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Waterproof Windproof silk and faux mink making your outdoor experiences luxurious, weatherproof and warm! The Pretty Rugged Luxe Original Blanket won best in market at NY NOW in 2018 and the Pretty Rugged Luxe Pet Blanket was awarded one of Oprah’s Favorite Things 2018 – both within the first year of being in business. Get your holiday gifts today! Hope they stocked up on the snow leopard caplet!
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Read the Transcript
Welcome to Newport Living and Lifestyles
I’m Christon and
We are at the 2019 Newport International Boat Show with
Tracy Slocum and Sheila Mendlesen
of Pretty Rugged Gear
Hi ladies
Hello!
How exciting! How many times have you guys been to the show?
This was actually our second show, so we’re still newbies
How many shows do you guys go to throughout the year?
We do several different kinds of shows,
We do boat shows because of our blankets really and the waterproof nature that all of the products have
but we also do New York Now shows and AtlantasMart
those types of shows, so it’s like buyers Mart’s. Things like that, yeah
Sheila, tell us a little bit about what we’re looking at here. What is your product?
We started out with our signature flagship blanket which is over here to the right and sitting behind me and they’re
all made out of the luxurious faux fur that’s super soft but what makes this
really unique is that we are the ultimate nautical blanket because we are waterproof windproof.
Waterproof and windproof and faux
and faux
Wow
Yeah it’s a nice unique combination. The blanket was really developed so that you could wrap yourself in the fur so
it’s like beauty on the inside and then you’ve got a backing that’s completely
waterproof and windproof so you can put it on like a wet boat seat or on the
ground and they come in this beautiful waterproof duffel so they’re easy to store.
I don’t want to hide this pink one back here.
That’s the baby.
That is so adorable.
They’re amazing and you know one thing to mention which I know all boaters love
is all the blankets can be embroidered with your boat names which is fun.
Very fun.
Where do you make your product?
We are in Albany New York upstate.
Yeah so not far.
And you guys ship
We ship all over the world.
Which one is your hottest market?
U.S. , we are also branching out the Netherlands, we have a distributor in the Netherlands and also in South Korea.
That’s unique.
That’s for the pet market.
What kind of pet products do you carry?
We have a pet blanket that has the same backing on it so people when they’re outside or in
their cars they use the blankets even in their house. My dog loves them, they’re amazing.
I was gonna ask you guys if you had any celebrity story’s.
Yeah, we do! On our first show that we did in New York Now,
that was February of 2018, we met Oprah’s team which is Rae Ann Herman and
Adam Glassman, who we’ve since become friends with and they just loved our
blankets, at the time that’s all we had, and we knew that we were going to be a
serious contender for Oprah’s Favorite Things, and then it was this time last
year that we found out that we were picked.
What is your hottest selling item?
The caplet right now,
everyday we’re selling so so many, but what’s interesting is, we just introduced two
new products, one of them I’m wearing, this is the pretty puffer.
Again, it’s a completely waterproof shell, actually it’s our first non fur item,
which is interesting, and then the other one is the reversible bomber so this
bomber is a faux mink, it’s our signature mink on one side and then when you
reverse it, it’s a waterproof satin material so Pretty Rugged is really known
for their innovative materials that they use, that we use, and we create as a
company and so with the bomber when you reverse it, it really is two garments in
one and the price point is amazing.
oh it is sooo soft.
The snow leopard is our number one color.
It is luxurious.
No sleeves, it’s hands-free. It’s got a front slip pockets.
Do I look thin?
Yes you do! Actually, do I?
It is very comfortable, you can dress it up, dress it down.
You can put your initial right on the pocket.
It’s kind of like a spin on the fur coat
You can carry your phone in your pocket.
It’s a waterproof pocket.
What are your color schemes?
Our blankets come in seven colors.
The bombers are in two, which is navy and white.
The caplets are in five colors.
We’ve got the leopard, there’s white, there’s navy, there’s black, there’s chocolate.
There’s different color waves for each product.
We’ll be adding new colors, we’re gonna do this caplet in red.
The bomber will come in a leopard as well as the navy.
We’re adding colors all the time.
You guys have retail centers or do you sell out of stores how can people find your products?
We have a website www.PrettyRuggedGear.com
and then we’re at shows, we’re in many stores. We are probably in about 200
boutiques across the country. You can find us in a lot of places.
You guys are a lot of boat shows hosting your wares. What is your favorite boat?
My favorite boat in the whole wide world?
In the whole wide world!
if I had to pick my favorite boat in the whole wide world,
it would have to be a Hinckley.
Any particular Hinckley?
I love the picnic boats, that’s the one that I would choose.
We have a Hacker Craft, which I also love, and they’re beautiful but there’s something about a Hinkley boat
and I think Pretty Rugged should be on every Hinckley boat in the world.
Well, you just might be in luck today! We happen to have a Hinckley Picnic Boat ! That would be so fun!!!
Oh my gosh, we do need to get on there and photograph the blankets, so fun.
I love the Hinckley’s. There’s something about them.
They’re beautiful, but down-to-earth and gorgeous. I just I just think they’re so amazing.
Sheila?
I’m not really a sailor so I would love to have a sailboat someday and learn how to sail.
I grew up on motor boats, Chris Crafts and my dad has a Hacker Craft, too.
They are just beautiful, but there is something about sailing that is so mysterious to that I kind of want to learn how to do it.
I couldn’t get to the other end of the tent, so I don’t know how I would actually read a compass!
Which is an interesting thing to say
since our heritage is really built around my great-great-grandfather who
was the first man to sail around the world alone, Joshua Slocum.
Yes I’m Tracy Slocum, yeah so that’s a really important part of the company and who we are.
In his trepidation, and his adventure and and the things that he did in his life and the chances that he took.
It’s just an amazing story if you’ve never read his book, you should.
It’s called, Sailing Alone Around the World, and
It was a best-seller.
It’s still in print and anyone who sails knows who he is.
Do you guys have a specific slogan that you refer to?
The slogan for the company is “Transforming Your Outdoor Experience”
and really that’s what the products are all about.
It’s about making the times that you spend outside even better.
Whether it’s the caplet or the puffer, that just improves those times because
you’re warm and you’re dry and it’s luxurious and you look great!
How long have you guys been in business together?
Just under two years
You guys have been very successful with this!
We have
How did you come up with this material?
I started sourcing way before this became a company.
I was making the blankets for myself
It wasn’t even about being in business.
My husband’s a third-generation clothing manufacturer,
so he was very helpful with helping me source products and and fabrics
Thanks ladies for joining us.
Thank you so much.
It was a lot of fun.
This is great.
I hope that we get to do it again sometime soon!
Thanks for coming to visit us.
We look forward to seeing you on
Newport Living and Lifestyles
Interviews , Promotions , Vlog |
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All you have to do is enter #NLandL in your photo comments and/or tag @NewportLivingandLifestyles and YOU will have the opportunity to win a gift certificate & a bottle of bubbly from a local business.
Subscribe to the NL&L Courier and never miss a interview with a local influencer.
#NLandL #CorySilken #CorySIlkenPhotography #KevinHegerty #12metercharters #uniquelyNewport #12metercharters #12meter #August #NLandL #NLL #NewportLivingAndLifestyles #Sailing #igersnewport #beaches #NewportBridge #settingsailinamerica #alansilken #herreshoff #sailboats #winner #getthatshot #photography #local #photographer #photocontest #giftgiveaway #lovewhereyoulive #newport #newportri Read the Transcipt
Welcome to Newport Living and Lifestyles.
I’m Christon and today is the August photo contest of the month.
Anybody who hashtags #NLandL enters to win.
You can also tag @NewportLivingAndLifestyles if you wish.
You will all be seen and one winner will be chosen today!
Joining us is guest photographer Cory Silken.
Cory Siken Photography, right on Thames Street and
Kevin Hegerty from 12 Meter Charters
who’s offering $100 gift certificate and a bottle of bubbly
That’s one ride, right?
One sail on one of the 12 meters in Newport.
Tell us a little bit about 12 Meters,
Where you’re located and your boats.
We’re down on Bowens Wharf. 12 Bowens Wharf
and we have a couple of America’s Cup boats. Colombia and Heritage.
whoever wins this will enjoy a fun sail on hopefully Columbia with me.
Have you ever been on one of the charters?
Yeah I have, actually that’s where I met Kevin years ago .
Certainly one of the best charters in Newport
when you want to get out for an afternoon or an evening.
Have you taken photos of the boats or with the boats?
Yeah they are also some of the most beautiful boats in the harbor for sure.
Certainly these old boats have the graceful lines that new boats just can’t quite match.
Yes, for sure, definitely had some of the most beautiful photos of Columbia.
I am looking around his gallery right now.
So if you want to see some pretty pictures of Columbia come in the gallery.
Do you have any crazy fun stories about your charters that you can actually say out loud?
We meet all types of people. We are on the water every day, we meet people from all walks of life.
When they get on the water it’s a great experience for them.
I have to say he’s been really super busy so it was really hard to put him down.
so we’re really happy to have 12 meters a part of our show today.
Thank you for having us.
Where can people find you on the website? Do they need to buy tickets in advance?
The website is 12MeterCharters.com
or you can come down, we have a little kiosk downtown.
You can buy a ticket there for a fun sail.
We do a lot of corporate events and team-building. We don’t just race on the boat.
We actually just won the 12 Meter World Championships.
Hurray! Congratulations!
Thank you!
That’s so exciting!
yeah I was a pretty extraordinary event.
How many 12 meters were there?
The biggest gathering of 12 meters ever in the US, there were 22
12 meters from all over the world.
Yeah and this was a really busy summer for all of sailing in Newport.
You can see one of the s-class photos behind us here.
We also had the s-class 100th anniversary here in Newport this summer,
which is actually what my new book is about, which my father wrote and I did the photography for.
The S-class was the Herreshoff S class was designed and built up in Bristol RI, Just near by here.
The boats were originally designed in 1919, there were
about a hundred boats built and roughly half of them still exist. We had
21 boats on the bay racing here. There were a few others that are in racing
condition but weren’t able to make it, but still it was extraordinary having so
many of these old boats still racing so competitively, you know, we talked about
racing, well certainly, you can see in the picture behind us that they are tight and still very competitive.
You really have amazing photos, how did you get started in the photography world.
I started in photography back in school.
I was always into out-door adventures and
wanted to be able to show the gorgeous scenery with all my friends and family, when I would come back.
I grew up sailing, so certainly I blame my parents for that aspect of it.
It’s nice to blame your parents for everything, you know, even our personal shortcomings.
Yeah and I’ve just taken it from there.
yeah that’s great
I just saw recently on Facebook that you’re with some really
extraordinary people including Annie Leibovitz.
It was quite an extraordinary event, Greta Thunberg, who is an environmental activist from Sweden was
coming across the Atlantic with Team Milizia which is IMOCA 60 ocean racing team.
They brought her and they sailed her across the Atlantic because
she didn’t want to have the environmental impact of flying in an airplane.
You know, of course, that is also a great media for sailing and promotion of sailing
having her come on this boat. Quantum Sails also sponsored this team and they just
arrived. With the wind of course, you never know when the transatlantic
crossing boat sail boat is going to arrive and they came in late Tuesday
into New York and it was pretty extraordinary to see her and all the
fanfare in New York Harbor, even even despite that lousy weather and then
Annie Leibovitz was out there making a portrait of her as well, so we
got to hang out with her in the morning and it was it was quite a special day.
Where can people find your artwork?
My website CorySilken.com
You can also look for @silkenphotography on Facebook and at @silkenphoto on Istagram.
It’s really fantastic, so you mostly focus in the sailing community?
Mostly yachts, although I do shoot some portraits and some interiors as well.
My work with a number of regatta sponsors and shipyards and private yacht owners and
do some book projects and of course fine art as well around yachting and local scenery.
Cory’s chosen five photos or eight photos? How many photos did you choose today?
We have 8 photos from the Newport Living and Lifestyles photo contest.
We’re gonna take a look at them and hopefully
you’ve chosen the winner so stay tuned to the end and find out who the big winner is!
This first one is a neat shot from @Kara_Ann322
It’s a photograph of the reflection of the bridge at sunset or sunrise and some sunglasses on the beach.
The bridge is very popular, yeah wow, I love the colors in this, almost opalescent, iridescent, fairyland like.
What do you like about it?
I just like the picture.
I just like it.
I like it a lot.
And that’s how you should view photography,
if it’s something that you like, there’s there’s no more rationale needed.
If you like it, you like it, and that’s good enough, that is certainly a lot of my
customers here in the gallery. Something that when you connect with it , that’s that’s all you need to know.
She had 131 likes on this, so that’s great, good job.
Yeah and the next one is from @AnnM816 which is a photograph of bird.
It’s a hummingbird.
A hummingbird, yes.
Gorgeous colors.
Wow, that’s beautiful.
wow it’s so just clear.
Yeah it’s a very crisp image and very very nice with the
pink against the green background. There must have been some other trees
or bushes behind it. Yeah it’s very pretty.
and it’s hard to choose and narrow it down to 10, We have some really great local photographers and
just people with even with their iPhones, so this is, this is not an easy feat,
that’s why I bring in the judge photographers.
Yes and the next one that we have here is from @TimNewportRI and
it’s photograph of Newport Harbor with
some of the rocks in the foreground and it’s a really pretty shot.
Yeah gorgeous the reflection I just love the way the ocean here really picks up on pinks and
The pastels in the clouds and just the curve of the cloud
in the sky really brings your eye into the image very nicely.
I like it.
He likes it, “Mikey Likes It”
The next one is from @JMich78photography which is a
photograph of some poppies in a field with some cloudy sky in the background.
It’s really nice. I think the color of the sky, the kind of blue gray, as it goes
against the bright yellow of the flowers, sunflowers.
It’s a really nice contrast and I’ve seen a lot of these ominous clouds here a lot lately.
Do you like it?
Of course I like it.
Sunflowers are so cool
It’s going to b the ongoing theme of every picture now.
It is.
Alright and and the next one is from @SailOnHopeSan and of course it wouldn’t be very
good if we didn’t have any pictures of boats in here. This is a great
picture of a boat in the fog, with I’m assuming, that’s the sun trying to break
through the background, which is a scene we’ve seen all too often this summer in Newport.
Right Fog.
and you know they won laughs last month too!
Oh did they? okay
Oh yeah! Patrick and Monica, they charter “Hope San”, their sailboat.
They always get really great photos out on the water.
Here we have one from @l_Double
I really like his work a lot.
Reaching into the sun of the road.
Lee Abney has really fantastic stuff you can always, always know when it’s his picture. It’s really unique.
Yeah, you’ll have to check some of his stuff out. Nice work Lee.
230 Likes, that is a lot! Good job
The next one is from @DMN-images
It’s kind of a neat shot at the beach with
some glow sticks I guess.
Do we have rave parties here that I’m not aware of?
Right?
Are you guys going to the rave parties?
Ya know, at 4AM you never know what’s gonna happen.
That’s true.
I don’t think that one was quite a 4AM
A neat shot nonetheless,
Nice creativity in this bunch of images.
DMN_Images, 107 likes, 3 days ago. Good work.
Then this next one which is which is my favorite.
Oh could this possibly be the winner? this is it?
This is the winner! drum roll….
@Anastasia_M_Arnold
Anastasia!
It’s a shot at the beach, with the lifeguard tower and a surfboard and a
group of presumably either surfers or lifeguards more likey.
It’s framed really nicely. It’s got a nice mood to it and just nice muted
color for the scene which works really well with it.
Makes it pop.
A little bit misty on the water.
I love what she says here. What does she say
Stand 5 is my hangout place. I’ve
never enjoyed the beach as much this summer as before, so peaceful.
Congratulations Anastasia Arnold.
Congratulations, great photo.
You can come on down to Cory Silken
store located at 518 Thames Street.
518 Thames Street and collect your bottle of bubbly and you’re sailing tour.
We’ll get a really fun photo with you, right guys?
Yeah absolutely, can’t wait to meet you.
Congratulations to everybody who enters.
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