inspired by: Feeling motivated by a car commercial..

A car advertisement recently caught our attention. It's nice to see that such a huge company is paying attention to issues that are important to us. They really summed it up when they said "The Things We Make, Make Us". Below is a quote from the commercial and a link to a video of the ad. well put, jeep.

As a people we do well when we make good things and not so well when we don’t. The good news is this can be put right. We just have to do it.  And so we did.  This, our newest son, was imagined, drawn, carved,  stamped, hewn and forged here in America.  It is well made and it is designed to work.  This was once a country where people made things.    Beautiful things.  And so it is again.”



The Things we Make, Make us

in the loop: shipping fixes

Hello everyone,

It was recently brought to our attention that our options for international shipping were not working. We're happy to announce that we have fixed the issues and are now offering international shipping through the United States Postal Service. Thank you for your patience and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Love,

Loop

Loop in the news: Babyology

We're pretty excited to be featured on Australian website, Babyology! Babyology is a great place to find beautiful and exciting new products for kids and their parents.

check it out here :)

inspired by: become your dream

 

We're working on it!

in the Loop: hard at work

Our team is working hard on a girl's collection. stay tuned...

image: Fannie and Friends: 1942 from here.

inspired by: the golden rule

More wisdom from a six year old!

We just bought this awesome poster from Studio on Fire letterpress studio (it's a collaboration between a father and his 6 year old son). Besides being one of the sweetest things we've ever seen, it also has quite the important message!!!



images from Studio on Fire website: http://www.studioonfire.com/

loop finds: button love

We’re pretty lucky to have found these beautiful, sustainable, child-safe wooden buttons. These are made in NYC (by a small family company that’s been in business for over 60 years). The wood they use is harvested from trees in Maine and the company adheres to the strict guidelines set by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
Lots of good things in such a tiny package.

inspired by: fortune cookie wisdom

 What more is there to say?!

inspired by: manufacturing in the past

We both come from parts of the country where quality textile manufacturing used to be an enormous industry. Most of the mill buildings in these areas are now just vacant shells, and most of the skilled people who spent their lives working in these factories are dying off or living pretty close to the poverty line.
Today, most of the products Americans buy are cheaply made on the other side of the globe (by people who are grossly underpaid and overworked.) Quality goods are getting harder to find and cost has become more important than conscience. It's really a sad situation, and it's a motivator to try and make some serious changes. It's scary to think about what could happen if people don't start making some big changes.

Finding domestic manufacturing partners is not an easy feat, but it's not impossible. We've been fortunate enough to find a few of the good ones that still exist. Everything we are using, from our yarn, to our buttons, to our thread and labels is being made in the USA. We are just one tiny company, and we are just getting started, but we feel like we are helping to begin the process of turning things around for the better!

This map shows what manufacturing in NYC in 1922 looked like. Less than a third of these industries still exist here.

These photos are what typical Massachusetts mill towns looked like in the early 1900's. The work that was done in these buildings created enough income to sustain entire towns.



(all images from NYPL digital image gallery)

inspired by: advice from a six year old

Here is a note from a very wise 6 year old when asked "What do you do when you encounter a difficult situtation?".....
Translation:     

calm
relax
calming

chill

                     

in the loop: happy birthday to the big S and our very first knit swatches

Our first knit samples were born January 6th, which also happens to be S's birthday. We celebrated these two glorious births with some delicious chocolate cake :)


here is the birthday girl approving the fabrics that our sweaters will be made from:

here are all of our yarn cones waiting to become something even better:

and here is the little cake that helped to make the day even sweeter: