Customer E-Mails: April 2011 Edition

Last month we talked about spring having almost sprung, and now we're plunging you back into the depths of winter. We thought about saving these photos until the summer, you know, when we need to look at pictures of snow in order to cool ourselves off, but then we thought better of it. They're simply too much fun to hold under wraps any longer and they tie right in with our Newsletter this month as well!

Our first email is from Casey who seems to be elated with his Tenth Doctor's Coat.

All I can say about this coat is that it's... FANTASTIC! The quality and feel of it make me wonder if you actually made a replica or stole the real thing and mailed it to me! I feel like this came right off the back of the Doctor himself! It's mind-boggling the amount of detail there is in it. The lining is especially beautiful and I got many compliments on it my first time wearing it!

It happens to be snowing right now where I live. OK, it's not really snow, it's just the Sycorax spaceship breaking up in the Earth's atmosphere but let's ignore that for a moment. We have about 3-6 inches on the ground and I have to say, this coat kept me warmer than any jacket I have ever owned! I was worried about the tail of the coat getting wet from the snow, as it comes down to about my ankle, but when I got inside and shook the snow off it, I was pleased to see it hadn't even gotten the slightest bit damp! I know quality when I see it, and this coat was made to be durable! It may be the newest addition to my costume, but it also works as an everyday coat too!

Overall, I couldn't have been more pleased with this purchase and I would recommend this fine piece of art to any Doctor Who fan. This is THE coat to own if you love one certain time-traveling Timelord as much as I do! Tell Janis Joplin I said thank you! Bravo AbbyShot, bravo!  
--Casey Trojanowski, USA

In a similar vein, we heard from Alan a couple of months ago. He is thrilled with the way it moves regardless of how he moves in it. This is what he had to tell us:

Hello to the AbbyShot team!

Let me just start by saying that I'm absolutely thrilled with this trench! It is everything I hoped it would be and more. I'm a huge fan of Doctor Who but I wasn't getting this coat for any kind of cosplaying. I just love long coats and the Doctor had the coolest long coat I had ever seen. What I was looking for was a replica that would hold up to day-to-day wear and that is exactly what I got.

As soon as I pulled the coat out of the box I could feel the quality. This is no costume piece! This is a real coat that has kept me warm in temperatures down to -15C with a wind chill. I don't doubt that it would keep me warm even if it got colder. The fit and finish are perfect as well. There is not a stitch out of place and the whole jacket shows an incredible attention to detail. It hangs just as nicely as it did for the Doctor in the show and billows when it's windy. It looks just as good closed as it does open, which I was wondering about since the Doctor never really wears his closed. I've had no shortage of compliments from friends and family, even from those who wouldn't know the Doctor if he came up and slapped them.

All in all I couldn't be happier with my new trench! Thank you all for making it possible!

-- AJ, Ontario, Canada

The pictures and comments that you send to us truly keep us loving what we do! Please keep them coming. Knowing that our products are going to good homes is important to us, and knowing how much you appreciate them is of paramount importance. It tells us that we're doing our jobs well! Thanks again and we hope to see your photos here next month!

The Wednesday Uplink: Change Is All Around Us

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Have you been noticing the changes which are happening all around you? No, I don't mean the changes evident with spring or autumn (depending on your longitude or latitude), but instead I refer to the changes happening at AbbyShot Headquarters. Some of these changes you cannot see easily, such as the changes in staff, but their results are evident to you just the same.

The AbbyShot team sent out a survey a few months ago, asking you what you thought about their website experience... basically what worked and what didn't work (this is something which I noticed was addressed here on the blog earlier this week). Some of the ideas which came back are ones which have begun to be implemented already, while others I keep hearing murmurings about around the boardroom table.

I am noticing that anything is possible with the talents of a great programmer and superb graphics guys on staff. Can you see what has changed already due to their talents? 

As always, comment here on the Blog, on Twitter, or on the AbbyShot Facebook Page and let me know what differences you have noticed taking place already, and of course, if you have any suggestions for the AbbyShot Team. I'll make sure your message gets into the right hands! Until next time...

Yours,

Eon

AbbyShot Customer Experience Survey: The Results!

At AbbyShot, your experience as a customer is SO important to us! So when we asked you at the end of February to fill in a quick survey, every result we received was carefully read over and reviewed by the team. We're not the type of company to shoot charts out of a computer program; when we say we want to hear from you - we mean it!

Questions covered everything from standards such as "How did you discover our site?" to the tough questions like "What are the main factors that would make you hesitate (or have made you hesitate) from buying an AbbyShot product?"

Based on the survey results, here are the main topics that matter to you:


1) Keeping Product Prices Low
Especially with today's economic climate, this feedback was not a surprising number 1 issue. It's a constant balance here at AbbyShot to bring you the super high-quality clothing you deserve while also keeping the price as low as possible. Many fans who wrote in seem to understand that balance as well: "I wish the prices were lower without losing any of your quality. I understand and won't begrudge you if that cannot happen. :D"

We'll certainly keep pricing at the forefront of our minds in the coming year. As one recent example, the new Dante Coat has many options and price points that customers can choose from (leather vs pleather and custom vs set-size) in order to suit many budgets. We'll certainly keep working on similar ways to expand our range of price points throughout the year.

2) More New Products
Many fans are hungry for the next big thing from AbbyShot... and that's what we like to hear, of course! Over the next few weeks (and months) you'll be happy to know that there are a number of exciting new product announcements waiting to happen! One fan wrote in to say that he was "still waiting for a Cloud vest or even some Assassin's Creed inspired clothing" and a number of fans mentioned the Captain Jack Harkness Coat from Doctor Who and Torchwood. AbbyShot is listening, friends... that's all we can say for now ;)

3) Improving Shipping Prices / Logistics
Many respondents requested more shipping options on our AbbyShot website, especially lower priced options that, while they take longer than the current options, would cost less overall. You'll be happy to know that this is actively being worked on and at least one new Ground shipping option for North America will be added to the AbbyShot website very soon.

Shipping options are more limited for packages going outside of North America since these packages literally have to travel "overseas". AbbyShot is actively looking into logistics options to bring products closer to our overseas customers so shipping comes at a lower cost. These options are still in the early stages, but one example of a logistics/shipping improvement for our UK customers was announced on the blog last week: AbbyShot's affiliate Scifi Collector is running a concurrent Tenth Doctor Coat pre-order that will ship direct from London. 

4) Easier navigation for the AbbyShot website
The current version of the AbbyShot website was first launched in 2008 (wow, time flies!) and while many changes have been made over the past three years there is certainly a LOT more we can do to improve your experience on the AbbyShot website! And actually, certain website changes have begun already (have you checked out AbbyShot.com over the past few days?).

We received much helpful fan feedback in this category, for example: "Some products can only be found in very non-specific pages, such as the Abbyshot t-shirt and Kingdom Hoodie (found on pages such as set-size, all products..) Although these products easy enough to find, website navigation could be a little more intuitive. Otherwise you guys are god-tier." Okay, we really like that last line there ;) Other fans had similar feedback, so our website menus are definitely one of the many areas we'll be looking at improving in the coming months. Certainly if you have more website suggestions for us, please don't hesitate to let us know in the Comments below!

5) More photography of AbbyShot products
Fans just can't get enough photos of AbbyShot clothing, and we can't blame you! You're buying a high-quality item so it's only right that you want to see all the product details. This is another area for improvement that AbbyShot will be taking very seriously this year. One respondent was quite detailed in their response: "Product photography could use some improvement. I love the action shots, but sometimes they hinder seeing details of the products, e.g., what does the back of the coat look like when the model is standing still. The more photos the better, closeup, medium, and long. Since most of your products are more expensive than average, I want to see exactly what I'm buying."

This is a fantastic point that was echoed by many fans and AbbyShot will be taking a two-pronged approach here: 1) More high-quality product photography, and 2) More photos on each product page. We're already in the planning stages for #1 and our webmaster is mulling over possible layout changes for #2 to enable us to show you more photos on each product page. As stated above: "The more photos the better" indeed!

Thanks so much to everyone who responded to the survey, your feedback was so appreciated. If the feedback and important points shown above bring up any ideas for you, please don't hesitate to Contact Us or respond here in the Blog Comments!

AbbyShot Reviews Doctor Who 6.1: The Impossible Astronaut

The highly-anticipated premiere of Doctor Who Series 6 aired over the weekend (simulcast in our native Canada, in the US, and, of course, in the UK) and our minds are still reeling! It was one of the most heart-pounding and intense hours of Doctor Who ever aired and at least one review has called it "possibly the best Doctor Who season opener of all time" (and io9 is not one to make this claim lightly!).

AbbyShot was watching the premiere intently... with a particular eye on the clothing of course! Here are some of our observations/random thoughts/discussion points on the premiere with (beware!) mild spoilers:

1. The Doctor has a new jacket this season! Of course it's a wool blazer with leather patches at the elbows (this is the Eleventh Doctor after all) but this time: It's plaid! And looks strikingly good... ;)
2. On a related note: 2 'versions' of the Eleventh Doctor show up in this episode and both are wearing the exact same outfit right down to the bowtie. Was this done to simplify costuming or is there a subtle clue here?
3. Speaking of costuming: Stetsons are cool.
4. River Song destroying the Doctor's hats: Never gets old.
5. River was decked out in her finest 'cowgirl-inspired' wardrobe -- and really pulls off the denim jacket!
6. Is the Eleventh Doctor "River Song's Doctor" that she speaks so fondly about in the "Silence in the Library" two-parter? River's reaction to the tragedy at the beginning of the episode leads us to believe so... although time can be rewritten. "Wibbly wobbly timey wimey" indeed.
7. Amy and Rory were in full "vacation mode" with their costuming this episode: You can't go wrong with jeans or shorts on a holiday.
8. How long were Amy and Rory away from the Doctor? Seems odd that he would leave them behind and travel alone for a long stretch of time. We wonder what his original motivations were...
9. Mark Sheppard (a.k.a. Badger from Firefly) was great as former FBI Agent Canton Everett Delaware III. Is there any significance, friends, to the fact that his character has three names that are all places in the US? The little girl's troubled phone call (and misinterpreted name) springs to mind!
10. Great to see a "cool, calm, and collected" man like Mr. Delaware reacting to the TARDIS -- very well acted by Mr. Sheppard.
11. Did you know that Mark Sheppard's father, William Morgan Sheppard, played the older version of Mr. Delaware? Absolute genius casting.
12. The Doctor calling his crew "The Legs, The Nose, and Mrs. Robinson"... absolutely classic (and definite contender for best line of the night).
13. The Doctor Who casting team and make-up team gave us a fantastic President Nixon!
14. With "The Silence", Steven Moffat has crafted one of the most devious villains in Doctor Who history... how do you defeat something you can't even remember when you look away from it? 
15. Who is "The Spaceman" the little girl refers to? Is it "The Silence"? The astronaut from the lake? Or someone else altogether? Maybe someone we already know?

So those are our quick observations on the premiere of Doctor Who, and of course we want to hear from you. Any observations you'd like to add in the comments below? Will Series 6 only get darker and more intense from here? We're so excited to find out what happens... next Saturday can't come fast enough!

Tenth Doctor Coat Pre-Order Update (With UK News!)

With all the buzz surrounding the Eleventh Doctor's return this coming weekend, AbbyShot has some news about another Doctor who is still near and dear in fans' hearts! There's great news here for web surfers and UK citizens so read on for all the details...

The Tenth Doctor's fashionable overcoat remains one of AbbyShot's most popular designs of all time (and space) and fans will be pleased to hear that production is still on track for delivery in early June to those who have pre-ordered through our website. If you haven't pre-ordered your Tenth Doctor's Coat yet, then now is the time! Reserve your coat early to beat the rush, as certain sizes of this coat sell out very quickly. And of course, contact us if you have any questions on sizing!

For those of you lucky enough to live in the Doctor's home base of the UK, we have some great pre-order news for you as well! AbbyShot is located in Canada so the cost of transatlantic shipping and customs for the Tenth Doctor's Coat can be pricey. Well fear not, UK friends! SciFiCollector is AbbyShot's official retailer/distributor of Doctor Who products, located in London. UK citizens, you can pre-order Tenth Doctor's Coats directly from SciFiCollector.co.uk with no worries about customs and much less shipping cost. SciFiCollector will have coats in stock in early June as well, so the timing is right with them too! Their pre-order price is £250 including UK delivery (though we hear it's going up to £275 once pre-order is done!).

Don't forget about our companion to the Doctor's Coat as well: In case you haven't seen the news, the Martha Jones Companion Jacket is available at a new lower price point!

TV isn't the only way to get your Doctor Who fix:

Doctor Who Products on AbbyShot.com

The Wednesday Uplink: The Time Approaches...

>RUN DIRECTORY PROTOCOL: INSI.DIR v2.x

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>WELCOME

I have been letting all those around me know NOT to bother me on April 23rd. The Eleventh Doctor will be sharing with us his latest and greatest adventure, so I don't even want to think about reality until AFTER this highly-anticipated premiere. With all of the teasers which have been released by the BBC it looks to be an interesting time.

So, with that in mind, I went looking for a Doctor Who scoop at AbbyShot HQ, and I came across this random button sewn onto a swatch of cloth next to various technical sketches. I tried to make sense of it by poking it with a stick (sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind), but that clearly didn't shed any light on it. So instead I took a closer look at the fabric and the sketch and put two and two together.

Just easily bored, I suppose. Anticipation can do that to you.  What are your thoughts on this?  As always, comment here on the Blog, on Twitter, or on the AbbyShot Facebook Page. 


Yours,

Eon

Dante Coat and Shooting Gloves: Good News!

It's an exciting day here at AbbyShot as everything has come together for the Dante Coat design! The red colours are now finalized for both the pleather AND leather versions of this coat and you are going to go wild for what the Design Team has in store here! The AbbyShot tradition of video game inspired designs continues: Clothing that is wearable everyday in terms of both functionality and quality.

Another important element of the Dante Coat that was finalized today as well: We received the final samples of our custom-designed Dante snaps and they look awesome! We obviously couldn't use just any standard snap for this coat, so to truly honour Dante we had to make our own. Let's just say that we can't WAIT to show you photos of the finished red pleather and leather coats in all their glory!
 
Production will be starting next week on the first run of Dante Coats for those who have pre-ordered and we're on track for delivery in May as promised! Since production is starting next week, we'll keep pre-ordering turned on through the Dante Coat Group Buy Page until this Sunday night. If you want to slip your Dante Coat order in 'under the wire' to get in on our first production run - now is the time!

Now about those Dante Shooting Gloves...

Monday's Blog post asked fans: Would you order the Dante Shooting Gloves if AbbyShot offered them as a regular product? The response came back quickly from far and wide: YES!

Your feedback is always important to us here at AbbyShot so: Yes indeed, we are going to make the Dante Gloves a reality! We'll have a product page up ASAP with full info and pricing, so please keep an eye out for that! AND for those who put their faith in us and pre-ordered by the Group Buy deadline of April 17th: You fine folks will be getting your Dante Gloves for free!

We'll keep you posted on all the exciting Dante Coat (and glove!) news as it happens, so stay tuned!

Sci-Fi on the Rock 5 Was a Blast!

AbbyShot hails from a relatively small province in Canada (Newfoundland and Labrador), so sometimes it's easy to forget just how many die-hard sci-fi fans there are here on our proud island (affectionately known as "The Rock"). That's why Sci-Fi on the Rock is such a huge treat every year as sci-fi fans from all over the island come out in full force! AbbyShot had a fantastic time at the convention and it goes way beyond being a Vendor at the show (though that is great in itself!).

First of all: We love showing off our AbbyShot clothes! Working at AbbyShot is like having the coolest wardrobe imaginable, so a convention is the perfect excuse for the staff to do some AbbyShot cosplay!

Adam made his own do-it-yourself adamantium claws to truly rock the Vereen Jacket (and perfected a very 'Logan' facial expression!)

Julia and Erin model their stylish GIG Shrugs in front of the AbbyShot booth.

Mark donned the Malcolm Reynolds Browncoat but he made up his own 'frontier Browncoat' look (proving that this is one versatile brownish coloured coat!).

Another great thing about Sci-Fi on the Rock 5: This was the very first fan convention for a young member of the AbbyShot Team! Julia's daugther Lilyanne is just under a year-and-a-half old and was completely amazed by the sights and sounds of the con. Her favourite part though, without a doubt, was a homemade remote-controlled R2D2 robot (pictured here with another very impressed kid!). Lilyanne was intently watching R2D2 move around for a while and said "Bakoom" (translation: "Vacuum"). She considered it for another few seconds and then exclaimed "BIG!" She's a pretty sharp girl, this one! ;)

We had a lot of great conversations with fans at Sci-Fi on the Rock as well. One of our friends from our AbbyShot Twitter account who goes by the name of @MarkJabroni stopped by to see us in person, and it's always great to put a face to the Twitter name. He was wearing his own long coat plus a great big necklace with a Klingon symbol on it which he calls... wait for it... "Kling Bling". Nice! 

We also had a great chat with longtime customer Christo (pictured next to the Kling Bling) who is now literally drooling over the Black Leather Dante Coat. And he didn't seem to be the only one... ;)

We learned about a new webseries called Mind's Eye after a great talk with the fine folks at Lynnvander Productions. It's a fantasy webseries about powerful beings called Dreamweavers and certainly one that we'll have to catch up on!

Last but not least, another AbbyShot favourite at Sci-Fi on the Rock is the amazing costuming that we see from fans. They really pull out all the stops year after year to come up with some jaw-droppingly cool cosplay! These intricate robots below are just a sampling of the cool costumes seen at this year's show.

For a LOT more photos from the convention, be sure to check out our photo album on the AbbyShot Facebook Page!

Thanks SO much to everyone involved with organizing Sci-Fi on the Rock 5, you folks did a fantastic job! Thanks as well to everyone who visited the AbbyShot booth, it was great to meet you and definitely keep in touch!

Were you at Sci-Fi on the Rock this year? Be sure to let us know in the 'Comments' what your favourite part was!

Dante Pre-Order Results Are In: To Glove or Not To Glove?

So Dante Coat fans, the pre-order deadline of April 17th has just come and gone. The Group Buy goal of 20 pre-orders was just out of reach, as 14 pre-orders were confirmed by end-of-day yesterday. As many of you know, the math on the Group Buy was a linear equation stating:

20 Dante Coat pre-orders = Dante shooting gloves

We didn't hit the magic number 20, so this glove design is not a sure thing. The important question is:

Would you order the Dante Shooting Gloves if AbbyShot offered them as a regular product?

Blog readers know that AbbyShot always listens to fans, so now is the time to let your voice be heard! We need to know your opinion on these gloves, whichever way you'd like to tell us. Comment here on the Blog. Send us a Tweet on Twitter. Message us on the AbbyShot Facebook Page. Email us through our Contact Us Page.

The fate of the Dante Shooting Gloves is in your hands... (pun intended ;)

As a secondary question, the Dante Coat pre-order DID have an unprecedented amount of support with 170+ people listed as "Considering" on the Group Buy Page. If you were one of the people considering a pre-order without "pulling the trigger" the order, then we want to hear from you as well:

What was the main factor that kept you from pre-ordering the Dante Coat?

Please be honest; the more feedback we get, the better we can serve you in the future! We had some fans tell us directly that it was simply a timing issue, some were holding out until we had photos of the final red leather Dante Coat, so there are certainly a myriad of factors! Please don't hesitate to let us know if you were one of those "on the fence".

So there we have it folks - your feedback is needed, especially about the potential new Dante gloves!

Choose Your Own Adventure: 3 AbbyShot Events This Weekend!

It's a busy weekend for AbbyShot fans, and it doesn't matter where in the world you happen to be! You can attend one of THREE special events this very weekend (April 15-17) and get a little closer to your friends at AbbyShot. :)

Event: Dante Coat Pre-Order - Final Weekend

Location: Everywhere!

It's the highly requested Dante Coat design from Devil May Cry 4. It's up for pre-order now until THIS Sunday, April 17th. If 20 pre-orders are confirmed by end-of-day on that date... AbbyShot creates some fantastic new Dante Shooting gloves for those 20 lucky fans to go with their coats. Become a part of AbbyShot history and be one of the elite to pre-order the new Dante Coat!

Event: Sci-Fi on the Rock
Location: Holiday Inn, St. John's NL, Canada

Sci-Fi on the Rock is Newfoundland and Labrador's Premiere Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention and AbbyShot will be there live and in-person to represent! It's the 5th anniversary of the convention and it is a guaranteed good time! This year's guests include: David Nykl (Stargate: Atlantis), Mike Savva (Star Wars - Episode I), Suzie Plakson (Star Trek), and J.G. Hertzler (Star Trek). Sci Fi on The Rock Website

Event: StarFest

Location: Marriot & Hilton, Denver Colorado, USA

StarFest is an annual Denver convention encompassing all aspects of popular media, film and television. StarFest has been running since 1977 and our good friends at Secret Compass Collectibles will be officially representing AbbyShot gear! Guests include Morena Baccarin (Firefly/Serenity, V), Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and Mark Sheppard (Firefly/Serenity, soon to be on Doctor Who!). Starfest Website

We hope to see you at one of these three great events (and if you're a Time Lord we might just see you at all three!).

Wishing you an exciting weekend,
The AbbyShot Team

The Wednesday Uplink: Shooting Some Gloves?

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>WELCOME

AbbyShot was taking pictures today, so of course my spidey senses were tingling. Whenever AbbyShot breaks out the camera, there's always something interesting to be found. I won't bore you with the details of how these two photos came into my possession, but they were well worth the effort. My friends, this is a peek into a potential future... why, it's a Dante Shooting Glove!

As you may already know, AbbyShot has a Dante Coat pre-order happening now through their Group Buy page, where fans can place an order for AbbyShot's latest trench coat creation (based on, of course, Devil May Cry 4). 

So where does this intriguing glove come into play? Well, AbbyShot has said that if confirmed pre-orders reach the magic number 20, they will do a special run of these gloves for the customers who have placed their orders by April 17th. These are the shooting gloves that Dante himself wears when handling his intimidating guns (affectionately named Ebony & Ivory).

Of course, these gloves are the perfect accessories to go with the Dante Coat. And I want to get my hands on them (er, IN them) desperately. 

However, it looks like the confirmed pre-order count is at 12/20 as I'm writing this, and the deadline for pre-orders is this coming Sunday, April 17th! Come on friends, let's get to 20/20 and make the Dante gloves a reality!

What do you think of these gloves, friends? As always, comment here on the Blog, on Twitter, or on the AbbyShot Facebook Page. 

I'm always listening...

Yours,

Eon

'Mad Max Cars' Sporting AbbyShot Gear at Recent Car Show!

If you were in Portland, Oregon on the weekend of March 18-20th, hopefully you were lucky enough to have checked out The West Coast Movie and TV Theme Car Championships. It was an amazing show that actually set a new US record for the most movie and TV cars at one event! There were 36 in total, including the Red XA Bat from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and of course the infamous black Interceptor from Mad Max.

AbbyShot affiliate Mad Max Cars attended the event and showed off some very fitting AbbyShot gear. The Max Jacket, Max Gloves and Max Badges never looked so good!

Some of the other 'Starcars' being shown were: The 1966 era Batmobile, the official WB promotional 'Supernatural' car, a ZOMBIELAND H2 Humvee, Herbie the Love Bug, Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine, the 2 Fast 2 Furious Yenko, the new version of Eleanor from Gone in 60 Seconds, Bumblebee from the Transformers movies, The Nova and Mustang from Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, and tons more!

Not only were there awesome cars at this event, but also some really cool costumes, as you can see. Check out those Batman costumes!

It'll be hard to top this year's event, so next year's will surely be one you don't want to miss! You can see the full report on the 2011 event on the Mad Max Cars website.

Love The Gloves Part 10: Studded Shadows

This is it folks, our final installment of "Love the Gloves"!

And... we hope you do ;)

For this last edition, you'll have to step out of the shadows. Only then will you find a classic leather glove with a gothic twist . The Studded Shadows are not only 100% leather, but also 100% wicked!

They feature metal studs running along the edge of a flared cuff, as well as an adjustable wrist strap with a velcro closure. This closure ensures a perfect fit around the wrist and a cool flare for the studded cuff (because of course you want that cuff to stand out!). You may recognize the studs as the same ones that are used on our fingerless Maverick Gloves. If our gloves were a family, the Studded Shadows would be the wise and enigmatic older sibling to the rough-and-tumble Maverick Gloves!

These leather gloves are also a unisex design, which means the Studded Shadows are the perfect glove for any man or woman who likes to keep it simple while still maintaining their edge. Oh, and did we mention that these gloves go perfectly with any of our gothic coats?

So we've shown you all of our gloves. Even a pair that wasn't black!

As a final note before we go: Did you know that there's also a potential pair of gloves that may well arrive in the near future for certain lucky AbbyShot customers? We call them the Dante Shooting Gloves (inspired by Devil May Cry 4 of course!) and the AbbyShot Design Team will create these gloves for Dante Coat customers if we receive 20 pre-orders through the Dante Coat Group Buy Page! The count is up to 12 confirmed pre-orders now and the deadline is April 17th so there's still time to get your hands into these trigger-friendly black leather gloves!

Now it's time to hear from you! Tell us what you think? Which AbbyShot glove style is your favorite? We would love to hear your feedback!

Also, do you have any ideas for future AbbyShot gloves? The floor is yours!

Have a great weekend,
The AbbyShot Team

The Wednesday Uplink: Rhyme or Reason

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>WELCOME

So I visited AbbyShot HQ VERY early this morning, hoping to get a bit of intel before anyone was around. When I stealthily crept into the production room to rifle through files, there was a surprise waiting. I found an envelope addressed to ME on the table. Inside I found this:

Followed by this cryptic limerick (which isn't an oxymoron apparently):

There once was a tunic with a hood,

Whose details were awesomely good.

Both heather and red

The colours were wed,

...

And that is where it ended. Not only is the AbbyShot Team blatantly taunting me with a limerick (of all things!), they didn't even have the decency to give me the final line. How do you think we should respond? What do you think they're on about? 

They've thrown down the lyrical gauntlet here folks, and I accept their challenge!

Post your suggestions through all the usual channels, my friends: here in the Blog comments, on Twitter, or on the AbbyShot Facebook Page. 

Yours,

Eon

Love The Gloves Part 9: Men's Stealth Gloves

Wow, it's down to our second-last edition of "Love The Gloves"! We have already showcased the Ladies Stealth Gloves, now it is time to bring you their male counterpart!

The Men's Stealth Gloves are the perfect accessory for that secret black ops mission you've been planning (who doesn't have a secret black ops mission in the works, honestly?), or to go along with an AbbyShot gothic trench coat (the Jenova Trench perhaps?)

This glove is made from a combination of neoprene and 100% leather, making this the ultimate glove for standing up to the elements! Both neoprene and leather are amazing insulators and will have no trouble keeping your hands warm in cold weather. The palm side of the glove is leather, giving you the grip you need during your outdoor excursions.

AbbyShot customers are really "loving the gloves" here as well, this is a recent review from a US customer who field tested his Stealth Gloves this winter:

"I just got these awesome Stealth Gloves and am wearing them even as I type this. The delivery was very fast almost a week ahead of schedule! They fit perfectly and are so warm and cool looking they have made it to the top of my favorite gloves list! In fact I'm going for a walk just so I have an excuse to wear them in public!" -Joel

We think you'll love these gloves just as much! And kudos to Joel on the impressive typing skills, not just anyone can type while wearing gloves!

But then of course, AbbyShot gloves are no ordinary gloves... ;)

Love The Gloves Part 8: Granite Gauntlets

It's time for another edition of "Love the Gloves" and this time we feature a glove design that looks like it could bust through a block of concrete! These leather gloves look like a mix between medieval gauntlets, sci-fi villain wardrobe, and the side of a cliff. We can only be talking about, of course, The Granite Gauntlets!


AbbyShot first tested out these gloves in a 'rocky' grey leather and added padding on the back of the hand to add a bit of extra bulk to the design. There's even a strap at the wrist that's easily adjustable (through the amazing power of velcro!) to ensure the cuff of this gauntlet-style glove has a flared effect.

We chatted about the medieval origins of the gauntlet in our recent article on the AbbyShot Gentry Gauntlets, and we feel that the Granite Gauntlet design makes these origins even more obvious! Can't you just picture a knight striding on to the field of battle in a full suit of armour, clutching his broadsword in a pair of AbbyShot Granite Gauntlets? 

(Important Disclaimer: Though these gloves certainly do LOOK like they're made out of rock and/or armour, we must remind you that they are made of leather. For this reason they are not impervious to swords, bullets, blasters, gunblades, keyblades, laser guns, or other weapons. And now back to your regularly scheduled blog post!)

The Design Team enjoyed the look of the Granite Gauntlets so much, they thought: "OK, we're AbbyShot. We definitely need to make these in black too!" And so the Black Granite Gauntlets were born soon after! The black version incorporates all the same design features as the Granite Gauntlets, just made in the smooth black leather that you know and love from AbbyShot. Just have a look at that photo of the clenched fist - the Black Granite Gauntlets definitely have a sci-fi villain feel to them! In fact, if any of our previous customers have done any cosplay in their Granite Gauntlets we'd love to see some photos (info[at]abbyshot.com, folks!).

These gloves were named by an AbbyShot fan and we thought it was only fitting to end with his fine words about the Granite Gauntlets:

Afraid your other gauntlets will crumble? Behold the Granite Gauntlet, the most durable and stylish gauntlet ever to grace the eyes with its rocky brilliance." 
- Aulii

Colour Change Announced for AbbyShot Coats!

The AbbyShot Design Team had a revelation today. It started with the new Dante Coat and its different colour options; the team got to thinking about an innovative colour change for at least one popular AbbyShot coat. Brown is a timeless colour? We think not. We're looking towards the future here folks, and there's a new colour in town for AbbyShot...

Purple.

We're going to ease into this new colour scheme slowly by starting with the Malcolm Reynolds Browncoat, now renamed (of course) to the Malcolm Reynolds Purplecoat.

It just has a better ring to it, don't you think?

"Your coat's kind of a purplish colour..." See, it even works retroactively. We're sure that proud Browncoats, er, Purplecoats can get behind this new name (and colour) change!

The Design Team was so pleased with the way this first dye-job turned out that they'll soon be setting their sights on other AbbyShot coats. Pretty soon the entire catalogue will be purple as far as the eye can see! It'll be glorious.

Check out a little sneak preview of what's next, and we hope you're sitting down because this next photo has more #Winning than Charlie Sheen...
 

Are you ready to hop onboard the Purple-Train?
 
Just visit AbbyShot.com and...

Have a happy April Fool's Day ;)