2020 Reflection

Hello to our community of Oafs,

I hope you are all doing ok? The last time I reflected and wrote about the year so far was back in May when we released our Oafzine (Quaranzine), we were amidst Lock down 1, optimism was an emotion buried somewhere deep and dark for me, as we tried to navigate our way through covid gremlins and a very bumpy road.

Looking back over the last 12 months, it feels like we have experienced a decade worth of events in that short time. I am writing this during Lock Down part 3 (UK) but feeling much more optimistic this time round. The pandemic took it’s toll on me personally as I am sure it did for most of us, fearing for my loved ones, my team and my business, but in lots of ways it also gave me so much (hello, glass half full).

I rediscovered the joy of creativity, became our content creator shooting product on my kitchen floor, making quarantine inspired recipes one minute to writing our Newsletters the next amongst a shit tonne of other stuff as we struggled like so many to ensure we kept our heads above water. The Lazy Oaf team have been incredibly supportive, inventive, always brought the LOLS and are the best grafters you will ever meet, creating and bringing you content and product in the most difficult of times and I am so proud and thankful for our small bunch of excellent Oafs.

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Our supply chain of small factories from the UK, Portugal, Turkey and China have all been affected in one way or another and from day 1 we were determined to support them however we could. This meant we broke up our collections into smaller more manageable drops for us and for them. I have seen comments suggesting we are fast fashion, to me fast fashion is fashion produced quickly, at large volume (hundreds of new products a week), made cheaply and is disposable. We are the opposite of fast fashion. We start design development 14 months out before we launch, we work hard on quality and fit, we work with factories that we ensure meet and exceed our ethics and standards and we pour love and attention into each piece. We would typically launch bigger collections (16-30 pieces) once a month, but these have had to be broken up and launched more regularly (sometimes weekly or fortnightly) as a matter of survival for us and our supply chain. This allows us to support our factories, manage our workflow and keep you in Oaf goods, without breaking anything too much.

As we head towards the end of 2020 (thank fuck for that) it is the incredible support of our customers that I am overwhelmed by and thankful for most of all this year. It has been tricky to deliver the level of service we would like to this year, what with courier delays, warehouse issues, technical set backs and a hard-working customer service team of 1 (We are a small team despite what you think). So many people have had a positive experience with us and some of you have not and that is not ok with us. We are working on ways to ensure that we can give you the best experience possible for 2021. You have kept us going, and I am an incredibly lucky human to have a brand that people care about and want to be a part of, Thank you for your support and love.

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Our closing line for 2020 has been ‘Thanks for Nothing 2020!’ But in lot’s of ways despite the threat to all of us, there is a lot that I have 2020 to thank for, but bring on 2021 though….

I love you more than bread sauce,

GEMMA X