January...it may be start of a new year, but it is that cold, dark and gloomy month that more often we wish for it to be the end.
The same can often be said for independent businesses. We all come off the back of very intense periods leading up to Christmas and as you go into the New Year, can often find yourself thinking 'okay so what is next!?'.
We decided this January, we wanted to make the most of this interim period.
As many of you will already know, Aesthetic Laundry had to make some difficult decisions in the final quarter of 2022 and had to downsize both the team and business. Downsizing represented only the beginning of a new journey for Aesthetic Laundry, knowing that we would need to completley re-look at the business we had built which was struggling in the turbulent economic times within the UK.
Aesthetic Laundry Owners, Heidi (left), Joss (right)
If you know us well, you know Heidi and I truly believe in creating a better fashion industry. We LOVE fashion, but know that there is some serious work to be done to make it more sustainable and ethical. We want to be a part of the change and as much of an uphill battle it is (lets be honest, if it was easy the high street and luxury brands would already be doing it!) we will continue to keep this at the forefront of what we do.
As we are a smaller team for 2023, we have decided that we can only move ahead with a few (of the many) ideas and plans we had for Aesthetic Laundry and therefore the need to trial them before we make a final decisions on what we will offer throughout the business going forward.
Made to Measure
The first experiment is Made to Measure, an arm of the business we have been speaking openly about for months.
Previously we had been struggling to work out how Made to Measure could be operated alongside our standard made to order business model, especially given the rate at which we produced and turned around orders for our existing customers. With the reduction in team, the turn around time has automatically increased and therefore introducing made to measure is actually more feasible than it was before.
We will be trialling it this January with a very limited product range, to understand not only the appetite but also operationally how it works within our business model.
Find out more about Made to Measure here.
Custom Lab
When you have an amazing team creating your garments in-house, you want to be able to build upon what they do. Custom Lab will allow you to be in control of that perfect garment for you.
We will be trialling Custom Lab across one product style (a classic jumper / hoody) with the option to add both style details, change fabric colours for certain parts of the jumper and the option for a logo / graphic here and there.
Find out more about Custom Lab here.
Created For You
The final field experiment we are offering, is our Created For You parcels.
Off the back of our incredibly successful Secret Santa parcels in December 2022, Heidi and I wanted to expand the offering of this styling service.
Available on our sister site AL Impact, fill in a simple form and we will source the fabric, design the garment styles and then hand it over to our wonderful team who will cut and sew your garments to order.
The perfect way to add an injection of newness to your wardrobe, without any of the hard work that goes into shopping.
Find out more about Created For You here.
Why the trials?
When you are a small business, you have to be ready to pivot as consumer habits and patterns change. And boy, have consumer habits changed within the last 12 months!
As we enter 2023, Aesthetic Laundry has had to scale back and so we don't have endless opportunities (or time) to bring you everything we want to do and so we are launching these two projects to gage reaction and appetite.
If they both take off there is a chance we will move forward with both, but there is also a chance that we decide not to take either forward in future. So if you are someone, interested in either of these projects, know that this might be your only chance to snap something up from either!