Identity Crisis? PPPP?

i have wondered recently if Antidote is in something of an identity crisis. it's certainly fun for me (which is certainly a requirement for its continuation), but basically i just design whatever i want to make myself happy. the net effect of putting products by THAT description (whatever makes Greg happy) out there is, the consistent shoppers are people who happen to agree with my personal taste all around. that's certainly, niche i guess. seriously, though, i mean, are there kind of three identities to Antidote? drug free, vegetarian, and positive? they're all important to me, but i'm feeling that if i want to be ambitious with Antidote, which i do, is some way to either tie it all together, or to start trimming out items that are not consistent with SOME not-so-blurry positioning.

i think about cutting out the straight edge stuff and just being a make-a-difference vegetarian company, but thats somehow not a wholly satisfying prospect. i do believe that i am going for something different than just an outlet for vegetarian stuff. and i'm not ashamed of the drug free stuff in the least. in fact, originally, when i conceived the idea of Antidote, it was to be a positively positioned drug free clothing company. and the drug free stuff is possibly the most attractive part to some people who are sick, as i was, of the current state of drug free fashion. even from a strictly business standpoint - it sells the best! so, no, many things in me resist cutting that stuff out.

opening a second clothing company specific to drug free stuff, i would consider, maybe. but something about the drug free stuff being in the way of a person otherwise shopping at Antidote for positive clothing is attractive. it lets them wonder 'why's this in here? i guess drug free is a positive thing.' maybe they haven't even made the connection before because of the other sxe 'kill your neighborhood drug dealer' stuff out there. it's drug free's second chance for these people. for reasons like this, i LIKE putting out all these ideas together - i believe they CAN be cohesively grouped, and successfully, fruitfully cross pollenated...

y'know what? the more i think about it - there IS a central theme - to me, and to the line. it's positive, and political - but not separately. it is caring, wanting to make a difference, wanting to show it, but in a fun positive way. it's "positively presented personal politics." is that memorable? hmm, well, it's certainly well alliterated!

Week 1 of the Webstore

Check me out in the new SXE is Sexy shirt!

The way Antidote is set up now, I receive orders all week, I order the blank garments necessary to complete orders on Monday, and then press the orders I've received onto the blanks I've received on Friday. It's going to be a system I love, I can tell already, after getting through week one.

Now, one day, Antidote will be a major operation, I'm sure :) but for right now it is completely run by just me, so has to function within parameters that allow for me to get it all done around my regular life schedule (work, teaching, etc). It does fit well in my schedule, I can tell already, and once early hurdles (which I'll describe below) are behind me, I'll hopefully be able to up production to twice a week, meaning shorter wait times for customers anxious to receive their ordered items.

Besides the schedule of operations, what I love already about the new set-up is the thing I hope customers love the most - the customization offerings. This week I printed designs I've seen a million times, but in combinations I've never seen, which made the whole printing process very exciting for me. 'What will the Bubbles design look like on Navy?' 'What would the Bigwheel shirt look like on Army?' These were questions, I'd barely asked myself - but creative customers did. Of course, I hadn't pressed these combos before, but now I have, and I liked how they came out!

I found this week that American Apparel hoodies (which I understood to be available to me within a few days by placing an order with them directly) are back-ordered 3-4 weeks. This meant solutions had to be found for the customers who had ordered American Apparel hoodies during week one and the early ordering period of week two. I learned something about supply chain here, and have decided in the future to make American Apparel's hoodies available only through 'Special Order,' since that's how they appear to view orders from smaller wholesale purchasers like me. (T-shirts are a non-issue, because those I can purchase through a different distributor.)

Overall, there were really only minor setbacks during this first week, my learning curve period :) ... but I am very excited about the future of Antidote (as usual). I enjoyed pressing, and love the back-end of my webstore, which allows me the ability to view informative reports about orders and 'click trails' and all sorts of goodies. Most of all, I love the feedback I get. When I get a myspace comment, or an email from someone who has somehow been touched or affected by one of the designs, it seriously makes my day. The idea that someone 1000 miles away or further from me sees something Antidote put out there and relates or is inspired, even if only to pass a note along to me - leaves me with a great feeling, and gives hope that greater and farther reaching inspiration can be brought about in Antidote's future.

Weeks one and two will pass with word-of-mouth promotion only. My friends and current Antidote customers and myspace buddies are the only ones in on the new online store. I think soon it will be time to roll out advertisements (which I've been waiting to assess my operational process to do), and bring more people in to the store. Part of me wants to do it right now, but I'm waiting until my systems are effortless and flawlessly in place before potentially overwhelming myself. Stay tuned, and pick something up if you haven't already! :)