2010 for Celtic Sheepskin. What a year it’s been!

As 2010 draws to a close I thought I’d pull together a few interesting facts about the year as seen by Celtic Sheepskin….

* In 2010 we sold so many boots that we are taking on more manufacturing staff in January to train and therefore increase our output.

* Our top selling jumper was the Box Cardi and the slouch styles combined, which were interestingly enough all worn in our catalogue by our new brunette model who travelled to our shoot from the USA.

* This year saw the first time that Celtic Sheepskin produced TWO catalogues in autumn/winter, sending a total of 2,200,000 autumn winter catalogues. The front covers featured a new Hooded Toscana Cape on one and a new Super Chunky Cashmere Jumper on the second version, both of which have since sold out.

* 2010 saw the birth of the director’s puppy Alfie, a few months ahead of their 20-year milestone owning Celtic Sheepskin. This year we’ve also expanded into a second premises, splitting up to form a separate factory and warehouse.

* This year Prince Charles launched the Campaign For Wool, which led to a flock of yellow sheep at Selfridges. Celtic Sheepskin is proud to join the campaign, promoting the use of natural wool in fashion.

* 2010 was the first year to bring in three female models to the autumn winter 2010 catalogue. This year the autumn winter range expanded to include over 50 new knitwear pieces and 14 new sheepskin outerwear, not to mention the vast increase in sheepskin garments and woollen accessories.

* Celebrities who have purchased Celtic Sheepskin this year include: Amanda Holden, Tess Daley, Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci, Kirsten Scott Thomas, Loui Batley, Daniel Radcliff, Julia Bradbury, Rod Stewart & Penny Lancaster, Danielle Lloyd and Jamie O’Hara. We’ve even sent some items to royal addresses!

* And finally this year we commenced a new position at the company of an in-house Garment Technologist, which saw the appointment of Tracy Hoggarth in September.


So all in all, we’ve rather enjoyed the couple of days break between Christmas and New Year. Not that we stopped for long mind, as our factory shop re-opened on bank holiday Tuesday! A big THANK YOU goes out to all the team here at Celtic Sheepskin, not to mention our lovely customers. Without you, it just wouldn’t have been worth the effort. So thank you and we hope you’ve all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas, and are able to make the most of the New Year celebrations.

Happy Christmas!

It’s Thursday 23rd December and boy are we excited at Celtic Sheepskin. So excited I thought I’d keep today’s blog post short and very, very funny.

I was sent a Christmas card off a friend who was snowed in for almost a week, and it made me laugh so much I thought I’d replicate for you now. I couldn’t get the directors to sing in a Christmas card, but they were more than happy to put our “heads” together.

May I present the cast (that’s me on the end by the way)…

And with a little help from “Elf Yourself” we’ve added a little Cornish surfing to our Christmas post. Just click on the image below and wait to be dazzled!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/9U1v3rLCahLVSvBD

You DONT need to click "download", just wait for the video to appear and enjoy!

A time to spend with family...

Isn’t it lovely when the edges on your sister’s lips turn up and her eyes begin to glisten just because of a gift that you found to “suit her perfectly”. In fact picturing such a scene on Christmas Day is getting easier as it gets ever closer, and with a list of family and friends gatherings already under my belt, I’m getting ever so excited now!

Celtic Sheepskin puts family in the highest regard, with the managing husband and wife team, Nick and Kath Whitworth at the helm. Their two children Mike and Clare are also often found helping out, not to mention the other family connections working here which includes myself as my lovely mum works in the accounts office. It was only last week when I realised just how special a “family company” can be when one of our telesales staff who is married to one of our gluers brought in their beautiful baby girl for all to see. Oh, she’s so cute…

-Apparently Shelby was supposed to be playing Jingle Bells, not eating them!

With a family theme in mind, we’ve still a great many items suitable for everyone, you’ve just got to be quick to order them in time for Christmas as the last delivery date posting within England and Wales is tomorrow!

So here’s my favourite family gifts that you can still grab in time for Christmas…

Merry Christmas!

High Street versus Designer. Saving £5053 with celtic Sheepskin pieces that are in stock now

Christmas is just around the corner and boy are we getting excited at Celtic Sheepskin! Our shelves have been almost ripped bare for all the Christmas orders received these past 6 weeks, but there are still a few gems left to snap up in time for Christmas. Remember, the last UK delivery can be ordered from us on 23rd December, if you make sure you request a next day delivery service. It is quite unique to be able to order online so close to Christmas, but please be warned that the weather is interrupting postal services up and down the country, so it’s definitely worth ordering sooner rather than later, just to be safe.

So what’s still in stock to order for Christmas I hear you cry! And how on earth could that lead me to saving £5053 compared to the designer alternatives. Well, sit back and let me explain…

Take the ever-popular shearling jacket this season. You’ve probably noticed that Burberry-Prorsum’s floor stopping number has hit nearly every glossie magazine this winter and as a result you can’t get hold of the £2,000 jacket any more. Gucci on the other hand have a higher price tag and a different style version but at least you can still purchase their Shearling and suede jacket, if you have £3,130 spare that is. Of course Celtic Sheepskin prides itself on sheepskin jackets, and our Toscana version which is 100% sheepskin comes in at only £645 –that’s a saving of £2485!

View Gucci’s jacket at Net A Porter HERE
View Celtic Sheepskin’s Toscana Jacket HERE

Next on my Christmas-less list is the beautiful cape. It too is making an enormous impact this year in the style stakes. Like us, Stella McCartney has produced a cape-style jacket, which has big bellowing arms to create the same cape silhouette, but the arms make the jacket more practical. I couldn’t help but noticed how her silver-grey version is so similar to ours, and if you don’t want to spend £665 on the designer label, Celtic Sheepskins can be snapped up at £195!

View Stella McCartney’s cape at Net A Porter HERE
View Celtic Sheepskin’s Cape HERE

And the savings don’t stop there. There’s also Donna Karen’s beautiful Knitted Vest (hmm, I can’t really see my Grandad wearing that under his shirt this winter, but let’s go with it…). She’s designed it in cashmere, so I would naturally expect the price to be higher than our Merino wool version, but personally I’d be happy to save £881 and forgo the soft cashmere and I doubt I’d be alone in that preference!

View Donna Karens’s cardi at Net A Porter HERE
View Celtic Sheepskin’s Cardi HERE

Celtic Sheepskin does of course have plenty of cashmere pieces, one that’s in stock now is our Longline Cashmere Cardigan, which is s similar to Jil Sander’s Military Wool Cardigan. In fact you could almost mistake the two for each other. I honestly can’t see why a 100% wool cardigan with epilates and a great name adds £820 against our 100% cashmere cardigan. Again let’s put it down to personal taste.

View Jil Sander's cardi at Net A Porter HERE
View Celtic Sheepskin’s Cardi HERE

At last, I’ve come across designer pieces under £500! Vanessa Bruno Athe (A French Designer in case you’ve not come across her before), has a gorgeous Alpaca and Wool-Blend Sweater Dress on Net-A-Porter for just £260. Bearing in mind the relatively low price tag and that cable knits that are big this winter, I honestly can’t see why this is still in stock. Perhaps it’s because our very similar dress at Celtic Sheepskin is only £69? Perhaps or perhaps not. But again I would still go for the lower price, especially as the fabric is as good and it leaves me room to buy a second, and even a third as gifts for Christmas with the money I save!

View Vanessa Burno Athe's dress at Net A Porter HERE
View Celtic Sheepskin’s dress HERE

Staying with the “under £500” designer theme, I then found Temperley’s Royal Waist Corset Belt. It really is very beautiful. I can picture wrapping that around my waist as I step out in my Knitted Cable Dress. But then, if I’m going to buy two or three dresses then I’d also be better off buying two or three belts –and Celtic Sheepskin’s is a saving of £206! Sorry Temperley, it is beautiful but so is Celtic Sheepskins, and I’m being careful with the pennies this year…

View Temperley London's Belt at Net A Porter HERE
View Celtic Sheepskin’s belt HERE

I hope this helps you to find beautiful gifts this year. Happy Christmas!

Walking out with Father Christmas in our Celt Boots

After finishing work last Friday I had the fun mission to join in with “Santa’s Sleigh”. It was an event organised by Newquay Lions Club to ensure that all our local children have the chance to meet Father Christmas in the run up to Christmas. Moving with the theory of bringing the mountain to Mohammed; Father Christmas travels around in his sleigh to children’s houses rather than them travelling to his grotto. All the while his helpers (this is where I came in) collect any loose change to donate to local charities.

We walked around the streets of Treloggan, the area of Celtic Sheepskin’s head office, and knocked on countless doors to make sure all the children knew that Father Christmas was passing by their house. With Christmas songs blasting out and big smiles on the children’s faces when they realised the loud vehicle outside was in fact Santa’s sleigh, it made it my favourite way to ever start the festive season. Local charity really does stretch far, and in the season of good will it’s a testament to just how great it is when everyone smiles together.

Then with my corporate head on for just a moment, I couldn’t help but notice how many of us were wearing Celt Sheepskin boots. The evening was pretty cold after all. There were at least 5 of us wearing our Celt Boots and many parents and children nipped out in their bootee slippers…

With Christmas Day less than two weeks away, I hope that you too stay snugly warm in your Celtic Sheepskin bits & pieces and enjoy all the excitement in the run up to the main event. For me at least this really is shaping up to be a magical Christmas.

Website update! New items are live now on the website and in the offers section.

The last few weeks have been extremely busy at Celtic Sheepskin. No sooner did the temperatures begin to drop than customers began to start purchasing their winter warmers. The sad part to this tale is that we have only a few pairs of boots & slippers in stock now to send out, as most are being made to order to keep up with demand and that means there’s a waiting list. We’re disappointed to keep customers waiting, but rest assured we’re working as fast as we can to get your orders to you.

With that in mind I thought you’d be interested to learn about all the new items that have recently been added to our website of treats, some of which have literally just gone up and others have been moved into our offers sections so you can have the chance to grab a bargain before Christmas.

The first thing that springs to my mind are the Cashmere Slippers, mainly because I had the fun task of modelling them for the images you see on the website, which means I can testify first hand just how soft they are. In an ideal world I’d have one pair of each, to cover every eventuality –nipping outside, keeping my socks on or snuggling up with them on the sofa. But even with just one pair I think my evenings would feel much more special.

Then there are the new shearling bags, which couldn’t be any more in vogue at the moment if they tried! Perfect for Christmas shopping…
And while you’re out and about, you may like to know that we’ve literally just this morning launched four new scarves. Two are made from 100% pure cashmere, then there’s one lambswool and another in Merino. What a great way to liven up your winter coat! And what about the discounts I hear you cry! Well, if you haven’t already scooped up a Cape Jacket then you may be interested to learn the newest arrivals into the Offers section on our website. The one that shocked me the most is our Sleeveless Waterfall Cardigan –it’s from the current winter ’10 range! It’s perfect for layering, and wear it with a thick belt around your waist and your silhouette will be gorgeous.

And the crossover slouch. Why it’s on the offers section I really don’t know, but it’s certainly worth a look at…

So happy shopping people!

Celtic Sheepskin visits the Clothes Show Live!

This weekend I had a thrilling invite to join in with the celebrations of my cousin’s 21st birthday and take a girly family trip to the Birmingham NEC to enjoy all that goes on at the Clothes Show Live. Happy birthday Laura! It really was interesting to re-visit 15 years after I first (and last) went with my school friends. This time looking through eyes of my early-twenties cousins, my mother-of-one sister and also my mum and auntie, both of whom love to learn about fashion but prefer to wear what suits them, and if it hits a fashion trend as well it’s a win-win situation!

I am delighted to say that all of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and would recommend a visit to anyone. For the older amongst our group, it perhaps took an extra day to recover from all that walking, but completely worth it. The show is filled with mini-catwalks and brand promotions. Many female magazines sponsor catwalk shows and the bigger stores offer discounts that you wouldn’t usually find in the shops –very helpful on the run up to Christmas. Although, I did feel extremely selfish as usually this time of year I am busy only buying for others, but this weekend I found myself treating me. I’m putting it down to well-earned retail therapy, getting me through the 6 weeks of booked up Christmas weekends.

The highlight for our whole group was by far the main catwalk, which was hosted by Gok Wan. I had hoped to get some great pictures to share on this blog today, but sadly my shutter speed for the dim light and misty stage-theatrics has limited the quality and volume I can share with you now.

Below is a picture of Gok Wan, I promise! The host of the show.

Seeing something on the catwalk and falling in love with it is great, but it does help to know where you can shop for that style. So taking the catwalk to Celtic Sheepskin, the biggest that stood out for me was by far all the shearling & faux fur the models were adorned in. Of course Celtic Sheepskin doesn’t make anything with fur, fake or not, but our Toscana Sheepskin comes pretty close. I snapped a semi-successful picture below of models wearing sheepskin hats with Fairisle gloves, in the “country” trend…

Also in the above picture I can’t help but note the cape that the model’s wearing. No doubt many of you have seen these walking through your high streets, as it really is a great way to keep warm from the snow forecast to last most of this winter. My favourite from the Celtic Sheepskin collection has to be is the Cape Jacket. With £100 marked off the original price, you better be quick!

Another trend that jumped out at me this weekend was the preppy look. There’s a lot of tartan back in mainstream fashion, and although Celtic hasn’t any of this we do have a great number of the socks, so often worn alongside the kilt-like skirt. So why not pull out your old tartan skirt and zest it up for 2010 with a pair of socks…

Happy shopping ladies!

Stop Press!

This week has been a very busy week for Celtic Sheepskin. The phone lines are practically ringing off the hook and many staff in both the factory and warehouse are volunteering to work overtime to help keep up with demand. And if that wasn’t enough, three of the major national newspapers have featured our products this week in their relevant columns. On Monday the Independent featured our Sheepskin Mittens, the same day the Telegraph included a picture of our Ribbon Boots and then yesterday the Times pointed out our Scuff slippers and also our newest product YakTrax. It’s no wonder that many items have a waiting period on them –we can’t get them in quick enough!

After returning to work on Tuesday from being snowed in on Monday, I had the fun task of modelling for the website photos of the YakTrax, so know first hand just how useful they are. If you’ve not seen them on our home page yet, they’re worth taking a look at. It turns out that they were originally designed for runners to enable athletes to train all year round, but what a difference they’ll make to everyone else’s lives. There are of course many shoes around that can cope in the snow, but how much simpler does life get when you can be confident on the ice in your favourite pair of shoes by simply slipping on these trax to your soles? Now, of course if your favourite pair of shoes is a pair of Stilettos then you’ll probably find difficulty strapping these soles on, so I’d advise you stick to your favourite pair of flat shoes!

Also this week Grazia Magazine picked up on one of our magnificent scarves. Pick up the mag and you’ll find that our “faux fur stole” is featured. In fact it’s our Sheepskin Scarf, but it’s more vogue to call it faux fur at the moment. Well, it’s Grazia, and if they want to call it that, then we’ll happily let them!

So as we’re now all working at full throttle, I’ll leave now to enjoy one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year. Here’s to enjoying a truly white Christmas!