Summer at Lake Leather
Well, geewhiz! Hasn’t the season come upon us quickly?! Can you believe we are in summer already? The spring has been long and mild with some early hot days, a promise of a good hot summer to come. Lake Leather’s back garden is looking glorious, full of fresh blooms and fruit setting on the vines and in the orchard. We have our new summer range in-store at Lake Leather - summer shoes; strappy shoes, lace-up shoes, sandals, flats, pumps and more. I can’t wait now for Christmas and the promise of some days off to sit and relax out there. I’m not normally into wishing the year away, but 2020 has been a bit of a tough one to bear for all of us!
Keep your eyes peeled for our new adverts on your TV screens soon; some scenes were filmed out there in our beautiful back garden. We had a lot of fun filming that day. We shot three stories that tie together, telling a story about getting ready for Pa’s birthday. In one we were able to focus on our expanding homewares range; look for the hides, skins and cushions, leather-bound vases and more. We also have two separate ads focusing on ladieswear and menswear. The catalyst behind this epic ad set was to get my dad in to one of Lake Leather’s adverts; he plays ‘Pa’. He has been gently badgering me for two years to get him in one, and it was a chance to get our gorgeous staff in an advert too.
Dad had a great day, as did we all. We sourced all of our outside items from other local businesses; flowers from a florist in our village ‘Flowers by Lace’, our cake from local café (and my favourite brekky spot) Feast in Perth. We love collaborations with other local businesses, keeping the small business love alive. Keep your eyes peeled for the new ads that will be hitting your TV screens soon.
The fine weather has allowed us to undertake some major works on our beautiful heritage building. The Evandale shop building was constructed in 1840 and has loads of character, but with the charms of an old building come the problems, too. The leaks have come in from all sorts of places over the years, and we have had some pretty epic floods from time to time. We have patched and plugged and bogged and emptied buckets of silicone into holes and gaps to try to stem the flow, but it is finally time to bite the bullet.
The old roof is coming off and being replaced by a perfect new one. Underneath the old tin we have found the original wooden shingles from 1840 in some places, it was such a treat to find these original features hidden away for all those years. The shop is currently not looking itself, surrounded by scaffolding, but we are open to the public just like normal. Come in and visit us 7 days a week.
The nice weather means we are in full summer swing in-store now, too. Our summer shoes are in at Lake Leather and look fabulous; strappy shoes, lace-up shoes, sandals, flats, pumps etc. We are excited about the season to come after a tumultuous year to date. Like everybody, we have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Not just our shutdown earlier in the year, but with many cancellations and late deliveries because of effects on production all around the world. It has been all too easy to forget that although Tasmania has felt pretty much normal, the rest of the world has not been so lucky. Many lines have been cancelled so we have been busy finding new brands and items to fill the gaps. We are excited to be getting some lovely new clothing arriving soon featuring soft colours, loose fits and beautiful fabrics, including silk and linen items made in Italy. It is on its way for summer, so keep an eye out for these when they drop.
We have kept ourselves busy this year with lots of new things; working on new patterns and ideas. We are always trying to keep expanding the range of goodies we make onsite. Our new baby booties have been quite a hit in-store so far. We have developed a pattern for a scrummy hot water bottle cover in sheepskin and are working on some more patterns for little people in the finest lamb slinks from New Zealand; think lambskin hats, vests and more.
One major new endeavour we have embarked upon has been to start making sheepskin slippers onsite. The road to slipper making has been a rocky one so far. Every time we have taken a step forward it seems we have had to take two steps back. From it simply being harder than we hoped and not being able to get assistance from our experienced friends in Melbourne, to issues with the supply of components due to Covid delays, to the catastrophic breakdown and subsequent replacement of one of our sewing machines, it has been a toughy so far. Our new sewing machine is definitely a bit flashier than the vintage number we inherited when we purchased the machinery (which was considerably older than me!) and it’s certainly easier to control. It does the job brilliantly and we are happy to have invested in it. We are back in business and are very pleased to be so. Keep an eye on LL’s social media and like The Tasmanian Slipper Company pages on Facebook and Instagram to follow us for updates on our production and the other new beautiful sheepskin items we are working on.
Here at Lake Leather, we have mixed feelings about the opening of the borders, letting folk back into Tassie. We are very pleased to welcome visitors back to the state, meeting new people and hearing about their adventures. We just hope that the state remains safe and Covid-free. The lockdowns endured throughout the year to keep the virus under control have been hard. We have hope in our hearts blossoming like the garden that as we head into the warm weather, with news of successful vaccines on the horizon that the summer will be good for all of us, and the coming new year will mean a new start for everyone!
Until next time xx
