Trollbeads Limited Edition Kimono Beads - new pictures!

Oh no - I assumed they would be a "proper" LE like the spring flowers kit last year. I do like them very much - I lived in Japan as a child and was looking forward to getting my first actual set. If they really are that ultra-limited, then it will be difficult to get them......

Rainbow wrote:ooo I'm not sure if I like these ?!?

i'm with you on this Rainbow- i was really excited when i heard "kimono" beads but now i'm not sure i like them- i think i like the red and white one but fingers crossed my LD will get them in and i will be able to see them IRL -oh well may have saved me some money this month!!! LOL!!!!

Ooooooo.............I have to have these!

I totally agree with Brightonbelle about ultralimited LEs. It has even been frustrating being unable to get nice OOAKs in the States, not getting the LE gemstones, and the whole World Tour Beads only being released in each country. This allows for the beads to be sold at outrageous prices online. I'm only buying Kimono beads if my regular and beloved LD gets them. I stopped buying the W beads after Germany when the prices started getting outrageous.

I agree to the frustration that we all have in the problem of chasing all these Limited Edition Trollbeads. I for certain dream of owning some of them gemstones beads for example. BUT, I would absolutely hate to see Trollbead stop experimenting and try different things...Sometimes there might not just be enough supply....I prefer someone be the lucky owner of a Goldstone bead for example than no one...Hope that I make sense.
I think the same about the Unique amber, as much as I'm frustrated that I can't find a barrel one...it would be boring if we only had the 4 Ambers to chose from that is part of the regular collection.

I really think I quite like the Kimono set, but...if I order online I have little control over the size of beads I get, and I like little ones (or at least smallish average!) If my LD managed to get a set for me, it would only be one set, and again I would have no control over the size of beads.
If it's ultra limited then the chances are they won't still be around when I have the opportunity to visit multiple shops.
I'm starting to get a bit fed up with the idea of limited as well, I'm happy with what I have so I think this one will pass me by.

Oh I think I am in trouble again...I love these beads.....but will have to see IRL....and then I need more than 6 for a bracelet. I would have loved the chance of the LE stones beads but unfortunately none for Australia and it does get annoying.....neverless I keep buying...lol

I do not personally agree with ultra limited sets, but I have just been thinking about all of this.

Over the last 3 months on visits to three dealers in my local area I have seen Crazy Lace Agates, the Spring Flower beads (2010), China Jades (most if not all colours), China Silvers (all of them I think), Fantasy Jasper, Peacock Pearls (one dealer had 5) and a Trollstone. All of these were limited editions of one sort or another. They all date back to spring 2010 or earlier for their original release. Yes I am in Canada and beads here either are and/or have been more expensive than in many places in the world and that may play a role.

Trollbeads and their dealers want to sell beads and my guess is that they want Limited Editions to convince customers to buy today, not tomorrow. Doing things to urge the customer to buy today is a common retail technique. Businesses are in business to sell things. Beads that sit for months and years cost that business money. If beads are available for a long time after the initital release the idea that they are limited no longer applies.

I wonder if Trollbeads is trying to adjust numbers so there aren't so many beads around in a years time making their dealers unhappy as they sit there, and to increase the urgency to buy. They are probably also using them as a way urge dealers to buy more stock, upgrade their status so they can get them etc. etc.

If it makes the customers buy them, if it creates buzz, if we clamour to see photos before the release etc. they will probably keep doing it.

Somewhere there is a happy medium. Some production beads to maintain a good choice at all times. Some Limitied Editions that provide the opportunity to try something different, create interest without having to make them a production item (with its extra costs). A quantity of beads for Limiteds that means they are available for awhile, but not too long or else the concept of limited is destroyed. I am glad I am not the one trying to figure out that happy medium. I am also glad that I am happy to collect the beads that I truly love, for many of them to have special meaning and for the most part to try to ignore the ultra limited beads.

Thank you for sharing the pictures,
it is the first time i see the kimono beads.
they are lovely

Hope they will be released in all countries, even as LE
but I need to see them irl
just a couple of nights away

sakyubc wrote:I do not personally agree with ultra limited sets, but I have just been thinking about all of this.

Over the last 3 months on visits to three dealers in my local area I have seen Crazy Lace Agates, the Spring Flower beads (2010), China Jades (most if not all colours), China Silvers (all of them I think), Fantasy Jasper, Peacock Pearls (one dealer had 5) and a Trollstone. All of these were limited editions of one sort or another. They all date back to spring 2010 or earlier for their original release. Yes I am in Canada and beads here either are and/or have been more expensive than in many places in the world and that may play a role.

Trollbeads and their dealers want to sell beads and my guess is that they want Limited Editions to convince customers to buy today, not tomorrow. Doing things to urge the customer to buy today is a common retail technique. Businesses are in business to sell things. Beads that sit for months and years cost that business money. If beads are available for a long time after the initital release the idea that they are limited no longer applies.

I wonder if Trollbeads is trying to adjust numbers so there aren't so many beads around in a years time making their dealers unhappy as they sit there, and to increase the urgency to buy. They are probably also using them as a way urge dealers to buy more stock, upgrade their status so they can get them etc. etc.

If it makes the customers buy them, if it creates buzz, if we clamour to see photos before the release etc. they will probably keep doing it.

Somewhere there is a happy medium. Some production beads to maintain a good choice at all times. Some Limitied Editions that provide the opportunity to try something different, create interest without having to make them a production item (with its extra costs). A quantity of beads for Limiteds that means they are available for awhile, but not too long or else the concept of limited is destroyed. I am glad I am not the one trying to figure out that happy medium. I am also glad that I am happy to collect the beads that I truly love, for many of them to have special meaning and for the most part to try to ignore the ultra limited beads.

Your thoughts are very logical but there is a problem with such a strategy in reality. I live in a major UK tourist destination. My local dealer is right in the middle of a famous area for jewellery sales. They are a small shop (they can't be anything else because they are in the typical type of old building for that area) and also trade in diamonds and precious stones. Therefore they only have Gold Dealer status. The Limited Editions won't be left on their shelves because they are not allowed to order them in the first place. They were allowed to have 2 Picasso Jaspers when they begged, both of which were dull and hideous and impossible to sell however rare and limited. They could not buy the Limited Gemstones at all because they had no need to attend the trade fair in Birmingham and it would have been uneconomical to travel so far just to pick up a handful of Trollbeads. I have not heard back from them yet but it seems highly unlikely that they will be permitted access to the Kimono beads. They did not even know that they might exist until I phoned them. This is typical for them and they find it depressing.

Thank you for posting the photos! This is a great way to share, and I love seeing photos of beads. However, I do not like the kimono beads, so I will not be crowding to get some. Someone else can have mine

Hopefully those people who want them, and who can't, may get help from TB friends elsewhere and overseas - that's the beauty of the internet and of Forums like this!

Amanda Mac (Dot) wrote:Hopefully those people who want them, and who can't, may get help from TB friends elsewhere and overseas - that's the beauty of the internet and of Forums like this!

AMEN Dot!!!!

I am not interested in them so good luck to all that are searching. I will keep an eye open.

I like them very much..(not sure about the olive green one though... ), they`re very restrained and classy.

Looking forward to seeing them in person.

I'm sure I don't want to have the whole set. Maybe the pink one with the white flower. Depense on the price.

I am going to be very disheartened if I can't get this set. I am about to get on the boat with everyone else regarding these LE releases. Since I am not close to any LD, I must depend on buying online. Please, please Trollbeads let there be enough for those of us who truly LOVE the beads are able to get some!! I promise mine will NOT end up on Ebay for hundreds of dollars each!!!

Although they're not at all what I was expecting (I expected more colorful "kimonos"), I like the idea that they are so different from most production glass. I want TB to continue trying out different styles, and hope they will have enough of them that Troll collectors can get them.

Brightonbelle, I hope TB HQ will change its policies so that all TB dealers who want to can order the LE beads. I know here in the US there was a restriction under Lund Trading that only Premer (i.e., exclusive to Trollbeads) dealers could buy the LEs. Some of my closest LDs were shut out by this policy. I think the new TB US is changing that, so maybe feedback to TB HQ can help. I know one LD here who was very unhappy a few months ago is much more optimistic now.

I look at the World Tour beads as something different. They're meant to be sold in one country. The beads are priced in the local currency for that country, then we have to pay shipping and sometimes VAT even though they are leaving the country. It all adds up. I've only seen a few for sale on the auction site, but even dealers in a particular country have them at a high price.

I really like them and hope to get some of the set. But as many of you wrote, I will not be chasing them. If I don't get them here, I might set on some Trollfairy help, otherwise I won't have any. Period.
In cases like that I always remember one of my favourite Star Trek quotes by Spock (yes you can learn for life from Star Trek):

"You may find that having is not so nearly pleasing a thing as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."

mermaidspurse wrote:Star Trek quotes by Spock (yes you can learn for life from Star Trek):

"You may find that having is not so nearly pleasing a thing as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."

How true, how true loving also Stargate

Thanks so much for the sneak peak !!
I want the black, pink, and blue one for sure.
I can not wait to see them IRL.

Any news when they will be available for purchase.
Will we able to get them in the USA ?

My US dealer ordered hers. Said she could order as many sets as she wanted, just might not getall of them... She has been asked NOT to share pictures with customers until the release date, so I won't see them until Friday. I prefer real life viewing anyway.

Can't wait to see them in real life!