AbbyShot Cooks Up Another Original Garment

A new look for a familiar style!

Yes, we're announcing another surprise product! Last September we announced our first original design, the Kingdom Hoodie (a variant fleece hoodie version of our Enigma). Now we're releasing a variant of the popular Lobby Reloaded Trench. This newest product is a jacket-length version with many of the same stylings as the Lobby Reloaded trench. The Lobby Reloaded Jacket has the same collar design, the same degree of fit and the same design details like the curved back lines and the closely spaced, small buttons. The main difference is of course the length. The full skirt has been replaced with a hip length design with a slight flare to it. Also there is a suitcoat-style split in the back to allow proper movement and ease of wear for this garment length.

This is a design that shares many of the "look and feel" aspects of the Lobby Reloaded Trench, yet takes them to an all new level. This garment can be worn in circumstances where a full length trench may not be suitable. It is also a lighter garment that is ideally suited for wearing in warmer weather. Equally appropriate for semi-casual as well as formal wear, the Lobby Reloaded Jacket is guaranteed to be a "must have" item for the serious clothing aficionado!

The Lobby Reloaded Jacket is available in a range of sizes from 32 up to 52! Many of the same options from the Lobby Reloaded Trench are offered in this product as well: multiple fabric types, lining colours, pocket options, and button choices. Check out the Lobby Reloaded Jacket Product Page now to view all the options!

The Same Great Design, Now In Real Leather!

You've been asking us for this one since we first released leather products, so here it is! We now have both Sunstalker Trench designs in genuine leather for your wearing pleasure. The Leather Sunstalker II Trench uses the exact same pattern as the regular pleather Sunstalker II, with the only difference being the use of genuine cowhide leather. The same attention to quality and detail have been lavished upon this design as we did for our previous leather releases. This is surely a premium garment that is custom tailored to exceed your expectations!

We'd like to thank our long-time customer, "blade" for his pictures of him in his AbbyShot leather Sunstalker II trench. "blade" is a regular attendee of many different anime and movie fan conventions and is well known in various cosplay communities for his amazing portrayal of Wesley Snipes character "Blade". We had an opportunity to meet up with him in Atlanta, Georgia, at Dragon*Con last August and it was there that we approached him about the idea of doing a "Blade" style photoshoot in full costume. He was planning on getting our leather version of the Sunstalker II as soon as it was available, so he readily agreed! While we don't offer any of the custom movie props that he's wearing, we do feel that his photos appropriately show off just how screen-accurate the AbbyShot Sunstalker II trench is!

Just before posting his pictures on the AbbyShot discussion forums, "blade" wrote us regarding his new leather trenchcoat. He was a "tiny" bit excited! :-)   Here's what he had to say:

I got my Blade 2 Coat today and Words Can't express what I'm feeling right now, but I'll give it a Shot.
Incredible
Awesome
Unbelievable
Nope, None of them Work. I've been smiling like a Crazy person since the Mail man dropped it off. You Guy's are so Awesome - like the Atomic Ferret Says: "You Rock My Face Off"

I'm going to Take some Pics tonite and send them so you can see How GOOD you make me Look!

Thank you "blade", your pictures are awesome! We're so happy that you chose to share your pictures with us! :-)

AbbyShot Turns To Jrock For Inspiration!

Malice Mizer coat in Beast of Blood video.

Since mid-2004 people have been requesting that we make this coat from the music video "Beast of Blood" by the Jrock band, "Malice Mizer". At first, we didn't know if it was worth pursuing, there were only a few people requesting it, the band itself was no more, and we already had a lot of projects ahead of it. However, the fans were persistent, they contacted other Malice Mizer fans and the demand increased. Perhaps there was some merit to this design.

Still, we weren't ready to commit. Rather than make promises before we were ready, we decided to tease everyone mercilessly that we weren't going to make it! ^_^ Regular readers may recall the joke article, What's a Malice Mizer? that we ran in August 2004. For a while, it looked like we might never make this design. In April 2005, we announced that it was going to be one of the next upcoming designs to become a "Coming Soon" product. This confirmed everyone's suspicions that all our teasing was just for fun.

The time to make the AbbyShot Malice Mizer an official "Coming Soon" product is now! In fact, we've been secretly working on it for a little while. We have some preliminary work done on the pattern and we've acquired a medium-weight suiting fabric that we feel will make a perfect Malice Mizer coat! Our next step is to make the first prototype and see if the fabric works for this design. At this stage, we don't have a release date. Of course, as we continue to develop this product we will be revising any estimates and reporting on all design developments as this new project progresses towards completion!

The Matrix Jacket That Stands Alone!

Neo in the Mobil Ave. scene.

While the most famous of Neo's garments are his two full length trenchcoats from the Matrix trilogy, he has another garment with almost as much demand from the fans. The three-quarter length jacket Neo wore the in "Mobil Avenue Train Station" scene is a distinctly styled garment with a lot of appeal. With the curved back lines of the Lobby Reloaded and an almost suit jacket appearance to the front, this is a coat with a lot of possibilities.

We feel that the Mobil Ave. Jacket is a versatile design that is wearable for many different occasions. It has a fashion potential that rivals even that of Neo's signature trenchcoats! We have even had a lot of interest from customers who intend to wear it to weddings!

We're partway through creating the pattern for this one and already have a couple of fabrics in mind to test it in when it is ready. We're really looking forward to releasing this. We feel that it has a broad-spectrum appeal that will allow this garment to work for you whether you're a Matrix fan or not! We'll keep everyone up to date on this one as developments occur.

More Plans, More Fun, More Excitement!

Amongst all the new product development, the new options, the numerous fabric testing, and the regular business (making orders, etc.) we have also managed to squeeze in some more planning for July's AbbyCon!

AbbyCon 2005 Agenda

• Thursday, July 28th - St. John's Haunted Hike
  
• Friday, July 29th - Tour of AbbyShot, Whale Watching Boat Tour, AbbyQ.
  
• Saturday, July 30th - George Street Festival
  
• Sunday, July 31st - Home again with happy memories
  

Here's what we have so far: The actual AbbyCon itself is going to take place over several days starting on Thursday evening, July 28th and ending Saturday night, July 31st. We recommend that people fly into St. John's on Wednesday night or Thursday morning and leave on Sunday afternoon or evening. (or stay longer if you wish and make a holiday out of it!) :-) St. John's has an international airport so many of you may be able to get a direct flight into Newfoundland. I know from personal experience that there are direct flights from many US locations as well as the UK, France, Germany, etc.

Where to stay? Well, of course you could stay at a hotel. St. John's has many of the big chain hotel franchises. However, that option doesn't really provide you with much of the Newfoundland flavour. We recommend that you instead stay at any of the many wonderful little Bed & Breakfasts that are scattered throughout the city! If you're wondering where they are and what their accommodations & rates are like, then look no further than www.bbcanada.com. Just make sure that the place you choose is located within the city of St. John's and not outside. Need help deciding? Don't hesitate to ask us about any spot you may be considering. If we don't know about it, we can check it out for you. We're your on-location native! :-)

Downtown St. John's

So, what will we be doing? Bring your hiking boots and tie your laces together cause you're going on a hike! Thursday evening will feature the "St. John's Haunted Hike" of the "Old St. John's District". This a theatrical walking tour (approx. 75 min.) of the core of downtown St. John's that will take you through the historic and haunted streets featuring old-fashioned storytelling at its dramatic and spine-tingling best. It's a compelling mix of drama, passion, horror, humour and suspense, guaranteed to provide an unforgettable night of chills and thrills. This will show you some of the fascinating history and "old world" architecture of our 500 year old capital city, (the oldest city in North America in fact!) including some of the hundreds of colourful ghost stories that it can tell!

On Friday morning, we'll have a tour of AbbyShot Headquarters that will show you everything here and walk you through the whole process that a stereotypical order takes from initial contact to shipped garment. Then we'll be giving a presentation on how we decide upon and design our garments, including some of the many activities (and challenges) that this includes. See and feel the many different fabrics that we use, and get a sneak peek at the upcoming designs that we are currently working on. At noon we'll all go out to lunch together! A great opportunity for you to personally interact with all the different AbbyShot staff. Ever wonder what it's like to work in a clothing design company? Get the inside scoop straight from the people who "walk the walk"! If you've placed an order with us, then you might even take it home with you - straight from where it is made! Of course, during your tour you will have a chance to be personally measured by the AbbyShot staff, thus assuring the perfect set of measurements for your next custom fitted order!

Friday Afternoon events to be determined.

Whale Watching

Friday evening we'll be taking you on a whale-watching adventure boat tour, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to (hopefully!) see whales up close and in their natural environment! If you ever want to see Abby at her most excited it's when she's squealing with delight as they come up from the water! There's nothing that will awe the senses like having 20 or more 10,000+ pound mammals swimming around your tour boat, or seeing a glacial iceberg from a few 100 feet away! This is an experience that you'll remember forever! See the majesty of the ocean without leaving sight of the shore!

Surely we wouldn't...

Grab your guitar and polish your spoons! Friday night is an AbbyQ with the AbbyShot gang! That's right, we're hosting a party and you're all invited! Come to AbbyShot President's home and we'll fire up the BBQ and roast a few! Relax, get to know us - we'll keep you entertained for the remainder of the evening!

George Street Festival

Saturday evening is dedicated towards the George Street Festival. This annual event has to be seen to be believed! For those who don't know, the George Street Festival is a 20+ year old annual event that takes place on George Street in Downtown Old St. John's. This little street has over 20 bars on it, and during George Street Festival they are all packed! In addition to the bands playing inside the bars, there is also an outdoor concert on George Street with some amazing performers! Imagine a party that's several city blocks long with thousands of guests, live music, dancing, street performers and more! That's just a taste of what the George Street Festival is like! You never know just who you may meet as well! Many renown actors and performers frequent Newfoundland as a hidden vacation destination! Newfoundlanders are famous for knowing how to party and the biggest party of the year is downtown at the George St. Festival!

Leaving us all behind

By Sunday you'll be good friends of ours and we'll hate to see you go, but all good things come to an end. You will still have a few hours in the morning to do some last minute shopping for anything you'd like to bring home. The downtown waterfront area is filled with unique little shops, local music stores, independent boutiques and art galleries! Everything is open seven days a week during the tourist season, so you won't miss out on anything! After that though, it's off to your plane and home you go, filled with memories of the good times you had here on "The Rock"! (our slang for "Newfoundland"!) :-)

So now that you know how much fun you're going to have, what are you waiting for! Reserve your room and book your flight - you have a celebration to attend! Oh, and let us know as soon as you finalize your plans, we can't wait for you to arrive! :-)

Voice Your Opinions Now!

Last issue had a lot of suggestions. Just what kind of response did we get? Well, some were quite popular while others weren't nearly so. The suggestions that didn't create a lot of interest were Trinitys PVC Top, Alexander Andersons Trench, and design Four of Angels coat. The suggestions which brought in a moderate response were The Brides Yellow Biker Jacket, Abigails jacket, and designs One and Three for Angels coat. The two suggestions which pulled in the greatest response were designs Two and Five for Angels coat and the Foxhound Trench. We'd like to thank everyone for their responses as they are EXTREMELY helpful to us in determining the potential market for a given design. You can bet that the information we're collecting will be referenced when we decide the next round of garments to develop later this year! So, what are we looking at for this issue? Let us know what you think of this latest batch of designs and if they are one's you'd like to see.

This One Keeps Getting Better All The Time!

Check out the regular snap
held next to the large snaps!

Take a look at this great pic of the Leather Stampede Duster with the new big snaps! Finally, we can offer a true anime style for the Stampede Duster with snaps! There are a couple more large snaps pictures in the Leather Stampede Duster Photo Gallery! This option is available for both the regular Stampede Duster as well as the Leather Stampede Duster, (technically you could even request it for other designs too if you really wanted it!), and the best part is that it doesn't cost anything extra for your garment!

We'd love to hear from you!   Let us know what you think!   See you next issue!

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