The Biz: Feature Articles

The Made in USA label has always meant durability, local design and processing. Now it can also indicate stylish, modern and organic designs unique enough to be featured in your store. Beautiful beasts come out of Brooklyn with Snuggly Ugly dolls and décor that add flair to nurseries. Clever child nicknames gave birth to nini & pumpkin and their moon cocoon wearable duvet. Young ladies get the royal treatment with the Ecoprincess line of makeup and bath products by Organic Beauty Now. Take note of Tree by Kerri Lee for a handmade movement in music that will replace plastic music boxes forever.

In the past 5 years since the founding of Little Crown Interiors, co-owners and designers Naomi Alon Coe and Gerri Panebianco have created 100 unique, one-of-a-kind nurseries, children’s rooms and playrooms. The duo’s latest project is an adorable, traditional boy’s nursery in the historic, oceanfront enclave of Long Beach, California. Taking cues from the gorgeous 100-year-old craftsman home, as well as their extensive design experience over the course of 100 projects, Little Crown Interiors created baby Mackinley’s nursery with a historically inspired color palette and an understated music theme.

Trendsetting tweens are getting more difficult to predict, so coming up with collections that vary in style, size and season is crucial to creating loyal customers in both parents and kids. The back-to-school period is closing in, and you want to offer the cool clothes kids go nuts for. Tweens will stand out in urban and international brands like Cars Jeans, Frankie & Liberty, Vingino and Jake Fischer. With full outfits, including shoes, hats and other accessories, a tween’s back-to-school look will practically create itself.

One of the most important sections of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) is 15 (b) [15 U.S.C. §2064]. It requires manufacturers, distributors, importers and retailers of a consumer product that contains a defect, which could create a substantial product hazard or creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, to immediately report the relevant information to the Commission. Through the years, including the twenty year period when I was Director of Compliance and Enforcement, the reporting obligation has proven to contribute enormously to public safety.