After a busy couple of years since starting our Pretty Pash adventures, Jayne, Jess and I have made the monumental steps of sourcing British made scarves. 

We already make sure that our boxes, tissue paper, stationary are made here in the UK, but now we want to see what else we can find to help the UK economy and local artisans. So we did our research and based on our most popular items, we have found British silk which we can fashion in to two different sized sets of scarves. What is most brilliant is that the week after we made the purchase for our trial run, Jayne read an article about how silk scarves are not just for grannys (I remember nan's collection of square silk scarves that I used to play with regularly) but for generations of today! Hooray! 

I have spent the afternoon mapping out a new section which we are calling 'Brilliantly British' and writing descriptions for you, our pashmina loving customers. Fingers crossed that this is all finished in time for Christmas!

Anyone keen on a sneaky peek, scroll down. 

Equally as exciting as the above and the sense of relief that we can keep ourselves local, is the new addition to the Pretty Pash family who will be finishing our silk scarves by hand using her very skilled and nimble fingers. Each scarf has to be cut to size, the the sides are hemmed by rolling and making tiny stitches at regular intervals. Whilst I have offered my services, Jayne has reminded me that I don't know a straight line when I see one; Jess has two little ones to keep tabs on so we can't make her sew rather than getting some much needed r'n'r when the little ones have gone to bed; and Jayne has rheumatoid arthritis which doesn't stop her from hemming silks, but does slow her down. So we have gone out of house and found someone who knows a straight line, who loves to sew, who has nimble fingers, and finds the whole experience relaxing. (More on this local artisan in a later post!)

Needless to say, I am rather excited (mainly because I had visions of my scarves being very wonky....). I will write again when the pictures are up. 

After months of planning, endless pash samples, and a crash course in coding, we are almost there!

The beautiful presentation boxes arrived first, followed one by one by each of our hand chosen pashminas.

After more discussions on shades of yellow than is necessary, we have decided on a website design and colour scheme, and now have stock to add to the shop. It is all very exciting for us, though maybe not so much for the reader.

We do have to apologise for the photographs, they aren’t finished yet - we are waiting for the artwork to be completed.

Better photos to arrive soon.

Jayne, Jess, and Liz

So we are at the end of the second month of the Pretty Pash venture. Foolishly I thought that it would be smooth sailing once a website was up. All we would have to do is sit down, decide on colours, logos, target audience, buy Pashes, sell Pashes. Bob’s your uncle, Fanny’s your aunt, and the world has more Pretty Pashes in it.

Well it turns out that it isn’t that easy! Once you get past looking at colours, logos, packaging, and these bits and bobs you have the identity crisis - who are we? what are we trying to do? will it work? can I keep all of the Pashes for myself?

The tricky bit is figuring out the audience - who are we wanting to sell to? Are we aiming at appealing to mums? Daughters? Husbands buying for wives? 20-somethings who like something new? Mainstream fashionistas? We really should stick to what we know, and what do we know? Well, we know us. Who are we? Well, we are Jayne (or mum to me), Jess (sister to me), and Liz (me)- so we know mums, we know sisters, we know daughters, we know the 20-somethings, the 30-somethings, and the It-would-be-rude-to-ask-somethings. So who do we want to appeal to? Well, us. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, gift givers, gift receivers, and lovers of the pretty-little-something.

Now we know who we are looking to sell to (us), what are we going to sell?  Having trawled suppliers, designs, tested samples, assessed quality, colours etc. The hardest bit seems to be not buying, everything we are looking at is Pretty. Every sample has ended up in a pash drawer, every tested pash has been complemented by unwitting colleagues and friends.  After narrowing the options down, it is very exciting to know that the prettiest Pashes we have had the delight in owning are on their way to us to be shared by you.

So, what are we about? We are about selling the prettiest Pashes to people like us, who like a splash of colour and a dash of eligance once in a while. 

Not so many years ago, whilst wrapping up to go out in -15°C midnight, on the border between Finland and Norway, to watch the Northern Lights, my mum turned to me and said 'Oh, that it is a beautiful pashmina! It's a fantastic colour on you'. I smiled and thanked her as I said 'lots of people have said this to me - the same goes for my rainbow one we bought on holiday.' 

Mum pulled her gloves on and said 'Yes, that one in stunning - Jess often gets complimented on hers, in fact, so many people have asked her where she bought it that she has more than once said she should have bought a joblot and sold them.'

I pulled on my hat and opened the door. 

'Well then, why don't we?'

And that is how The Pretty Pash Co came in to being; a family business, determined to have our customers stopped by friends and family to say 'Oh, what a pretty pashmina! Where did you get it?'