Q: What was this mornings announcement?
A: Well if you missed it, I announced to the world via social media that Jack Bunneys and Holland & Sherry have collaborated to create Jack Bunneys new wedding waistcoat hire range.
Q: Is this important?
A: It is for me! & I guess for those people looking for the very best products to hire for their wedding. Holland & Sherry of Saville Row create the finest fabrics in the world and it is an honour to stock a fabric with such a heritage. As far as I am aware we are the first hire company in the world too use fabric of this quality for a 'Hire' range.
Q: So you have a new wedding hire waistcoat range for 2015, anything else?
A: Yes actually. We also have a new wedding hire suit for 2015. This is using some of the best fabric in the world also. It will be slim-fit, stylish with a hint of vintage and undeniably English by design.
Q: A new suit range, that is also big news! When was you going to tell the world?
A: Now! Well ... I kind of have already, it has been our intention to launch this range for a very long time. It has been a long time in the planning! very long.
Q: When can we see these new products for 2015?
A: At the minute I am keeping them under-wraps. You can view them in store. You might catch the occasional glimpse on Twitter or Instagram, but the actual professional pictures will be shown when we launch the new products for 2015, 1st of January 2015.
Q: There is a whole list of stuff JB is not doing for 2015, what are they? And why are you not doing them.
A: There are some things that we are going to sacrifice from our business in favour of promoting and growing the things we hope our clients actually want! 1: Cravats; we no longer have a call for hiring cravats, we very rarely get asked for them and they do not compliment our designs. They will always be available to buy just not for hire. 2: Ivory/Patterned Waistcoats: The vast majority of our wedding waistcoats will no longer be offered for hire in 2015. We have a large collection of woollen, tweed, cloth and fabric waistcoats to hire in lots of different styles, just no ivory/patterned swirly waistcoats, again they do not match the styles of suits that will be offered in 2015 and we are no longer being asked for them. 3: Long Jackets (Edward suits): The style of this coat is just no longer fashionable, they are big and not fitted, we no longer have any call for them and therefor will not continue to stock them. 4: Kids suits: This one has been rumbling on for years. Yes we did stock them for a long time and I am sorry that we no longer offer them. However we have made the decisions to no longer offer children's suits in favour of concentrating all our efforts on the men.
Q: Do you offer prom suit hire anymore?
A: No, well yes, but not really. Clear?
Q: Not really. Care to elaborate?
A: We no longer stock suits just for school proms like other shops. We stock our wedding suits and our evening suits to hire. The wedding suits will be all booked up through June & July and therefor will be unavailable to hire for proms. The dinner suit hire service we offer is available but is only available in the one classic black traditional dinner suit style. It is a lovely suit and if anyone would like to hire it from a prom they are welcome. So no & yes.
Q: I heard you are no longer doing wedding fairs or advertising in wedding magazines?
A: Yep. We enjoyed our wedding fair excursions, however we found that in the end we were doing them for our benefit rather than the benefit of the business. We attended the shows with best intentions but we would invariably have a Fully Booked calendar for the next 6 months and have to turn away some custom. This did not reflect well on the business (having to turn away customers), we also had a feeling that the format of 'Wedding Fayres/Fairs' was not something that we wanted to be associated with anymore. I personally was appalled at how aggressive sales staff can be at wedding shows, on more than one occasion I have witnessed a bride in tears because of an overly aggressive sales person. We thought it best for the business not to be associated with that kind of selling.
In regards to magazines; I have a policy of not advertising in print at all. Not just wedding magazines but all print. I personally believe the world is saturated with advertising, if you want to be seen and make an impression then do not advertise in print! There are so many other options, most of them more cost affective.
Q: And you are not even producing a print brochure?
A: I do not think we need one. I realise that's a little revolutionary in our business but again I do not see the point in a print brochure. The majority of my customers have a HD screen in their pocket when they come in to see us, why would they want a to look at print of a picture, when they can look at beautiful HD images right on their phone or tablet? I would rather spend more money on our website, make the website more user friendly and give it more usability and more options. But most importantly lots of great looking images that customers can view online or in store. So no paper brochure but we have introduced an Augmented Reality business card!
Q: In 2014 you re-vamped the Worcester hire range and relaunched it. Are you doing that again in 2015?
A: We are going to update the Harrogate Range this year. The Harrogate has been one of our most popular ranges of all time but it is time for some minor adjustments. 1: Slimmer Trousers, this is overdue for this range and as of January 2015 you will have the option of a slim fit (rather than tailored fit) trouser. 2: Larger sizes, this slim-fitting range has never been available above a 44 chest, however we are going to introduce a 46 and 48 for 2015.
Q: You can book online now?
A: Again yes & no! You cannot make a booking online, however if a member of your wedding party cannot attend for a fitting (which we prefer) you can book a suit for them online (with a password). This is part of the websites increase in usability for 2015. Click
Q: I guess you are getting heavily booked for hire now?
A: Yes we are, we are going to be Fully Booked for quite a few weekends for 2015 before the end of 2014. So to keep everyone up to date we have created a page of the website which is update on a live basis, as we take the bookings. This allows you to check the availability at any time. This is part of the websites increase in usability. Click
Q: Any other new stuff happening?
A: Actually yes! We have new "Bespoke/Hire" options being created and new made-to-measure samples being created too. We also have new 'Made to Order' designs which will all be available to buy. All of these will have to be seen before I explain them further but we should have the images before the end of 2014.
Thank you Marc
You're welcome Marc. |
| Marc from Jack Bunneys |
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