THE BIG MOVE TO DUNFERMLINE

Last summer Adam and Nina began to look for a bigger unit for Kalopsia Collective.

Our production space was fast filling up with client’s fabrics and the addition of two new recent employees - me (Freya) and Kirsty, meant that it was a tight squeeze with six of us in the building. After scouring much of Lothian and Fife, it was decided that the unit in Dunfermline would be the most suitable. On a rather rainy day in September we were taken to see the new unit, and were in awe of the amount of space it held and the opportunities it could bring.

Over the next few months, we were included in many discussions about what the new space should look like and how the production space could be fitted to allow for the most efficient production line.

In December Adam and Nina got the keys, and this time we had a rather cold visit. Despite the excitement of the new unit, and our eagerness to be working in a bigger space, it was December and we had several large orders and only a couple more weeks till Christmas so we had to focus on getting the job in hand done. Rightly enough, our hard work paid off as we finished production a day early. Having only planned for three days of packing up, it was fair to say we were grateful for the extra day. Sorting through over flowing boxes of fabric, shelves of threads, containers of zips and continuously sweeping the floor was just the beginning of the big move. At this point there were several trips made by Adam and Nina from Leith to Fife and back again, with the help of us loading and unloading the vans.

Before Christmas we were able to move all the machines to the new unit, and begin to lay out the new production space, but it wasn’t until January that it really felt like everything came together. After a well earned, and peaceful rest over the festive period we got straight back into rolling up our sleeves - painting walls, unpacking box after box of fabric and building shelves. If you were to have walked around the unit at this point, it was rather amusing as there were pockets of places very well organised such as the thread shelf in perfect colour order or a cosy looking reception area, but if you looked the other way there was a pile of boxes still needing to be sorted. Through perseverance and a week fully committed to getting the place ready for production, we made it.

Although we are still making tweaks to fine tune the place to be a Kalopsia Collective Unit, we were thankful to get back to what we know and do best. We were able to start working on orders, and press the restart button by cutting out patterns to replace our well used ones, and we have even able to design a few new apparel products, which we will introduce soon.

With the addition of two new Production Assistants, and a student on work placement, we have filled, what felt like a big daunting space, with the sound of scissors cutting out fabric, machines whizzing and the iron pressing. We really looking forward to showcasing more of the new space to you all soon, and are excited by the prospect of the products, especially the amount of products, we can produce for you.