Tinsel Blog
Learn more about Tinsel's products, team and vision.
Viewing entries tagged
Production Update
Okay, okay! We’ve got updates:
We’re back from checking on production in China. DIPPERS ARE BEING ASSEMBLED!
Right now we are in the middle of a week-long Chinese holiday which is slowing things down a bit, but we’re still on track to start shipping the first units by the end of the month. We're giddy just thinking about it!
We received our first batch of CNC'ed samples, and we're proud to report that The Dipper is looking just dazzling. Take a look at how the new CNC Dipper is outshining its older die cast counterpart. Not to mention our new packaging is definitely on point!
We're packing our bags for China, y'all.
Team Tinsel is gearing up for a trip to our factory this week. We got the pilot run of samples a few weeks back, much to our excitement. You’ll be happy to know that we are still on schedule for an October ship, despite some snags that have tried to kill our vibe.
After sharing a pretty lengthy and serious update with y'all last time, we've decided to keep this one as short and sweet as our (CEB) Chief Executive Baby.
We're happy to report that everything is still on track with our latest Dipper production timeline. In fact, the factory just completed a small sample run of the CNC'ed Dippers, which will be arriving to Tinsel HQ next week.
To say we’ve been through a lot in the past month would be an understatement. We went to China and discovered that The Dipper’s chevron pendant had major problems. While this unexpected challenge has pushed out our ship date to October 2016, we are relieved to finally have a solution to the metal issues that have caused so many Dipper delays. You can read all about it here on our blog.
#cantstopwontstop <3
“Hardware is hard.” People love to throw that phrase around in Silicon Valley. I bet that if I had a nickel for every time someone said that phrase to me since starting Tinsel, we wouldn’t need to fundraise ever again. The hardware life is full of ups, downs and turnarounds, but Team Tinsel is a resourceful and determined group.
Tinsel founders Aniyia Williams and Monia Santinello are in Shenzhen, China right now, crossing T's and dotting I's before The Dipper goes into full production. This week, they've been brushing up on their technical Chinese with The Dipper's factory teams, discussing everything from final assembly to product packaging - including a few surprises!
With all the talk of melting, plating, and finishing lately you’d think Team Tinsel was working on a restaurant. We won’t be churning out gourmet cuisine any time soon, but we’re certainly hungry for results!
Ladies and gents, we are so very close to getting our next samples. As we mentioned last time, we're waiting for T2s (our 2nd off-tool samples) to come from the factory but we hit a snag that's causing delays.
Summary: there are issues with getting the plating to look just right on our aluminum pieces. The factory has been working around the clock to fix this and hopes to have it nailed in the next few days. This has pushed our schedule back by another 2 weeks. Oy.
Since our last update, we’ve been working around the clock on packaging and perfecting the finer details of The Dipper.
Now that we’re off-tool, we’re at work fine-tuning things like the perfect hues of gold and gunmetal, the experience of switching to earbud mode and back, and the lengths of The Dipper’s necklace chains.
South by Southwest is a convention, not a competition, but if Team Tinsel had to choose a winner, we’d choose ourselves. Since our last newsletter, we’ve been perfecting the finer details of The Dipper, receiving plenty of attention and praise, and ringing in springtime sunshine with something new. All of this and a message from Tinsel CEO Aniyia Williams in our first newsletter of the spring season!
