Hey folks,
With COVID19 rampaging all over the globe, we all find ourselves at home and with more time than we know what to do with. And there's so much bad news every day, that we just need something to look forward to, to make us excited to live again. To help with that, we are organizing our inaugural Delugs Design Competition 2020, where you get to design a strap, and if you win the competition, have a strap named after you. We hope you will look forward to this after hearing all about it!
Inspiration
Before getting into the nitty gritty details of the competition, let me share a bit about the inspiration behind the DDC. While there are a few fixed strap designs that we sell, there are actually countless possibilities in terms of how a strap can look. With so many styles, leather types, leather colour, stitch colour, keeper style etc, the permutations and combinations are almost infinite. And the design team over at Delugs (me, really) don't have the imagination or creativity that all of you collectively have.
Every so often, a customer approaches us with a very specific made-to-order request that we have not tried before. And sometimes, those straps turn out to be a real head-turner (see below for some examples). So we want to see what other strap ideas are out there, lurking in your minds. You might not have the expertise to transform those ideas into reality, but luckily for you, the crafters behind Delugs can help with that!
Overview of the Competition
There are 3 parts to this competition. DESIGN, VOTE, and DELIVER.
DESIGN
- Anyone can participate as Designer. But Designers need to pay to play. It costs $50, and Designers get to keep the strap that they designed. Think of it as your own bespoke strap for only $50!`
- Designers will get to design your own strap within certain parameters. And the strap has to be different from what we currently offer - this is NOT a way for you to merely get a strap at a discount!
- We will craft the strap according to the Designers' specifications. Once it is done, we will help to take some photos of the strap, and then send the strap over to the Designer. The strap is now theirs to keep and use!
- Anyone can vote. But the Fans need to pay to vote. Each vote costs $5. Think of a vote as a pre-order.
- We will upload photos of all the straps that were designed. And, we will create product listings for these straps that the Fans can purchase/pre-order/vote.
- At the end of the competition, the strap with the most pre-orders wins, and it will be named after the Designer! Delugs x Designer-name-here Strap. And the Designer will also get himself $300 in store credits.
DELIVER
- We will get in touch with the Fans that voted/pre-ordered the winning strap, to get the measurements that they need for their strap. Fans will pay the same as what the original designer paid - $50 for a Made-to-Order strap. Subsequently we will craft the straps and deliver all the orders.
- Fans that voted for other straps that didn't win will be refunded their $5. If they still wish to purchase the strap they voted for (or the winning strap, because everyone wants to be on the winning team), they can do so for $60.
- After fulfilling all the pre-orders, we will open up the DDC winning strap for public purchase at $80.
Are you still with us? If you are, I bet you're as excited as we are to get this competition going and see what kind of designs people are going to come up with! Here's the rough timeline that we are looking at:
Join the Competition
- If you would like to join as a Designer, you may purchase here and start designing! Do reach out to me if you need any help with the design process.
- If you would like to join as a Fan, follow on Instagram so that you will get updates when it is time to vote for your favourite strap.
If you think this is a great idea, please help me to spread the word. Share it on Instagram (#ddc20). Share this within your watch communities. Share this on the forums/subreddits that you're active on. Get the word out there, because the more Designers there are participating, the better the quality of the design and strap.
We all need something exciting to look forward to during this dreadful times. I hope this will be it!
Regards,
Kenneth
P.S. Scroll down to read the rules!
P.P.S. Feel free to suggest a better name for the competition. As I said, we aren't very good with design around here.
Rules of the Competition
The Design Phase
- There are no limits to the number of entries per person.
- You can customise the following aspect of each strap:
- Style (the overall basic shape/look of the strap)
- Top Leather (the leather that is used as the top most layer on the strap)
- Lining Leather (the leather that is used as the underside, or the layer that comes into contact with the skin)
- Keeper Style (how many fixed, how many floating)
- Keeper Leather (the leather used for the strap keeper)
- Keeper Width
- Stitch Colour
- Stitch Thickness (how thick the thread is)
- Stitch Width (how long each stitch is)
- Edge Paint Colour (the colour of the paint on the side of the strap)
- Thickness
- Lug Width & Taper
- Length
- You may use the following leather:
- Shell Cordovan (Black, Navy, Natural, Olive Green, Cognac)
- Chromexcel (Whiskey, Dark Brown, Natural, Color 8, Navy, Olive Green)
- Epsom & Smooth Epsom (Black, Navy, Izmir Blue, Sky Blue, Light Blue, Light Grey, Taupe, Golden Brown, Dark Brown, Yellow, Orange, Pink, Red, Green, Hunter Green, Cream, Milkshake White)
- Pueblo (Dark Brown, Bordeaux, Red, Pink, Cognac, Yellow, Green, Olive Green, Ortensia, Navy, Black)
- Waxed Camouflage (Natural, Navy, Green)
- Dollaro (Taupe, Green, Navy)
- Russian Hatch Grain (Chicago Blue, Pasture Green, Saddle Brown, Oxblood)
- Dakota (Olive Green, Light Brown, Dark Brown)
- Waxy (Navy, Green, Brown)
- Barenia (Tan)
- Exotic leather (alligator, ostrich, stingray, lizard) and other leather which we cannot yet procure steadily cannot be used as the top or bottom leather. If there are some leather or colour you want to use but is not in the list above, get in touch with us and we'll see if it's something we can provide.
- There are some things we cannot do:
- Integrated lugs that require very fine measurements
- Straps that require special inserts
- Tooling or engraving
- Different thread colour on both sides of the strap (all the straps will be handcrafted and saddle stitched. Hence the same strap goes through both the front and back of the strap)
- Custom embossing (only done for the winning strap)
- The strap has to be sufficiently unique or different from what we currently offer. The intent is to prevent people from using this as an avenue to get a cheap bespoke strap. I get that the definition of "unique" is subjective - we hope you understand our intent and where we are coming from.
The Voting
- There are no limits to the number of votes per person. However, each person can only vote once per strap.
- You may use any method within your means to advertise and get people to vote for your strap. You are encouraged to take photos of your strap, post on social media etc to show-off your strap and get people to vote.
The Delivery
- If you voted for the winning strap, you have to go through with the purchase or forfeit your $5 deposit.
- If you voted for a strap that didn't win, you can either choose to be refunded your $5, or purchase the strap you voted for or the winning strap for $60.
- If the winning strap is way too complex to make, the price of the final MTO strap might be subject to changes.
