Archive for July, 2007

WordPress T-Shirts

Published by Alex 9 months, 3 weeks ago in Clients and News. 23 Comments

WordPress Model Shot

Matt (Indigo’s new lead web developer) and I have been working hard with the great guys over at Automattic, to produce a fully bespoke e-commerce website, hosted on Indigo’s servers, to sell WordPress apparel and merchandise.

San Francisco based, Automattic are the creators of the open-source WordPress blogging platform (available for free), one of the post popular blogging software packages in the world, with over one million blogs hosted on WordPress.com alone. Indigo are handling all aspects of their merchandise project including screen printing, fulfilment, distribution and customer service, and even shooting the model photographs (above)!

There are two styles of shirt, mens and womens, screen printed in one colour, on American Apparel garments. Automattic identified the American Apparel brand as the apparel of choice due to their excellent fit, ethical credentials and consumer awareness of the brand’s quality.

In effect Indigo has built two stores; one for North and South American customers, with pricing in US dollars and one for international customers, with pricing in GB pounds.

Indigo’s first major project in the United States and we are using some sophisticated order management programming to send the Americas store order details (once payment has been verified by PayPal) to either Chicago or Los Angeles based distribution centres (managed by Shipwire), depending on where the customer is based, to save on customer shipping charges. Indigo also has implemented a dedicated toll free telephone number (1-800-293-9693) to handle US customer enquiries. International orders are shipped from London.

This project has been tremendous fun and highlights our desire to provide dedicated solutions for clients rather than just shipping a box of printed t-shirts to a customer’s office. We have always been big fans of WordPress, it the software that has been powering our own blog for over three years, so it is great to give something back to the people that originally built it. So, please, buy a WordPress t-shirt, support their great software. Prices are a very reasonable 17 USD, or 9.50 GBP, for either style of tee.

An office of blondes

Published by Jo 9 months, 3 weeks ago in News. 0 Comments

We often find ourselves in confusing situations in the Indigo office, and I’m sure this stems from the natural and peroxide enhanced locks that grace the 8th floor of Bucklersbury House daily! Lainey announced today that she ate between 50 and 60 tomatoes last night in one sitting. She then claimed this was the reason for her lack of sleep last night and dizziness today!

We do seem to have an above average amount of ‘blonde moments’. I’ll be sure to keep a note of any for your amusement purposes. Some classics include:

I dont like to walk on pavements, i generally walk in the middle of the road.

I have only used a washing machine once

The plant next to me is talking (this went on for a few weeks, only to found out it was the lift noise through the wall)

Even Alex has his blonde moments…. “Theres a lot of Pauls in this industry, Paul X, Paul Y and Steve”

Vic and the Old Vic

Published by Alex 9 months, 4 weeks ago in Client Services Team and Clients. 0 Comments

Old Vic

The Old Vic near Waterloo station in London is one of the cities most famous theatres:

The theatre was founded in 1818 by the actor William Barrymore as the Royal Coburg Theatre. In 1833 it was renamed the Royal Victorian Theatre after the heir to the throne Princess Victoria. In 1880, under the ownership of Emma Cons, it became The Royal Victoria Hall And Coffee Tavern and was run on “strict temperance lines”; by this time it was already known as the “Old Vic”. 

Source: http://www.oldvictheatre.co.uk/theatre-history.htm 

Vicky (aka Vic), the youngest member of the Indigo Clothing client services team, who is sadly leaving us on Friday so she can have a break before continuing her studies at the University of Brighton, recently helped the Old Vic with their promotional clothing order. The irony wasn’t lost on us!

The White Shirt

Published by Alex 9 months, 4 weeks ago in Alex's Thoughts. 0 Comments

White Shirt

The white shirt, a timeless classic as far as modern clothing is concerned, and whilst the quotes below from the Financial Times (that well known fashion publication) are a few years old there is still so much truth in them:

“A few years ago white shirts were associated with uniforms, and so pale blue and pink were very popular - but now they’re making a come back,” says Chris Modoo of Ede & Ravenscroft.

At Paul Smith, white shirts have sequins, and even ruffles and sequins. “They can be worn scruffy or smart, in poplin or in voile, slim or baggy - the effect is both relaxed and sophisticated,” says Sir Paul. “A white shirt is the perfect summer shirt.”

There is something essentially honest and sincere about white, especially when worn with a simple, dark tie. “White shirts are for a man what a little black dress is for a woman,” says Angelo Galasso of Italian design house Interno8.

Source: In Praise of White Shirts, Simon Brooke, June 11th 2004, FT.com

Indigo Clothing offers a large range of shirts which are ideal for embroidery when a polo shirt is just not smart enough. Perfect for staff uniforms, bar staff (even though they tend to like black as black shirts conceal many sins), trade shows and even casual wear?

You don’t come to London for the weather…

Published by Alex 10 months, 1 week ago in Clients, London and News. 0 Comments

White Rider


…so said an Aussie music fan called Matt Attlee at his web developer job interview. We practically hired him on the spot - clearly an astute observer of the Met Office reports and ex-pat clichés.

We welcome Matt to the team, who is busy coding a t-shirt store for a high profile client, who we shall announce shortly.

In other news, it was a massive weekend of sport in the UK. Commiserations to the Bryan Brothers, the American tennis doubles players who lost out in the Wimbledon finals. Indigo embroidered their shirts again this year. The Tour de France was also in town and some of the team went to watch the Prologue around Hyde Park (photos). Luckily the sun finally came out!

Green Supermarket

Published by Alex 10 months, 1 week ago in Ethical. 1 Comment

Online grocery shopping is getting the green touch according to the latest newsletter from Ocado (Ocado.com is an online supermarket in partnership with Waitrose which delivers quality groceries to your home). I quote:

“There are so many reasons why shopping at Ocado is the greener option. Each of our vans run on a blend of biodiesel and keeps up to 20 customers off the road, reducing emissions and reducing traffic in your area.

And you can help even further. If we’re already delivering to someone in your neighbourhood we’ll show you a green van icon on the slot booking page. Choosing our unique ‘Green Van’ delivery slot means you’ll feel warm inside, we’ll feel warm inside and the world will carry on being a cool place to live.

Also remember that we deliver direct from a purpose-built fulfilment centre, rather than from a supermarket. If everyone shopped this way we would eliminate the carbon emissions from traditional stores, remove heavy goods vehicles from urban areas and free up precious land.

Did you know?
We are also in the process of changing our carrier bags. They will soon be biodegradable, made with recycled plastic, so once you’ve finished using them you can recycle them or hand them back to your Ocado driver for recycling.”

Nice to see businesses taking action rather than ‘greenwashing’.

Higher Higher

Published by Alex 10 months, 1 week ago in Websites. 0 Comments

Higher Higher

Saw this new standard competition winner tee on Threadless’s latest newsletter and thought it was v. fun!