The Stationers Guild

I am thrilled to report that Sweet Pea Designs is back on its feet and was proudly represented at the 2011 National Stationery.   For those who didn’t have an opportunity to look through their exciting new Baby album, several of their new yet familiar and comforting designs are featured on a Facebook Fan Page.

As reported last year,  Sweet Pea Designs and its long-time printing partner, Printswell, parted ways in the early part of 2010.  Sweet Pea owners Anne Johnson and Kim Kreis had hoped to relaunch a “new and improved” Sweet Pea Designs in time for the 2010 holiday season, but technology hurdles got the best of them and Sweet Pea wisely decided to hold off until they could get things right.  While this was no doubt a painful decision for both Anne and Kim and their many fans and dealers in the industry, the new album vindicates their decision.

Anne and Kim are far too shy to get in front of a camera – must be that southern upbringing – and, as such, my wife Sheila delivered this heartfelt promotional pitch video:

While I apologize for the sound reproduction and background noise, I think you get the idea that this new Baby Album is rich in design and careful thought has gone into creating a visually attractive and functional experience for your clients. As Sheila mentioned, a totally revamped and new social stationery and invitations album will be released in about eight weeks followed by their holiday album in the Fall.

I join Sheila in welcoming back Sweet Pea Designs and we wish Kris and Anne well in their new venture. If you wish to become a dealer or require additional information, please visit the Sweet Pea Designs website.

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

Two additional album

Sheila and I had a most welcome opportunity to sit down with Kim Kreis of Sweet Pea Designs to discuss the launch of their new stationery and invitations album.  Her partner, Anne Johnson, was corralling clients who also wanted to take a peak at the new album that will be released toward the end of June.

As readers of the Stationers Guild News are aware, Sweet Pea Designs and Printswell decided to go their separate ways earlier this year.  The rather unsettling turn of events left some 2,000 dealers in the dark as to the plans of either company.  Fortunately, both companies resurfaced at the National Stationery Show and the world is a better place for it.  We wish them both well as they pursue their vision.

We had a chance to look at some of the preliminary pages of the new Sweet Pea Designs album that will begin to be distributed toward the end of June to dealers who have signed the new application form.   Instead of several albums, Sweet Pea has had the good sense to create a substantial album incorporating many new designs and their traditional “best sellers.”  Based on the sample pages we saw, the colors are far richer and the paper (#110) more substantial and bright than Sweet Pea’s old papers.  Rather than showing many samples in the old albums, the new album provides many more customization options and is laid out more rationally to assist in the visualization and customization process. 

Printing will now occur on the west coast, but we understand that deliveries will occur within 3 days anywhere in the United States.  Kim mentioned that Sweet Pea intends to be more selective with their dealers to insure that stationers who promote their brand will not be selling against other stores in the immediate vicinity.  This is a welcome relief to the proliferation of stationery products and greeting cards that seems to crop up on every street corner.   The Sweet Pea website is expected to be fully operational by the end of September for those who wish to promote Sweet Pea online.

It was good to see Kris and Anne in good spirits and on behalf of dealers everywhere, we are looking forward to seeing their great looking designs once again. 

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

Like other stationery dealers, Sheila and I have been somewhat perplexed and not a little put-out that Printswell will no longer distribute the Sweet Pea line of stationery, invitations and announcements.  Shortly after we received this information, we contacted Printswell and were informed that Sweet Pea Designs had ended their contractual arrangements with Printswell and that Sweet Pea Designs (album and online designs) could no longer be sold after March 19, 2010.  We sought additional clarification from Printswell owners, but received no further information other than the email announcement.

Today, we received an email from Anne Johnson and Kim Kreis, the founders and designers of Sweet Pea Designs, indicating that they intend to relaunch the company under their own name within the next “month or so” and that they were putting the “finishing touches” on their new website and that “new” catalogs were being designed.   Sheila and I took the opportunity to call Sweet Pea and had a most pleasant conversation with Anne Johnson, one of the founders.  Found below are brief highlights of the conversation that we feel may be relevant to fellow dealers and clients who admire Sweet Peas designs:

• Sweet Pea Designs (“SPD”), a 22-year old company, and Printswell have always been separate legal companies even though Printswell changed its name to Sweet Pea name for a short period of time for convenience in distributing the Sweet Pea line.
• Under the terms of their contractual arrangement, SPD gave 60 days notice in January that they planned to terminate the distributions and printing arrangement with Printswell.  According to Anne, the co-founders decided that they wished to assume greater control of the design process and the marketing and production of their stationery line.
• The existing Sweet Pea albums are “obsolete.”  SPD will shortly be issuing two new “somewhat larger” albums for Baby & Children and another for “Adult Themes.”    A third album for Christmas and holiday themes will be issued later in the year.
• These new albums will be shipped within the next few weeks (probably within 60 days) to dealers who complete a Sweet Pea Designs Application form.  Email SPD at info@sweet-peadesigns.net to obtain your Application Form.   SPD does not have a list of authorized Sweet Pea dealers and is trying to piece together a list from third-party sources.
• According to Anne, the new albums will be shipped free-of-charge to dealers who have met some pre-determined volume of sales.  Pricing for the new albums is still under consideration, but should not be more than $100 per album with coupons offered to help offset the cost of the albums.
• The new designs will be printed on heavier paper stock (110 lb paper).
• The new Sweet Pea website will also incorporate an “affiliate program” similar to programs offered by Printswell and others in the industry.   The nature of the affiliate commission structure was not discussed.
• Anne suggested that they would be more selective on how their product was represented geographically, but admitted that some home-dealers would be “grandfathered.”   She anticipated that SPD would have firm policies to avoid discounting.
• SPD will be represented at the National Stationery Show in booths 3306-3308 and Anne and Kim encouraged Guild members to drop by.

Clearly, Sweet Pea is a very popular line for many dealers.  It is unfortunate that this rough transition has left many dealers in the dark and unable to fulfill customer requests.  Nevertheless, it is good to see Sweet Pea upgrading their line when many other companies are tracking in the opposite direction.

I would like to thank Anne for sharing this information with readers of the Stationers Guild News and we wish Anne and Kim much success in flying solo.
Sheila and Richard May
Therese Saint Clair