Happy Birthday Refashion Co-op

Sing with me ...
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Refashion Co-op,
Happy Birthday to you

So how old are you now? 2 years, wow time flies!

Congratulations to the Refashion Co-op and by that I mean congratulations to you all. All the editors, both the ones who were there in the beginning, who joined along the way and who are with us now. Also to all the contributors without who there would be no co-op at all.

I think it's good once in a while to remind everyone (both old and new) what it is we are all about and where we came from. Here goes...

Back in 2010 there was a community blog called Wardrobe Refashion.  It was a wonderful place and I had just pledged to be a refashionista and post there when we were told that the blog would shut down. The blog owner was overworked with running the blog and found it difficult to get help. I guess this is something many of us who blog can relate to.

Anyway, this left many refashionistas out there in the cold with nowhere to go and share their projects. During my short time on WR I had met some lovely people and I wanted to keep the spirit of WR going. But I didn't want to start another blog on my own and then get run down by it. So I came up with the idea of a community run community blog, if that makes sense. There would be not one but several editors and no one person would be in charge or have ownership of the blog. So a real co-op. In January 2011 I posted the Refashion Co-op Idea post.

The grand idea was to have a self-contained blog on an blogging platform, where all editors could be equal. Another concept was that the co-op should always be without monetary cost or profit for editors and contributors alike.

However, there are a few points from back then about 'what do we get out of it' that I think we still need to look at.
Here is what the contributors would get out of it with the original idea:

1. Contributors will have a platform and a community in which to spread the word about their projects and their own blogs.
2. There will be a page dedicated to contributors listing each with a link to their blog (if they have one)
3. Contributors will have the chance of entering sponsored giveaways.

The first is true and has been since the beginning. The second and third have not been implemented yet.

My question to you all today on this happy day is, how would you like to see the Refashion Co-op develop in the future. Here is another list of ideas off the top of my head:

• sponsored giveaways - ideas for sponsors?
• book reviews - ideas for books?
• pattern reviews - ideas for refashion friendly patterns?
• contributors page (list of contributors and links to blog)
• more editorial content - posts about refashioning in general, how-to round-ups
• more presence on social media (pinterest, twitter, facebook)
• competitions
• swaps
• post an item and ask for ideas help
• better search functionality

So the Refashion Co-op was launched on Valentines day 2011 and has been gaining speed since then.

Lauren recently hosted our first Refashion First Friday linky party, which many of you joined in. It was a great success and will be a reoccurring feature every first Friday of the month. I think it's that sort of thing we would like to do more of to get a larger community, including those who are not able to sign up to post a refashion once a month.

Another this we discussed in relation to this was whether to include non-fashion items. We decided not to as it was out of the scope of the refashion concept. But on a separate note I was wondering if there is any interest out there in the blogsphere in creating a little sister for the Refashion Co-op, running on the same concept but for redesigned items - a Redesign Co-op so to speak? Let me know?

I am going to make this post a sticky for about a week and hope you will all comment on it. At least to say happy birthday to us all. But please do also comment and let us know if you have any ideas on how to make RC more ... or if you particularly want to support any of the ideas I have mentioned above.

This is the time when we really need you and we need to know what you want to be the future for the co-op. Consider this our annual general meeting and don't be shy.

Happy Birthday all,

xx Eddie

Edit: We have had so many nice comments and ideas on this post already and since I don't have time to look at it all this weekend anyway I am going to keep it up till next weekend and then have a look through them. So please keep the ideas coming. 
I can also see already that we have conflicting ideas, so I am considering, like a proper AGM, that we maybe have a vote on some of the more controversial items. Such as, should we do competitions or not.