Never a Dull Moment...
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
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I recently had the opportunity to interview Richard and Janette Cassidy, owners of Pumps 4 Mums - the exclusive retailer of PumpEase in the UK. I have to admit, I kinda liked writing the interview questions, so this may become a regular feature on our blog (I'm just nosy is all). Please read on to find out more about this amazing couple running this amazing company. I was wow-ed (and I don't wow easily).
Wendy: How long have you been in business selling breast pumps?
Richard: We are into our 3rd year of selling breastpumps.
Wendy: Have you always been in the same location?
Richard: We've always been located in 'The Midlands'. Currently, we live in Aldridge - a town on the edge of England's 'Black Country'.
Wendy: How did you come about being in this business?
Richard: By accident! Jeanette's first experience of pumping was with our daughter Alexandra. Alexandra had been born 8 weeks early due to mum's pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome, and spent a long time in special care. She was unable to feed normally, therefore Jeanette expressed in hospital but later managed to establish breastfeeding. On returning to work, Jeanette expressed at home. She was already an experienced NHS nurse, but her experiences in hospital motivated her to train for an additional Health Visitor qualification where her practice was more 'baby' orientated. More recently, Jeanette retired from her role within the NHS for health reasons. Having recently given birth to our 2nd daughter, Jeanette suffered quite badly with PND. I had already formed the company and was buying and selling bankrupt stock. We first became an Ameda agent for no reason other than so that Jeanette had something to do.
Wendy: What is your company mission/vision?
Richard: To be the best at what we do. We don't mis-sell, we try to establish exactly what it is that the mum is trying to achieve by owning a pump. When a customer calls us with a problem, I reassure them that I'm glad they bought their product from us because we will help them. If it's physiological, Jeanette will take charge, if it's mechanical I'll get it sorted - fast.
Wendy: How is the breastfeeding culture in the UK? Is breastfeeding encouraged? What about breastfeeding in public?
Richard: At present in England, mothers do not yet have an absolute legal right to breastfeed in public. However, a mother who is nursing a baby of 6 months or less cannot be asked to leave an establishment. New laws (The Equalities Bill) are making their way through parliament and should come into force in October this year.
"Discriminating against a woman breastfeeding in public has been unlawful (under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) for more than 30 years, however, this Bill makes it explicit that it is unlawful to force breastfeeding mothers and their babies out of places like cafes, shops and public transport." Source: babyfriendly.org
Jeanette thinks that breastfeeding culture is changing for the better, with more shops and public places offering breastfeeding areas, as opposed to directing mums towards the nearest toilet!
Wendy: What are the breastfeeding initiation rates in the UK? Are they increasing?
Richard: There are more breast feeding clinics, supoort groups, helplines and breastfeeding counsellors/infant feeding coordinators than there have ever been, however, it remains that a majority of UK mums have given up by the time the baby is 8 weeks old.
Wendy: What does Pumps4Mums do to promote breastfeeding?
Richard: Most mothers who call us have already made their decision to use a pump to help them continue to breastfeed.
Wendy: How long do moms get for maternity leave in the UK?
Richard: Statutory entitlement to maternity pay is 39 weeks. The earliest one can claim is 11 weeks before due date, although many mums choose to start their maternity leave much later.
Wendy: What is the best part of what you do?
Richard: Probably when we've helped a mum whose milk had stopped to re-establish a supply.
Wendy: Tell me about your family. How old are your child(ren) and if older, do they help out with the business?
Richard: Our children are 13 (sometimes helps with the packing) and 4 (she answers the phone occasionally and she knows she's not supposed to)!
Wendy: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Richard: Yes - I'm really sorry to have taken so long to do this!
Richard, your answers were definitely worth waiting for and I can honestly tell you that I am very proud to have you and Janette representing PumpEase "across the pond". The way in which you conduct your business aligns perfectly with Snugabell Mom & Baby Gear's corporate vision.
Did you enjoy hearing about one of our retailers? Would you like to see more interviews in the future? Leave a comment below and tell us about it!
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Friday, December 18th, 2009
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Have you heard? We want YOU to help us design our new door hanger! If you haven't seen our current door hangers, grab a look as the new one will have the same die cut and will most likely also have the Breastmilk Storage Guidelines on the reverse side.
Just leave a comment on the wall of our Facebook Fan Page with your slogan and/or design idea and you will automatically be entered into the contest.
To get your creative juices flowing, here are some of the slogans that we've come up with in the past. Note that we've never used any of them... this is just to give you a "feel" for things. In other words, we need your help as we're not too jazzed about any of them. We know you can do better!
There's a really good reason NOT to knock right now!
Please Do Not Disturb - I'm Expressing in Style!
Please Do Not Disturb - Mammaries at Work!
Please Do Not Disturb - Pumping Zone!
Please Do Not Disturb - I'm in a Milky Way!
Please Do Not Disturb - I'm Pumping for the Cause!
So submit a sassy idea for our new door hanger and if we choose yours, you win!
What will you win if we pick your entry? A PumpEase Sampler Pack featuring a PumpEase in your choice of size and print, a Breastmilk Storage Guidelines fridge magnet, one of our Do Not Disturb door hangers, one of the NEW door hangers that YOU designed and a Nursing Mother Goddess Necklace (coming soon to our site)! Retail value $75.00!
Contest closes January 15, 2010.
We can't wait to hear all your ideas!
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Thursday, November 5th, 2009
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I've been home from Las Vegas for about 5 weeks now (yes, I've been trying to get to this post for a while). And I must say, I'm not big on tourist traps... AT ALL. If I end up in a touristy area incidentally - like when I travel to destinations off the beaten track but have to fly in to a touristy area - I'm gone the very next day. Why? You simply don't experience the real city/country in the touristy areas! And I want to experience the real culture. Examples: New York City's Times Square, resort towns in Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican... and well, Vegas is pretty much the King (or should I say Ace) of all tourist traps. Just soooo commercial (yuck)! BUT.I.HAD.A.FANTASTIC.TIME! Las Vegas Rule #1 - Keep an open mind.
Why were we in Sin City? Well, PumpEase made its official debut at the premier tradeshow of the juvenile products industry - The ABC Kids Expo! (woot, woot!) We were at the show with our Distributor - Sandy of Le Duck Distributors. Sandy represents PumpEase and our colleague Diane Sam's product MoBoleez. Together we are the Le Duck Team (see below, L to R: Sandy, Darlene, Diane and myself). And don't we look brilliant in our flora & fauna tops? Pauline Siu, a hot, new Vancouver designer, created these amazing tops for us to wear at the show. Visit her site to check out the rest of her locally, ethically and sustainably-made Eco-Fashion label!
Not only was the show fantastic (read: we wrote lots of orders, made many great contacts and are following-up with more potential retail partners), but the networking was phenomenal!
Now, on to the show itself - we were in a great location and had great neighbours! Milkies was on one side, LilyBugs was across the aisle and My Brest Friend was kitty corner to us. We also cruised the show and chatted with Francie Pants, Simple Wishes and Four Peas among many others! And it was fantastic to finally put a face to a name as we met some of our retail partners for the very first time - like Britt Pegan of Milkface and Jill Broussard of BreastPumps.com and BreastPumpsDirect.com!
Although this was a business trip, all work and no play makes Wendy a dull girl, right? Enter Darlene, my BFF who flew down from Kelowna, BC (about 4 hours from where I live) for a visit and to help work our booth.
The first day in Vegas, 2 days before we had to set-up the show, we decided to go for a walk - you know, scout things out a bit. Las Vegas Rule #2 - just because you can "see" your destination, doesn't mean you should "walk" to your destination. I think we walked for 9 hours that first day! Our poor feet! I have to admit, I was a bit worried about working a 4-day, 1,000,000 square foot tradeshow after that first day, but my feet persevered! (yay).
I have to backtrack now to a couple of weeks before we left. Dar emailed me and asked me if I "wanted to get my nose pierced with her" while we were down in Vegas. Um. No. Not really. Who knew that my closest friend of 24 years wanted to get her nose pierced? Anyways, after several taxi rides, a wild goose chase and a 16 year old "piercer" who told Darlene she looked like a teacher (lol), our mission was accomplished (and in lieu of getting my nose pierced, I held her hand and took the pics)! That's her to the right - under the knife, er, I mean needle. Las Vegas Rule #3: If they look 25, they are 16. And yes, we are old.
Darlene and I also bought tickets to see La Rêve after chatting to a very nice lady at a discount ticket outlet outside of Circus Circus where they had $2 Strawberry Margaritas with quite the kick (the real reason we stopped). The discount ticket lady told us the story of Steve Wynn and how, after owning 3 of the majors in Vegas (Treasure Island, The Bellagio and The Mirage) and then being ousted in a hostile takeover by MGM, he persevered to build the Wynn and Encore Hotels. Further, he created his own Cirque show and designed a ROUND theatre to showcase it in, so that there was NOT ONE bad seat in the house. We paid just under $100 each for our tickets - fantastic seats - AMAZING show! (The pic to the left is the finale - those flowers were probably 20 ft in diameter). The seats with "partially obstructed views" at the Bellagio for "O" were OVER $100 each (umm... who would pay over $100 for a partially obstructed view?) AND I confirmed "discount ticket lady's" story on Wikipedia. Las Vegas Rule #4 - You don't always get what you pay for.
One of the highlights of the trip was our breakfast meeting with Bettina Forbes and Danielle Rigg, founders of the Best for Babes Foundation, of which we are a corporate sponsor. Until that morning, we had only chatted on the phone and via email, Twitter and Facebook. The energy in the room was palpable as I also got to meet other BfB corporate sponsors like Sheri & Melinda of Earth Mama Angel Baby, the ladies of My Brest Friend, Line of GlamourMom, Shari & Joe Criso of My Baby Experts and The Birth Boutique (one of our new retail partners - stoked about that!), Leslie of NutraBella and the lovely ladies of Hygeia!
Another fantastic morning was spent taking the Zappos tour! I was absolutely inspired by every moment that we spent at their head office in Henderson, Nevada (just outside of Vegas) - WOW! And that's what it's all about at Zappos - making their customers say "WOW!" You can find out a bunch of super interesting information about the Zappos culture here - which is at the core of everything they do. Here are some points that really stuck with me (in no particular order)...
- they had a nicely appointed "Mother's Room" for employees that are breastfeeding and/or pumping - and moms can pump when they need to. Do you hear that Totes-Isotoner?
- if you're tired while you're at work, you can take.a.nap.on.company.time
- all the departments are decorated in a unique and fun theme ---> there's the mullet of Zappos Recruiting - and they had mullet wigs for everyone to wear!
- 2 weeks into your training, they offer you $2000 to QUIT if you don't feel you are absolutely passionate about being a part of the Zappos team (this saves them money in the long run - smart)
- the company lunchroom is stocked with food (for free) and the vending machines don't take money
- their customer service department is empowered to do "whatever it takes" to make the customer happy - they recounted a story of a customer that had recently lost her mother and the Zappos employee had flowers sent to her - WOW!
- they ship free (in the USA) BOTH ways - yes, that means even for returns! Why would you shop anywhere else?
- they have no call "stats" to meet in their call centre (as a former call centre employee, this is UNHEARD of)
- Tony Hsieh's desk (he's the CEO in case you didn't know) is in a cubicle, just like everyone else, amongst employees (there's Diane sitting in Tony's chair)
- at the end of the tour we were invited to peruse a "library" of Tony Hsieh's favourite books and take as many as we desired (no joke!)
I could go on and on - truly a great place to work. And has the company sufferred by empowering their employees, bending over backwards for their customers and making Zappos a fun place to work? I hardly think so. Zappos.com has been around for just over 10 years and now does $2-3 million PER DAY in online sales. They broke $10 billion annually in 2008. Absolutely mind-blowing! Las Vegas Rule #5: Think Big!
We also enjoyed a great dinner with Madeleine Shaw of LunaPads (my friend, colleague and informal mentor) and her BFF Ann. AND we were smart enough to get off the strip to where the food was less expensive and of MUCH higher quality (see tourist trap rant above). We had an amazing Indian dinner at Gandhi. Mmmmm! And we had a very cheeky and funny waiter to round out the evening!
If I havent mentioned LunaPads to you before, I must tell you a short story. I met Madeleine at a Fashion Industry meeting in the late 90's. At that time she was just bringing LunaPads to market and was struggling with the packaging design. Madeleine had a retail store with a small factory in the back and had done a small run of production for me (this was when I was designing and manufacturing a women's sportswear line). Madeleine gave me a LunaPad. I was kinda grossed out by the whole idea of reusable menstural products but graciously accepted the gift. I never used the pad. I put it in my bathroom cupboard. I looked at it from time to time. I moved 5 times. I never threw it out. ---> Fast forward to 2008. I had reconnected with Madeleine as I was struggling with the packaging for PumpEase and a colleague suggested I speak to her as our products both shared a "non-mainstream" vein. I went to her website. I read the testimonials. I was intrigued. I placed an order. I gave away my Costco-size box of tampons to a friend. I have never looked back. I'm more aware of my body. I'm doing something good for me. I'm doing something good for the environment. I'm doing something good for my daughters. My bathroom garbage doesn't overflow with garbage every 4 weeks. Check out LunaPads. Really.
Two more dinners, one at Mon Ami Gabi (yum) and the other at the Cheesecake Factory (double yum) were spent with Dawnn Whittaker and her husband Marc of Cheeky Chops. Dawnn is a former Nanny turned Baby Contentment and Child Sleep Consultant. Dawnn was a client of my other company, Moda de Vida Design and then I became a client of hers and I can tell you that she walks on water! My girls, aged almost 5 and almost 3 sleep 12+ hours/night and my almost 3 years old still naps 45 min in the afternoon. If you're having a problem with children and sleep, contact Dawnn. It is never too late to give your children the lifelong gift of good sleeping habits!
We also went on the rides at the top of the Stratosphere (that's the view of the strip from the top). You may not know this about me, but I am a bit of a thrill seeker - I LOVE things that scare me. I will go on ANY rollercoaster that they build. I have bungee jumped, I'm a certified scuba diver and I am planning on trying skydiving very soon (a tandem jump so I can experience freefall). I also want to get my motorcyle license, a plan that was kyboshed when I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter.
If you are not familiar with the rides at the top of the Stratosphere, they are 1149 feet above the Las Vegas strip (just sayin'). We went on the Insanity and the X-Scream. Oddly, I.HATED.BOTH.OF.THEM. I really hated both of them. So weird. I'm glad I did it though (just so I can say that I did). Then we went down one level to Fat Tuesdays and each got a 26 oz margarita for the road. Something tells me we did that in the wrong order. Las Vegas Rule #6 - Booze first, white-knuckle rides second.
So off to Fremont Street we went - that's the old (original) strip in case you didn't know - and except for my 3-day whirlwind trip to Vegas last year for the ABC Show (when I worked Diane's booth to get my feet wet for this year), I hadn't been to Vegas since the old strip WAS the strip (see paragraph #1 re: tourist traps). So I figured out it had been about 28 years since I had been on Fremont Street and the last time I was there was with my Dad. And then I got all melancholy - I still miss him so much! So I shed a few tears for Dad and then we continued to have a blast because Darlene and I always, always, ALWAYS have fun together (and that's what my Dad would have wanted).
So are you wondering why I haven't mentioned any gambling yet? I WAS in Vegas after all. Well gambling really doesn't interest me. Last year, the first time I had been in Vegas since I was "of age", I sat down at a slot machine, put in $10 and it was gone in 5 minutes. B-O-R-I-N-G! This year I figured I had to try it again considering I was there with my BFF that I ALWAYS have fun with! So I started with $2. I chose a penny slot, but a "real" one - with the actual wheels that spin and a handle to pull (what's the point of playing a slot machine that is all computerized???) - and it took me 45 minutes to lose the 8 bits. It was fun... a little. I staked a claim on that machine and walked away.
The night we went to Fremont Street, I won't lie to you, I was a bit tipsy! When we got back to our hotel, I found "my" slot machine and thank goodness no one was sitting on the stool as I may just have booted them off! I put in $20 this time (I guess I thought I was a high roller fueled-up with margaritas and all). I played and lost and won and lost and won again. And I started using the button instead of pulling the arm (too funny!) In the end, during my entire 7 day stay in Vegas, I lost a whole $19 and enjoyed it enough to try it again next year (not the losing part, the gambling part). Pretty.cheap.entertainment.
Well there you have it. I finally learned (albeit temporarily) how to balance my business with downtime and had to go all the way to Las Vegas to do it! I made some new friends, reconnected with some old ones and enjoyed some new experiences. Now I'm counting down to the show in 2010 where I will hopefully meet Deidrea Haysel of Hot Mama Gowns and Katie O'Neill of KT Steppers, just two of the many fabulous Mompreneurs that I have met on Twitter and Facebook over the past year or so.
Have you been to the ABC Show? Are you familiar with any of the great companies and products that I mentioned? How about 26 oz margaritas from Fat Tuesdays? Leave a comment below and tell us about it!
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Saturday, June 20th, 2009
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I was reading the Motherwear Breastfeeding blog the other day, as you know I so often do, when I followed a link in one of Tanya's posts and ended up on this site. I have to say that I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! The concept behind Best for Babes has lived in my head for some time now. I always thought that I would find the time to start something like this (I know my friends and family are rolling on the floor laughing right now). Having said that I am absolutely thrilled that it has already been brought to fruition!
The attitude, the approach, the images, the sass and their slogan - "Giving Breastfeeding a Makeover" totally resonated with me. I immediately emailed the founders, Bettina and Danielle, and we scheduled a conference call to discuss how I could get involved!
To start we are proud to announce that $1 from the online sale of every PumpEase™ will be donated to the Best for Babes Foundation to help moms achieve their personal breastfeeding goals.
Here is a glimpse of the Best for Babes Mission Statement...
To give breastfeeding a makeover - to market, brand and mainstream it, acting as a catalyst to elevate this cause on par with Komen, Juvenile Diabetes, (Red)™ and others.
To shift the focus and pressure off moms and onto the “booby traps” - the cultural and institutional barriers to breastfeeding successfully - and to helping to remove those barriers through positive social pressure.
To harness the power of celebrities, corporations, foundations, fashion, advertising, the medical community and the media to bring about a cultural change that embraces, celebrates and supports breastfeeding moms.
I encourage you to visit their site and find out how you can get involved. Donate, follow them on Twitter, join their Facebook Group and tell everyone you know about them! Anything and everything you do will help. It is an especially vital time with the recent introduction of the Breastfeeding Promotion Act in both houses of Congress as well as the Breastfeeding Petition to President Obama to make breastfeeding a high priority in his adminstration - to promote it as preventative care to save lives, reduce disease and save the US Health Care system billions if not trillions of dollars.
"Hey!" you say, "Are you not Canadian?" Yes I am, born and raised. However, it has to start somewhere and like it or lump it, we all look to the US for direction sometimes. The situation in the US is critical with the skyrocketing Caesarian rates, the plummeting breastfeeding rates after moms and their babes leave the hospital and the lack of education and support for the breastfeeding mom.
Besides, I love my US customers and Best for Babes will help women worldwide, not just in the good ole USA.
So please visit the Best for Babes site and then come back here and tell me what you think!
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Thursday, May 28th, 2009
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I don't have a lot of patience: I'll wait 20 minutes maximum for a table at a restaurant; I don't do the "get up at 4 am and line-up at the Electronics Store" Boxing Day thing; and heaven help you if you keep me waiting more than 15 minutes for an appointment! (I am now ducking from all the people that I've kept waiting since I've had my kids and have become one of those "perpetually late" people).
I thought having children would help me have more patience - uh... nope. It just makes ME late now (see above).
Therefore I am pretty stoked to finally be revealing our new Classic Collection!
It has pretty much been KILLING ME waiting to share this with you! We started choosing fabrics about 7 months ago. We chose our "classic" woman 4 months ago. We brainstormed on marketing ideas 3 months ago. We did the photo shoot in March (after being snowed-out the first time we scheduled it). And finally, finally, finally Verry Cherry, Snowy Leopard, Forget me Not and TUXEDO <----- the "secret" print, are here! And you are going to LOVE them! I still can't pick a fave - I love them all!
I would like to talk a bit about my beloved Audrey Hepburn and why we chose her to be our "classic" woman. Aside from the fact that she was stunningly beautiful to her dying day, Audrey was the epitome of grace, sophistication, style and absolute modesty. Soon after Hepburn's final film role, she was appointed a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She then dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations of the world.
I have to admit that I've always loved Audrey Hepburn (and I'm not one of those people that swoons over celebrities). One of my favourite movies of all time is Robin & Marian, which was Audrey's first film after taking nine years off to raise her children. She stars with Sean Connery (slurp, drool - OK, maybe I swoon a bit here and there - how can you resist that accent?) and if you haven't seen it, you absolutely must rent it this weekend!
Audrey was a muse for the designer Givenchy, an award-winning actress, a dedicated humanitarian and yes, a breastfeeding mother!
Therefore it was pretty much a "no brainer" to mirror our Classic Collection marketing around one of her most famous movies - Breakfast at Tiffany's - and for which she received an Oscar nod for Best Actress.
Tell me what you think - I la-la-la-love feedback! The Classic Collection prints? The marketing image? Everything! Drop me a comment below.
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Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
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I have had a few queries and comments here and there as to why we've chosen to use hook & eye over Velcro® for the PumpEase™ closure. Let's talk about that shall we?
While I believe that Velcro® is a fantastic product, it definitely has its "issues" (that's right... Velcro® needs therapy). Let me explain... my husband likes to wear these cargo-type pants with a gazillion pockets on them. They also have a gazillion pieces of Velcro on them to close said pockets. When it comes time to do the wash, they drive my C-R-A-Z-Y!
Before I put my hubby's pants in the washing machine, I must make sure that each and every piece of Velcro® is perfectly lined-up with its partner so as to minimize the chance of the hook side of the Velcro® catching on and snagging other garments - usually knits - in the wash (look at those evil hooks in the picture to the right!) Then I have to turn the pants inside-out because there is always a chance of one of those gazillion pieces of Velcro® coming undone during the wash, especially after the garment has been around for a while and that dreaded hook side is all caught-up with fuzz, dust, loose threads and hair (yuck), and as a result doesn't grab the loop side quite as well, but somehow is still quite capable of snagging other garments and completely ruining them! This is, of course, extremely time consuming when I have two little ones running around; I barely find the time to fold the clothes and put them away, let alone all the work actually getting the wash INTO the machine in the first place!
More often than I would like, even with all my preventative action, I pull the clothing out of the washing machine and a lowly piece of Velcro® has completely mutilated yet another garment - and it is uncanny how many times that garment belongs to YOURS TRULY!
Why don't I wash my husband's pants separately you ask? Well, we have a front-loader so as to reduce the number of loads of laundry we do for both economic and environmental reasons, therefore that kind-of defeats the purpose doesn't it? There are sometimes only one, maybe two pairs of these pants in the laundry at a time.
Why don't I get a new husband? Uh... NO. My husband is a keeper!
Why don't I get my husband a wardrobe consultant? Well, I have tried to convince my... umm, er, sigh!
But I digress, Velcro® is especially "attracted" to knits because they too have "loops" as part of their construction (see the diagram to the left). And guess what? PumpEase™ are made from a knit. Are you starting to understand why we chose NOT to use Velcro®?
Now some of you may counter that hook & eye will "catch" on things in the wash too. Yes, that is certainly true, however when you remove the hook & eye that is caught on another garment, you unhook it and that's it. To avoid this altogether, we recommend either simply hand-washing your PumpEase™ or washing it in a lingerie bag and hanging it to dry. Basically, care for your PumpEase™ in the same way that you care for your better intimates. On the other hand, there is no way to remove Velcro® from the "victim" garment without damaging it in the process.
Another aspect that we considered when making our decision, is that Velcro® is extremely noisy when detaching and if your baby is sleeping nearby, this could potentially wake the little monkey. Apparently the US Army had the Velcro® company develop a "silent version" that reduced the noise by 95% so as not to betray soldiers' positions (it is used profusely on their uniforms), but it is a military secret (no joke).
Finally, we figured that most women are pretty darn familiar with hook & eye considering that has been the primary closure on foundation garments for over 100 years. What better closure to deal with, bearing in mind that you will likely be bleary-eyed, sleep-deprived and donning and doffing your PumpEase™ in the dark? Women are used to hook & eye - we have been fastening and unfastening it "blindly behind our backs" for years!
Tell us what you think - agree? disagree? have another closure idea? Drop a comment below.
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Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Well it's official! The fabrics are on order and we are SOOOO excited! The Classic Collection II is due to arrive this Spring and we can hardly wait! We are currently booking our model and sourcing accessories to style the photo shoot which is inspired by a famous movie. We had waaaay too much fun on the Fabulous 50's shoot - breast pumps and all - and can't wait to work with Claire Reid again.
Forget Me Not Snowy Leopard Verry Cherry
Oh and by the way, we haven't given away the store here. There is a 4th print that you will just have to WAIT to see. And it is absolutely going to be our Best Seller!
Tell us what you think...
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Saturday, November 8th, 2008
I was raised by my Mom and Dad - two people with very 'discerning' taste (read perfectionists and totally anal). I now see some of the same tendencies in myself and my two sisters (we were doubly cursed and didn't have a chance!) We poke fun at each other citing, "You sound just like Mom!" or, "That's something Dad would have done!"
But that's good news for you! Every PumpEase™ that leaves our house for yours is checked several times by different members of my "very particular" family.
After we receive our production from George, Elaine and Lana at our wonderful factory, the PumpEase™ head over to Mom's. She snips threads and checks that everything is 'as it should be' with regards to construction. I keep telling her that I'm going to get her some 
Quality Control stickers. Not because we need to track her work (she is our only inspector at this point), but rather to tell the world that "Mom" is checking your PumpEase™ and who could possibly be better suited for the job? Honestly, I think she LIKES rejecting the PumpEase™ that aren't up-to-snuff! 
Funny, the other day she was complaining about 'this job she has that she doesn't get paid for'. Hmm... next there will be rumblings of a union starting - IIBMU (International Inspected By Mom Union Local 500).
Then my (currently very pregnant) sister Denise visually checks the PumpEase™ again, fastens the hook & eye closure, neatly folds them and inserts them into our packaging (which she has previously assembled). She then adds our bar code label to the back and our size label to the front.
Finally, our shipping department (that's currently yours truly) makes another visual check before placing the PumpEase™ package in our crisp white bubble mailer with our pretty Snugabell™ shipping label on the front. Then it is off to the Post Office to see Colleen!
So as you can see, we work hard to make sure the product you receive is in pristine condition. If you EVER receive a shipment from us that does not meet your expectations, please let us know. Our customers' happiness is very important to us. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
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Friday, April 25th, 2008
Here at Snugabell™ we have just gone through the onerous task of re-branding our product. We thought we had the perfect name: Mike & Toni’s hands-free pumping supports. Then we started to get feedback from people indicating that they were confused by the masculine-sounding names for a product that was targeted primarily to women. Moms of boys also didn’t like the pink colour on the packaging. I was selling to women, so I thought pink would work. Apparently I was wrong…. I had girls….. so shoot me!
For the record, Mike and Toni are our two darling daughters, Michaela and Antonia, 1 and 3 years old respectively.
Because our whole approach is one of lighthearted humour, we wanted a lighthearted name. As I’ve mentioned before, we feel people are WAY too serious about the most natural thing we can do for our babies - feed them as nature intended.
We tried to have a focus group to brainstorm a new name, however it was a scheduling nightmare. Most of the members of my target market were too busy (with their families) to attend. I thought a Facebook Group would work……but not much happened there - people joined, but didn’t really discuss…hmmmm. So we turned to our old friend Survey Monkey. We LOVE Survey Monkey yes-indeedy-do! We got a fantastic response to our
itty-bitty survey. Thank you so much to everyone that participated!
I would like to share some of the suggestions we got for naming the pumping support. I’ve never laughed so hard! I was once again reminded that I know some wonderfully creative people! And for the record, I REALLY wanted to use Boob Tube - thank you Kim!
Here are some of my faves: Titty Taps, Deliver-Eze, Meloneez (too bad my name wasn’t Melanie), Juggies, Plug ’n’ Play, Milk-a-Matic, Mammy Milker, Num Nums, Nummies, Pump’ems, Suckies…..you get the idea.
And I know you can’t make everyone happy. There is ALWAYS going to be someone who doesn’t like the name. And there is ALWAYS going to be someone that you offend. Oh well, it’s good for press!
Stay tuned for the unveiling......
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Inside Snugabell by Wendy
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