A day in the life at a Leiho pop up
It’s not Leiho’s first time getting on the road, loading up the car and pimping our pop up stall in a new location. This time round we, that’s the royal we for me, Calum, the newest member to the Leiho team, got my first experience getting behind the counter and showcasing our bamboo socks, organic cotton t-shirts and caps.
Stratford Upon Avon known to most as the birthplace of Shakespeare, the butterfly museum, river cruises and a hearty town centre was a delight and it was wonderful to meet, greet and entertain some of the locals. We met some amazing people, from friendly customers, incredibly talented independent business owners and I can't forget one of the coolest little phone box coffee stands (Brucester’s Coffee)!
It’s always a fantastic opportunity to tell people about our brand and tell them our story. Sometimes, not always, we like to bring out the famous Leiho sock toss board and for this one it just had to be done, it felt like the perfect spot for people to enjoy and win prizes. It was surprising to see how many people have incredible accuracy when it gets to throwing a pair of socks into a hole. I think I may have actually witnessed one of the sweetest moments I’ve ever seen during this, when a couple of elderly ladies approached the stand, as we offered them a chance to win a free prize by having a go at the sock toss challenge, when the lady won she said: “I never win anything!” My heart crumbled.
This actually created a large queue, where customers would be able to choose a prize from a selection of Tony’s Chocolonely, crisps and socks!
It’s been a sort of obligation from the co-founders Joey and Thuta, after vouching to do a pop up each month since the birth of Leiho in December 2019, obviously excluding the Covid/lockdown period and they’ve stuck to that promise. It was great for me to finally get involved. There’s a humbling and personal feel that you get from customer interaction.
We had the opportunity to sell lots of gifts, with the ‘Goody Blue Shoes Bamboo Sock’ And the ‘Bumble Bee Kind Smiley Bamboo Sock’ being the most popular. One of those was a Christmas present, in August! Nothing brings a bigger smile to us then knowing that people are sporting our bamboo socks, organic cotton t-shirts and organic cotton caps!
We were able to explain a lot about our brand and it was really nice to see and hear people's support towards our purpose as a positively impactful business for those in need of support. After purchasing something from our stand each customer would have the option to choose which cause they would like to support. Overall 60% of our customers opted to support us with care packages and 40% of our customers chose to fund employment projects.
If you would like to catch us at our future pop ups we will be once again setting up shop at the the following:
- Sat 30th Sept – Dulwich Village Autumn Artisan Craft & Gift Fayre
- Weds 8th – 12th Nov – Country Living Christmas Fair (London @ The Business Design Centre)
- Thurs 16th -18th Nov – Wealden Times Midwinter Fair (@ The Hop Farm)
- Sat 25th Nov - Dulwich Village Christmas Artisan Craft & Gift Fayre
- Thurs 30th Nov – 3rd Dec – Country Living Christmas Fair (@ Harrogate Convention Centre)
- Fri 1st – 3rd Dec – Hampton Court Palace Festive Fayre
Written by Calum Hill