The Lazy River Just Got Deeper: The Latest Developments

Some big changes just came down the pipe and I am scrambling to catch up. Where to begin? I'll summarize with some bullet points and then elaborate where necessary.

- The print-on-demand and dropshipping company, InterestPrint, now supports Wix stores such as the one I own and operate, the Lazy River.

- This development allows me to offer a new style of Hawaiian shirt, one that has a tailored-fit and a curvy cut (see the mock-up above).

- Having two cuts to choose from has given me a lot more motivation to post about the store on social media, specifically to a group on Facebook that I know will be receptive to the store (at some level). This is the group, Go Home and Tell Your Mother You're Brilliant, dedicated to the podcast, Knowledge Fight.

"Stackies and Such" in the tailored-fit cut

- Knowing that I'm about to post to the aforementioned group, I finally got around to creating a couple of designs that would have specific appeal to the members there and made sure to make them available in both square and curvy cuts.

- Because one of those designs uses the words"Knowledge Fight" and references the show's intellectual property and the other design was directly inspired by it, I'm making both designs fundraisers for the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre here in Vancouver.

New HugePOD 3D mock-up

- As if all that wasn't enough to contend with, HugePOD has just made a big change to their service. They now use 3D models for the mock-ups for more of their products, including their Hawaiian shirts, and have also changed the design interface for how those shirts are created in a way that gives the designer a lot more control. There are some minor issues with the rendered 3D mock-ups, but this is still a big step in the right direction.

- It does mean, though, that if I want to apply this new HugePOD feature to designs already in the catalog, I have to remove them and then re-create them. This is not difficult but is time-consuming, and time is the one thing I am perpetually in short supply of. The same goes for the InterestPrint curvy cut shirts - if I want already established designs to be available in that cut, I will have to re-create them in that format.

One thing I am learning is that managing a large and growing database of designs is fairly labour-intensive, especially when most changes that are made to the products in that database have to be made individually, one at a time. This is understandable when changes involve changes in design, but less understandable when changes are to something more mundane like titles, descriptions, and prices. This latter problem is really a Wix problem, and I will have to find the time to talk to their Support and ask them about it. On the list!

The fact that InterestPrint now supports Wix stores deserves a bit more coverage here. InterestPrint offers a very large catalog of products, including two types of bucket hats, seven types of umbrellas, and four types of lapelled, button-up short-sleeve. They are a little more expensive than HugePOD, but having a back-up supplier is a relief. And, of course, I think that offering two different cuts of Hawaiian shirt is a huge benefit to the store.

That's all for now - a full work day painting an unusual residential development on East 18th, just east of Main St. Time to make my lunch and start fresh coffee for when Lisa wakes up. Rowan, happily, is still asleep at 6:00 a.m., something of a rarity lately. Later.