The Biz: Feature Articles

Parents are more conscious than ever about making their child’s life as green and healthy as possible, right from the start. Many more consumers are also determined to do business with companies who support “fair trade,” ensuring that everyone in the supply chain, from the cotton farmers to the pattern cutters and everyone in between will be treated fairly, paid a fair wage and work in a clean environment. A good example of brands that support these environmental and socially responsible virtues are Green Kids and Green Baby.

Homemakers, especially those with children, grandchildren, and other little relations afoot, are diligent about keeping things clean. The urge to sanitize merges with a concern for eco-friendly products that are gentle on people and the planet. Pollutants in the home may not be as obvious as clouds of smoke and smog in the sky, but since there are chemical toxins in homes that impact air supply, it’s smart to use organic products for household cleaning. Educate your customers and become a resource to find these brands that are both organically clean and get the dirty work done: Fields Organics, MomSpit, Grandma’s Secret Spot Remover and Poo-Pourri.

Getting a retailer to buy your line is great — and especially exciting if the collection is new to the market — but convincing them to reorder should be your ultimate goal. And reorders are always based on how well your goods sold the previous season. If items flew off the racks, buyers will naturally seek you out the next time around. If too much of your line landed in the sale bin, however, your name will likely plummet from their must-shop list. Despite the importance of sell-throughs, it seems vendors sometimes forget the role they have in ensuring their lines take off at retail. Without you, your products are left to fly solo in the face of whatever headwinds come their way…

Furnishings and decorative accessories for kids were dominated by boring wood stains and shades of dull. That was then. Now there are several manufacturers that offer good looking, quality crafted products that fit into a variety of trend-driven lifestyle decors. Whether a customer lives in a contemporary home, a traditional house or a French Provincial setting, there are designs that blend in harmoniously. Here are some examples of new designs from Bratt Décor, Muralistick, indoTreasures, and SweetSeat.