WilloToons Owner Worries About CPSIA’s Effects On Her Cutting-Edge Business
[This is another in a series of posts by Susan Maphis covering the impact of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). For more information about the CPSIA, read Susan's previous article: The End Of Handmade and sign up for her CPSIA Alerts Mailing List ]
Willo O’Brien is the Owner/Designer of WilloToons, a business based in San Francisco that has been selling baby onesies, tees, and bibs, and toddler tees for the past one and a half years. Her line celebrates her love of the design internet, rock, and connectivity, and is described by her as being the place “where geek meets rock ‘n roll.” She is fearful for the future of her upstart business, however, due to the impending enactment of the CPSIA on February 10.
O’Brien says her line is eco-conscious and sweatshop-free, with each item maintaining high-quality at a low cost to the environment. The line is also transitioning into using 100% organic cotton. She is proud to have recently received a grant through the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in San Francisco that enabled her to move into office space and have one-on-one financial/fashion industry consultation to help grow her business.
“Basically all signs are pointing towards taking my business to the next level, but if I can’t produce and sell the line of baby and toddler clothes I’ve been working on, without paying the insane fees associated with them, this business as I know it will have to shut down,” O’Brien says.
“I am terribly afraid of what this mandate means for my business and my livelihood. Let alone I can’t imagine how this will effect all of the vendors who benefit from my (and others) being in this business!” O’Brien continues. “I feel at a complete standstill with the impending doom of this going into effect in just a few short weeks. I was just about to place a reorder for several thousand dollars worth of new inventory, and right now I sit here with a giant lump in my throat and ache in my heart.”
An example of O’Brien’s unique, hip baby clothing can be seen in the above photo which features the baby bib that says “eat, sleep, rock, repeat.” Although this particlular design is sold out at the moment, you can view other innovative, clever designs at WilloToons.com.
[ For more information about the CPSIA, read Susan's previous article: The End Of Handmade]
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February 5th, 2010 at 1:22 am