Reasons to get a Van der Spek

I have owned a custom Van der Spek planner for almost a year now, and I feel lucky to have one. I certainly plan on adding more to my collection once I have the funds available. I slowly reducing my planner collection, but my VdS is a forever planner? lol. The process of letting some planners go made me reflect on each of the brands. I started to wonder, why I would recommend certain brands over another, and for what reasons. So I decided to make a list and share why I would recommend certain brands. This week, I’m starting off with Van der Spek. Here are my top 5 reasons to get a VdS planner/ product.

Customisation/ Big selection of leathers:
If you go to the online shop of Van der Spek, you will see that they have a great selection of leathers, and more are to be added soon! Added to the fact that you are not limited to the customisation options stated online (you can always email them a sketch of what you would like), the possibilities are endless! This is not limited to ring bound planners, but to traveler’s notebooks, and Hobonichi covers as well.

Krause rings:
Krause rings are considered the best rings in the business. They are of a high quality, and can be replaced if it ever gets damaged. All Van der Spek planners (even their more economically friendly Touch Me line) use Krause rings. This also means that you can choose to have, for example, 30mm instead of 23mm rings in your personal size planner. Or 20mm instead of 15mm in your pocket size planner. And since they are replaceable, you can always switch back and forth ring sizes!

Some other planner brands not only do not use Krause rings, but the rings are riveted in. This means, once the rings are damaged, the whole planner becomes useless as you can’t replace them! :/

Handmade:
In a world where most of the products we use are uniformly made in a factory (probably by under paid labourers), it’s nice to be able to own a genuine, guilt-free, handmade, one of a kind product. You can tell when you have it your hands that a lot of love, care, skill, and craftsmanship has gone into making your unique planner.

Supporting a family owned business:
For me, it’s nice to see where my money is going to. The Van der Spek family and staff are really nice, and I know when I’m buying a product from them, I’m supporting the whole team directly.

Customer service
Because it is a family owned business, the customer service you get is more personal in my opinion. Petra and her family do their best to make your dreams come true! No kidding!!! You feel like they care about YOU!

I’ve been going through some issues (almost legal issues) with a big company. My experience is that they don’t give two hoots about you. You are a faceless customer, so there is no caring or concern about your experience with their company. In fact, you don’t even get to talk with the owners of the company, you talk to an employee, who of course is there only to follow the rules. (rant over :p)

In my opinion, this personalised consumer experience you get with Van der Spek is worth so much more than what you pay for any of their products. And for this reason alone, I would always recommend anyone to buy a Van der Spek product.

Would like to hear from you. Do you own a VdS product or are still thinking about it? If you do own one, why did you decide to get a VdS? Leave your comments down below

‘Till next time,

P.