In the early days of TOFT I travelled the country towing a pop-up trailer shop filled with cardigans and scarves and attending every country show and game fair in the land. It was only with the movement towards a craft revival that guided TOFT away from ready-to-wear and towards yarns and knitting kits. Shows are the best way to rapidly design, test and market your ideas to customers. The success of TOFT has been built on taking my ideas and hauling myself around the UK with a big smile for everyone who walks towards my stand to take a closer look.
Following the hard work in the early part of this year for the whole team it seems it's holiday season here in the office. As a result it was with a snigger that I took my Dad (Rob) to the first 'yarny' event of his life this weekend. Now don't be mistaken, over the last few years he has helped drive vans into knitting and stitching show venues, and even tried his hand (unsuccessfully I might add) at pom-pom display earlier this year, but never has he stood on a TOFT trade stand to see just how busy it gets. We called ourselves the 'B' team as I had very little voice left after the first few hours of Saturday morning.
We took two lovely alpacas (Oscar and Kleef) with us, and as ever they melted the hearts of thousands. Dad did a stirling job on the stand and sold plenty of alpacas even if he didn't quite manage to get any yarn into a tote bag!
Wonderwool Wales is a fabulous show: great food, nice setting and hundreds of truly independent exhibitors. I would recommend to all.
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