There were other highlights too, like being told countless times that our booth was the best of the show. Even I had trouble believing that since I saw some other killer displays, but I think the washing machine/tentacle combo won a few hearts. :)
Also of note was finally getting to meet David Murray of Seibei. He's been a big inspiration to me since my humble beginnings and has been a huge help in getting prepped for my first show. Unsurprisingly he was a totally great dude in person, and I look forward to running into him at more shows in the future! (Be sure to check out his shop!)
Another cool part of the trip was getting to meet some of the Threadless team. This is another company that's been an inspiration to me in the way I run my business and the style and quality of my customer service, so again, meeting them in person was very cool. We even managed to get hooked up with a tour of the Threadless HQ on Monday (Thanks Speedy Joe!), where we ran into more familiar faces (and I was able to snag a sweet print!).
So, despite the weather issues, the trip ended up being a total blast. Another thing I can't forget is the simple value of exposure at an event like this. Even for the folks that didn't buy, I'd often at least warrant some turned heads, and they'd usually chuckle as they said "Linty Fresh" aloud! So hopefully I'll be back next year, and it'll be 65 and sunny, and everyone will be digging the new lint.
In the meantime, I've got loads of stuff to get done! Apart from the moving insanity, this week I had to order another thousand lollipops, two thousand business cards, two thousand stickers, and a thousand button parts. I ended up moving a lot more of this stuff at Renegade than I expected, so it's time to restock.
Oh! And before I forget! Big congrats to Edwin G., who won the LF drawing for Renegade. (For those who don't know, I usually have a special drawing at each show where folks can put their email in a bowl for a chance to win a bunch of free swag!)
Alrighty. Off to go watch a movie!
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:34 PM,
2 Comments:
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At 3:42 PM,
Jereme said...
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Sounds like it was fun! If you are ever in my neck of the woods I'll definitely hit you up! not to mention the pictures of it are pretty awesome as well.
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At 7:19 PM,
Mr. Linty said...
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Thanks!
