Holiday Wishes

From, Opulent Favors & Gifts

Important Information Please Read & Sign

I received this heartfelt letter from one of my distributors and just had to pass this along.  Please select the link at the bottom of the email to sign the petition.

What are your thoughts?

Effective February 10^th, all products designed for children – from toys and clothing to blankets, highchairs, carseats, bowls and cups, bedding, cribs and on and on – must be tested, in an EXTREMELY expensive and redundant manner, before being considered safe for sale. And because the law requires that every "batch" of products made be retested, even if each batch uses the exact same raw materials as in previously tested batches, this will be impossible for small businesses like Twinkling Tees. Our products are individually handmade to order and are not created in "batches" - and even if they were, we simply would not be able to afford to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars to have every design in every size and every color tested, over and over and over again.

In addition, there is the issue of Swarovski crystals themselves. Because these are lead crystal (just like your favorite Waterford wine glasses, etc.) they will clearly not be within the allowed lead limits. BUT! What is important to note is that these crystals contain lead oxide, NOT the metallic lead that this law aims to remove, and that this lead oxide is wholly contained within crystal - and the molecular structure of crystal is such that the body is simply unable to break it down, and because of this, it is impossible for any lead to leach out of these crystals and into a child's body.

In other words - a child could swallow 1,000 Swarovski crystals whole (disclaimer - this is, of course, not recommended! Don't try this at home!) and 1,000 Swarovski crystals would pass through the system and emerge whole. Sparkly diapers, certainly - but no lead in the body. Some large apparel manufacturing lobby groups are requesting that crystals be considered exempt from the lead limit requirements for this reason, but if this request is not approved, crystal-embellished tees in children's sizes will simply not be legal for sale in the United States.

A cotton tee shirt embellished with genuine Swarovski crystals is simply NOT an item that should be banned as a "hazardous substance", something so dangerous to our children's safety that it is illegal to sell. Just the thought of it sounds absurd, does it not? And yet... as of February 10, that's exactly what they will be.

Obviously, from a personal standpoint, this is simply devastating. My heart and soul has gone into this business. I'm just a mom, like so many of you, who loves to create beautiful tees for little girls to sparkle and shine in. I work until 3 AM many nights, only to wake up four hours later to get my kindergartener and preschooler ready for school, and I truly love every minute of it (well, okay... maybe not the minute that the alarm clock rings...) because Twinkling Tees is my dream - the business that I've created from the ground up, on my own, and devoted the past year and a half of my life to building and building and building. And while, yes - I will still be able to carry adult size tees, the backbone of this business by far is baby, toddler, and girls' size tees.

 To quote the Fashion Incubator blog:

"Since most of the products intended for February delivery are either already made and on the way here or are in the process of being made and few to none of the inputs were tested beforeheand, all of these items will end up in bonded warehouses or landfills because it is illegal to sell them even as seconds. Products made domestically are not immune, they're in the same boat. A factor is not going to break the law and make an illegal contract so a retailer can buy illegal goods. The end result is there will be a whole lot less product on store shelves. Since there won't be much to pick from and costs are higher, consumers can expect to pay much higher prices. Prices will be rock bottom on February 9th, but overnight, prices will dramatically increase. The anticipated losses go into the hundreds of millions of dollars. This is not an exaggeration. According to 2002 U.S. Census Data (the last year for which data is available) just considering small U.S. clothing manufacturers, their contribution to the economy is over 900 million dollars annually. Small manufacturers with fewer than 20 employees comprise 68% of total apparel manufacturing in the U.S.. This of course does not include the untold numbers of stores that will go out of business too."

So... what now?

First, we can let our voices be heard. And heard and heard and heard! Take a moment to visit this link - simply enter your name and address, and a prewritten letter will be emailed to your members of Congress letting them know that changes need to be made so that we can keep America's children safe without destroying American businesses. You don't even need to know who your Congresspeople are - it will automatically be sent to the appropriate senators and representatives based on your address. Share this link with anyone you know who has children or shops for children's products! Let them know that this effects THEM - experts have estimated that the cost of goods from whatever companies are able to survive the cost of this repetitive testing will increase by 50%. Is that in their family's budget?

 

Second, I am deeply saddened to announce that I will be unable to accept any orders in children's sizes after January 30th, to allow time for all orders to ship by the 9th of February. I will not be replenishing my stock of kids' size tees at this time; if I do not have the shirt(s) in stock to complete your order, I will contact you with alternative color choices if available, or cancel your order and refund your payment.

I fear that so many of you, as retailers, will be affected by this - if the small businesses providing your inventory go under, or if the cost of purchasing your inventory from whatever businesses manage to survive becomes too high to allow you to remain profitable. We are truly in this together... let's not allow ourselves to disappear without a fight.

 

Holding out hope for change, 

Fabulous Freebie!

In honor of our 25 days of {Fabulous Freebies Series} on Twitter! I am happy to announce that Opulent Favors will be giving away 2 great items that can be great gift ideas or for yourself!! There will be 2 opportunities to win!

Enter to win these great freebies by simply placing a comment to tell us which freebie you would love & what you would do with the great freebie!! The winner will drawn at random & announced on Monday December 15, 2008 & will be contacted via email.

Business card case set: Case is engravable up to 20 characters(including spaces per line)

6 oz. Genuine Pink Leather Flask Gift Set {Engravable 12 characters per line}

Good Luck!!!