New Fashion Company: Hapiru

06.06.2010

A lighter topic today and much shorter.

I was at a party last night and met a woman who represents a new fashion company called Hapiru. We had a very pleasant and long conversation about a myriad of things and one of the things I am happy to report is that this fashion company has one great marketing tool going for it: ALL clothes are MADE IN THE USA using a fine grade cotton.

The woman with whom I was talking was wearing a shirt from the company and, what’s interesting, is I noticed the shirt right when she came to the party. I’m not fashion-forward or savvy by any means but there was something about this shirt that I really liked. So I can honestly say that I liked what I saw cause I had no idea when she came to the party who she was and what she did.

I asked her if the designer makes children’s clothes and was told that eventually she (the designer) would like to but she is going to have to wait until she has some bigger clients and money is steadily coming in to be able to launch a children’s clothing line. However, the designer was getting ready to launch a line of maternity clothes. “Good enough for me!” I told her. I promised to blog about it and include a link.

www.hapiru-usa.com

If you like what you see, I highly encourage supporting this company. I touched her shirt and the cotton is amazingly soft. The two things, for me, that make this company so great is a) clothes made in the US and b) the cotton. Everything you buy today is made of synthetic material that is so cheap to use and, yet, stores hike up the prices. So I highly encourage supporting companies like Hapiru. Plus the clothes are stylish.

And who knows, if the line hits big, you’ll be able to say, “I knew them when…”

Shopping for Kids: Gasp!

05.01.2010

Rob’s cousin’s daughter is turning 13 next week and I had resolved in my head to buy her a cute summer outfit with maybe a nice necklace or a bracelet.

I decided to visit this one kid’s store (or rather, the only store I knew) in Century City that I knew had cute clothes with a nice variety. I was armed with the sizes necessary and once I walked into the store, I immediately could tell that the clothes were going to be too small. This girl for whom I was buying is very tall and thin and is already wearing juniors sizes. So, realizing this, I had to find another store and thought, “How hard can this be?”

I don’t know if it’s the nature of the shopping mall or what, but crap was it hard! I went to Juicy Couture (at first avoiding them cause I operated under the assumption that they sold slutty clothes) but realized that apparently clothes that look like pajamas are in style now. At least, according to this company.

Then I hit J. Crew, my favorite store once before Dawson’s Creek catapulted them to popularity and they ballooned their prices (I used to buy their clothes when they were “catalog only” and you could get a great pair of pants for under $25, thank you), but apparently J. Crew doesn’t believe in juniors sizes. At least, not at this store location.

BCBG, a store that would be my favorite if I could afford it, was, well, like I just said, too expensive, so I didn’t even go in. Plus, I probably would’ve found a pair of shoes that I would want and then get depressed that I couldn’t buy them.

The other choices left were overpriced ones as well like Lucky Brand Jeans, Kate Spade and then some store’s name that I can’t even pronounce and, judging from their store display, was selling slutty clothes.

So…I went to Macy’s. They had a small juniors section and I found a cute outfit for a very reasonable price and there was peace in the world.

But, uh…what the hell? First, let me back up a sec. I always hated fashion and that was mainly because clothes never fit me. My weight is all in my thighs and finding pants, even to this day, is a larger production than I care to admit. So I learned to hate fashion and I learned to hate shopping. It’s a waste of time to me. (Even when I’m at my goal weight.) I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to clothe any child that I have. You have to fight a fashion industry that sells “sex” and “slut” to girls using pieces of synthetic cloth that costs an arm and a leg or you have to go on a serious hunt to find appropriate clothes that don’t break the bank which will put me in an even crankier mood. I wonder if life on a nudist colony would be a viable option for us…