It’s still grey and gloomy outside, but we want to cast a ray of sunshine with some mid-season markdowns. Click on the banner above to visit our Reduced page!

May Day! Crack out the Maypoles, flower garlands and country dances! Or, on second thoughts, a quick glance out of the window might change your mind. If we all close our eyes and slap our red-wellied heels together maybe, just maybe, the rain will stop.

But in case it doesn’t, a quilted and waterproof rainmac will keep you safe from every cloudburst! There are four fantastic colours to choose from and they all match perfectly with our range of Wellington boots. The yellow rainmac with a pair of navy Aigle wellies is our favourite combination and all you need to complete a perfect rainy day is a huge puddle to leap in!

Mention shoes to our boys down in the warehouse right now, and they might get a little skittish. They may start twitching. To be fair to them, they have just unpacked several … thousand … pairs of Hampton Classic shoes.

Our canvas range is outstanding this year and we’ve been swamped by mail orders. The postroom is dotted towers of shoeboxes soon to be winging their way to little pairs of feet worldwide. This is only a small exaggeration – promise! The range is vast and features a variety of styles and colours suitable for girls and boys and perfect for any occasion this summer. Our particular favourite is the blue and white striped Nantucket, we only wish our feet were small enough to fit in them! A special mention is due to Liz, who expertly photographed almost every item on the website, including the Hampton Classics. One satisfied customer declared that her new Marthas “looked as great as they did on the website”. Praise indeed!

The shoe department isn’t limited to Hampton Classics, as our regular store customers will know. If we’ve been a little hesitant in offering our full shoe range online, it’s simply because we can’t offer the excellent shoe-fitting service online that you’ll get in store. However, the people have spoken! We’re very excited to say that a small range of Geox shoes are now available online, as well as Crocs and pretty Clarys shoes all in time for summer. But don’t worry! We haven’t forgotten how unpredictable and unfavourable British weather can be, so our Wellington boots will be available all year round too.

Trotters’ hairdressing service is famous, and not without good reason. Our enormous aquariums, organic hair care products and fantastic hairdressers make a haircut at Trotters a truly unique experience. We caught up with our senior hairdresser, Lisa, to find out a bit more about the department.

Lisa, you’re a Trotters veteran. How long have you been with us? I’ve been at King’s Road for eight years and three months! I’m the senior hairdresser, which means that as well as cutting hair, I make sure that the hairdressing departments in all five stores are running smoothly. I check that all my hairdressers have working equipment, plenty of supplies and enough hairdressers for the busy day ahead. We’d be pretty rubbish hairdressers if we ran out of shampoo or had to use blunt scissors!

Over those eight years you must have had a lot of regulars. Why do you think parents bring their children to Trotters, rather than a normal hair salon? Some of our customers even come from outside London because their children had their first haircut with us won’t go anywhere else. The reason is simple – Trotters is made for children! We love making a fuss of the kids, and the whole department is made with them in mind. For instance, we have mini salon chairs in different colours, robes covered in animal characters, certificates of bravery, embossed chocolate coins … and all that without the roaring machines and funny smells you get in adult salons. We get little clients coming back year after year. I’ll have done their first haircut, and then five or six years later I’ll still be smartening them up before a party or the start of term. And there’s no age limit! Some little boys fall so in love with their favourite hairdressers that we’ve had to create a request system – if you want a certain hairdresser when you make you’re appointment, we’re happy to oblige.

It must be quite a challenge sometimes! Sometimes the odd customer might feel a bit anxious or tearful, but we have a few tactics to brighten them up. Before the haircut even starts we make friends with the child and find out what hairstyle they want – although we might consult Mum if they ask for a mohican! The books are a great distraction; by the time you’ve got through every pet in Dear Zoo, the cut is finished. The chocolate coins are a good incentive and the first haircut certificate makes nervous customers feel extra special at the end. But I think the most effective thing we have is the definitely the aquarium. Every store has a huge, immaculate fish tank full of brightly coloured fish and plants and it’s the first thing children see when they get up in the chair.

Do you have any favourite fish? What do you call them? We have a lobster called Larry, and another of our hairdressers Kate has adopted a sucker fish called George. And we used to have one called Barbie. Oh, and then there’s Pirate Fish – he’s only got one eye!

We know you get some famous faces in King’s Road, can you tell us about any celebs that have popped in lately? Hmm … Peaches Geldof came in during the winter and Dr. Fox the DJ stops by now and again. All the girls get kind of giddy when Frank Lampard the footballer comes in – we have a lot of little boys asking for a haircut like his. Lulu has been spotted too and Samantha Cameron has visited the shoe department – the Prime Minister’s wife is definitely a good spot! [our web manager would like to interject here to say she once saw Sir David Attenborough in King's Road!]

We’re planning to introduce an online booking system for hair appointments. Hairdressing is already one of the most popular pages on the website, is your team ready for the challenge? We performed 45,000 haircuts last year alone, so I’m sure we can take it! Customers will be able to book appointments at any time and from anywhere – it’s going to be really exciting!

They must let you out of the hairdressing dept from time to time – do you have a favourite product in store? I really like the little rabbit booties for newborns – they’re so cute! There’s a baby on the way in our family, so I’ve been looking at the Lapinou baby range lately. I know the parents have their eye on a Sailor Bubble, but I think for little girls, you can’t go wrong with My First Duck Dress.

Last question – can you tell us what you wanted to be when you were little? Believe it or not, I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser! When I was a kid I was fascinated by different hairstyles and colours, and now I get to share that with other kids. I’m in the perfect place!

Lisa had to leave us there and dash back to King’s Road for her afternoon appointments. If you’d like to book a cut with her, or any of our hairdressers, all the details can be found on our hairdressing page. We do fill up very quickly so advance bookings are essential!

Sophie and her fellow buyer and product developer Jo packed their bags last week and flew off to Europe. Not, they assure us, on any kind of holiday, but on a very important mission! From the conception of our range over early morning coffee at the buying table, to the rigorous quality checks when it arrives by the truckload in our warehouse, and right down to making eye-grabbing displays in store, Sophie and Jo are involved every step of the way. To make sure everything’s spot on, they have to take the occasional trip overseas for a quick factory tour.

The itinerary was jam-packed this time! They visited a fabric mill to review the materials we use for our softest clothing, an embroiderer and print-maker where we create our unique logos and motifs, and even a packaging factory – no detail is overlooked. While meeting with our suppliers there, they finalised our beautiful Autumn/Winter 2012 range and checked the status of those lines. We’ve been eavesdropping on design meetings and we know you can expect our classic winter wardrobe as well as some exciting new designs too. They also began briefing suppliers on Spring/Summer 2013; it’s a long way off but Sophie always likes to be a step ahead!

All too soon, they were jetting back to London to get back to work on next season. There was no sign of a tan on either of them, although they were kind enough to stop at a shop and bring us some sweets!