And what a year it will be.

December 31st marked the end of Volante Design’s first full year as a business. Before the start of 2012, Volante Design had only made two jackets, the Snikt, and the Captain America. On top of that only the Cpt. coat could be considered an actual sale.

So, January 2012 started with an average of less than 1 order a month but in late September we got more than 100 orders in one day! Thanks to that day, I’ve hired 2 full time employees, and a few part-timers as well. Now I have to get used to using ‘we’ and opposed to ‘I’ when I write things about the business. And we couldn’t have grown so quickly if it wasn’t for you, our faithful supporters and followers.

Now, it’s 2013, and we’ve got a lot planned for this year. It’s going to be a big one, and we are going to need your help to make it happen. In the last year, we were able to release a total of 6 designs for order. This year we want to release at least double that, hopefully triple.

In order to reach this goal, we need to upgrade our pattern design system. Until now, Volante patterns have been done completely by hand, which is hugely time consuming.

Consider this, the Kenway jacket is made up of more than 60 individual pattern pieces. In order to make a new size, each of those pieces needs to be traced onto a new piece of paper, remeasured, adjusted for the new measurements, and cut out by hand. This could take, at the very least, several hours, but more likely a full day, if not more. With 60+ pattern pieces, even just labeling each piece with it’s name and necessary markings could take an hour or more.

Instead, there are software programs out there that could do the brunt of this work in a fraction of the time. Unfortunately, this software tends to be a little pricey, albeit incredibly useful. Seeing as I started this business with little more than a pocket full of change, Volante Design does not have the capital to invest in such an upgrade.

Which is why I would like to announce that we are about to launch a fundraising campaign through indiegogo.com. Raising this money is going to be necessary to get the next phase of Volante Design off the ground. And the best part is, this phase is just a gateway to the future. There is so much we can do once we have the ability to release new designs more quickly.

I have a good feeling about this year. And we couldn’t have gotten here without you. So, thank you!

Stay tuned for updates about the official launch of the Volante Design indiegogo campaign, and other exciting news.

In the meantime, keep rockin’ on.

-Enzo