GUEST BIOS

[Vesta]

Welcome to all of you!

[punkynmunky]

Hi! My name is Wendy, I operate the Etsy shop Punkynmunky. I make ribbon sculptures and hair bows. I'm so glad this is here so that I can try to decipher what all is truth and what is misinformation.

[Deb Stahl]

Wendy, you made it here! YAY!!!

[blizzard77]

Hi All,

I'm Marion Scott, owner of micro-business Close2Me, clothes for kids 12m-7yrs (and baby carrier design on the side ; )). I sell on Etsy under marionscott77. Hoping to grow my biz after my kids are able to make their own sandwiches.

I've owned Kathleen's book for a couple years now, but have yet to formally apply for the forums here. Thanks for sharing the info in this one!

[KidBean]

Hello, everyone. First, I want to thank Kathleen for her excellent coverage of this issue. I have been recommending your site for years as a reliable source of factual, timely and relevant information and am impressed with and grateful for your posts and forum.

My name is Melissa Zenz and I'm the owner of KidBean.com. We're (it's actually just me so I should say "I'm") primarily an online retailer of children's products, but I also have several private label products, and am the exclusive US importer of a few children's art products from a German company.

I am deeply concerned about how this legislation will affect my company and my suppliers, most of whom are small, often home-based, businesses here in the US. I have been reading anything and everything I can on the CPSC website, this blog and forum, and every other blog that has posted about it. I have also signed the petition and written my Representatives and Senators in Congress. Soon I'll write to my newsletter subscribers and add a blog entry to my own site.

I am surprised and disappointed at the lack of information and coverage of this legislation on the websites of toy industry groups, such as The Bloom Report and ASTRA. I am very interested in strategizing the best approach to working with the CPSC and Congress to make the CPSIA more reasonable. I agree with Kathleen that it is vital that we work together on this, big and small, because we are all in the same boat.

I am ready and willing to do whatever I can to help and look forward to working with all of you to that end.

[Guest]

Hi everyone, my name is Chriss and I'm from Australia. First I would like to thank Kathleen for making every effort in trying to explain all this. My company is an importer of children's toiletries, and are looking at importing/distributing other children's products from USA (mainly). My question to you all is that if we, Australians, are looking into importing any of your children's products in the Australian market as a distributor/retail, how does this affect us, do you have to supply us with this Safety Certificate? I'm not quite sure how Australia goes about with their Safety regulations regarding children clothing but I'm sure there is some act involved.

My other question is if we sell our goods (from Australia) to anyone in US, either for distribution or just sell to a customer, will you be "allowed" to do this, meaning import from other country? What Safety Certificate would we have to provide?
Thanking you in advance!
Chriss

[Kathleen F.]

Hello Chriss, Marian, Wendy, Melissa! Btw guys, it's not hard to get the activated account, just send your receipt and username to me. I recognize a lot of these names, well, glad you're here however it is you get here.

Chriss, rather than derail this thread by answering your valid questions, can you start a new topic? Surely there's others with import/export questions.

[Guest]

Thanks Kathleen, have started new topic on forum.
Chriss

[richelle*leanne]

Hi, I found this site while searching out more information on this legislation. I'm Richelle, and I have been designing and selling children's clothing mostly on Ebay for about 4 years and more recently Etsy. I am a SAHM and enjoy having both a creative outlet and a bit of extra cash, but had been planning to take my little business to the next level when my daughter begins Kindergarten this next year. Thank you for opening this forum to guests.

Richelle
www.richelleleanne.com

[Kathleen F.]

Hi Richelle, nice to meet you! Pretty name.

[KraftyMommas]

Kathleen, I registered and rec'd an email, bu I cannot log in.....
Trevor

[Christina P]

I'd like to thank Kathleen for opening up this forum to us all. This is the most informative and well balanced source of information that I've found. Thanks Kathleen for all your hard work on this
My name is Christina and I'm the owner of a company called Bamboletta Dolls. We operate out of the west coast of Canada. We create custom, one of a kind dolls for children using wool to stuff and natural fibres for the body/hair and clothing. Our business is doing well - with the recent recalls and I think a general re-think and 're appreciation' for handmade items. Anyhow, I ,like all of you, am concerned about this new law. I do a lot of business in the US though the majority of it is consumer direct. I"m just trying to see what I need to do to keep selling. The potential ramifications of this law are staggering - I feel very sad by what may be happening.

Hello to you all and very nice to have found you!
www.bamboletta.com

[Kathleen F.]

Hi Cristina, really cute dolls. Over the past couple weeks, I've seen a lto of amazing stuff put out by artisans.

Trevor, the CPSIA thread is the only section of the forum open to the public. If you want to join as a member of the private forum, please read that autoresponder you got (had your username and pw in it) carefully and follow those instructions. Or, see the public folder on [url=//fashion-incubator.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=1]membership information[/url].

[BUntefabrics]

Hello My Name is Yvonne and I am the owner of a fabric store, mainly imported European fabrics and notions.
I do not sell finished products for children but obviously my fabrics and notions are being used to create childrens clothing. So I am curious how this could affect my business as well. So far I have not been able to find anything in the law that tells me concrete were or how I may be affected.
But also I love all things handmade and I would be devastated as a consumer not just a supplier to have this law come into effect as it stands right now. It is very, very disappointing how little is known about it or talked about!

[Melissa McKeagney]

Yvonne, I have coveted a lot of the fabrics you sell I am glad to see a supplier here because I have wondered how this will impact that side of the business as well. I am pretty sure that if the folks in Washington didn't consider the ramifications for the manufacturing side, they sure as heck didn't for the retail/supply side either.

Melissa