The Cabiria Online Store is now OPEN!

Hello friends,

Happy President's Day! Or for you folks in other countries, Happy Monday! In celebration of having an extra day to play and romp, and because it means Spring is around the corner, I am thrilled to announce that the Cabiria online store is now open. Thank you all for helping make this a reality!



You can reach the store through the main Cabiria website in "Shop Collections" or "Collections", or you can go directly to the storefront. Either way, everything is now available to you.

Additionally, Madison Plus Select is featuring a curated group of Cabiria clothing not available in our online store, and Bombshell Boutique in St. Paul, MN should have Cabiria on the shelves any day now.

If you are a retailer, or know someone who might like to carry Cabiria in their shop, please let me know, and I can send them info on wholesale resources online.

I'm so thrilled - thank you and now GO SHOP!

- Eden

Factory updates!

Hello friends,

I've been very busy since the Kickstarter campaign ended, and been a little lax in my public blog posts. I am now going to correct that.

By the time you read this post, ALL of the incentive packages for Kickstarter backers will have been mailed out, minus the dresses from the line. As mentioned earlier, those folks will receive their swag now, then when the factory is done and everything is double checked, they'll receive their dresses in a separate shipment.

More good news: all the fabrics and stuff that goes into making garments are in the factory, and in the process of being cut. I dropped by yesterday, and it's really exciting to see all the bundles of fabrics and cut pattern pieces ready to go to the next step, sewing. I love these surreal moments!

In the next few days, I will be reissuing swatch cards to reflect the real fabrics per real styles being offered in the Spring/Summer 2013 line. It will be different than what you may be accustomed to seeing, as there will be limited quantities of each item per fabric. I will update that in the Cabiria Store as well as specifically letting my retailers know what they can order. It's coming together, folks!

In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and much peace, health and prosperity in the coming year.

All the best, Eden

this is the beginning of packing up all the incentive boxes with our dressform standing watch:

and this is another beautiful silk jersey fabric that will be in the line. Surprise!:

Swag Report and Money Spending

Hi everyone,

I have been busy receiving shipments of swag to my workroom, and it's very exciting! Today the DVDs and tote bags came in, and yesterday the chocolate arrived. I've hidden it from myself or there's a risk of a highly sugared and caffeinated designer running amok.

I've also been working on the cutting tickets, which are the numbers for the factory to Cut, Make, and Trim ("CMT"), and scrambling around buying more silk jersey to complete the orders. Such a great response means that for all my preparation, there's more success to meet expectations! I consider this a wonderful and honorable problem.

Tomorrow the fabrics are being taken to the factory in midtown (made in the USA!), and then we are off to the races making these beautiful things! Hooray!

Thank you all for making me step up my game. And for those who haven't completed the surveys I sent last week, please do! I need your info to ship the magic to you!

All the best, Eden

132% Funded! 16 More Days! And Where Your Money is Going

Hello friends,

First of all, thank you so much for this great momentum we have on Kickstarter. We're 132% funded and still have 16 days left in the campaign! I can't even tell you how exciting this is, and I'm so glad you believe in Cabiria and it's message of social justice through beautiful clothes.

I've been talking to some potential retailers for stocking the line, and potential business backers who want to expand the way we're currently structured (one woman running around like a chicken). I'm a designer. I like to think of myself as a pretty good designer. But in starting a project like this I've had to scale a pretty steep learning curve to become a proficient traditional marketer, social media marketer, public relations person, accountant, photoshoot producer, web developer, tech pack producer, factory production manager, sales rep, and fashion lawyer. Oh yeah, and autodidact MBA. I wouldn't say I'm great at any of these, although I'm not too shabby for an art school graduate (cough). All that said, I'd love to work with people who do these things well and with ease, all in concert to make the end result access to beautiful clothes. Big plans!

In the meantime, the knowledge that I will receive funding from Kickstarter backers at the end of the campaign has allowed me to order beautiful hand screened hang tags and business cards from an independently owned press in Richmond, VA. For a long time I'd been hunting for the perfect hang tag - those heavy cardboard tags that hang off garments to say what brand they are, and that hold the secondary information, price and RFID tags. I obsess about these small details because I really do think that the details are part of what differentiate Cabiria from others out there. All the details, on the clothes and off. I can't wait for them to arrive in the mail so I can show them off!

The funding has allowed me to look at planning a trunk show or three with Bombshell Boutique in St. Paul, MN, Vive la Femme in Chicago, and The Voluptuous Vixen in New Orleans.

The Voluptuous Vixen (and the Head Vixen herself),

Bombshell Boutique,

and Vive la Femme.

The funding allows me to consider making more pieces than the original factory quota that I'd need to meet, so I can have more to sell to more retailers. More access for customers. It also allows me to devote stock to online retailers that we can pair with so there's more ways to get the clothes.

Reaching past the funding goal has allowed me to start conversations with silk mills to make our own production runs of fabric, so we aren't limited to job lot fabrics sourced in the marketplace. Meaning if you want that dress in that print, it's yours. And reorderable.

Every dollar added allows all these possibilities to come together. Thank you for helping me reach these goals and create new opportunities together. As always, please spread the word!

All the best, Eden

please support independent retailers and help them thrive

WE ARE FUNDED ON DAY 8!!! now onto Stretch Goals!!

OH MY GOODNESS! Yes, I'm shouting! And shaking, although it might also be because I've been drinking a lot of coffee today. But WE ARE FUNDED at 100% now!!!!!

Day 8! 88 Backers! $8,000! I know my new favorite number!

Every single person who has donated or put out a good word has pushed this project into the stratosphere. The person who gave the pledge that knocked us into 100% was a woman who gave me my first job in television nearly 20 years ago. The first person who donated was my wonderful brother and his incredible family. But in between there have been strangers with indecipherable screennames, new friends I wouldn't have met other than through this channel, and old dear friends who have believed in me for a lifetime. I am so incredibly honored that you chose to back me.

Now I move forward with the stretch goals. As I mentioned in previous updates and the FAQ, each one is a mile marker, not an aggregate, so each amount pledged from now on goes towards making those stages a reality as well. We are still 22 days from the end of the campaign, and there are still many opportunities to get the word out.

In the meantime, Thank You So Incredibly Much! Once I stop shaking, I'll start working on the hang tags and stickers again.

xoxo, Eden

below is Eddra Gale from Fellini's "8 1/2" in about the same state I feel like right now

Kickstarter Swag and Major Interest in Cabiria!

Hi friends,

It's been an absolutely crazy ride so far, and we're only 2 days in. Oh my! To update you on what's happened on the Kickstarter page in the past 24 hours, it's going to take a few paragraphs.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cabiriastyle/get-cabiria-plus-size-ss13-collection-into-stores

There's the link for good measure. So, onward!

We have been up and running for 2 days, and in that 2 days we've gotten 49% of our goal funded, raising $3,972. Woo hoo! Way to go guys! Thank you so much!! Now we need to figure out where we can direct the campaign other than obvious choices.

Another big chunk of great news today: We were contacted by some major players in the online plus size retail community today, interested in how they can work with us. Also, the fantastic Gwen DeVoe who started Full Figured Fashion Week crossposted to her extensive plus size contacts about us, which should bring in some really great targeted interest. Madison Plus is interested in doing a curated sale of Cabiria as part of the launch on their page, Abbey Post wants to use Cabiria when they kick off their selling platform, Mad Chic wants to work with us, and Double Chin Win does too! Market interest! Yay!

And I also found out today that I couldn't upload photos of the swag to the specific areas of the campaign where the backing $$ boxes are, so I loaded them into the body of the campaign. Yes, you can now see what's on offer when you donate!

And for good measure, I'm doing the same thing here.

The Coloring Book:

The Bistro Mug:

The Gregory's Coffee Full Bodied Italian Roast:

The Canvas Boat Tote:

and the Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans:

Thursday brings Day 3 of the campaign, and let's see what an be accomplished. Maybe a new avenue of potential? Crossed fingers!

- Eden

Astounding and Fantastic!

What an astounding day so far! The Kickstarter project went live just after midnight last night, and was on Facebook and Twitter and all sorts of other platforms as of this morning. It's unbelievable to see how supportive and wonderful everyone has been, and how quickly word spreads!

I have been very fortunate to have one Super Secret Backer that has told me that if we get over the $6,000 level in pledges on Kickstarter, that SSB will be a guarantor to get us funded for sure! Huge news! Of course I'd like to raise more than 100% - I'd like to be one of those amazing success stories like my friend Roman Mars, whose 99% Invisible radio show was the most funded journalism project of all time on this site, or another friend Andrew Plotkin, whose Hadean Lands interactive fiction adventure was fully funded in the first 24 hours, then went on to become wildly successful. What can I say? I keep company with winners!

Another great boost was that Jaclyn McCabe of Voluptuous Vixen boutique in New Orleans became a backer. The reason this is so special is because she is also a Retailer of Plus Size clothing, someone whose store I want Cabiria to be in, and someone who is a tastemaker for this market. She believes in Cabiria enough to put her money where her mouth is, and cross post it on her store's Facebook page as well. That's walking the walk, and I love it.

Every backer on this project is helping, no matter big or small, and every dollar is a dollar closer to the goal of getting funded. If you have any ideas for me to cross promote the campaign or the brand, I am listening and very enthusiastic. Please let me know, and keep telling people about us!

Thank you and talk soon.

-Eden

Kickstarter Campaign is LIVE! Raising funds for swag!

Hello friends,

What a great day! In addition to launching the line and getting huge amounts of wonderful feedback and interest on social media platforms, we got approved for our Kickstarter Project! It's called Get Cabiria Plus Size SS13 Collection Into Stores and that's exactly what we plan to do.

The web address is http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cabiriastyle/get-cabiria-plus-size-ss13-collection-into-stores. Click on any of the links in this post or copy that link into your browser to be taking to Kickstarter's Project page.

We have until November 21st - the day before Thanksgiving - at 5:08pm EST to raise $8,000 or we get nothing at all. What a challenge, but one I know we can meet. The $8,000 is to pay for grading (sizing up and down) costs for each pattern, factory productions fees (higher here in the US than abroad, but so important to keep skilled jobs local), shipping costs, website development, and marketing to let the buyers know about our SS13 line.

This is what the front page of the campaign looks like, including our URL:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cabiriastyle/get-cabiria-plus-size-ss13-collection-into-stores

If we raise more than $8,000, I have big plans, including expanding production abilities, printing our own fabrics, showing the line at trade shows, upgrading our website and e-store, expanding into new markets, and paying photographers, models, assistants and web developers, etc. a fair wage for their services.

I NEED YOUR HELP TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL!!! Please donate what you can; we have great incentives in the offer starting at ridiculously low pledge amounts, so that little drop in the bucket plus others makes for a huge flood. And even if you don't choose to contribute, please boost the signal by passing along the message to all your pals. Anyone who believes in equality entitlement, or body pride, or American small business entrepreneurship, or just beautiful clothes. Every ripple outward helps.

I can't wait to see what's in store this month, and I am already so thankful!

- Eden

Crack the Champagne, it's Opening Day!

OPENING DAY! It's here, it's here! After many months of hard work, today is launch day for the new website, the e-store for presales and wholesale, the unveiling of the SS13 Lookbook, Collection in catalog view, and the Behind the Scenes video, which shows the making of our lookbook, and is an important part of our Fundraising Campaign.

Currently we are waiting final approval from Kickstarter to launch that campaign, which means that while there are links to the campaign on our Incentives page and our Thank You page, they are not yet functioning links. I know this already, so no worries! As soon as that campaign goes live, I will let you all know, for sure.

We are also listed as "Coming Soon" on all the items in our Online Store. This is to give an opportunity to Plus Size boutiques to order for delivery in late winter so you can all have access up close and personal with our sumptuous clothes. Once we cover presales, I will open the store up at a retail level for online direct to you ordering.

Thank you again for following this amazing adventure and believing in Cabiria so wholeheartedly! If you have any suggestions for better site functionality that either I can achieve or you know specifically how to implement, please let me know immediately and I will try my best to put it into action. Also, please Subscribe to our newsletter which will help cut down on redundant cross posting, and "Like" us on Facebook, which will help as well.

For Press and Publicity inquiries, please email press@cabiriastyle.com.
For Wholesale Access to Linesheets, Terms and Order Forms, please email wholesale@cabiriastyle.com (you will need a password).
For all other inquiries, please email info@cabiriastyle.com and I'll respond as quickly as possible. Thank you again, and stay tuned for the Kickstarter campaign!

Let's crack some champagne on this hull!

xoxo, Eden