4/3/2021 Newsletter
Copied here for non-subscribers…
It’s the end of the world as we know it…
(The properly important bit: As of the start of April the majority of the designs I sell on DylanOrchard.com will be gone)
Well, not quite the end of the world, but certainly the end of some things. Like DylanOrchard.com for starters. At least as we know it.
Given the effects of lockdown and Brexit over the last year (and into the foreseeable future) the way I was doing things has kind of become obsolete. This last year there’s obviously been no markets or festivals, the postal system has been creaking under the weight of demand, (non UK) shipping prices have shot up and now, increasingly, my suppliers are having issues too. Not much worth complaining about and during this last, long, period where I was limited to online anyway it was more a matter of living with it than being able to make any real changes. Now though the sunny skies of the outside world are in sight, apparently, so rather than stagger on trying to make some increasingly unworkable issues work I’ve decided to make some big shifts.
Come April and re-opening the majority of what you can currently see at DylanOrchard.com will be gone. What will be left will be the artwork and prints, as well as a more consistent feed of stuff I create, rather than stuff I sell.
There are a couple of reasons for this but the more practical/important issue is that it’s looking unlikely that I’ll be able to offer the same t-shirts/sweatshirts/hoodies in the future. In theory the supply chain for them will level out at some point but waiting for that to happen isn’t really an option. So instead I’ll be switching to a new manufacturer and new styles/fits. What won’t change though is the FairWear and Organic (GOTS) certification – one way or another I’ll be sticking with those regardless.
Another side effect of recent events is that I’m going to have to change the shipping costs for all international orders, possibly ending delivery to some places completely. I’ll do my best to avoid that but at a certain point it stops making sense expecting people to pay the delivery prices they’d have to and I certainly can’t eat those costs myself.
At the same time as making this switch I’ll be dropping a lot of designs though and moving away from DylanOrchard.com towards a new label for the clothes end of my artwork. It’ll be… different. A smaller range, more of a clear cut and consistent style and all under a new name and site. Hopefully a good thing and I’ll send out more details when we’re nearer the time. For now though this is partially a heads up to let you know that this is the end for a lot of stuff, so if you’ve had your eye on something now might be the time to go for it.
As well as selling the new designs and artwork online under a new label I’ll also be back out in the world from the 12th of April, assuming the government stick by what they’ve said so far. My usual markets are certain but I’m also applying to whatever other stuff I can to make up for lost time and again I’ll release some updates on that when I know where in the country I’m likely to be.
And that’s the end of the important bit. I’ve included a couple of words below about my other reasons for changing the way I structure things if you’re interested. If not though I hope all’s well with you and yours and as always I’ll keep these mailouts as few and far between as I can.
– Dylan
Something extra:
Over the course of this year and beyond the practical stuff the way I do what I do has had to change a lot. Ever since I started with the art thing I’ve viewed it as something like a living experience. I learnt to love drawing and creating visual stuff by travelling around. I’d install myself in the corners of pubs, bars and cafes to scribble. Getting inspiration from going to places, seeing things, talking to people, getting the odd look over my shoulder and enjoying the immediacy of people appreciating it. A way of interacting with people and sharing what you create which followed through when I started selling more work and doing the clothes. Markets, festivals, chatting to people on the street about my work – that was the pay off as much as the minimal living I could make from it. All of that, of course, was shut off when the pandemic hit.
It’s still been a productive year in its way, I’ve drawn a lot, gone further into the digital work and started writing again, but none of it has been framed by the freedom and all important sharing that got me into this in the first place. So far, so meh to be honest, I’m certainly not complaining about it all and having to do things differently is no great sacrifice in the scale of things. But it has motivated me to start thinking more seriously about where I want my work to go and how I want to share it in future. Separating out the fashion end of things from the rest is a part of that. I’ve decided that, as much as I enjoy doing stuff that has a practical place in the world I also want to give more attention to bigger projects. What they’ll be – I don’t know. At the moment there’s a whole mental mess of ideas and projects finding form in the back of my mind but some will be emerging in finished form sooner rather than later. Hopefully I’ll be able to share more on what comes out as and when it, well, comes out.
Anyway, side note over.
– Dylan
