Dear friends and customers throughout the years: Herringbone is moving and transferring the business to Sweden. You will in the future be able to find us and contact us at Herringbone.se – of course we would love to keep serving you in the future. Thanks to Skype, Facetime, and digital communication – you would not notice the difference.

See you in the next chapter from/on the other side.

All the best for the future,

Johanna C. Nilsson

About a year ago I met graphic designer and illustrator Kimberle Schwede, at Internations San Francisco. We recently reconnected and she sent me a message over facebook, sharing that she was starting a new local chapter of CRAVE, and asked if I would be interested in being a speaker at the first event?  CRAVE is a member organization with a collection of innovative shops and businesses created by women. The CRAVEfuel event would have the title Freakout Moments – inspired by Halloween.

My immediate response was: “Yes! Which freakout moment should I shoes?” – associated misspelling, having all the shoe stories from the last years entrepreneurial journey in my mind.

The event last night was in a small intimate setting at NextSpace Portrero Hill in San Francisco.  We were three speakers covering the topic, and all 12 participants got a chance to share what is going on in their life, what they could need help with, and receive feedback and support from all.

The three ‘freakout moments’  leading to the key lessons learnt that I had chosen to share during my 10 minutes were:

1. Taking over running a shoe business without even a shoe string budget
2. Spending the time of the photo shoot at the police office
3. Shoe theft makes it to the media 

The bottom line take away was to turn things around and disconnect from the fear of failure. A topic I could easily expand to a much longer presentation.

And as a successful entrepreneur and investor told me in a conversation last week-end:

“You always realize once you have gone through something, that you needed the experience.”
Calum Smeaton, CEO TV Squared

I do know, that all of this have served me in many ways, and prepared me for what will come. Would I do it again, had I known what it would entail? Probably not. Do I regret it? Absolutely not.

When putting together the slides for the CRAVE fuel presentation, I smiled, as I suddenly realized what I could use the photos from the last photo shoot to. Half a year ago photographer Steven Gregory  reached out to me and said: “Johanna, I have this vision of a photo of you covered with shoes.” As I was pairing up all the 110 shoes and boxes in my living room after the One Year Anniversary Shoe Exhibition and pop-up store at Dolce Amore Art Gallery and Cafe, I took a photo of the scene and sent him with the message: “If you still want to take that photo – now is the time!”.

Later that afternoon the boxes were neatly put together, and Steven came over with all his gear for the shoot. It was inspired by the photo of Whoopi Goldberg, peering out of a bathtub filled with milk by Annie Leibovitz . We were playing around and Steven asked for different expressions and actions, and all the time when doing it, I was thinking “and what can I possibly use this for? Appropriately.” This was the time.

AND… now I just learnt that Whoopi herself has size 11 in shoes! There might be another reason… If you know Whoopi, or anyone with hard to find size 10-12 in shoes: please let them know about www.llxllq.com – larger size Italian handmade shoes! It is a shoe heaven for women who have had difficulties finding shoes. And it has been created with love by Lucia Lucka Klansek, and launched with determination no-matter what by signed, and supported by wonderful co-creators and collaborators to make them known and available for those who do need them.

To all of our successes and confident filling of big shoes – literarily and metaphorically!  

Johanna

Although it is no news that there are quite a few technology companies from the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, I didn’t know that there are so many focused on fashion.

At the SF Fashion+Tech event during fashion week I had the opportunity to discover some fashion start-ups and here are a few of my favorites:

On Copious you can sell those Jimmy Choo stilettos you never wear or all your handbags that just sit in your closet. You can also discover all the items other fashionistas are listing — both used and new. Copious is using social tools, and users can love each others’ listings, tweet items and follow people they like. Of course LLXLLQ is on Copious.

Vishal and his team at raf9 have a platform coming up that lets everybody create their own fashion channel. Keep an eye out for upcoming fashion and style channels from models, designers and fashion people.

SNOBSWAP makes high-end designer items available to everyone. By using their platform you can buy, sell, and/or swap luxury clothing, handbags, shoes and accessories. Feeling guilty after all your glamorous shopping? Put your conscience at ease by donating a thing or two to charity through SNOBSWAP.

Stay stylish!

Anna
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It’s been a busy summer; not only with the Euro Cup 2012, the Olympics and Paralympics, and the Mars landing, but also here around the office. It’s been a summer full of shoes as we started working with wonderful Lucia and her stylish shoe brand LLXLLQ. If you haven’t already, check them out here or read my blog post on them.

Now with the change of the season, I decided to make a new Spotify playlist. For a smoother transition I tried not to make it too dark and dusky. Don’t miss out on some colorful songs and access it now. No risk of fall melancholia!

According to Billboard, the No. 1 song of the summer of 2012 is “Call Me Maybe” by Canadian Carly Rae Jepsen. Thinking that you probably have heard it over and over this summer, it is not in the playlist (You’re welcome!). Instead, here are some fun covers and parodies for you:

Harvard Baseball (16,048,367 views):

Laina Walker a.k.a. the Overly Attached Girlfriend (17,221,174 views):

Pomona High School Staff (7,835 views):

Romney and Obama (530,341 views):

Happy Fall!

Anna
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That’s all from me today. I’ll let the presentation speak for itself. Enjoy!

Anna
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  Every marketing girl’s biggest dream recently came true at our office – our new client is a shoe brand! Not only are they stylish and offers high quality – they also serve a niche market of women that have been neglected both beautiful and comfortable shoes in their sizes.

We’re all very excited to promote and work with LLXLLQ, which is a new shoe brand with it’s own online store, www.llxllq.com, offering fashionable, Italian-crafted women’s shoes sized 10-12. The launch collection of 48 unique models are made by the same manufacturers that have created shoes for brands such as Prada, Gucci and Versace.

Lucia holding a “Violet” in Suede Avio & Blue

Founder and designer Lucia Lucka Klansek, who herself wears size 12 shoes, had struggled her whole life to find both beautiful and comfortable shoes in her size. Discovering that it was nearly impossible to find a wide selection of fashionable footwear in one place, she was inspired to travel to Italy—the Mecca of high quality and well-designed shoes—to find a solution to her problem and help other women in her situation. It is Lucia’s goal to make her shoes widely available to women all over the world.

Lucia, a beautiful woman who is often mistaken for Meryl Streep, comes from a family of entrepreneurs and has started successful companies, such as Nektar and E4B, in both the US and her home country Slovenia. LLXLLQ is her newest venture and stands for the following:

LL  LUCIA LUCKA
X    BIGGER SIZES
Q    GREATER EXTENDED QUALITY

Seven shoe models in the launch collection are designed by Daniele Ancarani, and made in Spain. Daniele Ancarani is an Italian women’s shoe designer, famous for his blend of sophisticated simplicity and fundamental balance. He has several boutiques in Italy carrying his own brand of gorgeous shoes.

The other day the Herringbone team went to the LLXLLQ storage in Palo Alto to check out the summer 2012 collection consisting of flats, heels, and sandals. For a size 7½ girl like me it was rather shoe hell than heaven to be surrounded by so many beautiful and chic shoes and not be able to try them on. Johanna, a proud size 10, confirms that they are not only pleasing to the eye but comfortable. “Wow, anyone who gets the chance to try these shoes on will be a lifetime customer” said Johanna and left with a pair of “Mai” in bright orange – the top trend color of summer 2012. If you want to be as fashionable as her, get yours here.

Johanna’s orange “Mai” to the left

To celebrate the launch and honor women with larger feet LLXLLQ is offering 20% off on all shoes. Don’t wait too long to give yourself a beautiful summer treat – the offer is only valid until the end of August 2012. Use the promo code SUMMER12 at checkout. Did I mention that shipping within the US is free?

Ladies, Stand Tall, in Style!

Anna
>

By the way… make sure you don’t miss out on any news from LLXLLQ.
Follow them here:

LLXLLQ Facebook
LLXLLQ Twitter
LLXLLQ YouTube
LLXLLQ Pinterest
LLXLLQ Instagram

Herringbone needs your help. We have entered a contest to win a $250,000 small business grant from Chase Bank, which we desperately need to develop the Herringbone solution and create the impact of positive change that we envision.

To get us closer to winning $250,000 and be considered as a finalist, we need 250 votes. Will you help us reach our goal?

If we won this money, we would hire the key people and develop our services and solution. This economy needs productive companies that grow. Please help us do just that!

If you’d like more information about Mission: Small Business℠, here is the link to the press release announcing the program.

Will you please share this email with your networks? Our votes can come from anywhere, and every one counts.

Thank you so much in advance for your support! It is felt and much appreciated!
Happy Midsummer!
Johanna & Team

Instructions for voting:
1. Go to this page: https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/

2. Login. (It’s easiest to use your FB account.)

3. Search for ‘Herringbone’ in San Francisco, CA.

4. Vote for us!

5. Bonus: Share this on Facebook and Twitter with #ChasetheBone

Until then, a sparkling Spotify playlist for you –March Madness– to enjoy whether you are tidying and organizing or outside enjoying the sunshine. What is your favorite spring activity?

 Happy listening!

 Anna

        ><(((°>

Here’s for you that needs to get into the right Valentine’s Day spririt, or for you who just want some sweet love tunes: A Valentine’s Day Spotify Playlist put together by the Herringbone team.

 Happy listening!

 Anna

        ><(((°>

Music moves. And music lasts. Memories ingrain. If you were to choose one song to represent your personal or professional brand right now, which one would it be? Which song would you have us singing or dancing to? Which emotion would you want to give us?

Last week Google invited all its employees and their one guest to attend the new Cirque du Soleil show, Michael Jackson the Immortal World Tour, at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. It was a fantastic show; at times breathtaking and at some level deeply moving.

I was lucky to be invited. Our soon to be Herringbone team member was also there. I welcomed her to the “Herringbone team building event” and she laughed. For the moment we are riding on the wave, it will take at least a couple of years for us to rent the Oracle Arena.  The question is: which artist will we choose then?

Right now, we are jamming with Michael Jackson, visualizing ‘impossible things’, like performed by Cirque du Soleil. Join the ride!

Here is a link to the Herringbone Spotify Michael Jackson Immortal playlist.

Enjoy,
Johanna