iCandy 80th Anniversary Celebration Party & 2014 New Collection
Best Buggy were very kindly invited by iCandy, to their 80th Anniversary Celebration. This was held at the stunning One Marylebone in London.
As the photos show, the entrance to One Marylebone had been eye catchingly decorated outside with parasols and palm leaves, and with the red carpet and iCandy banners out, it looked amazing!
Inside there was a warm welcome to everyone including VIP mothers Emilia Fox, Jodie Kidd, Jasmine Guiness, Donna Air, Imogen Thomas and soon to be mum Grace Woodward; as well as to iCandy stockists and other people connected to the brand. It was great to see the iCandy team were present and circulating.
After champagne and canapes, we were shown into a magical room with a white runway with a large tree decked with apples, peaches, cherries and pears. Coloured flowers, toadstools and grass, along with ethereal lighting, all added to the magic garden effect. There was a stunning ’80′ cake and cupcakes
Whinnie Williams opened up the show with a great set of songs. The joint CEO’s, Bradley and Warren Appel, along with iCandy’s Managing Director, Martin Boyle gave an insight into the iCandy company – including the revelation that Candy was the name of their beloved childhood pet poodle!!! A new partnership between iCandy and the Lullaby Trust was formally announced, and a cheque for £5000 was given to the trusts’s CEO, Francine Bates. iCandy have teamed up with ex-Mulberry designer, Janet Collin, who has created a special new changing bag, called the Emilia bag. £10 from the sale of each bag, will be given to The Lullaby Trust.
The highlight of the celebration for us, was the unveiling of the new 2014 iCandy collection, which included more newly designed bags as well as new pushchairs!
First to be whizzed down the catwalk, was an all black iCandy Peach. This pushchair had a matt black chassis and fabrics. Following the all black Peach was the the iCandy Strawberry, bearing gorgeous new Flavour Packs in pink, red, blue, lilac and off white (please note that the lighting made it difficult to be accurate about these colours). We have yet to find out the ‘official’ names for these. The white and red Flavour packs were showcased on Matt black chassis’. We do not know as yet whether only these two colours will come with a black chassis or whether all the colours will have a black option.
Following the Strawberry were new colours for the iCandy Peach. These new colours will be Peach 3 colours. A dark grey Peach in carrycot mode came first, followed once again by the all black Peach and a pale pink Peach. Following the single Peaches came the brand new Peach Blossom 3 in blue, deep pink, red/grey and light grey. The new Peach Blossom 3 has new pip convertors which appear to be very similar to the pip convertors on the new Apple 2 Pear, rather than using the ‘S’ shaped convertor bar which is on the Peach Blossom 1 and 2. The upper seat adaptors appear to connect into the main seat socket and they push the front seat or carrycot up into a higher position than it currently sits. The lower seat then sits underneath. We believe this sits slightly higher too. The change in these seating positions is to allow the Peach Blossom 3 to have two parent facing seat options which is a fabulous development! Best Buggy are VERY pleased to see that iCandy have considered that parents like to see and interact with their children. However iCandy did not launch the Peach 3, as such, at this event – and it was only after our eagled eyed reporters spotted the change, that iCandy have informed us that this was indeed a new Peach 3, and Peach Blossom 3 tandem pushchair! The new Peach 3 colours have been confirmed as: Black Magic, Azure, Fuchsia, Cobalt, Marshmallow, Sherbert and Truffle. The Peach 3 also has new hard wearing tyres.
Finally iCandy unveiled the star of the show – the new iCandy Raspberry!
The iCandy Raspberry is an extremely neat, nimble, narrow, lightweight and stylish stroller type pushchair. It has been aimed at city dwellers who want something light to carry up and down stairs; neat to fit onto public transport; but yet sturdy enough to cope with city pavements, with decent wheels and good storage space.
The iCandy Raspberry is suitable from birth. There is a snuggly Newborn Pod which will keep a newborn secure and warm. The long seat lies flat, or can be upright or reclined for a toddler. There is plenty of leg room for a sleeping baby on the lower part of the seat. The seat can parent or forward face, and the Raspberry can fold with the seat left in either position! Once folded, the iCandy Raspberry can freestand. The fold is very similar to the iCandy Cherry fold where the chassis slides up from the middle towards you straight into a standing fold position.
The Raspberry has a large storage basket which has a generous opening for good access. The basket can hold up to 5kgs. At the front of the basket is a storage pod! This is a hard cased storage pod which opens up. Up to 1kgs can be placed inside the Pod and it is large enough to hold an iPad Mini. The pod has been designed to hold valuables such as a purse, phone or keys away from prying eyes, or to keep a raincover permanently stored inside so that you will never get caught in a sudden rainshower! The contents do not need removing when the pushchair is folded, and can be accessed once folded through the front of the basket. We are very very pleased that iCandy have considered what real life parents need, and we love both the pod for our raincover and the large storage basket for a changing bag!
The Raspberry has 4 wheel independent suspension with new tyres to give a fab smooth ride through city streets. The front wheels only swivel to fit as it was felt an urban lifestyle had no need for the wheels to lock.
The Raspberry is very lightweight at just 8.4kgs, and also narrow at 54cms wide. The handlebar extends across a wide range from low to very high! It was up to my chest when fully extended!
The iCandy Raspberry can be personalised by mixing and matching the 7 colours – we spotted black, yellow, red, light coffee, pale blue, purple and pink. We look forward to the official confirmation of the colour names.
We assume that the hoods can be easily swapped for a fresh look or a new arrival. The Raspberry has an extremely sleek profile. There are no strap holes on the rear of the pushchair – the straps simply pop through to adjust the height. The black seat is well padded and is covered with a water resistant fabric to prevent little accidents spoiling your pushchair. The seat padding is easily removed for cleaning.
We did get a good opportunity to have a hands on look and quick play with the Raspberry. The pushchair is extremely whizzy to manoeuvre. We could pretty much spin it round on the spot in a circle. However, the Raspberry is also sturdy – this is a feature which Best Buggy is delighted about because we have found the Bugaboo Bee to simply be too lightweight and rickety to use. We sold ours after being constantly frustrated at only having 3 wheels in contact with the ground. We pushed the Raspberry around and at all times, even with no child on board, it felt a very grounded, sturdy pushchair. I know this was important for the design team to achieve.
iCandy have absolutely come up trumps. They have spotted and filled two gaps in the pushchair market – one for a small, lightweight but sturdy, parent and forward facing folding pushchair, and the other for a good, easy to push, tandem which parent faces. We hope that once these two pushchairs go into production that they work just as well in real life as the other iCandy products do.
Well done, and thank you to all the iCandy team for an absolutely stunning evening! We left clutching our goodie bags and cupcakes (Ours got taken home for little Miss and Master BB!)
Apologies for the poor quality of some of our photos. The catwalk show was very fast paced and the lighting was variable!
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