Shoots, Roots & New Pursuits

If you're reading this, you're here right at the start of something: the first edition of our monthly Behind the Seams. The idea is simple. Once a month, we'll pull up a chair and tell you what we've genuinely been up to; the wins, the behind-the-scenes, the occasional disaster, the things we're building and the reasons behind them. Just us, being honest about what it's actually like to build SO-ME in real time.

So, without further a due, here’s what went down in July.

We made our first ever campaign

We're a young company, and we're very much self-funded… no big investors, no bottomless marketing budget, just us backing ourselves. So planning our first ever campaign?! Big deal!

It's a proper milestone, and one we were determined to do right and on our own terms. We are proudly a Cardiff-born company (and Cardiff-born sisters), and we want our content to feel fashion and tech led, yes, but first and foremost…Cardiff-grown. The communities, the culture, the landmarks, we’re here to celebrate it all as we grow.

Wherever the Day Takes You is a love letter to a summer in Cardiff, and to the way real days actually go: a morning walk that becomes a wander into town that becomes a night you absolutely did not plan. Three looks, one very good day, all styled to be genuinely lived in.

We shot it right here — outside Cardiff Castle, around Roath Park and down at the Bay — and we teamed up with the wonderful Liz Colley Dance Studio, along side her community members, to bring it to life through movement.

Did it go perfectly? Absolutely not. We planned a sun-drenched summer campaign, and the Welsh weather looked us dead in the eye and tipped it down for the entire day. BUT, we grabbed our clear SO-ME umbrellas, danced in the rain, and made it part of the story instead.

The universe's little joke? It's been sunny more or less every day since. We're not bitter. (We're a bit bitter.)

The full film and the styling breakdown for all three looks are on the blog now, if you fancy a read!

We spent the month with 800+ girls

And now the part we're proudest of.

All through July we hit the road for Empower Girls in Cyber, running tech talks and workshops at Glyntaff, Bangor, Wrexham, Newport and Swansea.

All told, we got to spend time with over 800 girls — talking about tech, about building things, and about an idea that just doesn't get put in front of young girls often enough: that they could start something of their own.

We talked about entrepreneurship not as some far-off, suited-and-booted, someone-else's-world sort of thing, but as a real and doable option. Have an idea, back yourself, start. Because that's exactly what we did…and if we can build a fashion-tech company from right here in Wales, so can the girl in the back row who hasn't quite put her hand up yet.

Eight hundred-odd conversations later, we came home with an extra respect for teachers, and a real sense of achievement. If even a handful of those girls go on to build something of their own one day, that's a better return than any campaign could ever give us.

We shipped something new

While all this has been going on, we’ve also been tinkering with new features in the background: you can now build a whole wardrobe inside the chat, to a budget you set yourself. There’s a handy button under a piece your looking at, that’ll allow you to build a full look in one place!

Tell it what you've got to spend, and it pulls together a full wardrobe within that number — no mental maths, no forty tabs open, no "just one more thing" quietly blowing the budget.

It's about as close as we've come to putting a stylist and an accountant in the same conversation. It's live now, whenever you fancy a play.

What's next

A slightly quieter August (we hope), a lie-down (we dream), and more of everything that made July feel like a turning point. We'll be back in your inbox next month with the next chapter.

Thanks for being here right at the start of it; it means more than you know.

The SO-ME team

P.S. This is issue one, so we're all ears: tell us what you'd like more of.