Dear Volante Design community,

It’s that time of year again where we reflect on the past and look to the future. 2018 has, in short, been an amazing year for us. We’ve been able to reach new shows, meet lots of great new people, started some new partnerships, and gained two new staff people.

Since we started in 2013, we’ve been talking in each annual review about building foundations, growing, and learning. This year it felt like we were able to move into the next phase. We’ve launched some great partnerships with brands that we love, like the creatively strong Master of Wills and Dauntless, and the well-loved Star Trek and Capcom.

Working with brands that resonate with us is as inspiring as it is exciting, and it allows us to experiment more with what our non-licensed original products can be. Looking forward to some new partnerships we’ve got planned for 2019, and for reaching new territory with our original designs!

Highlights of 2018 (too many to list them all!):

1. Volante Design turned 5! This opened a lot of doors to partnerships
2. Hiring Sarah to be our amazing show manager and con wrangler
3. Hiring Emma to take our marketing to new places
4. Appearing on StarTrek.com
5. Going to E3 and meeting some developers who liked our designs
6. Figuring out how to do two really big shows at once
7. Sending out a jacket to Wil Wheaton
8. Working with the Houston Outlaws (and learning about the exciting world of e-sports)

Some goals for 2019 include:

1. Reaching some new shows in our snazzy new van so that you can try stuff on IRL!
2. Welcoming a new team member, Mike, in March. Con wranglers work better in pairs.
3. Being able to offer a real loyalty program that gives back to our die hards. We <3 you!
4. Building more relationships that will allow us to officially make great jackets based on the franchises and characters that you (and we also) love.
5. Get Sir Pat Stew a TNG jacket! We could really use your help with this one. Anyone know him?

We’ve got a big year ahead of us and we’re can’t wait to show you what we’ve got in store. As always, we are deeply grateful that you are here, reading this, being part of our community. We could not do it without you. Here’s to a smashing 2019!!

PS Heads up, tell your friends, we’re going to make one more batch of Eagles and it will be the very last! Of course we will continue to offer Made to Order Eagles, but this is the last round of the standard size and standard price set.