Monday was a very exciting day for Jennifer and I – we officially launched Hemming Birds Boutique!  If you follow our Facebook Page you know that we are using KickStarter for our first collection of products.

Which may leave some of you wondering, why KickStarter?  Or even, what is KickStarter?

Let us explain. .   KickStarter is a fun and effective way to fund projects and get companies off the ground.  “Creators” (that’s us!) submit their projects and goals to KickStarter for approval.  After review, the project goes online to be supported by “backers” (that’s you!)  The backers can basically pre-order items in exchange for a monetary pledge.  If the project reaches its goal, the creators receive the pledged money and in return backers receive their rewards.

We’ve been fans of the Kickstarter community for a while now and have supported other projects.

Kickstarter is an amazing venture – since 2009, 6.2 million people have backed over 61,000 projects pledging a total of $1 billion dollars!

That’s billion. . .with a “b.”  Incredible.  Jennifer and I are SO excited to be a part of this movement, along with a bunch of other really cool companies!

One of the most convenient aspects of Kickstarter is that Amazon processes the payments for the U.S. campaigns.  So, if you have an Amazon.com account, backing a Kickstarter campaign is as easy any other Amazon purchase.

OK, so now you may understand a bit more about Kickstarter. . .but why did we chose to launch our store with a Kickstarter campaign?

Well, to be honest, it comes down to exposure and volume.  To make this business successful, we need the buy materials in bulk and manufacture products in parallel.  KickStarter helps us accomplish this by building up a large number of initial customers and orders.

While we will still frequent our local stores for new fabric designs and other supplies (www.fiveeighthseams.com is our favorite!), when it comes time for volume production we need to purchase materials with minimal markup.

In order for us to move forward, we need to be able to order fabric directly from the manufacturers.

Some of the Kickstarter funds will also go towards the cost of product safety testing.  Because we are designing apparel and toys for small children, in particular those under the age of 3, it is really important that everything we make meets and/or exceeds all of the required child safety requirements.

We’ve spent the past few months putting the final touches on our bag and bib designs.  Making our Hemming Birds items takes time and effort, and all the materials we have chosen are top notch.  We believe in top stitching and thick interfacing. . .and you’ll never find an exposed seam on our designs.  Our goal is to produce high quality items that stand up to everyday “loving” by your little ones.

Hopefully that answers some of your questions!  Please feel free to contact us or leave a comment if you have further questions, ideas or just want to say “hi!”

Lastly, to summarize we put together a short “how to” guide: