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

New Cabiria FAQ (and we've got power)

Hi friends,

Just a quick update tonight. It's quite late, and the eye of the hurricane has passed over us, but there will still be another wave hitting Long Island Sound within the hour, so we'll see if we keep our power.

While I've been up watching the storm and checking the light switches, I've had time to put together a new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on Kickstarter. There's been quite a lot of hubbub where some things got misconstrued, and I hope this information clears up those misunderstandings. It will also allow me to concentrate on designing the stickers and thank you cards and everything else that goes with a Kickstarter campaign's successful funding, as well as new fabric pattern design and general doodling.

I totally intended to be lazy and watch Blonde Venus again. Didn't happen. Wrote a FAQ instead.

Please forward this around to whomever you like in the Plus Size Fashion community. I hope you are all safe, sound, dry, warm, cozy, happy, well loved and well fed tonight and every night.

In the meantime, here's a photo of me wearing Francesca in Feathers, posing with Gregory's coffee (our $100 swag) which will need sticker labels.

All the best,

Eden

We've topped $7000! We're over 87% Funded (and there's a hurricane coming)

Pretty much that's my whole message. We've broken the $7000 mark on Day 6 on Kickstarter, with a hurricane bearing down on us and riots over bottled water in the streets! A friend is telling me that in some areas the meteorological service is expecting waves of 14 to 22 feet, and the seawall in several areas of New York City is only 9 feet high.

If there are major power and internet outages because of this storm, please don't think we're slacking. I'll be back when the storm repercussions are over, and updating our results as we go. Wouldn't it be an amazing and surreal thing if the power goes off and we have $7000, and when it comes back on, we've topped the goal and I miss it? Only time will tell.

Thank you so much, everyone, and please stay safe and dry out there.

All my best,

Eden

following is an inexcusable "bathroom mirror shot", but I like showing that you can dress these pieces up or down. I didn't have Matthew Powell, our brilliant photographer, on hand to take a better picture, so mea culpa.

86% Funded, New Stores and Stretch Goals!

Hi everyone,

I hope all of you in the Northeast are battening down the hatches in prep for the crazy storm headed our way! I'm trying to think what I can do offline to work on Cabiria if the power goes out. I know it's a little geeky, but I love patternmaking and textile development, so if there's no internet, I might play with Illustrator and Photoshoot to work on new textile artwork for a future printing. If there's no power at all, I might work on some new patterns for Fall/Winter and keep moving forward. I don't sit still well.

We're on Day 5, and we're 86% funded! Thank you so much! There's been activity on the networking front; I went to a great event put on by The Big Girl Blog, and met some wonderfully positive, effusive plus size women, then got and email from Gussied Up, a new plus size boutique in Toronto, and another from Bombshell Boutique in St. Paul, MN interested in potentially carrying the line in their stores. So exciting to possibly have things in brick and mortar independently owned shops!

Several people have pointed out that with the campaign doing so well, I should put out some Stretch Goals. Things that can make Cabiria really fly. I've come up with quite a few, but keep in mind this is not an aggregate total - this is the cost of EACH THING, and they are pretty conservative estimates.:

With $900 I can buy the most amazing Bemberg lining that's in limited supply, but could become a signature look for the company, especially as a finishing trim or full lining.
With $1000 I can buy ad space in Plus Model Magazine, Skorch Magazine, DailyVenusDiva, Just As Beautiful, and a few other plus size fashion online magazines to promote pre-sales and encourage retailer and direct customer interest.
With $1250 I can work with The Apparel Agency or Indie Design Association to streamline production delivery and make sure it's all done according to industry expectations.
With $1750 per location, I can do a trunk show with models and refreshments at a plus size boutique interested in doing pre-sales, for instance in New Orleans, St. Paul, Toronto, and Chicago. (this pays for flight, meals, hotel, car, models, refreshments, signage, gear, etc.)
With $4000 I can pay the models, photographer, locations, makeup artist, hair stylist, and additional crew to shoot a Fall/Winter photoshoot, and for digital photo cleanup.
With $6000 I can hire a part time assistant during the production and delivery cycle.
With $7000 I can expand the product development and include sizes 24 - 30. With $8000 I can rent booth space and show at Women's Wear in Nevada (WWIN)or Pool/Magic Expo trade shows which could potentially get us into large department stores and boost us to the next level.
With $9000 I can have 500 yards of custom printed silk jersey made so there would be no sold out fabric patterns (well, per design) ever again.
With $15,000 I can develop the Fall/Winter 2013/14, and purchase fabrics for production of the second season.

That's only $65,550. We can pull that off, easy! Right? Am I right?

the amazing Bemberg lining I've wanted for ages. I know what shelf it's on and how many yards are waiting for me, quivering with anticipation.:

Every step costs money, and every step is one closer towards making Cabiria something that thrives on it's own. Thank you for believing in this project and pushing it out of the nest.

-Eden

More great news (69% funded!) and an explanation for some critics

Hi friends,

Today was another great day for Cabiria's Kickstarter campaign moving ahead. We're 69% funded on Day 4! Thank you! First thing this morning I met with a lawyer from the Fashion Law Institute Clinic from Fordham University. Yes, there is something as specific as a Fashion Lawyer. Although the woman who runs the program is smartly dressed, it's regarding the specific laws around contracture for sales, licensing, labeling laws, indemnity, delivery, as well as intellectual property protection and trademarks, etc. for a business where garments are knocked off all the time, and designs are difficult to protect.

This may sound cutthroat and not in the spirit of starting a creative project, but as an artist it's also important to think like a businesswoman. Upshot is that I got some great pointers and referrals. Yay!

here I am heading out to a networking event last night in Flaminia in Black Cherries. Tiny Empire State Building in the hazy background.

Afterwards, I found out that we'd been mentioned by The Brickhouse of Style and Skorch Magazine on their social media platforms, and the store Wells & Verne in Portland, OR and Nina Blakemore in London, UK are interested in carrying Cabiria as well! We're international, baby. (hey - the new James Bond is coming out. I can't resist a little Austin Powers impression.)

Then off to the patternmaker, Michael Bevins at 4 Seasons Fashion, right down the street from swag provider Gregory's Coffee to do some final pattern tweaks before being ready for grading and production.

In the past few days, I've gotten a lot of compliments and kudos from people really seeing the value of this line. But, being in a public forum, I've gotten a few critics on one specific question, and I'd like to address that.

Why don't you make higher than a size 24?
The implication in this question - actually it's been outright stated - is that I am becoming part of the problem that excludes plus size consumers greater than a size 24. Since I stop at a size 24, I suppose it's a valid accusation. However, it's unfair to lay the ills of an entire industry at the feet of one small designer simply because I'm accessible with a face and an email address. Succinctly, it becomes a financial decision that I had to make to have any solvency ever.

It took me 2 years to get this project up on Kickstarter, after years of just mulling it over in my head. I worked several jobs, didn't go out and play too much, and saved my money in order to pay for the development and initial launch of the line. I called in a lot of favors, but some things are still costly and set as a fee, such as use of people's factories or services. They in turn have spent money to keep their doors open, much in the same way that many of the indie boutiques Cabiria wants to be in are self financed and run with a very narrow margin of error.

Pattern development and fittings cost money. Each size that you add to a line adds development and grading costs to the line, which is why numbered sizes tend to fit truer than 1x, 2x, 3x, etc. But it's money, which I'm on Kickstarter to help supply.

a long article on grading and pricing

a long article on what's involved in developing a line with a patternmaker and samplemaker

Also, most brick and mortar plus size boutiques carry up to a 24. Yes, it perpetrates a difficult cycle, but why should a tiny business absorb more risk on top of all the inherent risks already in place? Again, I have a face so I am on the block, but there are LOTS of people with more money than I have who can take the financial risks and change the system. For instance, Marc Jacobs talking about having a plus line, but where is it? And Oscar de la Renta making "plus size" up to a 16. And Ralph Lauren saying they're using the first "plus size model (she's a 12)", when I clearly remember Guess? using Anna Nicole Smith at a size 16 in the 1980s and my dad showing it to me. Just three off the top of my head with much deeper pockets and false promises to the plus community.

I am one woman doing what I can within parameters that will allow slow and steady growth and survival. I am also very proud of trying to forge a path with a very unique line in beautiful fabrics and fabrications, and that's why I'm on Kickstarter.

All the best, Eden

Below are first fitting muslins for a master pattern, taken in 2010, when I first started working on this project.

Another Crazy Day of Goodness! (64% funded!)

Today was day 3 of the campaign. We are 64% funded, and gaining traction in the world outside my friends and family. Don't get me wrong, my friends and family are STUPENDOUS, but you can't build groundswell in a closed environment. What this means is that word is getting out in the Kickstarter world, Plus Size blogging world, people who want more fashion options, and people who believe in loving yourself and the body you're in today, and dressing well within it. I like this world!

Today has also brought some amazing attention. Marie Denee of The Curvy Fashionista, Gwen DeVoe of Full Figured Fashion Week, CeCe Olisa of The Big Girl Blog, and Patrice Grell Yursik of AfroBella Blog all shared word on their various social media platforms. Diana Rajchel of FatChic did an additional article about the Kickstarter campaign and featured the pitch video on her blog this evening, and I have a meeting with Aimee Cheshire of Madison Plus to show her the samples next week.

In the most fulsome press report to date, the blog Manolo For the Big Girl wrote an astoundingly great piece on Cabiria and on the Kickstarter push and I'm really honored that it's so good and, well, out there. I really felt like this was a writer got the message, and that's a thrill.

What an amazing adventure this is - scary because it's a whole new world of information and a very real deadline with real consequences, but thrilling because we should all be so lucky to learn so much and be supported by so many.

More posts coming soon! In the meantime I leave you with a photo from Cabiria's studio/ Kickstarter HQ. I'm sure they do it exactly the same way at PBS...

-Eden

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