May 2026 Update
I’m determined not to miss this month’s Substack, so I’m doing it EARLY. That means you’ll be getting this one not long after the last, but it’s another short-ish one, I promise!
Firstly, the new London store is OPEN and in full swing. We had a lovely opening party, and a wonderful opening weekend. I know brands don’t talk about money openly, but we aren’t really a brand. I don’t know what we are tbh. Anyway, we sold more in a couple of days here than I think we did in months in our spot in Brighton, and I don’t think it was just opening weekend hype. So many people came in who didn’t know us. It isn’t a king’s ransom, but it’s certainly enough to feel like we did the right thing. A LOT of effort was put in, new staff hired, and the small stuff was really sweated over.
If you come in, it’ll be me, Katy, Lola, Bouch or Emma you see. If you bring us flowers, you get 20% off. I just made that up, but unless and until I come back and delete this sentence, it stands.
Workshops
As part of the space, we are hosting workshops and clubs. The first was a tea thing, and the next is ‘Mending Club’, which will be once a month for the summer. The first two dates for the Mending Club are sold out, but I’ll put some more up in a couple of weeks for the following months, and we’ll hopefully have some other guest clubs going on too. We’re trying our best to keep these social things free or cheap. If you have a skill you’d like to share with others we’d love to hear from you.
Thai ‘Artist Series’ Capsule
This launches this week, Thursday 21st May. Last year it was the surprise hit, and sold out almost right away. Giving you all plenty of warning here because I know how much we have, and how much people love this stuff. It’ll go FAST, so please be ready if you want it, and out of politeness please do as much size-working-out beforehand as you can, and try not to buy two sizes and return one. As much as I understand that behaviour, and know stores with much better margins than ours encourage it, for a small brand like us it costs dearly, and we don’t get the costs back for packing, shipping etc.
Jessie shot these bits with Ming again this time round, and here’s a sneak peek.
It’s a little selection where the fabric was designed by the weavers, not us, sometimes decades earlier.
Indigo Wobbly Waffle
These aren’t ‘new in’ but I do think it’s good to highlight them. A couple of years ago they’d sell out in moments, so we made more and I think basically we didn’t do a big shout-out. They’re unreal - I wear one at least once a week.
R.T.S. Bombers
A lot of the time it feels like we’re a band putting out albums, one after the other, to different receptions. We’ll have some massive hits, then some experimental projects that confuse everyone (but become cult favourites long after they’re gone). At the moment it feels like all we’re doing is releasing hits, which feels great (but don’t worry, we’ve got some ‘what the hell are they doing?’ on the way).
These bombers already launched and we’re sold out of loads of sizes. I know because I always secretly hope the one I want from a thing won’t sell as fast so I can take it myself, but no luck.
R.T.S. has come a long way and it’s at a point now where it could stand on its own as a brand really. I sometimes fantasise about doing what Stephen King did, and releasing a brand under a pen name to see how far it gets on its own. If youre reading this and dont know what R.T.S. is click here.
WIP
Here’s a little image dump of some bits we’re working on in the badge-patch-and-button department.