Lawrence Jacket: Production Update No.8

On the 29th of April 2023, after 4 years, 3 months and 6 days of development, our first jacket went on sale.

It took just 34 hours, 24 minutes and 16 seconds to sell out.

Given that each jacket is hand crafted in limited numbers, the process of getting from order through to delivery isn’t always plain sailing. That said, it’s incredibly important to me that our customers are kept fully informed and up to date throughout production.

Rather than keep everything behind closed doors, what follows is the eighth full production update email that was sent out to our first customers.

I'm going to keep this one (relatively!) short. The keyhole button situation is sorted!

Being completely transparent, I was getting more than a little bit panicky by this time last week.

I'd been to London to visit two potential factories and both had politely turned me down. Neither were willing to be held accountable for the potential costs if they were to make a mistake.

So, as I drove up to Bolton, I was telling myself not to show my hand when I got there. Of course, me being me, that all went out the window as soon as I arrived and said,

"This is it guys, you're my last hope".

Smooth Mark, smooth.

Part of the struggle has been that there's a huge amount of pressure on getting the button holes right. 

By the time the jackets get to the stage where they're ready to have the button holes cut and sewn in, 99.9% of the production process has been completed. 

That also means that 99.9% of the cost in terms of fabrics, fastening, cutting, pressing and stitching has also been invested. 

Mess up a single button hole and there's a huge amount of work and cost involved in replacing the section to try again.

As you can probably imagine, there aren't many factories willing to take on a job with such a skewed cost/benefit imbalance.

A Reece 101 keyhole button hole maker

Thankfully,  the team are just as excited to be part of this journey as I am. When I got back to the office, they was already an email waiting for me:

"Thank you for coming over to see us. It was great to meet you and to get an understanding of what you and your brand are about. Always exciting when a new project is starting out, as it could become anything it wants – or the customers want it to be. That ‘unknown’ of where it will go is edgy and exciting!"

Phew!

As I toured the factory, I recognised more and more established brand names - either written on the thousands of patterns hanging on racks or on jackets at various stages on the production line.

From overcoats to tweed gamekeeper uniforms, every single jacket I saw was beautifully finished and each one had keyhole buttons. 

The other thing I noticed as I walked around was that there were quilted jackets, there were others with engraved buttons and I even saw printed fabrics. 

These guys can do it all and they can do it all under one roof.

It's too early to say yet but it could be that the days of schlepping from one supplier to another may well be over for me.

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." ~ Marcus Aurelius

Or, as simplified by Ryan Holiday, "The obstacle is the way"

If I hadn't had any issues with the keyhole buttons, I'd have had no reason to find the team up in Bolton and yet, I'm so glad I did. 

First thing next week I'll be heading over to Leicester to get the latest production update and I'll be in touch again after that.

Before I sign off, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for your patience.

I'm incredibly aware that we've gone well past the 12 weeks that I promised for production and that we're getting closer and closer to the sort of weather that will be ideal to wear the Lawrence. 

I promise, I'm doing everything in my power to keep things moving in the face of the hurdles that keep getting thrown up. At the same time, the last thing I want to do is to put so much pressure on people that avoidable mistakes are made which will only push things back further.

Bolton's town motto is "Supera Moras" which means to "overcome difficulties or delays" and I'm hoping the team are going to help to do just that! 

It's been amazing to hear from those of you who have reached out and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support.

Thanks,

Mark Warman
Founder