Our indiegogo Campaign Update: L'equipe Perk Shipped! Rubber Side Down.

Today...

L'equipe packed and ready to ship!

photos Red Dots Cycling

Here's an update on our indiegogo campaign...

We are happy to announce that our L'equipe perk is successfully completed and shipped today! Congratulations to our recipients of our special edition embroidered cycling cap... you are part of our team!

We are busy prepping inner tubes for our next perk... Le Domestique. The new special edition inner tube wallet will also be produced and sold as a regular stock item through our online store.

Today, we happily discovered 50 meters of velcro like hook and loop fastener fabric from our new supplier. Now we have ample supply of the fastener destined for our new upcoming wallet!

TGIF: Special Edition Cycling Cap, Spring Sale & Le Tour de France

First look at our new embroidered cycling cap!

photo Red Dots Cycling

For us TGIF is the day that we realize ... it's Friday! And, where has the week gone?

We are moving closer to finishing our first crowdfunding perk. As I write the brims are on and I'm about to finish with the final threading. And good news! We decided to make a few more Special Edition caps and will put them in our website for purchase. That should happen within 24-48 hours!

I'm busy cutting and prepping more inner tubes for the upcoming new wallet. Some will go to fulfill the Le Domestique perk!

Our popular Spring Sale continues. That's right! We have slashed prices 25-40% off on most in-stock items, get them now... it's time!

I'm excited, it's 14 days and counting until the 100th edition of the Tour de France! It will start in Corsica on June 29th. Check out my cyclingart post for a Tour de France post.

Allez Tour!
100th Edition of the Tour starts June 29th!

Saying of the day...

Image from the Tour du Suisse...

David Millar, stage 2.
via Castelli Cycling

Have a good Friday!

Richard

Our Own Alpe d'Huez

As we approach the end of our indiegogo crowdfunding campaign... we can imagine it as a ride up Alpe d'Huez, with many twists and turns.

Any rider that journeys up this special mountain has to train in a special way. Like these riders, we had to go outside of our comfort zone and put ourselves out there. Making a video was a challenge for us because we are far from videographers. The gun sounded and we decided to launch ourselves up our own Alpe d'Huez.

We knew that it wasn't going to be easy and we had to rely on word of mouth and social media to get our message across. We felt confident, with the help from our friends and contacts, that we could reach our campaign goal. After all, people have long been asking us for embroidered cycling caps. When we hit our first switchback, there was a huge challenge ahead. We soon realize that it wasn't that easy. Many people are not comfortable with the idea of crowdfunding. They don't feel secure about online transactions - it's not everyone that embraces it.

And, we found ourselves on the side of the road waiting for the 'team car'...that's where our friend Jen came to our rescue. We are so grateful to Jen for her generosity for lending her sewing machine, especially helping us complete our huge custom cap order, whilst waiting for word on whether our Singer can be repaired. Sadly, at this point, we haven't heard of any positive feedback of our Singer machine.

On the other hand, we received donations from people that have never bought from us. Our publicity raised through Facebook and Twitter is tremendous. People have left positive messages of good luck. Currently, there are 53 hours remaining, there's little chance of not reaching the podium. We are still excited to be part of this race. The experience in itself, regardless of reaching the goal, is rewarding.


Thank you to all of our contributors and ...there's still time to donate!


Please donate to our Embroidery Campaign.

TGIF: Indiegogo Crowdfunding, A New Cap & Clowning Around with Cucci Cabana

Emilie Leclerc and Joey Lesperance.

Costumes by Carolle

Photo: James Loewen

TGIF time...

The Giro d'ltalia launches the summer cycling season and we have a new cycling cap on the drawing board.

Carolle's clowning around...

She actually used a cycling cap where no cycling cap has gone before! Her cycling cap is from our basic design made with a special twist for the play, Cucci & Cabana. It's wonderful (look at the yellow cap). She also helped in the design and construction of the costumes. It was fun to see Carolle in another creative light with Joey making costumes. She sure is talented.

Our sewing machine is still in the repair shop and we are still working with a borrowed machine. We need a new sewing machine. There are five days remaining in our Embroidery Project so please take time now to contribute to our campaign and share the word around!

TGIF: New Elastic, Le Grimpeur, Coupon Code & Aussie Aussie Aussie!

It has been a busy week so ...TGIF!


Whenever we can include recycled materials in our products is a plus for sustainability. It is a pleasant surprised to find this elastic from our supplier. A material that is hidden in our caps but deserves to be revealed. It makes us feel good to use this product; 72% Polyester, 28% rubber... 70% total recycled fiber. Made by Singer and not made in China but in India! Now that it's tested it is used in all of our new cycling caps!


Carolle and I would like to Thank Guy of Le Grimpeur for his excellent post of our cycling caps and indiegogo cycling cap campaign. Read it here. We love it when people talk about us!


Speaking about our indiegogo campaign, we just received our first contribution from Australia. Always exciting that our campaign is viewed around the world!

We just wanted to say a quick thank you to all our fans for your support! Here's a 10% discount code to use on our site across our full range. Starts today until April 22nd!         

Coupon Code: 10THNX

Cancellara about to ruin Vammarcke's Sunday.

Kudos to Carolle, she woke up with me at 4 AM to watch the exciting action of Paris-Roubaix. Now, I don't think I can convince her to wake up at 5 AM this Sunday to watch the Amstel Gold Race!

TGIF: Over a Week & Vancouver's New Bike Station

New and free

via vancitybuzz.com

Our indiegogo embroidered cycling cap campaign has taking more time than we anticipated.

We haven't had the time to relaxed. It's emotionally exciting and draining. It's like a full time job maintaining it; answering questions and taking care of the social media side. We are juggling many balls and we are the middle of a huge production for custom cycling caps. The feedback has been very positive. Since launching our embroidered cap project our online sales have doubled. Which is very good. Also, lots of exposure on other cycling posts - very grateful for this. If you missed it's here and here.

It's now over a week since our launch and we would like to thank everyone for all the positive feedback.

We have 34 days remaining... our campaign just started so contribute and share our link!



Interesting news from our fair city...

The power of the bike speaks tomorrow with a new bike repair station opening in Vancouver. We support this idea...


“This is awesome, we should have more of these in the city”, says student and avid cyclist GP Mendoza, “they open up future potential for cyclists of all ages and abilities”. Having access to tools for free, as well as being near a high-traffic bike route, will benefit and ease the ride of anyone with a bike.


The two bike stations will be at the Woodwards Atrium and Science World (next to the free air pump).

Indiegogo: Introducing Our New L'equipe $35 Perk

With your contribution of $35 gets you one Cappello Nero Cycling Cap

w/  embroidered Red Dots Cycling logo.

photo: Red Dots Cycling

There is 37 days remaining on our exciting indiegogo campaign of offering embroidered cycling caps. So, to spice it up we are excited to introduce - L'equipe $35.00 Perk!

It's a good one, contribute only $35.00 and be part of the team, receive: one Special Edition black linen/cotton cycling cap embroidered with Red Dots Cycling logo!

This design is based on our best seller -  Cappello Nero. When we first started to sell online, this black classic cap was among the first five caps offered. Right from the start it has remained a favorite. What's not to like!

We had a customer that lost his Cappello and loved it so much bought a new one. Talk about Love!

Contribute $35 - and join our team!

TGIGood Friday: Jukeboxprint & indiegogo update

TGIGF...

Yesterday, we picked up from jukeboxprint (Gastown Vancouver) our new 1000 business/hang tags!

It was long overdue. We designed and had them printed by Jukeboxprint. Usually, we wouldn't go for a high glossy finished card. For this design - it just works!

We are very impressed by the packaging and ...what 1000 cards look like.

Our indiegogo project update:

It's been an emotional roller coaster ride. From the time we launched the project, we never felt ready but we decided to launch our project with some fear and trepidation. Hard to perceive how people will react. We believe it's a solid idea to help our client's to have an even better product.

Crowdfunding is big deal around the world and also here in Canada. There is a National Crowdfunding Association of Canada.

After we launched our campaign we did some researched. It is interesting that it is a multi-billion dollar industry - almost 1.5 billion dollars was raised through Crowd Funding Platforms in 2011 with over 50% raised in N. America.

We feel that it's a natural progression of Social Media (communicating to one another), to go on a platform, reveal yourself, tell your story and raise funds for something we believe in.

It's great to part of this and like the adage... just to go for it!

So, go ahead and contribute to our project to offer the best embroidered cycling caps. There is no small amount. Remember we only need only $10.00 dollars from 1500 people to achieve our goal!

Thank You!

Carolle & Richard

My Dream Embroidery Machines

Since launching our indiegogo project,  folks have asked us, "What is our dream embroidery machine?"


Well, this was a quest in itself. Embroidery is so popular that you can actual find machines ranging from $500 to $12,000 dollars! Obviously, the lower end $500 machine would not satisfy the needs of a trained seamstress (like myself). This machine would benefit the entry level crafter that wants to experiment with sewing and embroidery.

The 6-needle embroidery machine.

My eyes are on the second level industrial embroidery machine (above image). This is a 6-needle embroidery machine and would be fantastic; advance hoop setting (specializing for hats), 1000 stitch per minute - the works. This machine is made for production. But it does not sew. The price is in the 5-digits.

I swear by my 1967 Singer Fashion Mate sewing machine. Since working with my Pfaff serger, I have found a new love for the Pfaff brand. So, for half of the price of the 6-needle machine, I can have a fantastic sewing and embroidery machine. Bear in mind, this is NOT industrial machine. It would take me more time for production. Pfaff stands for high quality, I would still be able to produce a high quality product at a longer time.

Having said that, I would be HAPPY with either machine. Of course, these machines will not produce a custom logo, so I will have to purchase a special embroidery software. And, then we will be ready for custom embroidered cycling caps!

Carolle

Shared LOVE!

It's so cool and wonderful.

After a few days since introducing our embroidered cycling cap project the response has been very supportive from many good folks.

It means the world to us that people believe in our campaign and are willing to help us achieve our dream.

What can $10 dollars mean in daily life? A quick lunch, a pint of beer, coffee and something sweet? So, we figure if 1500 folks would be excited in our project and willing to give just $10 dollars then we can reach our goal. This would change our lives forever. And, in addition of the new equipment would help grow our business so we can expand our studio.

Thank you for helping us fulfill our dream!

And...

Project Embroidered Cycling Caps via indiegogo

We have looked high and low on how we can move our embroidery project forward.


Our customers have been begging us, for a little while now, to include embroidery on our cycling caps. This is something we wanted to do for a long time. But, the reality is the equipment is specialize and expensive. Our attempt to work with an embroidery company has not been successful. So, our best solution is to get the embroidery machine and really push embroidery where no embroidery has gone before!

After reading on different crowd funding platforms, the best option for us is indiegogo.

From the first idea of knowing that we wanted to launch this campaign it's amounted to days of writing, re-writing, shooting a video, editing that... It's everything we do not normally do and pushes us to go further outside of our comfort zone.

So, here it is, our campaign and we are proud of it... Please go ahead and spread the word to your friends, family, business associates, the more visibility we have the faster we can achieve our goal!


Thanks to indiegogo for the opportunity to live our dream and Thank You to everyone for considering our project...


CROWD FUNDING = SPREADING THE LOVE!