What a year!
Not sure where 2018 has gone but it really flew by! What an incredible year it was for Black Heart and we are entering 2019 on a high!
Final year studies at university had to take a bit of a back seat as the second half of 2018 was incredibly busy for Black Heart. When I launched the brand last August I thought things would just tick along until I had completed my degree but the growth and popularity has been unbelievable. I’ve had to get to grips with range planning, stock control and forecasting and spent lots of time creating and testing new products for 2019 – it's just so exciting!
The wait for new products after the long sampling and testing period is agonising though, I just want to get the products online for you all to see straight away. In addition to running Black Heart - I have my own three horses to ride and train - it’s been ages since I have been out competing but hopefully will get on it in the new year. Sonny is back from injury and very nearly ready for his Grand Prix debut this year!
Our first Horse of the Year Show went really well with my friends Eby and Aela along to help. It was great fun and we made some good friendships with other stall holders. We had a big stall and definitely improved our presentation since our last (first) show at Olympia last year. Our brand new Sculpture leggings in particular went down a storm! Then after HOYS we popped along last minute to Your Horse Live. It was another great show for us and opportunity to meet and get feedback from customers. We fully sold out of some sizes and colours of Flex and Sculpture leggings but thankfully we have a restock and even more colours coming in the next few months! Our last show of 2018 was the incredible Olympia International horse show. This is one of my favourite shows, however the night before we left for the build-up of our stall, I managed to spend the night in A&E with a broken big toe from dropping a 25kg weight on my foot in the gym! Not my finest hour I must admit and the week at Olympia suddenly seemed rather daunting but thankfully I had my best friends Lucinda and Eby and my mum to help out, otherwise I would’ve seriously struggled.
Our Signature Breeches have been an incredibly popular item since we launched them in the summertime with Mulberry pretty much being sold out since September and down to the last few in black full seat silicone. Excitingly, we launched our range of Fleurie Breeches just before Olympia and they went down a treat - these are a slightly different design to the Signature Breeches but equally as good! We have changed the size labelling into 8, 10, 12 etc to help customers find their right size easier. We’ve started off with the brand new colour of Chocolate then in the next few months we have more arriving including our favourite of Mulberry! We have listened to everyone and yes, we will have FULL SEAT silicone and KNEE GRIP silicone in all colours!
We named the new breeches after my former European Team horse Fleurie who sadly passed away in 2018. She was the most beautiful and elegant mare and essentially started my career off in junior & young riders after transitioning from ponies! So it felt very fitting to honour her memory and name our gorgeous new breeches after her.
A new product we also launched before Christmas was our new full zip hoodies and half zip sweatshirts - these are amazing and my ‘go to’ every single day, and thankfully it seems you guys agree, these have been so popular and we have had to restock some sizes already.
Our logo sweatshirt and joggers arrived too as a nice Christmas surprise. They are totally unique and super cosy and soft perfect for lounging around and keeping warm this winter.
Last but by no means least, we launched our incredibly sought after horsewear collection! We have worked for months to develop a unique design that is high quality and very specific to us as a brand. I even had to ride in a GP saddle to test the jumping shape, totally strange for a dressage girl like me! These sold out within days both online and at Olympia so a restock is on the cards plus new colours… Watch this space guys!
Thank you for all the support and feedback, I am incredibly grateful. We have lots more exciting things to come in 2019!
Love from,
Erin x
