At the end of every year, we get to reflect on the year that has passed.  It offers us an opportunity to stop and think about where we are, how far we've come, and where we're going.  For Crooked Monkey, we get to see if we accomplished our goals and set new benchmarks for the next year.  Here's some of our accomplishments from this year:

1)We focused even more on making sure our company goes green--reducing waste, paper use and energy use.  We encouraged more working from home--which reduced our carbon footprint.

2)We launched our Kids t-shirt line in January 2010.   The line has improved dramatically since it started and the January, February and March deliveries look amazing and the stores are reacting very positively.  Our East Coast Showroom has done superbly, and we just added a West Coast showroom.

3)We started working on a new, higher end t-shirt line called "Blueprint."  Samples have been produced--quality is supreme and the graphics are incredible.  We'll talk more about blueprint as we launch it.

4)Our customer service has always been paramount to us, and we maintained our strict standards.

5)We attracted top notch new accounts--from department stores to boutiques--that fit our "Livin the Dream" mentality and offered them the best t-shirts around.

And looking towards the future, here's what we hope to do in 2011:

1)Formally launch blueprint and target unique, edgy, higher end boutiques that want to grow with Blueprint and be at the beginning of something special.

2)Obtain more licenses--from artists to household brand names we are looking for partners who want to give us artistic license to bring their traditions into our world.

3)Continue to develop the kids line, juniors line, and men's line.  We're always producing new graphics, new bodies, and new styles so that our customers can rely on us for fashion forward, hip t-shirts.

4)Start producing non t-shirt items.  We are in the process of launching a tote bag line in the next month or two.

So there you have it--our year end review and our milestones for next year!  Drop us a line if you have any goals for us--or major accomplishments we forgot about.  Or if you think we need improving in a certain area.

We at Crooked Monkey would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year. Tonight is the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

The Jewish New Year is a little different than the secular new year. Instead of wearing party hats that say "2009" on them, we wear yarmulkes. Instead of binge drinking, we pour some glasses of manishewitz. Instead of Dick Clark and Ryan Secrest ushering in the new year, we have a Rabbi and a Cantor. Instead of the ball drop, we have the shofar.

There are many deeper layers for the Jewish New Year that I won't get into right now, but my dad (Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt) is giving me some reading to get in the mood for the holiday. I'm excited to close up the shop and start reading. It's important to be in the right mindset for Rosh Hashanah, a holiday that focuses on renewing and regenerating the self and reviewing your actions. How can we improve for the new year?

Crooked Monkey will be improving in many ways--we are producing funnier t-shirts (if that's even possible). We will be stocking more t-shirts, which means we can ship shirts out quicker. We will be focusing much more on marketing and celebrities--meaning our email campaigns will be more existent and celebrity sightings will be more frequent. We will be targeting the college scene a little more. And we will work to be better people.

Let us know if you have any resolutions for this new year--or if you have any ideas for Crooked Monkey.

We'll be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.