Man I love this slogan. Still gives me thrills, even though I see it day in, day out.
I was in my normal ‘bike riding’ zone this morning, writing stuff in my head, erasing, giggling at the weird stuff my brain processes while my body is active, wondering where my next inspiration might come from, and occasionally breaking my thought process to check my periphery, a habit I subconsciously developed in the spring, in an effort to be more prepared for the inevitable magpie assault.
Way off in the distance is a familiar form. My mate with his little dog Jack, joyfully trotting along behind the motor scooter, which inches along towards me at just the right pace so that Jack doesn’t tire.
Same conversation as usual. ‘Any golf balls yet Don?’ He collects the stray balls for his kids, he tells me. It always makes me smile.
’Not yet’.
’See you tomorrow’ I call as I pass.
‘Hope so’, he’s quick to reply.
And there’s the thing. Don, in the twilight of his days, continues to spread joy. He’s a scallywag with a quick wit and a beautiful demeanour, and here he is gathering golf balls to give to his kids, who themselves are probably in their 60’s. I’ll take a stab and suggest Don’s kids played in the rain, tested out the culinary delights of mud pies, dug for worms, stubbed their toes riding barefoot, and stumbled across adventures they’ll be telling their grandkids about as we speak.
Unleash the power of play. Such an easy, powerful, TIMELESS concept. The simple notion of slowing the spin, harnessing the inner rascal, stopping the world and getting off for a bit, and finding joy in things much less complicated.
Count me in.
(Especially if we can achieve all that and stay warm, dry and clean under our Minimuds!!)
But before we get down to business, I need to thank you for sticking with us on this crazy ride. Our first year as Minimuds…our maiden voyage...and I can’t help thinking we may as well have set sail into a hurricane.
Enter January 1, where a little puff of smoke across the valley provokes little more than a casual conversation…and Jan 2 we evacuate. Not only ourselves, but our entire warehouse. In a ute, in a hurry, with many, many trips and a pretty big donation of IOU's in the swear jar. We came home after a week and evacuated again within 48 hours.
Exit January. January was a haze of stress and smoke, and we were VERY happy to see her leave.
The rest of the story you all know.
2020 was the year that broke some of us and built others. It was the year that slowed us down, kept us home, made us crave open spaces, taught us some brutal lessons, and stretched our resolve to the max. But guess what. We’re still standing, and we should be bloody proud.
So onward and upward...I have some exciting stuff to tell you, and I promised I wouldn’t bombard you with emails unless they were IMPORTANT.
(And this is.)
The 2021 range is about to drop, and it is really freaking great. We’ve tweaked and tested and changed and listened, and tweaked some more and tested again, and I feel like we’ve actually nailed it, without (hopefully) sounding too big headed. But believe me I’m doing a little happy dance as I write this.
First things first.
The 2021 range of Minimuds is completely upgraded. Fully waterproof and breathable with gorgeous new colours, better designs and bit of (well a lot of) a step-up in quality as well.
- We’ve taken the poly Oxford fabric of the 2020 range and developed it a little bit more, so it has the same comfortable feel but with much better performance.
- All our wet weather gear now comes with waterproof zips, factory seam seal, better sizing, and a few design modifications that YOU probably won’t notice but we definitely do. (For instance, no more wedgies with the adventurer overalls, and a full length zipper for the Overlander jacket. But I’m guessing your kids didn’t complain, given they were probably flat out busy with the much more important task of discovering stuff.)
- We’ve re-designed the enclosed feet of our mini adventurers, meaning they can now slide easily into our Muddies if your littlest nature lovers happen to transition from crawling to walking before you need to upsize.
- PACKAGING!!! This is a whole different conversation, but we’ve gone plastic free, and our new packaging can ALL be eaten by the worms, along with our mailing bags. Something we’re super proud of.
- New gorgeous colours…Midnight Navy, Mexican chilli and the most delicious Eggplant purple.
- Not sure what else to say. These are almost bulletproof. No joke.
- Exclusive pre orders will be available to you, my loyal tribe, with further info coming your way in Feb, ready for an early March delivery.
Secondly…we have a whole lot of new gear coming that will make the journey a little easier, or at least more comfortable. Watch out for our super cosy fleece hoodies, merino and polypropylene thermals (yes both), Muddies fleece lined snow boot/gumboots, and of course the beanies, tights and bamboo wraps you loved in 2020. But more about that in our next newsletter.
And lastly….let’s remember that even though the world feels the slightest bit unhinged at the moment, change starts right here, at home. All things can be mended. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the hard stuff, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. And maybe even just play a bit. Stomp in the puddles and dance in the rain. That’s simply living, or living simply...and it’s breathtakingly refreshing.