CPSIA Strikes Again

Thank you for all the emails, well wishes, tweets and comments! I'm going to miss receiving photos like this one. Over the last week I have been finishing up all the paper work, the accounting, filing, cleaning, counting inventory and trying to figure out what to do with all the supplies that I used to run my clothing line. I have so much stuff left! There is all that custom tissue paper, pillow boxes, bags, marketing materials, graphics, stickers, equipment, tons of stuff. I'm still here trying to make decisions about where it should go and the best use of it. I'm not just throwing it in the trash. It's incredibly emotional as well. Any member of the CPSIA wreckage understands where I am coming from. It's one thing when you understand why your business didn't succeed and you have to make the decision to close your doors. It's another when the decisions are beyond your control. When you have a committee that gets to decide how you conduct your business on their time scale not yours. They have extended the stay 3 times now. The committee has effected the entire supply chain for all children's products. I'm not arguing that it's not a good thing. I'm simply stating that the smaller company you have the harder it is to hang in there and make it work. It can be done it's just going to take more money. As I've stopped taking orders and began trying to reorganize my life I'm already starting to go a little crazy. What I was doing was a fantastic distraction from the every day grind of laundry, dishes and diapers. I personally have always felt I could do something more. Thank goodness for blogging! At least I still have this platform as a creative outlet.

But you know what? No matter what I did it. I took an idea and brought it to children. I created the line, the graphics, the marketing materials, the website, blog, trademarks, copyrights and everything in between. For nearly four years I have spent every day learning something new. The clothing line even made it in a printed book Made Here, Baby!  My journey has led me to meet hundreds of people: bloggers, designers, customers, engineers, accountants, photographers, screen printers, manufacturers, fellow entrepreneurs and the list goes on and on. I'm really proud of what I put out into the world.

I've been watching CPSIA alerts for years now. I'm thankful to the Handmade Toy Alliance CPSIA blog for posting this video of Phebe Phillips. Watching it has helped me understand that change is coming. Closing this chapter doesn't mean I won't take everything that I have learned with me. That makes it all slightly easier.






Phebe Phillips Commencement Address from Taylor Davis on Vimeo.

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