Hello!

It's Thursday, which means new launches and my weekly email. If this is your first email from me, welcome! I'm Lola, the Studio Manager at Story mfg. What does that mean here? I'm responsible for our London Fields studio, so I make sure everything and everyone here is running happily, but I also lead any events or activations. I'm also here every day, which means I see everything that comes in and goes out of the studio - your orders, as well as new stock or samples from our manufacturing partners. So my little eyes see EVERYTHING! Which means I'm well equipped to spill the tea here on a Thursday. Think of this as a weekly tea-time catch-up together.

Thank you so much for all the love on the R.T.S pieces we launched last week! We have lots more incredible R.T.S pieces launching this season, so keep an eye out (next week, even, maybe...).

It Finally Feels Acceptable to Launch Knits

Wherever you are, I hope it's cooled down a bit like it has here in London, because it feels so good to be layering up again. And most importantly, we can finally start wearing knits again!

And what better way to celebrate the beginning of knit season.

3 Brew Hats, 4 Cardigans (in 3 styles), 2 Jumpers and 3 Twinsun Rollnecks.

The colours in these knits are especially gorgeous, even for us. I mean look at that blue! The pink is my personal #1. And our all-time favourite deep, hearty babul bark brown.

These are all new designs of familiar, favourite Story mfg. styles. Some speak for themselves, and others speak out to you with words of encouragement, hope, love, Mother Earth (of course) and tomatoes! Tomatoes are such a beautiful outcome of our planet - I'd highly recommend drawing tomatoes, it's super easy and so therapeutic. But I'd also recommend wearing tomatoes, because it's sweet and makes you feel great.

Our knits are, in my opinion, undeniably one of the best parts of Story mfg. The making of them involves everything that makes us us - they are all entirely made by hand, and with love, using 100% cotton yarn that is dyed using nature. The depth of colour and texture from the natural dye makes every single piece one-of-a-kind. You can really see, feel and smell the life in them! They're incredibly comfortable and warm but also breathable, which is why most of us here in the studio wear them pretty much all year round (at least anything below 25 degrees Celsius). No other brand does all of the above with knits, and we understand why. It is HARD and takes a lot of time, but when you put one on, the feeling is so special - you’ll understand why we do!

The mushrooms on the Checker Mush Brew Hat are from the first ever crochet hat we made back in AW19 (pre-covid!) before anyone else had done a crochet hat - so we’ve brought it back new and improved. The Mother Earth knit is also a very very old ‘archive’ style, in a new stripey colourway - the inspiration initially came from a Tee graphic that Saeed made a really long time ago. Small details make a big difference to us. There are some really lovely little details woven into these knits. The tomatoes on the arm of the cardigan are intarsia (knitted in) rather than a crochet piece sewn over and each of the corozo nut buttons on this knit is a different colour - just like tomatoes! The Good Luck Jumper has 2 little caterpillars with one hanging on the L, which is so cute.

The Shop is Closing Soon…. For Now

If you're in London, do pop by the shop if you can, because we've only got two weekends left! It was always intended to be a summer pop-up whilst it’s nice and warm (it gets quite cold here in the winter!). But we’ve loved it being open and it’s gone really well so we’re trying to figure out how we can keep it going in some way, shape or form. But I can’t promise anything so come by and say hello just incase! Especially with these knits we just launched, it's definitely worth coming to see, feel, smell and chat about them. I'll be here this Saturday and Sunday! Our address is:

Story mfg.
Arch 408 Ellingfort Road,
E8 3PA London

This summer has gone by so quickly, but we've already done lots in this new space of ours! So many amazing connections forged over workshops, lots of mending clubs, and ice cream.

I think I'll write a full debrief on the shop next week, as I'll be in India with Jessie (visiting our incredible manufacturing partners - my first time!), so I think I'll be in the mood for reflection. Plus, Katy and I will have planned out some more Mending Club dates. What do you think about a weekday evening Mending Club? I feel like it would be so special to do on a Thursday winter evening, all together, all cosy in the dome, perhaps with an alcoholic drink? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one!

If you have any questions, just reply straight to this email and I’ll get back to you!

Lola x