Hi, I am a Corby Classic.

I was won in a raffle, but my owner prefers skirts to trousers. I have been used a little experimentally and I can certainly press a trouser. I’m just not very good at anything else.

I have a little timer thing, rather like an egg timer, so you can leave me to happily press a trouser for up to 45 minutes without burning anything. Something my archrival ‘The Iron’ can’t claim to be able to do. Unlike an egg timer, though, I don’t click seconds or go ‘ping!’ when the trousers are ready. My little red light goes off and that’s it.

I suppose you could press other things in me… flowers… tea towels… crumpled newspapers.  So perhaps a hippy with an obsessive-compulsive disorder would be interested.  You will need a car to carry me, though, as I’m pick-up only.

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Have you heard of Direct Mail packs receiving multiple bids on ebay? I hadn’t either until I searched for ‘Rapha’ on ebay a few weeks ago. Rapha produce super stylish, retro tinged clothing for the road cyclist and is quite an aspirational brand for me. In fact completely aspirational as I don’t own a single piece of their clothing yet! The direct mail pack that was subject to intense bidding on ebay was a simple 16-page leaflet with ravishing full bleed black and white photography, no prices and few words except for the web address and a list of products. It sold for an incredible £8.50. Extraordinary customer behavior by any brand’s standards I think, let alone one that only launched in 2004 with one core product; a super expensive softshell jacket. Did I bid for the DM pack?  Of course not. I already had a copy of my own stashed safely away.

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If new products can come and go, why can’t the stores that display them do the same? Well they can, and this is known as ‘Pop-up retail’. Over the last year there has been a surge in the pop-up phenomenon. You may ask the question what exactly is pop-up retail? As I discovered, it can only be described as something that is a temporary venue — the space could be a sample sale one day then a host to a private cocktail party the next.

Pop-up retail is specifically an idea or mindset that allows a company to create a unique environment that engages their customers, as well as generates a feeling of relevance and interactivity. The main trend encompasses “popping-up” one day, and disappearing the next – creating a sense of being fresh and relevant – fantastic attributes for any brand. Read more…