Okay so what now?

Hi everyone!

I’m finally back and recovered from King’s Cup in Washington, DC.

King’s Cup Recap

Since I was competing, judging, teaching, and coaching, I really didn’t get the opportunity to show off the Chest Protector all that much, EXCEPT when Briana Lamb needed a chest protector for the Smallsword tournament.

I got her in the right size and made sure that it fit under her sports fencing jacket (it did perfectly!) She was pretty excited to be a product tester.

After pools ended, she locked eyes with me from across the room and shouted “I NEED ONE.” while pointing at the protector. Here’s the quote from her that tells the most about the product I think:

“I literally forgot I was wearing it.”

“Can I quote you on that?” (me)

“Abso-f**king-lutly”

- Briana Lamb, Keystone Academy of Dueling and Swordsmanship

That’s cool, but what’s going on with the chest protector?

The campaign officially closed on January 6, 2023. We raised $22,463! (I know the campaign isn’t counting all of that, I got some outside funding from an anonymous donor.)

So what are my next steps?

Now that the campaign is closed and I’ve received all the funds, its time to reach out to the thermoforming company again! I have one company that I’ve gotten a quote from previously. The plan is to follow up with them again, and additionally try to source a second or third quote to try to get the best deal.

Once I’m a little further through the process, I’ll make a whole post about how thermoforming works, how this will work with the Chest Protector, and take you along in the process with me!

The process of requesting quotes and interacting with manufacturers can be pretty time intensive and involves a lot of waiting around; that’s why I waited until late 2022 to even start the campaign because most of 2022 was spent waiting for people to get back to me!

But because I did all of that work ahead of time, I can now hit the ground running!

I’ll be keeping you all updated through this website, the newsletter, and through the IndieGoGo updates page!

Love ya’ll!

Veronica