Global Mamas Yin Yang Halter Dress in Rose
Just got in the new spring ‘10 Global Mamas catalogue and I’m excited! They have some really cute new styles, colors and fabrics. I’m going to place a BIG order for our store and you should see the new spring line arriving at Wild Child sometime in March. Can’t wait!
Over the years we’ve had lots of people look at any given item of clothing in our shop, balk at the price and exclaim, I can make that myself! Yes, true and short of something like brain surgery, I can probably do a lot of things myself too. Indeed I have spent countless hours of my time cutting pieces of lumber, re-cutting (because I measured wrong) drilling holes, re-drilling holes (measured wrong!) putting it all together for a wobbly little crooked shelf that I made myself. When you consider the actual amount of time & effort spent looking for and getting the materials together, then preparing the materials (cutting, measuring) then putting them together-is it really worth it? Everybody out there is trying to make a living with their own little talents, please support them! I guess I am mainly talking about the individuals out there and the small USA made companies, not the big corporations outsourcing their products to the lowest bidder. In our business my partner does the garment dying of all our beautiful, colorful Wild Child clothes that we sell. He has in certain circumstances sold small amounts of dye and provided instructions for a customer to dye a piece of clothing themselves and every time they come back and say it’s waaaayyy too much work. We on the other hand have all the tools and are set up to do this, and our results are fantastic. About 95% of our Wild Child clothes are made by small companies right here in the US and the other 5% are made by small workers collectives. I feel so good supporting these products, I hope you do too.
It’s been a while. We’ve been busy with the website, in case you haven’t checked-take a look wildchildclothes.com. Lot’s of great new products on it. Everyone always says, your site should look like your store and I thought that’s hard-we have sooo many things in our store, how am I going to show everything? Slowly though we are making our website look more and more like our store. It’s been fun, we put bits of the best of everything on our site. Now spring is starting to arrive daily(new clothes!) so I take my camera and quickly take a picture of something new and cute and get it on the site (with the help of our fantastic webmaster JonahCoyoteDesign). It’s great!
We have begun asking our customers if they would like a bag for their purchase. You know what, lot’s of people are opting out. They either bring their own bag, or put in it a bag that they already have from another store. Besides, some of the products out there are over packaged as it is. It’s great to see people trying to make a difference and trying to cut back on their carbon footprint. I mean we are already one of the most consumptive societies in the world. Shouldn’t we try to do something about that? There was an article about Walmart in California and how they are no longer giving out those insidious plastic bags with every purchase, instead encouraging customers to bring reusable bags for their items. I must say (and sheepishly admit) that I was in a Walmart recently, something I pretty much never do, but nonetheless- when I went to check out with my 3 food items, I said “no bag” to the clerk. Her reply was, you have to take a bag, the “greeters” won’t let you out of the store without one. I glanced over at the “greeters”, a little old lady and a little old man and thought, sure wouldn’t want to tangle with them! So I grudgingly took a plastic bag and groused to the checker that they should outlaw these things and make people bring their own bag (she agreed!) When I got home, I told my husband what had happened and his opinion was that I should’ve taken a stand and refused the bag. When I thought about that, I realized, yeah- what is this? They were forcing me to take a bag against my will? Would they call the police? Would they not allow me to make a purchase? Would they not let me leave the store with my purchase? THIS IS AMERICA !!! You can’t do THAT !!! We talked about it some more as I bemoaned my missed opportunity, but then decided that I could go back to the store and do the exact same thing, just to make a point (or a scene). I will make a stand about an issue that is important. Anyway, if you read about a minor commotion in a Walmart in Wisconsin, you heard it here first. And to all those fantastic folks who don’t use extra resources unless absolutely necessary -CHEERS ! We love you!
This is Sophie, the squeaky baby toy made of all natural rubber that is a wonderful teething/chew toy. Made in France for the last 40(!) years, Sophie is coming to Wild Child in January and will also be available on our website. Here’s what people have to say about Sophie:
so cute!, delightful, highly recommended, great toy, favorite teether, charming & beautiful, baby loves the squeak! well worth it, fantastic, classic, easy to hold and clean, quality and safe product, the greatest, baby adores Sophie, perfect.
Say hi to Sophie!
Cute dress, huh? We have the blue print dress in sizes 12 months through 3T. This dress is made of bamboo fiber by “Kicky Pants” and it’s very full and twirly. Nice with white or ecru cotton tights, little girls love wearing it!
As a small business owner, I get to make all the decisions because as someone once famously said “I am the decider”. Recently I walked into a store that was selling LOTS of cheap (mostly plastic) holiday wreaths, ornaments, decorations, etc. etc. and most of it in garish colors and materials. In a word it was a lot of junk. I couldn’t help but look at it as just a pile of brand new landfill-it was for sale yet! Add to it that it was all pretty much made in China and you have on top of that the cost (dollar and environmental) to get this junk to us here in the US. I was thinking about the people who owned that store and how they were the deciders who decided to sell this disposable stuff. Sometimes I feel a little self-righteous when I look at things this way, like who am I? These small business owners are just trying to make a living. But gosh darn it, about a this there can be no debate! We business owners can choose what we order to sell in our shops, and I know we don’t need this junk, I know our landfills don’t need this junk, I know our oceans, rivers, waterways, roadsides don’t need this junk. I know our animals don’t need this junk. I know our babies and childrens futures don’t need this junk.
Now that the snow has hit the fan in Madison (big time), we have these really nice Gordini children’s mittens. This company mainly makes adult ski wear so they know what they’re doing. They use some of the same materials and technology for their little kids mitts. We carry them in sizes to fit about one to six year olds in the usual kid colors like pink, red, blue, yellow and black. Get em now before they’re all gone.
These pants are hand made for Wild Child right here in Wisconsin! Little kids love them(and we’ve had plenty of big kids who love them too) because they’re comfortable and cozy. They come in fun colorful prints and these elastic waist pull-on pants are also flannel lined. Every time I see a little kid wearing a pair I do a double take, thinking to myself-what are those great pa… oh yeah, they’re Bog Togs!
I had this great little boy in my store the other day(and his mom and baby sister). He was about 4 years old, just kind of a regular little guy. But when he came across the red sequined dress-up shoes I had hung with the tu-tus, his eyes lit up and I saw he had these big cute dimples, when he exclaimed “These are Dorothy’s shoes!”. He took them down to show his mom and she said, “I’m not sure they’re your size”, but he already had his shoes off ready to put the red sparkly ones on. Since his mom was occupied with the baby, I said “Should I help you, here let me cut the tag off first”. He was quite willing to have me help him so we proceeded to push them on to his little wide foot (the shoe was narrow, but plenty long) until we finally got it on. I said, it might be better if you took your socks off, because then your foot might slip in easier. So off came the socks and after a little struggle, we got both feet into the red Dorothy shoes. He was excited as with a sparkle in his eye he told me they were magic shoes and that HE was a magician. They looked great on him too! He did a little dance for me and it was the cutest thing I’ve seen. The little boy in gray sweatpants dancing for me in little red sequined pointy toed shoes. He walked around the store for the next half an hour wearing them. And needless to say, he also walked out of the store wearing his magic Dorothy shoes. I really like his parents for giving him that latitude. Those huge dimples on his cheeks are totally worth it.
