Buyers guide 2015

: take a story with you

The Buyers guide 1 2 3 4 5 6

Background Presentation Company Identity General Info Marketing Ts & Cs Downloadable Links

C

ongratulations on becoming a supplier of Wren products. We are excited to begin this journey with you!

This booklet is a resource specially designed for you, our retailer. In it is a brief background about how we started and who we are. We also show and feature successful store and point of sale displays that might give you some ideas for your own store display. Important terms and conditions of resale are highlighted and useful links and downloads are listed. We strive to make selling The Wren Design products as wonderful an experience as buying one of our products from your store!

Our Story

Background The Wren Design was founded in 2008 after the owner, Wendren Setzer, took the decision to resign from her job as a textile designer at a clothing factory. She found that working for a large corporation was unfulfilling and wanted to take on a new challenge. Finding herself in need of a handbag, she decided to put her own design skills to use and made her own.

This became her first product and so she launched into her new career as an entrepreneur.

By starting a business that was more in keeping with her own design ideas, she had the freedom to apply a more innovative approach to product development. Her belief in the value of good workmanship over mass-produced products served as the central principle around which the business has evolved. She has kept a practical, hands-on approach to the business ever since.

In October 2008, The Wren Design was afforded the opportunity to showcase its products at the Neighbourgoods design market in Woodstock. This allowed the company to meet and build connections with local shop owners and clients. In 2010, Wendren was invited to participate in the Design Indaba as an Emerging Creative. This event exposed the company to a much wider international market and led to an increase in wholesale orders. The event also attracted online and print media coverage and The Wren Design began to establish itself as a fast-growing international company with a reputation for sustainable manufacturing, fair business ethics, innovation, quality workmanship and excellent customer service. In 2012 The Wren Design was invited to participate in the Munich Creative Business exhibition. This was the company’s first appearance at an international exhibition. Since then, more international exposure has followed and the company continues to grow and contribute to the wider design industry through Wendren’s unique approach to design.

2008-2010: Working on the kitchen counter at home.

2008-2010: Cutting patterns on the floor at home.

2010-2013: Working in the converted main bedroom (aka office).

2014-Current: One of our workrooms at our studio at 10 Rhodesia St, Muizenberg.

OUR PEOPLE When The Wren Design was founded, Wendren performed all of the production tasks herself. In October 2009, the company had grown to the point where a few extra pairs of hands were needed. She sourced the services of two seamstresses to work part-time over weekends to meet demand.

This was the start of a close collaboration between kindred spirits who shared a passion for their craft. When the women found themselves retrenched from their day jobs at the clothing factory for the second time in a year, they decided to work from home and sew bags full time for The Wren Design. The company promotes an ethic of shared industry and there is a sense that it exists only through the people who contribute their skills. The work environment is built on a relationship of trust, fairness, respect and the promotion of individual growth opportunities. Through the team’s dedicated efforts, they have been able to achieve several goals: to earn a higher wage, to own their own machines and to produce a product that they can be proud of. The company still makes use of the services of both women. Wendren also requires the services of a number of other assistants including seamstresses, tailors and shoemakers to help with production.

An assistant also helps with the preparation and packing of orders. The Wren Design team is an essential element in the manufacturing process and they take great pride in their work. The team members are all proud entrepreneurs in their own right with individual strengths led by Wendren Setzer.

OUR PRODUCTS The first Wren bags were made from English woven fabrics. Wendren’s discovery of discarded coffee sacks at a local roaster led her to rethink her manufacturing process. The idea of using found materials and re-purposing them with the aim of promoting sustainability was a watershed moment for the company. While exploring other materials options, she hit upon the concept of using paper to construct items of apparel. This marked a radical departure from conventional textiles, but it is an innovation that has proved highly successful. By treating the paper using fusion and coating technologies, the paper’s strength is greatly enhanced and it becomes a functional fabric. The result is a unique product line which can be likened to origami in its simplicity of design. The natural texture of the paper also lends the product a unique tactile quality that adds to its appeal. Perhaps the most iconic example of the Wren’s product offering is the company’s best-selling range of PPC-branded bags, which are striking for the way in which they combine contemporary design ideas with ordinary materials to produce something that is uniquely eye-catching. In addition to paper, fabrics utilizing re-purposed coffee sacks (the Jute Range) and antique linen (the Linen Range) are used. Each fabric has a story of its own to tell, from the linen grain sacks that were woven between 1880 and 1910 to the well-travelled coffee sacks infused with their cargo of aromatic beans. The Wren Design offers more than 40 products to choose from and there is a bag to cater for all tastes. All Wren products are hand crafted to ensure durability and the highest quality of workmanship.

2008: Fabric Bags

2009: Coffee Bags

2010: PPC Cement Laptop Bags

2013: Paper Sleeves

Product Display

PRESENTATION of products Over the years we have discovered that one of the most important factors in deciding the success of our products in a retail space is the presentation.

WHAT When there is a selection of products customers seem to engage better than if there are only one or two products for sale. Too much can of course be as negative but from our experience customers enjoy choice For this reason we encourage you to order not just one of each size of a sleeve but rather a selection as a stack of sleeves attracts the buyers attention more than a lonely sleeve placed on a table.

WHERE Please do not tuck our products in a tiny corner. The more exposure the products get the better they will sell.

Create window displays. Put the product out there and watch it attract customers.

Window displays at The Kinshop, Kloof Street, Cape Town

HOW Products are made from a natural material one must be careful not to create displays that are rustic. Remember that the majority of our products are for technology: they are the antedote. Contrast of texture is important as this makes the product stand out.

• We have found that matt metals, especially black are highly effective backgrounds for the paper sleeves.

• Painted charcoal backgrounds are great against the PPC Cement Laptop Bags.

• Wood is good for the Jute range of bags as a complimenting material.

We tend to work with strong diagonals for display as this brings order to the organic nature of the products.

Left: Using dog clips to hang sleeves one below the other in a very controlled layout. The nature of the material contrasts this control with it’s soft material.

Right: Using metal shelf system made by Amoq for effective display of sleeves.

Left: Effective stacking effect of PPC cement laptop bags.

Right: Lining the sleeves up so that a customer can “browse” the different designs like they might searching for their favourite book in a library.

WHY Presentation is not only the visual but also the story that is told. We understand that there is value in the story of helping a third world country but this is not the primary story of The Wren Design.

In our experience we have found that when this story is told first our product is viewed as inferior and suddenly grouped with African aid of the 90’s.

We view our products as world class design from a third world country. This small change in the words makes a huge difference in product perception.

POINT OF SALE Below: Successful point of sale units made out of wood that stacks up to 12 sleeves at a time. It is easy to make and very inexpensive. We are currently developing a point of sale unit that we can offer our buyers but this is not yet available.

Abode, Biscuit Mill, Woodstock, Cape Town.

Please ensure that your sales person knows about the products and how they are made.

Although we have gone to great lengths to condense the information onto tags informing the buyer of our process and the durability of the product they often do not read. The more the sales person knows the better they are able to sell the product.

Left: Successful display showcasing full range of Wren Products by Townshipsmile, Netherlands.

A nice touch is the use of the original cement bag to show context.

Below: Examples of how Kinshop, in Cape Town, display our product in their store.

The essence of the Brand

COMPANY IDENTITY COMPANY LOGO & COMPANY LOGO with tagline: Black and red (pantone 200c on a white background or 199U on a brown background)

FONTS: Level 1 heading:

Big Noodle Titling (maximum size 36pt)

Level 2 heading:

Jellyka Bees Antique Handwrit ing

Feature text:

(maximum size 110pt)

Folks Normal and Light

Sub heading: Helvetica Main Text: Helvetica

Regular (Caps 16pt)

Light (6pt-14pt. Kerning 22pt)

BigNoodleTitling Folks (light and normal) Helvetica (light and normal)

Folks (light and normal)

All you need to know

GENERAL INFO COMPANY DETAILS: REGISTERED NAME: The Wren Design Pty (Ltd) REGISTERED ADDRESS: 10 Rhodesia Rd, Muizenberg, 7950, Cape Town, South Africa REG NUMBER: 2012/025072/07 VAT NUMBER: 4500266707 Email: info@thewrendesign.com WEBSITE: www.thewrendesign.com

SOCIAL MEDIA: TWITTER: /thewren INSTAGRAM: /thewrendesign

CONTACT DETAILS: OWNER: Wendren Setzer STUDIO: 10 Rhodesia Road, Muzenberg, 7950, Cape Town, South Africa (by appointment only) POSTAL ADDRESS: PO Box 321, Muizenberg, 7950, Cape Town South Africa CELL: 083 947 2995 E-MAIL: wendren@thewrendesign.com

Terms & Condit ions

MArketing Ts & Cs IMAGE CREDIT:

You are free to use any of the photographs made available in our dropbox folder.

Please always credit “The Wren Design”.

PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL:

You are free to download the flyers from dropbox and print the flyers we have designed for our products. A limited number of printed flyers can be included in an order free-of-charge if requested.

NEW PRODUCTS:

We understand the importance of keeping things fresh so we do our best to introduce new products as often as possible. As a customer you will be added to our “stockists mailing list” to receive newsletters about new products. If you would like to be added to our general newsletter please sign up for this on our website www.thewrendesign.com

DESIGN RIGHTS:

The Wren Design has the sole rights to all the designs of all its products and as such these should not be copied in any form whatsoever.

Exclusivity: The Wren Design does not issue automatic exclusivity for any of its products.

LABELLING:

All products will have The Wren Design’s standard labels. These labels are not to be removed by the store reselling the product.

PACKAGING:

Specially developed packaging (namely, the PPC Cement Laptop Bag Gift Bag) is at an extra cost and not supplied as a standard with the product.

Please ensure that you have read and agree to our General Shop Sellers Terms & Conditions before placing an order with us: http://www.thewrendesign.com/ordering_tcs/

Links

DOWNLOADABLE LINKS 1. FAQ document for buyers https://www.dropbox.com/s/ez0bl2vinepv1om/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20for%20 buyers%202014%3A5.doc?dl=0

2. LOGOS https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3c66wzj2277ojcd/AABaKhR8OCfqeALDAmN1YYqla?dl=0

3. Terms and conditions FOR WHOLESALE http://www.thewrendesign.com/ordering_tcs/

4. Order form This is updated regularly. Please email info@thewrendesign.com for the most up-to date version.

5. Wholesale Price List This is updated when new products come out. Please email info@thewrendesign.com for the most up-to date version.

6. PDF's of Product Flyers https://www.dropbox.com/sh/47a5qzrc0y5t8x8/AABLCdetjqQMP33awSgBFTkHa?dl=0

7. Product Photos

7.1. PPC Cement Laptop Bags

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lmixuotlb275qwq/AAAbfRQNOMjKea3kdzJtrMDLa?dl=0

7.2. Paper Sleeves

7.3. Antique Linen Bags

7.4. Styled Product Shots of Paper Sleeves

Jute Range of Bags: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kamh4u4zjlv1qb6/AABNhe_CiTMr

pAsntkg6ZKzra?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yu5mi4affcq2lgv/AAD12oSnRB6Q3mO0JfImrS18a?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6bv5oxszdnssq2m/AADQGVbl66riAYaHxUvE8OT8a?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/61t1qi7j1rbnl63/AABy9OphZcLYWsJLYUiL9Q1da?dl=0

*Please do not delete photo\s from dropbox folders.

Photograph curtesy of District Six Store, Germany