Onward & Westward

Thanks to all the participants in the Product Test. It has been very successful in that it has made us realize, once again, that the Design, Creativity and Production process only works smoothly with Brenda’s presence.

Our attempt to combine Santa Fe with Los Angeles involved so many trips and “trip-ups” that Brenda has decided to accept the offer to move her studio into the Los Angeles factory that has been doing her production for the past year.  She will also be moving her main residence back to L.A., whilst retaining a creative presence in Santa Fe.

In light of this decision to relocate the business to Los Angeles we will be revising the business plan to reflect the new operating environment and related costs.  We anticipate there will be a number of areas in which we will see significant cost reductions.  Once we have completed our plan revisions, we will distribute the new plan to those of you in the funding community who have received prior plan documents.

Given the success of our first product test, we are planning on continuing our efforts to produce small test collections.  These have also proven very valuable to our business development process.  Our clients have shown us loud and clear, the extent to which they want to be involved.

Stay Tuned!!!!

 

“Women Drive the World Economy”

Harvard Business Review just published a wonderful article entitled “The Female Economy” that speaks to one of the more significant drivers behind the impetus to re-launch French Rags™.  The article is a bounty of powerful observations about the enormously under-served value women as a market represent.  In the opening paragraph, the authors write:

“Globally, they control about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as $28 trillion in the next five years. Their $13 trillion in total yearly earnings could reach $18 trillion in the same period. In aggregate, women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined—more than twice as big, in fact. Given those numbers, it would be foolish to ignore or underestimate the female consumer. And yet many companies do just that, even ones that are confident they have a winning strategy when it comes to women.”

For anyone interested in marketing to women, female demographics or the ”Female Economy”, this is a must read.  Click either of the following two alternate links for a PDF copy of the full article: Link 1, Link 2.

 

A Limited Edition

Encouraged by your responses to our proposed product test, we have ordered yarn in BLACK and IVORY.  As we have reported, the new Rayon Boucle yarn is finer and therefore lighter and the few former clients and consultants who have visited our Santa Fe Studio and seen the new samples have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

We will offer 3 jackets, straight leg pants, a long or short skirt and several variations of the shaped top. These will be available in solid black or solid ivory and in black/ivory two-color patterns and textures.  Prices will be similar to original French Rags™ prices, and of course everything…yarn, fabric and clothes will be “Made in America”.

If you are interested in participating in the product test and have not yet contacted us regarding your interest, please email us your name, address and phone number and we will contact you as soon as possible with additional details and if you decide to participate we will send you the Limited Edition Sample Package, which will include swatches, sketches, etc.

 

The New French Rags Knitting Facility

We thought you might enjoy seeing photos of our knitting facility in Los Angeles. This operation uses the same commercial knitting machines we used in our original French Rags manufacturing facility.

Multiple Swatches Being Knitted

New "Pave" Pattern

What this means for new and former customers alike is that we will be able to reproduce any of our wonderful, original French Rags patterns.

For those of you who visited our former facility in Los Angeles, these photos will look familiar. For newcomers, this is what commercial knitting machines look like.

Stoll Knitting Machine

 

With these industrial machines, we can knit any width of fabric, from blankets to swatches, as you see here. Knitted garments can take from 1 – 3 hours to knit depending on the complexity.

Finishing the Fabric

 

“VARIATIONS ON A THEME”

We are several months into developing a new French Rags™ Collection. The yarn is being custom spun and is a lighter version of the wonderful Rayon Boucle for which we are known. Our knitter has the same knitting machines that we previously used in our own factory and as a result, all of our original patterns can be reproduced.

Since the fabric is now also lighter in weight, we are able to knit reversible fabrics so that each jacket is really two jackets. In the photos below, you can see two versions of the Pin Dot pattern, and two versions of the Giraffe pattern.

The SOLID jacket is also a breakthrough, as our former yarn would not knit as a solid. The white jacket shown has been edged in black, but could be edged in white or any other color.

This shaped, notch collar jacket is Brenda’s favorite and can be worn many ways – even with the collar pinned high. It is elegant, versatile and looks good on any body type. It is seamed so that the jacket is quite clean on both sides. It’s a perfect travel-mate and can be customized by color, pattern and length.

We’ll be posting more exciting product development news soon so keep on visiting…

(Click individual thumbnails for larger images)

 

Pin Dot Jacket – Side A

Pin Dot Jacket – Side B

Giraffe Jacket – Side A

Giraffe Jacket – Side B

Solid Jacket w/Edging

 

BFI Considers French Rags Product Test

As part of our product development efforts, we are considering doing a product test to an
audience of perhaps 20-25 women. The details have not yet been finalized but it would be a paid trial in which participants would pay $2-$3000 and receive somewhere between 6 -10 garments.

We are actively seeking consumers to participate in this program and early response has been favorable.  We would anticipate securing a “go-forward” number of participants in 30-45 days and would target deliveries of test product sometime in September 2009.

If you would be interested in participating, you can email Brenda French directly at bfrench@frenchrags.com.

 

First Investor Mixer Held in San Francisco Area

Susan V. Sprunk

On Thursday, June 25th, our first ever mixer was held for potential Bay Area investors. The event was hosted by former retail sales and marketing executive, Susan V. Sprunk whose career includes stints as Vice President of Sales Promotion with Mervyn’s and Sr. Vice President of Marketing for Caldor Corporation and Hill Stores.

The evening, led by BF Incorporated CEO, Brenda French included a brief review of the Executive Summary and discussion of salient business issues. The audience was unanimous in their support for the venture and several expressed serious interest in proceeding to the next stage of due diligence.

The evening’s highlight by far was a presentation of a select number of prototype samples from the NEW French Rags collection, which further solidified the group’s belief that this is a strong business opportunity.

We are in the process of arranging post-event discussions with those attendees who expressed an interest in investing and are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to confirm our first investor(s) shortly.

We are also actively working to schedule a series of similar events in several major U.S. markets in the coming weeks. Stay tuned…

 

BFI Christens R&D Sample Production Facility

BFI today officially christened its new prototype sample development production facility in a temporary location in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This facility will allow BFI, while still in the business development and fundraising phases, to continue developing styles and refining garment construction.  With an interim sample-making staff of 3, this operation will manufacture all prototype samples for the new French Rags™ product line.  Below are some images of this new facility:

(Click individual thumbnails for larger images)

 

BFI Develops New & Improved Yarn Producing Lighter Fabrics

For 25 years French Rags™ knitwear was made with fabric knitted from a proprietary Rayon Boucle yarn that was spun exclusively for the company in the U.S. by its yarn supplier.

This yarn has been re-engineered and is now finer, allowing us to knit on finer gauge knitting machines…which in turn allows us to produce lighter weight garments.  Since developing this new yarn in late 2008, we have been test knitting a wide variety of new fabric constructions, patterns and textures.  The following images represent a small sampling of these prototype fabric designs, initially produced in basic black and white…

(Click individual thumbnails for larger images)