Mongolia on NPR this week

The photography is beautiful. However, the story is about serious struggle in Mongolia. The NPR week long series is titled Global Financial Crisis Hits Mongolia and tells the story of sheep herders. It is more important than ever to support fair trade practices and the entrepreneurs in Mongolia. Listening to today's story has further deepened my commitment to supporting fair trade and earth-friendly practices in Mongolia.

The artists who create felted wool slippers and other items for Satch & Sol include those who herd their own sheep and those who buy wool locally from their neighbors and herders within Mongolia.

The NPR piece today also touches on environmental concerns and the situation caused by overgrazing of cashmere goats. I had heard of this issue, but had not understood its significance until now. I had associated cashmere goats as "bad" and sheep and other types of goats as "good", but now know why. Cashmere goats eat the grass from the root, which contributes to the decline of grasslands to desert. Sheep and non-cashmere goats eat the grass without destroying the roots, thus allowing for sustainable re-growth. Demand for cashmere by Chinese factories has caused many herders to unnaturally offset their herd balance in favor of non-sustainable cashmere goats.

At Satch & Sol, we love felted wool - that's sheep's wool. Occasionally, felted wool includes wool from non-cashmere goats and from camels. Satch & Sol will continue to support sustainable herding in Mongolia through demand for non-cashmere, luxurious, soft felted wool slippers.

Thank you NPR for this great series. Thank you Seattle neighbor Joanne for telling me about the NPR series!

Weekend = Sewing

Weekends are a great time to catch up on sewing. Labor Day weekend is no exception, especially with our very winter-like chilly rainy weather today. I am sewing tags, sewing slipper embellishments, sewing unique adult size slippers for local fundraiser sales...and, recently, sewing buttons and thread felted wool animals to make ornaments.

Made from slipper scraps, the lovely felted wool creatures have arrived! Here in Seattle, I sew a unique button and thread to each animal so it is tree-ready. Of course, the thread and button can be easily removed and the creature can stand on its own.

My new favorite is the elephant, but it's hard to steer away from the woolly grey billy goat. The recent arrival of the felted wool animals from Mongolia inspired my family to go to the Woodland Park Zoo this afternoon. The snow leopards (native to Mongolia) were our favorites today.

Reminder: Slippers for School Program

Solomon begins Kindergarten in 13 days. He is keeping a calendar in his bedroom and marks off the days at bedtime. Solomon is excited and nervous, and, well, so am I. Solomon is ready with school supplies, including his "indoor shoes" to keep in his cubby at school. He selected the blue mocs that he decorated for himself a few months ago.

All this preparation reminded me of the Slippers for School savings program that was a success during our online launch last year. A few schools have already taken advantage of the 25% savings for their group this year.

If your group can commit to purchasing at least six pairs of slippers, Satch & Sol will send you a savings code for your group to use for anything in the online boutique. You select the dates for the savings code to be in effect and the ship date. Satch & Sol ships all the items to one location for you to distribute. Shipping is free. If interested, please email me at handmade@satchsol.com. Thank you!

Artisans receive a well-earned grant

I cannot say enough wonderful things about the talented artists who create slippers for Satch & Sol. I love love love their traditional wool felting craft. Even more, I appreciate their willingness to hone their skills to innovate for Satch & Sol and their willingness to incorporate my design input.

Of course, I am certainly not the only person to be so impressed by these fair trade micro and small businesses sprouting successfully in Mongolia. Congratulations to one of the largest felting cooperatives upon receiving a modest funding grant from EBRD (a European Bank) to finance their continued growth through training and innovation.

I am honored to have been asked for input regarding innovation. I am confident that they will surpass even their own expectations as they take on this new challenge. And, I am eager to see their future work.

Happy Birthday to the online boutique

Our online boutique celebrated its one year anniversary several days ago, and I forgot to celebrate until this evening. Happy 1st Birthday!

I will now celebrate by wrapping gifts, writing cards, and printing shipping labels for today's orders. Although first, I need to go put my four year old back to bed, for the third time tonight. This small business owner really knows how to throw a party!

Although we opted for homemade popsicles rather than cake tonight, we selected zucchini from our tiny garden and made a special zucchini pancake dinner. And, there was face paint (applied by the kids). My children loved it, although neither seemed to understand what aspect of our family business we were celebrating.

I am so thankful for this past year of learning, community, successes and trials. I am especially grateful to the artists in Mongolia who have been a pleasure to work with (since long before the online boutique began) and to the customers who have visited us online. For a birthday present, I will send a savings code out to the newsletter list sometime soon. If you want to receive it, please sign up by creating an account and checking the newsletter option.

I look forward to Year Two!

Satch & Sol Approved by Green America. Yippee!

I have been striving to emulate the values of Green America since the very early stages of Satch & Sol. Green America (formerly called Coop America) exudes the eco-friendly and fair trade values that are core to Satch & Sol's vision. Thus, I am jump-up-and-down excited to see Satch & Sol be approved as a member of this wonderful organization. And wow (!), that was quite an application process of in depth questions.

For anyone thinking Green Entrepreneurship, I recommend joining the Green America Business Network (GABN). GABN is an email list that you can join prior to being approved by Green America. Learn how to join by visiting the Green Business network. I asked a lot of questions of established Green Business leaders and received many helpful answers to keep my business growing. Finding Green America early in my business development was a great discovery for me.

For anyone looking to GREEN there lives and business in anyway, bookmark the GreenPages.org. This reference provides a list of all Green America approved members.

I look forward to updating my website soon to show the official Green America Seal of Approval (tm) and to reflect membership.

New New New

I am excited to add new colors, styles and products for Fall and Winter. You will see them appear gradually in the online boutique by September 1.

Some of the lovely new items the artists made have yet to arrive...and perhaps are lost in their travels forever. I hope someone, somewhere will enjoy them and appreciate the handcrafted beauty of each piece. Ahhhhhhh, but I am so happy to have the ones that arrived! My favorite are the natural flowers with their muted burnt orange pedals. They make me pine for toddler feet in our household again. I will happily gift a pair to my newborn niece.

Watch for new felted wool mittens, hats and gloves in baby and toddler sizes!

Satch & Sol Introduces Fair trade, Eco-friendly Slippers in Adult Sizes

Seattle, WA (April 13, 2009) Satch & Sol announces the addition of adult size slippers to their collection of felted wool slippers handmade by fair trade artisan cooperatives in Mongolia. Using traditional felting skills, artists create eco-friendly Satch & Sol slippers using 100% seamless felted wool, soft suede soles and hand-stitched detail.

The original collection (Fall 2008) includes children’s felted wool slippers, size US 3 infant to 3 youth (EU 18-34), in refreshingly unique and colorful styles, such as ladybugs, puppies, flower petal cuts and moccasins. New adult sizes range upward to US women’s size 11½ (EU 42).

“Mothers of children wearing Satch & Sol slippers contacted us asking for their sizes,“ says Susan Bell, founder of Satch & Sol. “We worked with the Mongolian artists to create a line of felted wool slippers for adults.”

Adult size slippers have an MSRP of $42 - $60. Children’s slippers have an MSRP of $36 - $40. Wholesale information is available upon request. Each pair of slippers ships with an eco-friendly hangtag, attached with repurposed button and thread, stating the fair trade origin of the slippers.

About Satch & Sol

For the love of family and earth, Satch & Sol partners with fair trade artisan cooperatives worldwide to offer a handmade collection. Satch & Sol strives to be eco-friendly through product selection and business practices.

Mom-owned and operated in Seattle, Satch & Sol began business in 2008 with a focus on the family. In addition to slippers, Satch & Sol offers hand knit sweaters, felted wool mittens and hats and a variety of other items handmade by fair trade artisan cooperatives.

Satch & Sol aligns with artisan cooperatives that share their love for fair trade, earth-friendly products and handmade loveliness. Fair trade prohibits child labor and enables adults to live and work in their hometowns, strengthening their families and communities. Following 70+ years of Soviet rule, Mongolian artist entrepreneurs set forth to create their own businesses. Today, Satch & Sol works with artist cooperatives in Mongolia to design and create the Satch & Sol line. In a historically nomadic culture, Mongolian farmers and artists practicing traditional crafts naturally focus on the ethical treatment of animals, natural materials and waste minimization.

Satch & Sol continually works to reduce their environmental footprint and support their local community. The company currently uses only repurposed shipping materials. When shoeboxes are required, Satch & Sol provides recyclable shoeboxes made with 100% recycled materials, including high PCW content. Satch & Sol donates a portion of company profits through monetary and in-kind product donations to local education and family-focused organizations.


CONTACT:
Susan Bell
Satch & Sol LLC
206-232-0999
susan@satchsol.com
www.satchsol.com

more adult size slippers are here!

New slippers for grown-ups are in Seattle. I will add them to the online boutique Wednesday afternoon. Please watch for woolly grey hitch, more raspberry moccasin sizes, missy pinks, and sunshine flowers - all for grown-ups!

a personal indoor garden

I made these slippers recently for a friend's birthday. She deserves a great pair of warm cozy wool garden slippers to combat the damp cold of London. I know because Seattle's climate is not much different. Happy Big Birthday Whitney!

Does anyone else want a pair? I enjoy special orders. I love adding designs, especially gardens, to the beautiful grown-up slippers handmade in Mongolia. I always seem to sell the adult sized slippers with embellishments before I get a chance to put any in the online boutique. If you would like me to try a pair for you, please contact me at handmade@satchsol.com

More adult size slippers arrived today!

Hooray! Tuesday afternoon, I will add the following to the online boutique:

- roses, flower cut, green with red
- sunflowers, flower cut brown with yellow
- green hitch

All of the above will be available in sizes 4 youth (5.5 womens) - 10 youth (11.5 womens)

I will take photos and have them up as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience and thank you for your inquiries. It's great to hear that so many children are enjoying the slippers and that many grown-ups look forward to trying them, too.

a beautifully busy first season

Where did November go? Many times, I thought about doing a blog entry, but here we are in December. The lovely blog posts by Amanda Soule and Amy Karol in late October spread the word to many wonderful people seeking slippers. So a busy business schedule last month, combined with 11 days of house guests (very gracious house guests!), Thanksgiving, my 40th birthday and, of course, 2 small boys who had a lot of non-preschool days, made for a completely full schedule. December shall bring more busy fun:

December Sample Sale fundraiser events:
- Brightwater Waldorf School Sugar Plum Faire, 11am-3pm, Saturday December 6
- Whidbey Island Waldorf School Faire, Saturday December 6 (No, I won't be in two places. At this faire, the parent-volunteers run 'the store'
- Seattle Waldorf School Winter Faire, 10am-3pm, Sunday December 7
- Hutch Winter Craft Sale, Friday December 5 (employees only, I think)

Satch & Sol short-list of BIG projects:
- Grown-up size slippers are enroute from Mongolia. Please sign up for the newsletter to receive notice when they arrive.
- New testing requirements for all child products sold in the USA. I have a plan in place and will have this new mandatory testing done for all products made after November 12, 2008, as required. As a mom, I am happy to see this new law take effect, eventhough it is so burdensome on small businesses. I would love to connect with other small businesses to see if we could streamline our efforts in this rollercoaster process. Thankfully, the testing timing will coincide with Satch & Sol's new styles to be online in late January.
- Grown-up boots. Styles and sizes to test will arrive soon. My boot wardrobe is about to greatly expand and I'll need some test help for sizes 9, 10 and 11 womens.
- Pajamas! I am looking for fair trade artisans worldwide who make PJs from natural fibers. I would love to have several styles from multiple locations.

This photo of my two favorite superheros was taken in late September along Green Lake. It has nothing to do with this rambling blog post, but I love it!

Satch & Sol has been TreeHugged

All the way from Barcelona, Jenna Watson wrote about Satch & Sol on TreeHugger. I am ecstatic to see Satch & Sol and the Mongolian artists' work (those super cute aqua mocs!) appear on such an amazing site. My sister-in-law shared TreeHugger with me awhile ago. Their site is a great resource for me as I actively look for ways to green my family and my business. I appreciate their ideas for greening our Halloween. It's a great honor for Satch & Sol to be mentioned on such an trusted and eco-friendly site.