Postal Strike - who wins?

It looks as if a postal strike is inevitable later this week. Who is going to be the beneficiary of such an action? The postmen? I doubt it. In the short term they will lose out financially and in the long term this could mark the end of the Royal Mail. The public? er...no. They get no post (but also no junk mail so that's a plus I suppose). Royal Mail's customers? (that includes us here at English Cufflinks) definitely not. We have already seen a drop in business due to customers not having the confidence that their order will arrive on time. If the strike goes ahead this can only get worse. We are actually putting in place an alternative delivery method which should be quicker than the existing post, but more expensive. Incidentally we will be unlikely to change back to Royal Mail. We will lose sales nevertheless as people will be less likely to even embark on an online shopping trip. Personally I blame privatisation. You can't expect to have a service that works economically for everyone if all the more profitable parts have already been sold off.

Cycling Cufflinks

These silver cycling cufflinks are proving so popular that we are not finding as much time to go cycling as we would like. Too busy making the cufflinks

Trust - its a beautiful thing

For an 'ecommerce store' (hate that phrase)we have a great deal of contact with the public on a one to one level. Our customers like to phone or email to discuss cufflink designs (and deadlines)and we like it too. It makes the whole process of distance selling more personal. The thing is that we are all told what a terrible place the world is, full of crooks and scoundrels ready to pounce on any weakness. Well this does'nt square with our experience. Virtually without exception our customers seem polite, understanding, discerning (obviously)and loyal. No really its true! ...

Dress Down Friday? - I don't think so

You remember 'Dress Down Friday' when city types lounged about in chinos and open necked shirts at the end of the week because, well, there wasn't that much to do and besides if a client called then they would just have to hang on until Monday? Well there is a theory that in today's harsher climate, the city types that remain have sharpened up their act. Clients have been put on the endangered species list. They are fought over by sharply dressed professionals once again. Business is booming here at English Cufflinks. Sales are up and so are commissions for hand engraved and one-off custom cufflinks so perhaps 'Dress Down Friday' has been postponed for now.

Our New Toy

We have a new toy which enables us to mechanically etch an image directly onto silver or gold cufflinks, which means we can transfer anything from a doodle on an envelope to a high resolution photo. The results are stunningly accurate and can also be used for engraving of any font. This does not replace beautiful hand engraved cufflinks but for some of the more contemporary angular fonts it has its place...

The Tail Wagging the Dog

Its the new year and usually we get a bit of a lull; time to recharge and step back to re-evaluate the direction of English Cufflinks for the next twelve months and beyond.... but not so. We have been so busy this January with one-off bespoke commissions and a surprising number of corporate designs for new product launches and conventions on both sides of the Atlantic that we have'nt had a moment to spare. I must'nt grumble I suppose; against the backdrop of financial pundits predicting a poor year its a great start - it just has a slight feeling of the tail wagging the dog.

The photo by the way is an example of Laser Etching - a very versatile way of transfering detailed artwork into the polished surface of gold or silver

Self Branding

We are making many many pairs of initial cufflinks at present, mostly in silver but a few in white gold, yellow gold and platinum.
Personalisation continues to be a really important part of peoples identity - a way of saying 'this is me'.
We are awash with mass produced items which are the same wherever we shop around the globe. Words like 'bespoke', 'handmade', 'one-off' and 'individual' are a refreshing antidote to all that is faceless and bland. And as for paying to display big companies logos for them (on our t-shirts and bags) - don't start me off!
Luckily there are plenty of individuals out there happy to put their trust in us to come up with designs that express just that - individuality.
...and for that I am genuinely grateful

Personal Taste

Its great to be creating one-offs this week in a number of different forms showing yet again how important it is to put one's mark on the world. English cufflinks are just the messengers in most cases as customers ask for all manner of messages, dates, names and initials to be engraved on our cufflinks. Long live personalisation - the antidote to drab uniformity!