It's nice to be noticed.

I recently ran across this article on organic clothing. I was please to notice our website listed on it.
The article is quite interesting. I've been saying the same things.
Go to:

http://www.practicalenvironmentalist.com/eco-clothes/organic-childrens-clothing.htm

Save on 3.

We've started a new regular feature at Rubi J's.

In the past, I have given discounts to customers for various reasons; big orders, repeat business, etc. So, why not make the savings available to all.

For our organic onesies and t-shirts; there will be hugh savings when you purchase 3 or more. This includes our custom t's and onesies.

Go to http://www.rubij.com to check out the savings!!!!

Is Orange the new Black?

I was wondering why I was getting more orders for the orange onesie than any other color lately.

I should probably look at the calendar once in a while. Fall is just around the corner and Halloween is next month. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Or; unless it is becoming the new black. Babies do look cute in our Papaya Orange. Of course, when don't babies look cute?

Trey's looking good; but any color looks good on him.

The Large Blue Butterfly

Animal Tails has introduced 5 new endangered species to their line of organic clothing. I always like to research each wildlife a little further. The large blue butterfly has an interesting story.

Its habitat is across Europe, but was declared extinct in England in the 1970's. Scientists at first thought it was because of butterfly collectors. But then (this is the interesting part) Professor Jeremy Thomas made an unusal discovery. The large blue can only survive if there is a certain species of red ants living in the habitat. Who would have thought? Obviously, Professor Thomas is smarter than most of us.

When in the caterpillar stage, it hatches on thyme buds. The ants then carries it back to their nest and there it feeds on ant grubs until it becomes a beautiful butterfly. Climate change in England made the ants go away, thence also the large blue butterfly.

Now to the happy ending. Habitats were restored on 50 former sites to bring back the ants. Then the butterflies were brought in from Sweden. Success!!!

There is still lots of work to be done; but isn't it a thrill that we can reverse the damage done.

The Large Blue Butterfly is featured on Animal Tails' girls t-shirts, rompers, hats and blankets. See them all at http://www.rubij.com/

We have our contest winners!!!!

Thanks, everyone, for entering the Rubi J's Newsletter contest. The hidden message was "April Showers brings May flowers".  Sorry, all of you that entered "Spring showers". The four winners of an organic onesies are:

• Janet Buman
• Renee Hansen
• Melissa Owings
• Judie Ahrenholtz

To claim your prize, go to http://www.rubij.com/ and pick out the color and size of the onesie you want and email me at info@rubij.com with your choice and address to sent your prize.

The grand prize winner is:

• Ann Schwieso.

Ann, you get to pick out $50.00 worth of product. Just email as instructed above.

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone for playing.

To bamboo or not bamboo.

I've been researching bamboo clothing to add to the Rubi J Store. Bamboo doesn't have to be certified organic. It just is. Bamboo grows without pesticides or fertilizers added. It's recognized as a green material by several organizations.
Bamboo Facts I have learned:

• Produces up to 35% more oxygen than trees.
• Absorbs four times as much carbon than trees.
• Has natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.
• Matures for harvest in less than 4 years.
• Regenerates itself without replanting.

Exciting news, isn't it? But wait. Here's the rest of the story. The harvesting and processing of bamboo into the incredibly soft fabric is more complicated. 

There are two different ways to process bamboo into fabric - mechanically or chemical. Mechanically is a longer and much more expensive process, but does not use harmful chemicals. Chemically process bamboo is much cheaper and faster. You can probably quess what system most manufacturers use.

You may have seen where some bamboo products carry the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 Certification. This is a good sign. Oeko-Tex is an independent organization that looks for toxicity in the processing of fabric. To receive the Oeko-Tex100 certification, the fabric tested must not have any substances that are prohibited by law, carcinogenic or suspected of being harmful to health. If does not mean harmful chemicals to the body or environment have not been used; only none is left in the fabric.

There is also Oeko-Tex Standard 1000 certification. This certifies that the manufacturing process is environmentally friendly and at least 30% of their production is certified with their Standard 100.

Neither one of these certifications address fair labour practices.

So, would I buy bamboo clothing for myself? Probably. Would I sell bamboo clothing for babies and children? Not yet.

For more information, go to http://www.oeko-tex.com/.

The Polar Bear

The week at http://www.rubij.com/ the Special of the Day is the Polar Bear long sleeve organic cotton t-shirt from our "Animal Tails" collection. It's currently 40% off retail.

Let's talk about the polar bear. Everyone recognizes this wonder of the northern ice. I wonder how many kids have had a stuffed polar bear to sleep with at night. And for sure, the polar bear has become the symbol of global warning. Here's what the hang tag says on each of the tees and rompers about the Polar Bear:

"Now a few facts, I'm a brilliant swinner, 60 miles non-stop is OK for me. In fact I love water so much I will spend as much time in the water as on the ice, perhaps that's why I have the Latin name Ursus Maritimus, meaning Sea Bear. I also have partially webbed paws which help me along. As well as that, my paws are an impressive 30 cms across. With paws that big you would expect me to be pretty big too, well I am - actually I'm the largest land carnivore in the world. But despite my impressive statistics, I'm in serious trouble. Climate change and pollution is ruining my food supplies.
What can you do to help? Going organic is a great start to slowing down the pollution problem - you can't do better than an Animal Tails T-shirt with my picture on it! Another great idea is to get your parents to turn down the heating and start wearing a thermal vest - discover the the joys of wearing your own insulation just like me!!
Thank you."

If the Polar Bear is in trouble, so are many other of the smaller carnivores of the Artic. They scavenge the remains of the polar bear's kill for their survival. I know it's fairly unlikely any of us will ever see a polar bear in the wild, but I like to think of them always running free up north.

Spotlight on elephants

Who doesn't love elephants? They've always been one of my favorites. I love watching them on Discovery or Animal Planet. I've even envision riding on one. I know that will never happen. I love horses, too, but I'm scaried silly every time I'm actually riding on one.

The Asian Elephant is on one of our endangered species t-shirts. The hang tag which comes with each shirt states:

"The difference between me and the African elephant is I have smaller ears, a rounder back, 19 ribs instead of 21, but most of all I am much more friendly. If you ever see an elephant at the circus, it will without doubt be an Asian elephant as we're easily domesticated, and form loving bonds with humans.

The matriarch elephant in a herd is responsible for remembering who is a friend and the traditional migration routes, hence the expression 'an elephant never forgets'. This is one of the reasons for our decline in the wild, if humans have built houses on our migration route we'll trample through their house, rather than go round, which tends to annoy then, so they kill us. We are also heavily hunted for our tusks and now there are only about 32,000 of us left."

Pretty sad, isn't it. Go to the Wildlife Conservation Society at http://www.wcg.org/ to learn more about these amazing animals and the projects ongoing to help support conservation of the Asian elephant.

As you can see kids of all ages and gender love elephants.

We currently have the Asian Elephant as our "Special of the Day".  Take a look at http://www.rubij.com/ for savings of 40% off.

We're catching on!

Organic cotton is becoming more mainstream. That's good news for you and your pocketbook. As predicted, the more the demand, the more production and lower prices.

According to The Organic Cotton Market Report, retail sales of organic apparel and home textile products climbed 63% in 2008. The 2008 Organic Cotton Farm and Fiber Report states organic farming worldwide for the 2007/2008 year increased 152%. Wow!

India, where our onesies originated, has overtaken Turkey as the leader in production worldwide. Their production, according to The Organic Trade Association, increased 292%. The United States increased its production in 2008 by 9%.

I have noticed in my web wanderings we in the States are behind in sustainable living than with our friends beyond the pond. I wonder if it because we are such a big country and have so much space. But, times are changing and so are lifestyles.


So; what does this mean to you? As my prices go down; so will yours. Rubi J has reduce the price on all of our onesies products. Check out the website. http://www.rubij.com/

That's little Katherine in one of our custom screen printing onesies.

Leopards, Wild Dogs, Seahorses and Bears, Oh My!!!

I know.  The title doesn't flow. It's just we've added more to our wonderful "Animal Tails" line and I thought this would caught your attention.
We already had the Polar Bear, Seahorse and Snow Leopard in the Rompers Line; but now we added them to the children's tees, along with the African Wild Dog.

I love, love, love Animal Tails. The organic cotton in soft jersy knit is such a winner. The kids love them because they are so cool. The mothers love them because they wear so well.

One of the many, many nice things about being a girl is we can also wear the boys' tees. The girls' tees are too small for my 12 year old granddaughter, but she can wear the 9-10 year size in the boy's because of the bigger cut.

Also, check out our website. We have two new features. "Clearance Sale" on one of a kind; and our new "Special of the Day".

We have been out of the Polar Bear Rompers. They are just too cute. We now have them back in stock. They make the perfect baby gift.

It's been fun restocking and adding new. Now; if the sun would only shine here in Iowa for just a few hours......

What's in a name?

In the early 90’s, my husband and I traveled to Israel, where I met a lovely lady name Lira. We were exchanging information about our family when she asked “and what does your daughter’s name mean?” I told I really didn’t know, I had never really thought about it. She was aghast. In her culture, great care is given to name a new baby. The name’s meaning is most important as it will become part of who this person will become.

Huh, I just thought “Stefanie” was cute.

Since then, however, I have been interested in the meanings of names. One of ideas for screen printing at Rubi J’s has been suggesting instead of just the name printed on an onesie or t-shirt; also put the origin and the meaning. That’s now our most popular screen printing we do for baby gifts.

I’ve had more common names like:
MICHAEL
Origin: Hebrew
“Who is like God”

Or an unusual name like:
SHAYNAH
Origin: Yiddish
“Beautiful”

I’ve had one grandmother order 8 t-shirts in different colors with the same name/meaning on it for her first grandchild. (We grandparents are like that.)

I do my research and then have it preapproved before making the print. There has only been one time it wasn’t accepted. My friend wanted this done for her little grandnephew’s first birthday. The only meaning I could find for Brock was “Badger”. The aunt didn’t want the mother to think she thought little Brock looked like a badger; and since the parents didn’t attend the University of Wisconsin, we drop the name/meaning thing and went with the look of a football jersey.

One of the prettiest ones I did was:
MARISA
Origin: Latin
“Of the sea”
Doesn’t the name Marisa flow like water? Perfect.

By the way, the name Stefanie means “crowned one”. Very appropriate.

Saving the Blue Whale

Animal Tails is a line of organic infants' and children's clothes Rubi J is extremely proud to offer in the States. Manufactured in Great Britain, Rubi J is one of only two outlets in the U.S. Their line is certified GOTS organic cotton like all our products. But it's a lot more. Their rompers and tees have beautiful original artwork of endangered species. Each garment comes with a hang tag from the animal depicted explaining their plight. Here's the tag for the blue whale:

"I am the largest animal in the world ever to have existed! I weigh about 200 tons; have a heart the size of Volkswagen Beetle, and a human child could crawl through my main artery.

I would be great to hire for large parties as I could inflate about 2000 balloons in one breath. But my appetite is hard to satisfy as I eat 3,600 kg of krill a day.

Sadly there are only about 15,000 of us left due to hunting and climate change affecting our food supplies. Thank goodness for the 1960s, that's when hunting was banned, we were on the verge of extinction. But dating can be tough with so few of us left. Our mating sounds can be heard for 100's of miles. Unfortunately increases in ocean noise due to shipping and seismic surveys conducted by the oil industry are reducing the distances at which they can be heard."

Hopefully, this will inspire your children to research the blue whale and learn about how magnifient this animal that share our universe is.

Changes at the Website!!

It been a while. Sorry. I've been redesigning our website and adding new products. It's taken longer than expected. As you all know, I'm stilling learning this new e-business. There were times I wanted to throw in the towel and ask for help from the grandkids; but pride kept me from not going that route. And; finally, the new and improved site is up and running.

We've added more "Animal Tails" Tee's and rompers. The rompers come in size 3-6 month and would be a perfect baby gift.

Kids can't have enough t-shirts. Our organic tees come in 3 sizes and 7 colors. They, like our onesies, can also be personalized.

Rubi J is having a sale through the month of September on our short sleeved "Animal Tails" t-shirts - 25% off. We are so proud to be carrying this excellent product. The tees are, of course, 100% certified organic cotton. The original artwork of these endangered species is charming; and I especially love the story of the animal that comes on a hang tag with each tee. Animal Tail's motto is "kind to people, the environment and animals". Perfect.

Animal Tails

On one of Stef's and my brainstorming sessions about products for Rubi J; we came up with the idea of t-shirts screen-printed with endangered species. We thought it would be a way to educate through fashion (two of our favorite things). We made a list of endangered animals and started our research. At the same time, I was looking for organic t-shirts for the screen printing.

I was guided from above.

I have found the perfect company for our vision. In fact, our vision and philosophy are the same: organic cotton, trade ethically and improve all livelihoods. Animal Tails is are our new partners in this venture. Their children's t-shirts are better than we could have ever produced. The graphic design of the animals are so imaginative. This company is amazing. A portion of all sales are donated to their favorite charity, The AfriCat Foundation. Please read more about this foundation. http://www.africat.org/

We are the earth's caretakers; we must take responsibility.

On a personal note, I have the added bonus on finding a new friend. Although many miles apart, the president of Animal Tails, Annette, and I have formed a bond. We are both mothers - a wonderful and tight knit organization - and we want to make a different. Life is good.

O Baby, I love babies!!!

Stef and I have been working on website development and today was dedicated to delivering all our information and pictures to our website designer. It's been tiring and fulfilling work. Fulfilling because we love what we are doing; and double fulfilling because of our baby models. How can anyone look at a baby picture and NOT smile?

We screen printed for our models' onesies their names and meanings to promote our customizing. The surprise bonus was the joy they gave us with their innocent and totally natural expressions.

It's true children are our future, but it's our responsibility to protect and provide for them, to be good role models and teach them to become good citizens. We forget they are always watching and learning from us.

"The Vision"

My daughter and I have always dreamed about starting our own business. The most natural business with our mindset was fashion and world causes (yes, I know, it's a strange combo). We wanted quality, trendy clothes for all ages; and, we wanted to make a difference.
The research began.
We have been studying organic cotton. Although not all of our products will be 100% certified cotton; we are most certain that our baby line will be. That is what we are starting with, as we feel it is the most important.
Studies have shown that children today are exposed to 35 percent of their lifetime dose of carcinogens by age five. When considering how sensitive a young child's health can be, it is imperative to minimize their exposure to prevent them from developing complications later in life.
I do believe knowledge and education equals better health and longer life. Perfect example: ME.
I'm from the generation that put our infants in that horrible plastic baby seat and placed my most precious cargo in the front seat (no seat belt) beside me. We, of the hippy mentality, still put our arm out to catch our toddler from falling under the dashboard when we come to a stop. (I shudder to think of it now.)
After many weeks of researching, we have finally found one product. More on that later.
Sandy

For more information on organic cotton, check out this website

http://www.aboutorganiccotton.org

See us at the Shelby County Women's Conference on Sept 8th

Come and check out some samples of our merchandise on September 8th, 2008 at the Therkildsen Center in Harlan, Iowa. The conference will open at 3:30 in the afternoon and be filled with networking opportunities and great motivational speakers! Contact Stef Kramer at 712.579.5936 for more details.