With 2021 being a year of maddening stress while making decisions that would effect the future of Faire Treasures for the foreseeable future with the merge with Scarlett’s Corset, 2022 has been a year of finding a new normal, new schedules, and opening up my workshop to appointments with local customers. I had the first year of juggling selling at two events running at the same time–twice during the course of the year! This past year has included our final season at Sherwood Forest Faire as Iris Adornments & Apothecary and our first season at Texas Renaissance Festival as Iris Adornments & Corsetry. I’ve started transitioning our corset designs to have hip ties to allow for more comfortable corset wear, and have gotten incredibly positive feedback on the new designs. And my husband and I reworked the layout at the TRF shoppe while it was incredibly hot, and I’m not sure I’ve ever sweat that much in my life!
It’s not easy being a small business owner with a ridiculous list of chronic health issues. Add the lingering effects of Covid that I caught at the end of the Autumn season, and my body is cooperating less than I’d like for it to considering my grandiose plans to update the website with new hourglass corsets, outfit listings, and new chemise and skirt colors! Those updates are still in the works, they’re just taking me longer than I would like for them to. I’m not sure I’ll have all of them done before we start into the Spring festival season, but if that happens, then the plan is they’ll happen in the summer months.
Now, there’s the awful reality of the inflation of material costs and travel expenses of 2022. I take pride in keeping my prices from my jewelry to my corsets as reasonable as possible. I’ve seen the trickle effect of slow increases over the years, and made the decision to keep my prices relatively the same because I know what it’s like to live on an incredibly tight budget and have to save for any and all little luxuries. But costs went up drastically, and I now have to do price increases to keep this little business moving forward. Of course, I’ll still keep everything as reasonably priced as I can, and I’ll be adding more clearance and lower cost items. (shhh… it’s a secret, but I’ll be working to bring back the Pre-Loved item section!)
So what does 2023 have in store here at Faire Treasures / Scarlett’s Corset / Iris Adornments & Corsetry? Currently planned, we’ll be at our usual festivals including Sherwood Forest Faire, Scarborough Renaissance Festival, Texas Renaissance Festival, and Steampunk November! My workshop in Arlington, Texas is open for appointments for shopping and corset fittings until I pack up for the Spring festival season. And I’ll be looking into some local weekend events outside of faire seasons to set up a small selection of my wares. I have a few ideas to work on this summer to improve existing designs, as well as dabbling in some prototypes to see if they’ll be something to add to my offerings.
I hope you all had a wonderful end of 2022 holiday season, and that your 2023 is off to an optimistic start!