Trade Fairs are a time to meet up with family members (our interstate agents) lots of colleagues and friends, and share industry gossip and ideas.

The Life in Style trade show this year has many gorgeous things.

We are showcasing new life style ranges, our Poems to Share cards-a collaboration with the Red Room Company (www.redroomcompany.org/).

Along with items for kids and of course albums, journals and stylish frames. The photos below are taken with my iphone not the best quality but will give an idea of our stand.

Kids Ranges

Life Style Ranges

The family- Amanda, Adam ( Melbourne) Helena (HongKong)

Wall of frames

What is reasonable to expect of business owners who have made an appointment with you and do not turn up or cancel at the very last minute?

I ask myself this question every time we launch new products.

There is tendency for some independent retailers to ignore the fact they have made appointments. Are they rude and disrespectful, are they unaware of what sellers do to support them, do they not consider everyone has time, cost and personal issues. Do they not know how to manage their appointment books?

This trend among them (it happens to all companies and all around Australia) is not professional. It is sloppy, disrespectful and indicates that in a business relationship they likely to be ’flakey’. Buyers and sellers have a partnership -they are in it together. They need to work together on initiatives that keep costs down and revenue up.

I think this is a serious issue. Professionalism at all levels of the economic chain is important, especially among small businesses who need as much support as they can get.

The difference between our successful and established retailers is huge. They understand about doing business, they know it is a partnership and relationships matter and working together gets better results.

It would be wise for those who cannot manage their appointment books to look around and note what makes a successful retailer. Among many other things it is respect and understanding the value of trusted business relationships.

This week has been stressful as we put the finishing touches to our new collection, all because we missed the flow on effect of some changes (always for the better) but with implications we did not think through quickly enough.

Flora range- cushions, purses, napkins, journal in a bag

For example- we changed the supplier of our new printed textile (it looks far better) but the fabric was not quite the same weight and when gluedto a board to make an album our regular glue did not work. Experimentation with other glues has fixed it but we have lost time and used up lots of nervous energy. With our large Zoo cushions for children, we wanted a firm cushion inner. Therefore the inner needs to be a down, but down has a very different requirement for customs. This was only discovered as the product was to be freighted on the eve of Chinese New Year (an extremely busy time in China with everyone on deadlines before the holidays.) We needed to change a price of an item. This means a rigorous audit of all master files as one mistake leads to confusion & so it goes on.

When you are in a creative business where ideas evolve, the process of ensuring you capture the implications of all changes are crucial for productivity.

Rain range- cushions, purses, napkins, fabric basket

We are into continuous improvement aiming never to make the same mistake twice. We have red alerts to ensure we learn and remember within the production process. But this is after the event.

We are interested to hear of any suggestions or techniques that could keep us more alert and focused and ahead of the process.

If you have any we would love to hear from you.

On a recent trip to Hong Kong & China to check on products we have made here, Amanda and I were yet again astounded by the size and scale of China. Checking samples with the production manager

This becomes obvious in the hours spent getting from place to place, exhaustion and lots of road and train travel. It is nothing to drive 2 hours through fast heavy traffic to go to a meeting and spend another 2 hours going in another direction to a half hour meeting etc. . . . . Stressful at times especially the traffic density but always interesting. There is so much to see and learn from this energetic nation.

Visiting the Guangzhou fabric Market to select fabric to print on

This season we changed from one supplier to another mid production. This was a big risk (it may have even been a bigger risk not to). Fortunately we decided to do this with the support of our Chinese business associate who managers our production in China. So far this decision seems to have been the right one.

View from the roof of the new factory where we are having our lifestyle products made

When reflecting on the challenges of manufacturing in China (or else where for that matter) it comes down to good relationships, trust, honesty, fairness, transparency, clear communication and having something in the transaction for everyone.

We are very grateful for the 3 major relationships with have developed in Hong Kong and China. We could not even attempt to work in this part of the world without the mutual understanding that has developed working with people who all share in the outcome.