grommies kids surf

Still dreaming of a holiday...

The weather is not the best today, and although  there is a wave it looks cold and messy (as seen in the shot here) I think i'm gonna wait for a surf - the middle of next week is looking good, when the wind swings off-shore, and also maximize on the week of holiday left before returning to my proper job (yes, both myself and Sarah have 'proper jobs' - its gonna be a while before Grommies is gonna allow us the lifestyle we aspire too!). Anyhow i'm still reeling about my friend's daily surfing antics in board shorts in Central America, and find myself thinking back to our holiday last June, which was in the Algarve.

We found a lovely little desolate village called Figueria, the accommodation and flights we sourced ourselves. the place we stayed at was called Casa Meranha which is owned by a great couple; Sam  is from Brighton, and  Noa  her husband was originally from Cuba, they had two little babies, who were very well behaved! Noa was very keen  to learn about  surfing, wanting to attract surfers rather than golfers, especially during the winter months, and wanted to learn how to read Weather forecasts so he could take people around on a 'Surf Safari'  - if you're keen, check out the link to their booking site.
There were some fantastic beaches there, and plenty of Surf. We found this beautiful cove called Ingrina, about five minute drive from the apartment, which had a great restaurant, very well priced, and you could tell it was gonna be good as it was full of Portuguese, rather than holiday makers. It also had surf... It was sunny every day - two weeks of bliss! The picture here is the wave at Ingrina - powerful, hollow; mess the take-up off and you're on the rocks. I saw a guy get barreled here - I also saw some guys get seriously munched! - you can judge the size by the black dot (a head) on the right of the picture...

Oh well, I think we have both resigned ourselves to the fact that the 2008 holiday is going to be UK based, as we are gonna be putting every penny into Grommies summer stock, and also getting on the road to push the Grommies brand wherever possible - Look out Newquay!!!

Just to make us all feel a little jealous...

We have survived Christmas, and it's back to work. I managed to get a surf in again yesterday (twice in a week, this must be noted!). Anyhow a friend of mine affectionately know as Love Train is over in Central America for a few weeks on a surf trip. Returning from the cold delights of the sea, his e-mail certainly made me feel all that much more colder...
"Been in Baja for nearly two weeks now. The surf has been overhead every day, glassy and baking hot. Loads of superb right hand points to surf. Not too crowded to start with but getting a bit busier with an influx of American's for Xmas. Wetsuit in the morning and boardies in the arvo. Otherwise heaps of wildlife here, seen whales breaching every day. Also dived with whale sharks, scared myself stupid as they are about 20 feet."
I think a holiday is long, long over due!

Surf time

Things on the business have slowed down as expected on the final few days running up to Christmas. Managed to find time between shopping, wrapping and other general family duties to get a surf in yesterday. Its getting cold out there now! I arrived with those in the car park saying "you should of been here two hours ago.." (I would of been if it wasn't for the tescos run!). Got changed into the full regalia - wetsuit, boots, gloves, hat and strolled over to the sea to be greeted by an on-shore wind, chopping up the water, which had only recently swung. Never mind - but time to make a mental note - "Must try to arrange tesco runs around the surf, not visa versa".  Anyhow it was  good to get in the water, and  catch a couple of waves. I saw Chris Griffiths  out on  his stand up paddle surf board. He was getting plenty of waves, and despite telling me it was hard work, he was certainly making it look effortless. Check out more of his surfing on his web page.
Anyhow, its 4pm on Christmas eve, the kids are bouncing off the walls, and Grandparents have just arrived... So thats all for now apart from the formalities...
Have a very 'Grommies' Christmas! from Stuart and Sarah at Grommies.

Getting Ready for the Christmas Hols.

Well the rush of our first Christmas Sales period has almost drawn to a close. 

It has been a hectic few weeks since we launched back in November this year!!  Our lives have pretty much been taken over by kids sheepskin boots, boxes, packing and trips to the local post office. 

As soon as we got the larger size sheepskin boots back in December - I was first to bag myself a pair of chocolate ones (and they barely left my feet since). Certainly after months of working on these boots I felt that I had earned a pair.   My mates weren't slow in catching on either (they love a bargin) and have pretty much all got themselves a pair!  In fact I reckon that a lot of our sales for the 4-5's are for mums (not their kids)!

Another surprise on the sales front has been that we have had quite a lot of customers who are getting Grommies sheepskin boots for their kids to take away on the family Ski holiday.  Can't believe that we didn't think of this market ourselves as they make perfect apres kids ski foot wear - as they are super snug.

It's great to see that a lot of our new customers have heard about Grommies kids surf clothing from friends - we are chuffed to have been recommended.  They do say that the best form of marketing is word of mouth.

Flyer missions

Today we went to Bridgend and flyered Mc authur Glen (until we were asked to stop by carpark security!) and also Tesco extra in Swansea. Did you get a flier?

We also have had a bit of free PR from Tonnau, the Welsh Surf Mag - thanks John for that - check out their myspace page

Grommies - our first product development - part 3

Time to take a breather here and perhaps explain what the touch light was for where we are today - 100% Australian sheepskin boots.
Sarah wanted to dress our kids in this classic style sheepskin boots last year, and soon found that to pick up a genuine 100% Australian sheepskin product was down to two main options. The first involved paying an extortionate price for the official branded boots. The other was to order from Australia, play the waiting game and see whether the tax man would send you a import duty bill a few weeks after your boots arrived.
Last year Sarah went for the Australia shipment option (not cheap, but cheaper than £80 for a kids pair!).
These boots are synonymous with the surfing culture, worn in the main by surfers only for decades. However what we could see was:
1) These boots were popular, and on the increase. some basic searching on Goggles statistics showed that a lot of people in the Uk were searching for sheepskin boots, and we had a feeling this wasn't just surfers on the search for the illusive boots! - it was also clear from looking at forums and e-bay that there were allot of poor quality, synthetic imitation boots out there.

2) There must be an easier and more affordable way of obtaining these boots. This, combined with our vision for the Grommies kids surf wear company (see part one) was such an obvious choice - a true eureka moment if you like -  and if we could source them well, we would keep to the ethics of what we wanted to achieve - quality kids surf wear at an affordable price.

Grommies - Creating the brand - part 2

There were two things we were focusing on 1) what kids surf clothing product to launch with, and 2) the Brand. On the back-burner was getting the Grommies name as a registered trademark, which was working its way through trademark attorneys.
Design wise we were advised to contact Design Wales as a starting point for the Brand, who gave us some pointers about creating brand values. This was something we were aware about and to be honest we both had a very strong vision about where we wanted to go with this, but it was good to know that we were on the right track. Our core Brand values were based on:

• Surf Inspired
• Beach culture
• Aspirational
• Chilled vibe
• Fun and functional
• young and carefree
• International feel.

Sarah put together a 'mood board' which provided a tangible focus to what we wanted to achieve. We also liked logos from Billabong, Ripcurl and Quicksilver. They all have a symbol and text, over time the symbol itself does the job - in time we hope ours will do similar!

Design Wales took on board our limited budget and found some designers to interview. They were all nice people, and had some idea of where we wanted to go, but we didn't feel that they had that surf / street feel to their portfolios.  I knew a  guy from  back in uni days - Carl and I had one or two disagreements over the years (all under the influence of alcohol!), but once Sarah saw his My space page she was keen to see if he wanted the job. To be honest I was a little hesitant, but in all fairness he has delivered in spades - everything design-wise from our Logo, fliers, business stationary, and the banner for this blog - all original work by Carl. We can definitely see Carl's influence in our future products - and currently pester him at short notice for all sorts of jobs!

Carl got cracking and provided us with a number of draft ideas - one immediately stood out and when both agreed that was the image we wanted to take forward ( I think you can work out which one we went with!).

Carl got on with sharpening up the logo, and working up the other things we wanted to get started including the design for this blog. 
 

Grommies - How it all started - Part One

The idea to set up our own business started back in the summer of 2006. 

Stu and I were driving back from a day at our local beach - chatting about the kids, the beach etc.  and the conversation moved onto the lack of good beach wear for our kids and how we felt that there was a gap in the market for stylish classic Kids surf clothing for them. 

Stu is a surfer and as a family we love the beach.  Our kids love surfing and the outdoors.   It was becoming more and more obvious from our trips to the beach - that children of all ages were wearing rash vests, board shorts etc.  looking like mini me versions of their dads or surfing heros.

We thought little more about it - until January 2007.  When we started to talk a little more about the idea of kids surf clothing and started to dream of running our own business (as we both worked and still work for local/national government agencies).  Stu and I are very similar and have always played it safe with the 9-5 job and all the securities it brings with it (especially since having our family).  However, we both liked the idea of escaping all this an running our own business. 

We felt that a range of beach essentials that were affordable, practical and stylish was a good idea.  We then started to spend more and more of our evenings thinking of what type of surf/beach wear products we would like to produce.

We felt if we were going to pursue this then this venture would need a name.  We started to think and search the internet and surf termonology for a good name for our business (we wanted a name that had strong links to the beach type lifestyle).  The term that sumed it up  perfectly was Grom or Grommet  This is the surf term for a young surfer (who rips) - however the age range for a traditional 'grom' is more teenager than young kid. So after a play on words, Grommies came out which sounded just right for a kids surf clothing / wear company. Stu's mates nick name is the same - he keeps saying how he should have copy-right on it!

What we needed to think about next was a brand to fit with the Grommies name...

Hello - welcome to the Grommies Blog

At last we have launched the Grommies Blog - welcome!