Happy New Year from all of us at Y.O.U!
Alongside our fair share of holiday festivities, the Y.O.U team has been in the process of cooking up some big plans for the new year and we thought we would share some of the goals, intentions and New Year's resolutions we have identified so far with you!
Back in October we spent a wonderful evening with many of our lovely customers and friends creating vision boards and setting intentions in collaboration with BOLD, the positive change agency run by Annabel and Sarah.
Annabel started the session with a short meditation to ground us in the room and let go of all the busy-ness in our daily lives. She then took us through the theory behind intention setting as a 'valuable way to understand what is important in our lives and the emotions and needs associated with these priority areas'.
Having identified the areas we wanted to focus on over the coming months, we came up with both some tiny steps and also giant leaps that we could take in our daily lives to achieve them. From there it was all about cutting and pasting as we spent the remainder of the session creating vision boards ('mood boards') based on the work we had done so far. This added a visual and creative element to our intentions and solidified the connection with them and our commitment to achieving the goals.
We all loved this session and found it really useful for working out and giving shape to our personal goals and intentions, and it also inspired us to do some similar thinking for how we could set goals for Y.O.U in 2024. So, whilst our goals for the business must remain dynamic and in line with what our customers want and need from us throughout the year, here are some of our top-line focus areas for 2024:
1) Re-certify as a B Corp - As many of you may know, this year is the first time we have to re-submit our B Corp certification for review. A lot(!!) has changed since our initial submission back in 2021 and so this recertification will no doubt be an interesting and challenging task for us. We can't wait to sink our teeth into it though and hope to continue to grow our social and environmental impact and raise the bar for sustainability in the fashion sector and beyond.
2) Launch at least 2 exciting new products - 2023 saw the introduction of 3 new products to our collections (our mid-rise bikinis, mid-length trunks and pyjama bottoms), and this year we have some more exciting new products in the pipeline. Whilst we can't reveal all the details just yet, we have received and approved samples for some very exciting underwear and non-underwear garments, so watch this space for more details!
3) Introduce new designs for some of our underwear ranges - Whilst we know that you love our vibrant Mara prints as much as we do, we thought it was about time we switched things up a bit and introduced some new patterns for you to try. Again, they are still a bit of a work-in-progress at present, but the new designs will celebrate the culture and artistic styles of another region that we work in, as the Mara designs do, so we can't wait to get those into full development this year!
4) Get our amazing undies into more retailers to increase their positive influence - In 2023 we began working with two new retail partners, Eighteen Rabbit and Filling Good who now stock our underwear in their ethical shops. This has been a really exciting venture for us and has got our story and mission to a wider audience of like-minded ethical and sustainable customers. In 2024, we want to continue expanding our reach and impact by partnering with more shops and companies who share our values and commitment to making the world a better place. If you know of (or own!) an ethical business that would like to get involved, we would LOVE to hear from you!
5) Continue to develop our shop as a sustainable hub in the heart of Oxford and further relationships with our local community - With 2024 being the 250th anniversary of Oxford's Covered Market, it seems like a perfect opportunity for us to further grow our reach and impact in the city that is our home. We've got lots of ideas for new products, events and eco initiatives that we'd like to do this year, but the space is always open for you to be part of those plans too, so do leave us any ideas and suggestions in the Comments field below.
So you can see that it's already gearing up to be another exciting year ahead and we can't wait to get started. We will be sharing more about all our plans over the coming weeks and months and until then we wish you a very Happy New Year. We continue to be hugely grateful to have you on this journey with us - without you, we really couldn't be making the impact that we are, so THANK YOU!
Sustainable undies love,
The Y.O.U team x
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That's a wrap! A massive festive 'Thank you' from us at Y.O.U
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