Hello, Friday! I realized late last night that it has been a while since I gave any updates on our progress over here at MoopHQ. We’ve been up to our eyelashes in changes, adjustments, stitching, stitching, stitching, coffee drinking, wondering when Serial is going to start again, wistful daydreams about tropical vacations or even just a bit of warmer weather here in sunny Pittsburgh and while I kept wanting to update, I just didn’t have a whole lot of new to report. I mean, how many times can I update you that my day was filled with lots and lots of sewing before you’re like…is that all you do? And, I’m like…yes. Truly, it is all I do. Actually, that’s not entirely true, I also started doing one of those cross fit boot camp things during my evenings so, there’s that. Then I read books or watch Empire. And, now you know everything about me.
Really, all of this is exactly the schedule I need. The weight of the last year has hit me hard this winter so, it has been really good for me to have a lot of endurance things to fill my days. And, we are making forward progress on our production relationship in Portland. It’s a long process with lots of learning curves but, I feel so lucky to be working with who I am on this evolution of Moop. It makes me so so excited for the next few years of growth. Which, really is why I am writing today:
Moop had a birthday a few weeks ago!!!
8 years ago, I listed my very first bag for sale on Etsy (the first Market Bag!), which like that incredible mousetrap contraption video, The Way Things Go, set off a series of events I just kept responding to, learning from, building upon and growing with until I reached this point, 8 years later, with a thriving, growing, exciting, daily practice of designing and building bags and talking about what it means to be someone who makes things…and, how to scale that into something that lots of people make, in an ethical and sustainable way, growing jobs, joining forces with other small businesses to continue building something we all care deeply about. Could I have anticipated this 8 years ago? Part of me says not really but, a bigger part says, I must have. You can’t work towards something if you don’t know where you want to be. Yes, I spent many years wondering where it would go and how I would get there but, I also have huge lofty dreams of where I want to take all of this. Continuing to work, day in and day out, learning from those around me to reach where I currently am, takes me one step closer each day to achieving all of those big goals. So, this 8 year old Moop feels like a huge accomplishment. I and everyone who has worked with me over the years, built this quite literally from the ground up. I started with nothing, and built it one bag at a time. Thank you all for believing in me, in Moop, in small business, in building a business the way you’re not supposed to, in helping me get to where I am and for choosing to support something that tries to prove you can make great things happen so long as you’re willing to put in the work. We all are part of building a new economy through a million tiny businesses that collectively change how and why and what we buy. It’s truly exciting to be a part of that.
To celebrate (and, just a heads up, it’s just little ol’ me stitching every Moop bag right now, so it may take a bit longer than normal for your order to ship) let’s have a BIRTHDAY SALE!!!
Use the code: 8BIGYEARS for 10% off from now through Sunday night. Click HERE to shop!
Thanks again and a billion hugs and kisses,
Wendy
p.s. The very first bags to come from Portland are starting to arrive. We have Backpack no.1's, Messenger no.1's and Paperbacks, in stock and ready to ship! This is so exciting!
p.p.s. The birthday sale is only valid at www.moopshop.com. Code: 8BIGYEARS will be active from 3/20/15-3/22/15 at midnight EST.
