EllaNews

We’ve been anxiously waiting, and Monreau is finally here!

Due to the constraints of designing hand-woven fabrics, the “white” in the original Monreau design is closer to gray. But we think you’ll agree that this is a stunning design. Congratulations to Carey D., who will be receiving the very first Monreau Wrap any day now, just in time to carry her son (the original Monreau’s little brother), who is getting too heavy for his current baby carrier.

Thanks again to everyone who entered. We hope to see you all again next year!

-Vesta

From Barbara, president of The Rebozo Way Project (RWP):

“The Rebozo Way Project has decided to put together a calendar of traditional babywearing from around the world, and to offer them for sale for the first time at the Babywearing Conference next June! After that, they’ll be available on our website and maybe we will find other outlets too. We are planning a 15-month calendar,from October 2008 through 2009.” These calendars will be sold as a fundraiser for the Rebozo Way Project.

“You can help with this incredible project by providing us with one or more photos of traditional babywearers. Any photos submitted need to have been taken by the person sending them, or we need to have a written release from the photographer (whoever has the copyright of the photo or would have it if it were copyrighted).” You can obtain sample release forms directly from RWP.

“People can submit photos under two different distinctions: to allow the Rebozo Way Project rights to use the photo only for the calendar, or to allow the Rebozo Way Project to use the photo for educational purposes at any time. In either case, you, or the photographer, would retain the copyright and could also use it in whatever way you wish. We prefer the second distinction, as we are not able to take photos all over the world of all of the babywearing possibilities without help from our friends, and we want to have the means to promote traditional babywearing worldwide in whatever ways may present themselves in the future too. But if anyone is hesitant about sending in a photo, we wanted to offer the choice of making it available to us just for the calendar project.”

“We do not have a membership but we know that many babywearers have been helped by our educational materials, images, programs, and website. We invite you to feel a part of the Rebozo Way Project and submit your photo.
We do need photos that are 300 dpi or greater, of a quality that they can be printed and look good, although in some cases we may accept a blurred or ‘bad’ photo if the subject is rare or absolutely enticing, or if the photo is old.”

“Please share your ideas with us as well as your photos! . . . Thanks to everyone in advance for your help and photos!”

To see some of the lovely photos already in hand, check out this traditional babywearing slideshow.

And for full disclosure, I’m a trustee on the RWP board. It’s a wonderful organization, worthy of your support. Please peruse the website and donate, if you can.

-V

The entries are in, they are as great as last year - maybe better! - and you can see all 224! of them in the 2007 Gallery. The team at Ellaroo has had the fun but difficult challenge of narrowing the competition down to just 8 finalists. We love them all. Now it’s up to you to pick this year’s winner, and then over the next few months that design will be transformed into reality and become the newest colorway offered in Ellaroo’s line of hand-woven cotton Wraparound Baby Carriers.

You can vote right here until November 15th, and so can your friends and family so send them a link to help support your favorite design!

Not only can you help choose the winner, but you could win a prize - we’ll hold a random draw among those who leave a comment Read more »

We attended the ABC Kids Expo in early September. These shows are absolutely exhausting. Despite that, they really energize our whole team, once our feet recover.

Because we don’t sell directly to consumers, it’s easy for me to feel a little isolated from the people who use our products most. Even though these shows are trade shows, they really bring me closer to the end user. First, many of our resellers and even media contacts use Ellaroo baby carriers, which is such an honor. Second, I get feedback from the front lines of customer service, which is absolutely critical to us. So we come back from the shows with stronger relationships with our resellers, as well as a feel for what their customers are loving and not-so-much loving, from all over the country. Priceless.

If you’re in Las Vegas early next September, come see us!

-Vesta

We had so much fun last year with the 2006 Ellaroo Wrap Colorway Contest that we’re doing it again! Besides being a ton of fun, the resulting Wrap colorway, Elsa, has been a huge hit with our customers. So we’re not the only ones who are happy about the contest. All of our chocolate-obsessed babywearing friends are, too.

This time, we waited until all of the kids are back in school, so you can concentrate! We received over 100 entries last year, and I’d love to top that this year. All of the rules and such are listed on the 2007 Ellaroo Wrap Colorway Contest page. We’ve given you plenty of time to do this, so get busy!

-Vesta

The Mei Tai was our third baby carrier introduction, after the Wrap, then Ring Sling. What a crazy ride this one has been! As with the Ring Sling, the need for this style arose when I owned and operated Peppermint.com. We had been purchasing mei tais from China Town, in LA. These were pretty, but not very comfortable for our American customers, as they were made of thin cotton or satin fabric and absolutely no padding. The body was also quite small, and the straps were short. It didn’t allow for the wrap-around-the-body style of ties that you mostly see with modern mei tais in the States. (I can’t find a picture of one of these anywhere! If you have one, please let me know. I’d love to post it here.)
So we started prototyping our own version, very casually. Bigger body, longer straps, more sturdy fabric, padding. All of the obvious suspects. We even played around with some unusual ideas, like “webbing” between the shoulder straps and body (which I saw on some obscure Asian studies website). I still have that thing somewhere around here. What I really wanted was for some other company to wholesale mei tais to our store, though. So every time I saw a promising WAHM (work at home mom) come up with her own version (sometimes also based on Peppermint.com’s Chinese version), I would put aside my prototyping and hope that she’d start wholesaling soon. Yes, I was optimistic. It’s been beaten out of me by now.

So that didn’t happen. I finally got fed up and pushed on with the prototype and got the original Ellaroo Mei Tai into production locally (Orange County).

Around that time, we also made contact with a company that works with members of the Hmong minority group in China. Working with local craftspeople in their villages, they produce and import into the US many lovely hand-embroidered items. We had a wonderful experience producing our Ellaroo Chinese Mei Tai with them (limited edition). These were especially fun because the crafters had complete freedom to embroider the panels as they liked. Generally, there are family motifs that get passed from mother to daughter through a family.

About a year later, we had the opportunity to team up with Karen Baker, then of Kolamo Baby Carriers. We were working with her to bring the Mei Hip to market under the Ellaroo name, and also purchased her Mei Tai design. This included a flip up headrest, to which we added a magnet to secure the headrest in the down position.

The basic Mei Tai is such a simple design. A rectangular body with shoulder and waist straps. The details are what matter, though. The angle of the straps coming off of the body, the width of the straps, the amount of padding, the dimensions of the body. But the beauty of the Mei Tai, besides the perfect “canvas” that’s created by the body panel, upon which you can embellish, is:

• the great weight distribution (second only to the Wrap)
• compact size
• short learning curve

Additionally, it’s:

• easy to share between people of different sizes (one size fits most)
• reversible to a solid color
• useful throughout your baby carrying years
• used for front and back carries (sometimes side, too)
• hands-free
• possible to nurse in, for many women

The lowdown on the Ellaroo Mei Tai:

DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION

• 15″ wide by ~19″ high
• Each shoulder strap and the waist strap are ~72″ long
• All current fabrics are 100% certified organic cotton.
• All new designs (2007) are organic cotton canvas, brushed for softness (very cozy).
• The batting is recycled polyester.
• Starting in 2007, our Mei Tais are custom embellished using hand block printing, screen printing, embroidery, or appliqué.

USE

• can be worn on back, front, or side (although it’s not the ideal hip carrier - try the Ellaroo Mei Hip)
• recommended from birth to about 35 lbs, when most people prefer to give up babywearing
• recommended for people who need good weight distribution, such as with toddlers, and those with neck, back, or shoulder problems

MANUFACTURE

• Ellaroo is involved in the process of making our Mei Tai from the purchase of the raw cotton all the way to sewing, embellishing, and packaging.
• All of our Mei Tais are currently made in India.
• We use low impact fiber reactive dyes, as well as other processes that adhere to organic processing standards (better for the environment, as well as baby).

SAFETY

• Because the Ellaroo Mei Tai does not come with any rings, buckles, or parts, it’s just you, baby, and organic cotton. Tied with double knots, it’s extremely safe and secure.

-Vesta

I wanted to give y’all a quick heads up to a blog that I think is worth checking out. Baby Sling Blog is building a nice archive of information, including instructional videos and printable handouts. The blog is written from the perspective of someone with a broad range of experience with many styles and brands of baby carriers, so it’s a nice survey of information.

-Vesta

We are very proud to announce that Ellaroo Ring Slings are now available through BabiesRUs.com. BabiesRUs.com has recently made a commitment to expand their natural and organics selection of products, and have chosen our products as a natural fit. We are so excited that our quality, organic baby carriers will now be available to the many parents who shop with Babies “R” Us.

I need your help. I work hard to design for the long haul. My goal is that our baby carriers will be useful through multiple children. Two? Easy. Three? I think so. What I really hope is that these carriers can be passed on to new familes when the original purchaser is done with them.

I also work hard to minimize the impact of the production inputs: fabric, dyes, doohickies (like buckles). I’m proud of the results to date, and I’m proud of the continuing process to improve.

But I’m troubled by end-of-life issues. Not mine, but our products. I mean, sewn fabric can only last so long, with heavy use. Then what? We’ve been manufacturing baby carriers for about four years now, so I figure there have got to be some worn out products out there.

Here’s the deal. I want them back. And I need your help to formulate a strategy for getting them. First, I want them back with a story. Like a picture in use and perhaps some highlights of the travels of the baby carrier and cargo. European vacation? Hike to the tallest point in Texas (a free Ellaroo baby carrier to the first person to tell me what that is)? Top of the Empire State Building? Also, I figure most people would need motivation to drop the carrier in the mail to us. What would motivate you?

I’m not totally sure what we will do with worn out carriers once we have them here. But I feel like it’s our responsibility to keep them out of the waste stream. Who knows, maybe we’ll start a side business of colored organic cotton paper products!

-Vesta

I’ve recently become enamored with a blog called No Impact Man. This is notable because, to date, I have only read one blog regularly (she knows who she is). Nevermind that I write a blog. I don’t read them. No time.

No Impact Man is different. He’s hella smart (as my young friend in the late ’90s used to say), and he’s on my team. He makes me proud to be the flaming left-wing nut-job that I am. There are no bandaid solutions suggested. Just existential crisis-inducing dialog about the way we live in America today.

It’s through his blog that I found a very important video that I want you to watch, then share. It’s just a few minutes long, but has the potential to get you off your butt and write to your government “representatives” about global climate change. I use quotes because I live in Texas and currently do not enjoy any sort of representation in government, state or federal.

http://view.break.com/311805 

-Vesta