crowdfunduk

Pyjama Pajama - inspirational sleepwear for kids

A campaign run by Caroline Kendal - Miniwardrobe

 At the time of writing Caroline had achieved 87% of her £12,000 target. She has 92 backers so far. The campaign ends this Wednesday. In common with other near successful campaigns Caroline’s project is now receiving pledges from serial backers around the world.

 I asked Caroline about herself

“I started my career as a lawyer and then management consultant and then pursued my idea for a children’s clothing online marketplace.  It was as a consequence of working with a large number of brands across the full range of product categories that I noticed that sleepwear is simply not exciting enough in the childrenswear market, although it is the product item that children spend the longest time wearing each day”.

As a parent I agree with Caroline that sleepwear is pretty boring - especially for older boys. The rewards are good with discounts or free pyjamas. For £10 you receive 50% discount, for £15 you can receive a free set and for £100 - 10 sets plus you can vote for your favourite designs). In common with many crowdfunding campaigns the most popular reward level is £25 with 27 backers who receive two sets plus a vote on designs. Here is her campaign - have a look.

I asked Caroline what is special about her project

“As well as giving our customers and fans the final say as to which designs we manufacture by voting, we’re also inviting our designers to share in the success of their designs by sharing a percentage of sales of their designs with them.  In this way, we aim to encourage the best designers to come and work with us and to inspire them to put together the best artwork for our ranges”. 

Here are examples of designs for the pyjamas. At £20-£25 they are not the cheapest but competitive with other top end products.

I asked Caroline why she decided to crowdfund her range

“We wanted to test our ideas for our ranges before going into production to see whether there was an appetite for a new approach to sleepwear design and manufacturing.  Although crowdfunding comes with its challenges, the feedback we have had has been extremely encouraging”.

This of course is one of the strengths of crowdfunding - testing the market and building a dedicated customer base. Caroline’s 92+ backers are her first followers and will be behind her business from the start.

Finally I asked her for one tip for others thinking of Crowdfunding

“Plan your crowdfunding marketing campaign in full before you go live - down to templates for every email you plan to send out to your network.  If possible, make contact with creators of similar successfully funded projects to seek their tips and learn from their experiences.  We found other creators to be extremely helpful and willing to share their experiences but it would have been even more useful to have known what we discovered prior to launching our own campaign”.