New English Cufflinks blog

We have now moved over to our new site and included within it is our new Cufflinks blog!

We are also on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
....so we are now well and truly socially networked....! See you there I hope

New Website

We have just launched our new website which I hope will represent us in a way that our customers can relate to. It looks a lot more professional than our old one which hopefully will not detract from the 'human' element. I get slightly wary of over 'slick' websites as they tend to give the impression of there being nobody there...But we are here and we are human! (sort of)

Laser etched cufflinks

Laser etching is a process we are now using increasingly to transfer intricate designs to our cufflinks. Its a very accurate digital process which can not only reproduce extremely fine detail but also with the advent of more powerful machines etch very deeply into the metal.

It is particularly well suited to one-off bespoke designs.

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...