Whole World Baby

Every time I get that invitation in the mail I panic. It’s a Boy! It’s a Girl! It’s another gift I have to shop for, buy, wrap and deliver. I go through a litany of questions. What are the baby’s parents like? Do they like organic clothing, handmade gifts or store bought trendy items? I hit the World Wide Web and search for Baby shower gifts, baby shower ideas and unique baby gifts. I discover that thousands of people are searching for the same thing and there’s nothing very unique out there anyway. I descend into baby shower hopelessness and consider pretending I never got the invite.

Finally, common sense and kind heartedness return to me and I get busy. What was I thinking? It’s not so much a challenge but an opportunity. It’s actually just like those first few months of parenthood when we are forced to surrender to a new way of thinking and living. I decide to look for gifts that truly represent what that new life will represent, a gift that gives back.  When I search for gifts that give to charity I am amazed to see the many choices available. The cynic in me that believes this kind of thing will never catch on retreats and I am engulfed by a hope. My hope is that this trend of companies donating a percentage of profits to charity will become more than a trend.

There are some trends that stick around for much too long. The plastic shoes from the 1980’s would be an excellent example of that phenomenon. Then there are trends that that fade too quickly into that good night. I hope that things like home made gifts, organic clothing and socially conscious giving do not disappear but thrive. There is only one way we can give really unique baby gifts. We must  hold on tightly to the unique belief that if enough of us give gifts that keep on giving, the world will indeed be a better place for our children.

We all want to be eco friendly, socially responsible and trendsetting moms. How we do that on a budget is a good question. I’ve spent hours shopping for cool kids clothing and the latest baby fashion trends. Usually I end up with one overpriced piece of kids’ fashion that she outgrows in a few months. So how can we keep our babies, toddlers and kids looking darling without breaking the bank?

First, mix and match. That is the key for adult fashion and it goes for children as well. When we follow the rules our style usually ends up being pretty boring and safe. So go ahead and put stripes with polka dots or a frilly dress over jeans. Don’t feel obligated to put a pair of Mary Jane’s on your child with her birthday dress. Try that light up sneakers that she just had to have with her birthday ensemble and create a unique style of her own.

Second, don’t be confined by the seasonal limitations of the clothing. Put a sleeveless summer dress over a long sleeved t-shirt and you’ve got a whole new look. My daughter loves to wear her spring colored tutu over her jeans with her frog covered rain boots on a cool autumn day. Remember Annie Hall? It was the layers that gave her fashion that uncommon flair.

Third, often times little tots grow out clothing before they’ve had a chance where them sufficiently. It’s frustrating to pass along a favorite toddler outfit to a friend’s baby when your own child has worn it only once or twice. Think those pants that still fit in the waist are too short for your child? Think again. A pair of funky socks kick those floods into cool baby clothes central. That jacket still fit in the arms but too short around the waist?  Put a sweet ruffled dress over a pair of leggings and that jacket becomes a short waisted jacket fashion trend for kids. Every baby dress becomes a toddler’s top with a pair of pants.

It’s not where you live or what store you buy your kids’ clothing from that matter. It’s not following the latest fashion trend for kids or wearing designer children’s clothing that makes our children hip, cool or fashionable. It’s that fact that mom shares a unique sense of baby style, ingenuity and individuality that makes a kid really cool. It’s always those kids who look like their parents didn’t spend a ton of money but a ton of love that grab our hearts. They have that certain “mom just threw this outfit together before we ran out the door” look we all want to emulate. That is so much more interesting, not to mention more inexpensive, than the perfect baby or toddler outfit prepackaged from some hip kids clothing store.

Around my daughter’s first birthday I had a revelation about gifts for babies and kids. I remembered that when she was born we’d been generously gifted with every baby gift known to man. We were deeply touched but very overwhelmed with the sheer number of toys, blankets and gadgets. They quickly filled up our apartment and we felt guilty every time we realized we had to give away a gift because we’d never use it or because we’d been gifted three others exactly the same. I thought about all the times I’d run out to buy a unique baby gift for some child’s birthday and ended up with some plastic toy I knew would eventually end up in a land fill. I tried to be eco friendly, I really did it was either so darn cute or I was running so darn late.

A few days before my daughter’s party it dawned on me that we did not need one other thing in our house that rattled, rolled or rocked. I wanted her day to be special but also about a lot more than getting presents. I wanted it to be a day when all the other kids and parents could come and celebrate her life without rushing around to buy a gift we didn’t really need and might never use. I thought of the values I wanted to share with my daughter and made a decision. I invited everyone to donate to their favorite charity in her name and if they absolutely insisted on bringing a gift then it would have to be a homemade gift. It turned into a wonderful day that allowed people to make their donations from the comfort of their own home. One mother, Mary actually did bring a gift but it was that gift that taught me a valuable lesson.

Mary brought a beautiful little bracelet that had been hand crafted by a local child in order to raise money for some school supplies. It was a simple, unique baby gift that would keep on giving far beyond this day. It inspired me to find more socially conscious gifts to give for every occasion. I began to search for things like socially conscious clothing, green toddler gifts and socially responsible gifts online. A whole world opened up to me and I found hundreds of companies doing the right thing. So many people don’t realize that we don’t have to be addicted to shopping and when we do consume we can do so responsibly with the click of a button. We can even avert green house emissions by saving ourselves the car trip.

We invited to our Whole World Baby launch party a community of like-minded women to celebrate our new mark on baby fashion, but it transcended headscarves for kids and became an uplifting celebration of innovative, powerful women making their mark on the world. One special woman, who is perfectly in line with the women we gathered at our launch is actress, filmmaker, green advocate, mother, Alysia Reiner. But living on the east coast, being a mom to an adorable one year old daughter, Livia, and attending a film festival to celebrate a film in which she wrote, produced, and starred are pretty good reasons not to be able to make the launch, so she’s off the hook.

Alysia Reiner at the Hamptons Int'l Film Festival with her one-year-old daughter, Livia, wearing a WWooBie in "Silver Spots with Cherry Dots"

Alysia is one of those women who lives what she believes – she and her actor husband, David Alan Basche, have been tireless advocates of sustainable living long before it was trendy, even being featured in a web series for “Dwell” magazine throughout the green renovation of their Harlem brownstone.

And in addition to her impressive acting credits (which include The Vicious Kind, Sideways, Starter Wife, 30 Rock, Sopranos, just to name a few). Alysia recently added the role of “Mother” to her resume, giving birth a year ago to her ridiculously beautiful daughter, Livia Charles. You’d think that would be enough to keep a lady busy, but she can now add “Writer and  Producer” to her growing list.

Alysia’s film, “Speed Grieving” was inspired by her experience with the death of her father in a rapid battle with cancer.  The hope is that it can serve others as they deal with the unpredictable and seldom talked-about process of dealing with the loss of a loved one. And the goal is that it will be used in clinics, hospitals, and hospices to make grief a little less lonely for those suffering and serve as a reminder that staying PRESENT is the most serene way out of the disorienting black hole of grief.

At our launch party, we raised our glasses to women who are using their unique talents to bring change to the world, so to Alysia, who wasn’t able to be there – here’s to you – a true innovator, passionate mother, relentless activist, inspiring artist, and DIVERSIFIER. Bravo!

She’s a reminder to women everywhere to live passionately and out loud – there’s no better way to teach our children than by example. I’m sure she’s made her Pops so very proud.

What do you get when you combine a group of amazing women, tasty food, stimulating conversation and fashion with compassion? A beautiful day filled with moms, grand moms, green chefs, Douala’s, organic living coaches,business gurus,skincare experts, television writers, jewelry designers, real estate experts, artists, documentarians and more! This launch began as our way to celebrate our ” Little Engine That Could”.

It became a day about so much more than headscarves for babies as our children’s aid organizations and charities took center stage. Hannah from Friends of El Faro opened the flood gates when she spoke with such passion and heart about her work at the orphanage and her personal connection to this group.

One after the other, the women gathered at our table shared the different ways that they are effecting their world. Whether raising their children, producing media that informs or entertains, volunteering  or making other women feel beautiful this day proved how powerfully woman in our community are living. It was a day where the women left their babies ( literal little ones, husbands or projects!) at home and celebrated one another.

Gia, our first sewer spoke so beautifully about why she felt a part of the Whole World Baby family. This was a chance to look at a lauch differently; a chance to make it about the world of the women gathered together. It was so wonderful and so many powerful and productive connections were made that we just might do it again.

We envision a gathering of women where as we raise a glass and break bread in honor of each other we are also perusing booths filled with all of our efforts. Just imagine baby clothes, organic products, green cookbooks, life coaches, marketing experts, arts and crafts and more. Stay tuned; we’ve launched upon the strength of these women’s wings and landed with our feet firmly on the ground ready to walk a path into the Whole World.

So, here we go! This Sunday we are celebrating our official launch with an afternoon of champagne, casseroles and women changing the world. We’ve invited a group of remarkable women in our community who have supported our journey to get WWooBies headscarves for babies and kids, out into the world.

These women are artists, activists, businesswomen, mothers and eco friendly. Our intention is to not only share Whole World Baby with our community but to celebrate the wonderful work these women are doing in their own lives. This will be an opportunity to share samples, stories and business ideas among a group of women who support one another and may have creative ways to get the word out about new ideas.

Just like our business, this day is about the family, friends and community members who have been there along the way and those like minded women we look forward to getting to know. It’s a day to leave the babies and kids with dad, grand mom or a favorite sitter and relax, converse and celebrate!  Sometimes we just have to find a good reason to connect with other women; even if the meeting is not always organic at least the product we’re launching is.

This is so much more than baby fashion however; it’s about powerful women, innovative Charities and making a difference in our world. Trendy baby clothes are always fun and this week we hope to prove that women changing the world one project, one unique baby gift or even one diaper at a time can be too!

Whole World Baby is helping Kids all over the World by producing and promoting our eco-friendly headscarves for babies, kids and moms. We endearingly refer to our trendy headscarves for babies as WWooBies™.

If you would like to help us help kids all over the world, tell your friends (especially Moms) about our Website, our Mission and our WWooBies™.

25% of our profits go directly to nonprofit organizations serving endangered children around the World.

I wonder how many times a day I think, “I’m overwhelmed.”  It seems like my mantra sometimes– I swear it pops in my brain at least four times before lunch rolls around.  I remember feeling that way before I had a baby, but oh my my is it a different ballgame now.

Adrianne | Jama | Stacey

Literally just shopping, cooking, and cleaning for your family is like a full-time Groundhog Day, and that’s just the basic layer.  Tack on kid classes and activities, (in my case) preparing for and executing auditions, constantly fielding emails and tasks for Whole World Baby – add to that the panic-inducing feeling that you haven’t done enough regarding bottle-weaning, potty-training, and pre-school preparation, and God forbid you want to go to yoga or the gym and have your hair cut and colored every so often, and BAM – there it is again, “I feel overwhelmed.” And I only have ONE child.  All women that juggle more than one are absolute heroes in my book and deserve a trophy of some kind.  And I have the audacity to hope to be so lauded one day. Humphh.

And I recall when I started Whole World Baby and my husband Curtis warned me that it might add an extra level of stress to my life that at the time, he didn’t have so much confidence that I could handle.  (In his defense I was crying daily about how overwhelmed I was by Addy’s incessant breastfeeding needs and complete disregard for my sleep.)

But something in me knew I HAD to – that somehow THIS would make everything okay. And you know what?  It does. Yes, it adds a dimension of stress to my life with the responsibilities and time commitment it takes to start up any small business…but our mission is not small.  And just by merely joining forces with my remarkable partners, Stacey and Adrianne, is like my version of going to church.  I’m consistently inspired, my compassion is constantly deepened, and my mind is forever expanding because of these two spectacular ladies and because of the vision we share.

Whole World Baby feels like service work – yes, we are hoping to pioneer a new line of baby fashion with our trendy, eco-friendly headscarves, but our business model is something loftier in our service to our nine children’s charities.  And we hope that these headscarves, albeit a cool kids fashion accessory, can take on a deeper meaning—a badge of honor if you will — a symbol that stands up for kids everywhere. And something about service doesn’t drain you – it has an energizing effect, actually — so even if I don’t have time to go to the gym, dipping into my partner’s reservoir of love, passion, and enthusiasm for this cause that we’ve adopted is like a full-body and soul workout.  And that leaves me the opposite of overwhelmed. I feel at peace.

Sometimes when I consider the fueling motto of our company, “Family First,” I realize how fundamentally sensitive a company we are.  And feminine—it’s so motherly.  This surely isn’t a motto that will drive the bottom line, or one that will even force a deadline.  And most definitely isn’t the primary tenet of capitalism.  Yet as a mother, I cannot imagine doing business any other way.   I consider an email from my partner Stacey just today saying that she can’t do our weekly meeting on Friday because her family needs to spend time together—and neither Adrianne, our third partner, nor I even question—enough said.

As three mothers, this ideology was the first we hinged on—it was the corner stone of Whole World Baby, and although perhaps it has slowed our productivity and certainly hindered our focus, it marks the only kind of company of which I could be a part.  I’m a mother, first and foremost, and my first priority is keeping my family strong and healthy—because without that, who cares how much money you make or how productive you are?

And in a bigger picture, this “Family First” motto also lends itself quite obviously to our business model as a whole:  Giving back to the children of the world and taking care of our Mother Earth, our world, in the process.  The three of us feel a pull and obligation to put family (even if not our own) first in our business mission—by donating 25% of our profits directly to organizations around the world that foster, feed, protect, and educate children.   And we also put our family first by our commitment to be as green and eco-friendly as humanly possible, because our planet is the home to our global family.

I like to imagine what the world would be like if every company hummed to our motto—but then I realize that I just want my cell phone to function, just want my stove to work when I turn on the gas, just want my car to be reliable. Maybe “Family First,” in the sense of making family a priority over production, doesn’t need to be the motto for every company.

To all the momprenuers and greenies out there! As many of you know we market our business, Whole World Baby as Eco-friendly. I’ve got to say, there is a hectic balance between practicality and Eco-friendliness that has been quite a struggle and on a couple of occasions even compromised.

What I’m talking about is the reality of being green. We started out with our best intentions of being as green as we possibly could. Our fabrics are remnants, we drive locally to pick up and reduce landfill waste, our organics are made in USA instead of receiving from overseas, communicate 90% of the time electronically to reduce transportation and for convenience. Our mailers were going to be made out of left over junk mail we collected from family and friends, our labels were going to be left over reused cardboard we cut ourselves, our biz cards were home printed and cut using old manila folders and the label on the headscarves were going to be non toxic stamped images.

Well? Honestly? We compromised, our values were revealed as we started to make business decisions affected by branding and image, and what will “sell” and what’s “expected”. Our nerve for being “way out there” conflicted with being fashionable. We needed to sell our product if we wanted to help our children’s aid partners, right? The stamping idea came out sloppy looking and inconsistent, who would buy that? The business cards looked like we were being cheap NOT eco friendly, and they took a lot of time to make, so we settled for professionally printed cards on recycled card stock. The mailers made out of junk mail ended up looking like trash and not worthy of the headscarves for babies that are priced a little more than normal to include a bit for charitable giving. Can you image a package arriving looking like rolled up trash? A customer might throw it away! We tried to make it look better, but had to keep adding material to it, which defeated the purpose of minimal packaging. So we decided recycled paper envelopes were good enough. How could we raise money for charities if no one wants to buy the head scarves because our image doesn’t meet expectations!!  Are we making decisions for the right reasons or are we so immersed in this ideological and aesthetic driven paradigm that we crush our best intentions out of our need to sell?

Where we have been very clever and successful was with the headscarf’s tag. Each tag is made from 100% post consumed paper. The loop that attaches the tag to the headscarves is a tassel. Once untied the tag with tassel can be used as a bookmark, therefore no trash! We also use just about every inch of fabric we can, even small scraps are combined with other fabrics to make unique and charming “one of a kind” scarves you can find only at our retail partner shops. So we are very creative in our green efforts at every opportunity we can. The balance is always a challenge, but I think when all is said and done, we’ve done a pretty good job making some conscientious compromises.

Thoughts? Ideas? Love to hear some of your ideas.