Our Story
Start-up Scrapbook
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Milano
June 23: First trip to supplier factory in Italy
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Handmade Prototype
May 23: Dark blue BotteCloth for wine coolers featuring a centred, plain white metal disc. Used for various absorbency tests.
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Early Prototype
July 23: Pink 'Polka' cotton BottleCloth with a centred, plain nickel metal disc. Used for various daily laundry tests and (occasional) wine testing sessions.
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The 54!
Aug 23: Nick’s subtle explanation of why there needs to be two sizes of BottleCloths. Something to do with ‘vertical axis’. It’s why the 54cm version has the ring in the center.
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BottleCloth Mini
June 23: My idea! Essential for travellers and might just make a great promotional item too if anyone from British Airways First Class team is reading this!
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Summer 23: Business Trip
Off with Nick again to research 'Jacquard' looms and other such things.
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Early Sample 1
May 23: Production tests in Turkey with hand sewn elements. We discounted this route but learnt a lot from the experience.
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Early Sample 2
May 23: Another production test in Turkey.
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Weave tests in Turkey
May 23: First attempt at printed versions in Turkey. Discounted due to low quality and durability concerns.
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Disaster!
June 23: Just awful. What were we thinking?
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Planning
June 23: Busy planning a future collection in Italy. Is that a spa behind me? Back soon...
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Workshop Prep
July 23: Clearing out spare rooms ready for equipment installations.
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Meet My Dad!
July 23: “Hey dad, we need that old desk out of your garage”. He’s amazing and has helped with allsorts!
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Laser Technology!
Aug 23: At last, we’ve found a technique that cuts the cotton in a perfect circle in exactly the right place... Lasers!
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Widget & Grommits 1
June 23: We tested 30 different types before settling on the british brass option. It doesn't rust and we can do all kinds of cool stuff with it in the future.
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Widget & Grommits 2
June 23: More testing. Too shallow and the thin fabrics don't hold. Too deep and you damage the edges.
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Grip Tests
July 23: This was important because different fabrics shrink different amounts at different temperatures so we had to get the 'flex' just right.
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Weave Rotation
Aug 23: This is the sophisticated way Nick explained a particular weave rotation in Italian. Impressive stuff. To his credit it worked!
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Label Design
Sept 23: You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get the labels right and compliant with different markets and sales channels worldwide.
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Fashion Fades, Only Style Remains The Same
Aug 23: Where would we be without Coco Chanel? This is where Nick got the idea for our Premium Loop.
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Packaging Tests
Aug 23: We tried loads of different folds and sleaves. Eventually we figured out how to do it so the loop remained central no matter the size of the cloth.
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Luxury Samples
Sept 23: Nobody does luxury better than the Italians. This Jacquard weave is absolutely beautiful. We hope to have this into production next year.
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First Catering BottleCloth!
Oct 23: Our production partners in Portugal sent us the first Catering BottleCloth “hot off the press“. It’s a 42cm black polycotton and we love it!
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First Labels!
Oct 23: These were the first labels we produced in the UK. You can see it’s for a 54 because the ring is in the center of the logo. When sewn into the hem they measure 30mm². We are thinking of increasing this to 40mm² next time.
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There You Go...
Nov 23: Proving to Amazon the product exists. Now can you grant us global distribution please?
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It works! Top up Sir?
Nov 23: We tested this one to death and it still looks brand new. The Catering Collection is all about the hotels, restaurants and bars that launder their tablewear daily.
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Chinese Rejects
June 23: See what happens when you can’t speak the language on Alibaba. Disaster. We wasted two weeks speaking to a pet products manufacturer. Filed under garbage.
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Family Planning Meeting
Summer 23: Believe it or not this is an official board meeting with our American partners in crime. Look... no BottleCloths and water all over the shop.
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Moody
Aug 23: Navy prototype with satin nickel corner ring. Styled with champagne and a rather lovely ice bucket. I can confirm it worked perfectly and all my surfaces remained dry :)
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Gold Swirl
Sept 23: This is the first example of a fancy metal disc finish. We’re calling it golden swirl. There are about a dozen more being tested.
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Hand Assembly
Most of 23: For the actual production we are using pneumatic machinery but to get things going we invested in a hand punch and die. The results were suprisingly good.
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How It All Started
Winter 13: This is the reverse of Nick’s napkin scribble. You can see the front at the top of this page. ‘No Drips Allowed’ and ‘Drink Without Drips’ still makes me laugh. It’s 10 years old and looks like it was drawn by a 10 year old :)
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T-Shirt Tests
June 23: To work out the optimal size for the different BottleCloths I cut up a bunch of old t-shirts. This photo shows the final choice for ice buckets... 42mm was just perfect.
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Production In Italy
Summer 23: Ben kindly showing us around the production facilities in Milan. The scale of things here is incredible just like the weather!
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Jacquard Looms
Summer 23: Our first look at the Jacquard machines that will be producing some of the high-end and luxury BottleCloth collections in 2024.
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Ta Dah!
June 23: Amazing to see how the fabrics are finished. They go from this sheet format into the sewing rooms for stitching and labels.
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Premium Loop Design
Sept 23: Nick was working on a way to get a heavier two sided loop to symmetrically puncture then permanantly grip a thin material. No such product currently exists.
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Premium Loop Prototypes 1
Nov 23: First examples of how our Premium Loops might look. They 'clack' together but can’t be 'un-clacked' a bit like a fish-hook! We’re loving this and can imagine how fabulous it will be on a luxury BottleCloth.
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Premium Loop Prototypes 2
Nov 23: They work! We put this one through it’s paces with washing cycles and stress tests. Bingo! Sits flat, can’t be removed and makes the perfect 'tink' as you pop onto your glass bottles!
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Customisation Tests
June 23: First attempts at working out which customisation options worked. We were experimenting with DTG printing areas, embroidery and more recently laser technology.
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Just For Fun
Oct 23: We gave away a BottleCloth at my Momma’s annual coffee and cake event to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.
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Storage Facility
August 23: Visiting storage and distribution facilities.
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Optimum Stack
Dec 23: Planning out the optimum packaging stacks to fit our promosed box quantities. We decided on 1. 10, 20, 50, 100 & 250 allowing for any order quantity.
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Packaging tests
Dec 23: Initially we were convinced 'poly bags' and padded envelopes was the best option. It was certainly the cheapest. In the end we decided to spend more and jump straight to high quality zip bags.
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Zip Bag Evaluation
Dec 23: To kick off we settled on a clear, heavy-duty, reusable, off-the shelf zip bag. Going forward we will look to create our own custom and perfect-fit packs for each collection. We hear Indonesia is nice this time of year :)
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Second Catering BottleCloth!
Dec 23: This is the second Catering BottleCloth produced and the first 54cm black polycotton featuring a center laser-cut hole with a stitched thread circle. Perfect for wine coolers.
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First Delivery
Dec 23: Today we’re celebrating our first delivery of finished BottleCloths! They are the Catering Collection 42" versions in white, black and navy. It was a three day door-to-door delivery from Portugal to England.
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250 / Box
Dec 23: Did somebody just order 500 BottleCloths? Wait, no.…That's Nick helping the driver bring the first delivery into the house :)
