Blog 9: XV HQs February round-up, acquisitions and customer news!

Hello to all our followers from the gang at XV HQ! Time to check in with our February diary, and what a busy month it’s been in cushion land. Each time we planned a breezy beach stroll, XV projects popped up and carried us off – and what lovely projects they are.

February was all about tackling plans we’d put on the backburner due to Covid, including photo shoots. We were so happy to get started again with our lovely photographer Christopher Jeney, who did a splendid job of capturing some of our key ranges while at the same time respecting Corona rules. As a result our island scents candles, some of our Solent collection and the gorgeous Just Stripes range all have great new-look pages.

With all that going on in the background, we started planning future launches. We’ve some big reveals just around the corner but for now let’s just say: homewares. We’re talking curtains, embroidery, tableware and more. Alongside all this we’re looking at a restructuring of the way we work, due to the need to take our processes back within these shores. ‘Brexit’ and ‘import tax’ are two phrases that will get anyone thumbing through local talent directories, which is exactly what we did.

Several brilliant things came about as a result of those searches. Chiefly the acquisition of a small embroidery business (yes, we’re keeping the head seamstress - XVsew.com). Also the discovery of several local seamstresses who will soon be threading their first needles for XV HQ. More on these stories in future blogs; for now we’re just so happy to be collaborating with some remarkable local talent. The future is bright, and now much closer to home.

One of the best things about our line of work is communicating with customers, especially when they tell us why they love our cushions; this month in particular we’ve heard some incredible stories. There’s the man in America who ordered some cushions for his beautiful boats. He offers sailing trips with profits going to a local cancer charity (more info here): now his cabins will be all the more cosy. How amazing do we feel about that? 

Then there’s the UK customer who bought a cushion for her daughter to congratulate her on taking a sailing course. We’re so flattered that ours was the gift of choice, and we hope she has a wonderful time sailing around these shores, perhaps even further afield. We also had a customer whose father sailed for pleasure: his ashes were scattered on the place that’s featured on our Cardinal cushions. Could you even script that? We couldn’t be happier about this serendipitous discovery.

Every now and then we hear a story that’s worthy of a blog post in itself. One such example is the day we were contacted by the son of John Bury, the man who invented the buoyage navigation series using cardinal marks. A whole backstory unfurled resulting in an incredible conversation that merits its own space: stand by for a full article!! (short wiki intro here).

In amongst all this we did manage to get out for some healthy runs and long woody walks. In fact, these outings provided the ideal opportunity to scout out essential new storage space. With new ranges popping up all the time we’re busting out at the seams! You see, even when we’re relaxing we’ve always got one eye on the thread…

Keep your peepers peeled for all our new collections, keep loving our existing ones and please send us your queries, suggestions and comments to info@xvstripes.com

See you next post, XV HQ!