Celebrating Ten Years
I asked Andrew if he’d mind writing a short expose on the last ten years as part of this blog. If you know Andrew, Mark and Lynne well, you’ll know it’s not exactly within their nature to stop in their tracks often… but, here he was, completely stumped at the keyboard. How could anyone possibly sum up the ten years of such a journey?! The sheer level of thought, time, and care I saw going into this one document completely captures not only the journey of Jam but as a business, too. Now, onto you, AJ…
“We wish to build a family run clothing brand, designed to bridge the gaps between city and coastal style”
This was the single sentence, written on a whiteboard (ironically in permanent marker by accident) 9 years ago, that has driven the company to where it is today. At the start, it was important to us that not only our brand message but our values and product criteria were carefully curated in a way that we were happy to present to the world, but we needed to be 100% behind what we were doing before we could expect anyone else to be.
At the end of our first year, we reviewed important questions that would shape the future and growth of Jam, and I am really happy to say, will continue to shape the way that Jam grows in the next ten years. Fortunately, our company culture, our brand message, and our product criteria remain unchanged, which means we did something right.
The most important thing for us is to say thank you to our customers, whom by purchasing from us, have helped fuel the growth of the company, and the expansion of our team, who continue to uphold the same core values the brand started with. We especially want to thank the team that have joined us along the way, whether working either part-time, full time or as a supplier, without the help and support of this vast network of people, Jam would not exist in the way it does now. As a family, we are eternally grateful for this.
So, to focus on what people really want to know, is what do the next ten years look like?
Jam has been a family brand from the start, and that’s how it will continue, growing organically as we always have. Seeing as we started the business with just an idea and no real “expertise”, we have spent the last decade learning our trade, and with the world of brands evolving constantly, we will continue to learn.
Clothing is what we now know and love, and it’s what we are going to continue putting our energy into. We will add new lines and new styles, expanding the ‘Jam World’ as we know it, with a mission to simply get better every year. We hope that in doing this, our audience will be able grow with us, and attract new customers to the table.
In a nut-shell… we’ve learnt to walk, and now we’re keen to start running. Watch this space.
