Bags of Blog

Has everyone else been totally hooked with new Netfilx Show - The Queen's Gambit?

We were enthralled from the first episode. Who'd have thought that watching so many games of chess could be so interesting. The style and the outfits were amazing as were the hotels - how cool were they?

It seems that chess mania may have taken over the country too if the sales of our new chess set are anything to go by. We hadn't quite predicted the popularity of the game when we designed the product back in April so we've had to get the workshop making more and more of them. 

We think Beth Harmon would have particularly loved the blush and navy version, which she could have slipped into her sleek handbag and kept with her at all times.

 

  

 

 

Lockdown Christmas seems to be the perfect time to play a game but if chess isn't your thing then we also have backgammon, playing cards and dominoes games to choose from!

We have a whole new collection of items in our "Games & Hobbies".

 

Wow what crazy times we have all been through in the last 5 months and our business has ridden the same roller-coaster too. 

We have learnt to adapt to these strange times which have seen us doing so many things in new ways.

• We have had photo shoots via Zoom with my photographer acting as both photographer and hand model.
  
  
• We took part in the Not on the High Street Father’s Day TV advert which meant filming our wallet ourselves which was inserted into the advert. This involved so many Zoom calls with art direction and the product team working with the ad agency and myself and then onto the person filming the product all in totally different locations.
  
  
• Our office learnt to adapt very quickly to comply to the Covid-19 procedures necessary to keep our team and customers safe. We’ve been working in shifts and in different spaces in the office with some of the team working from home. 
  
  
• We have seen sales of thoughtful personalised gifts increase and we’ve managed to stay on top of the orders getting them personalised and sent out in record times.

The whole Vida Vida team have been amazing and given 110% in keeping positive and generally being fantastic.

 

 

Product Photo Shoots "Isolation Style"

 

There Have However Been Some Casualties

We haven’t come out of this completely unscathed as, although our online sales have seen growth, our retail outlets have certainly felt the pressure.

It was with a sad and heavy heart that we had to close our store on Gabriel's Wharf and also our outlet on Portobello Road. Portobello Road was particularly special to us as it was where we first started back in August 2005. We had to review our business and realised that our strength had become online retailing and this was the area that we needed to focus our resources on.

Getting New Gift Ideas Ready For Christmas 2020?

We are now working hard on the final sampling of our new Christmas Gift ranges which again is happening virtually, with our workshops in India, photographers and with the team at Not On The High Street.

We are waiting for the last samples to arrive here this week and then we’ll be ready to shoot and give you a few sneak previews. We are focusing a lot on sport and leisure related products and gifts this year and have developed our cycling range as well as golf, tech and music.

We are really positive about the second half of the year and despite the difficult times that we will all continue to face we hope that other small businesses like ours can survive.

We have been happy to see that these times have reinforced people’s efforts to shop small and support small UK businesses and long may that continue.

A few months ago VidaVida were paid a visit by Good Homes Magazine to have a chat and take few photographs.  This was perhaps the one time that Matt happened to not be in one of his bright shirts and I was out-doing him on the clothing front.

You can read the full article about us and a number of other "independent creative couples" that were being featured as part of an article about romantic gifts available on Not On The High Street where we have a store.

This great shot of the two of us was taken outside our newest London store located in Gabriel's Wharf on the South Bank of the Thames.

 

 

In Cambodia, the new academic year has just started. This means thousands of children will enter one of the schools built by our ongoing charity partner, United World Schools (UWS), for the very first time.

The first day of school is always an exciting one. UWS allows thousands of previously out-of-school children to experience this excitement, and to receive an education that could change their lives. We are proud to support them with our ‘Bag for a Bag” initiative which means that for each bag we sell on our website we donate the funds for a school bag for a child in Cambodia.  This provides thousands of students with a school bag filled with all the stationery they need to participate in lessons.

School bags not only help students to take care of their books when they’re travelling to and from school, but they also play an important symbolic role. Since UWS students don’t wear a uniform, the bags help develop a school identity. Olivia, a UWS employee, recently visited the schools in Cambodia and saw first-hand just how treasured the bags are:

"Before the new school had even been opened, the children were proudly wearing their new school bags, even though there was nothing in them. For many of them, this bag signifies so much more than simply a school bag; it will be their first true possession and something which unites them.”

By purchasing a bag from Vida Vida, you’re helping to educate some of the world’s poorest and most marginalised children and for that we thank each one of you as do the lovely kids.

 

At Vida Vida we LOVE a good backpack and the recent surge in stylish leather bags you can wear comfortably on your back has increased as more and more of us take to walking or cycling to get around.  Here we introduce our diverse range...

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