The Little Hat Company loves the Miranda Collection!

So gone are the days of making sure the toy store is covered and all the shifts are full and hello to the craft show circuit - Thank you Cathie McCoomb. "Goonies Never Die" they just change directions. One of our favorite things about doing Craft Shows in New England is seeing our new friends from The Miranda Collection, Kristen, Jon and Kristen's sister Cheri.

Kristen creates the most fabulous jewerly and has a spirit like no other. We found ourselves setting up next to them at the Wells, Maine show and then after talking for a while realized Kristen went to school with my husband, Steve.

They fell in love with our hats and we fell in love with their jewerly! I am very lucky to have gotten her last star fish pendant which I haven't stopped wearing since I purchased it from them. Sue P fell in love with a bracelet that she still has her eye on.
http://www.themirandacollection.com
http://www.thelittlehatcompany.com

Summer Tradition Arts & Crafts Festival - Wolfeboro New Hampshire

Sue and I just got home from our first day at The Summer Tradition Arts & Crafts Festival on the campus of Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, Maine.

The campus was beautiful, right on lake Winnipesaukee. We set up the booth under the main canopee. A lot of moms bought matching Beachcomber lids with their little ones - Very Cute!! http://www.thelittlehatcompany.com/Beachcomber_p/beachcomberkids001.htm

Sewing, Sewing, Gone......

Our great friend who just happened to be the fastest stitcher in the history of The Little Hat Company has moved on to greener pastures. Amy and her family has the amazing opportunitiy to move close to family and bring their three boys up on Nantucket Island in Massachussets. Amy is one of those breaths of fresh air that you come across in life and you thank God for meeting them.

She is strong, brilliant, creative, super hilarious, and takes no merd from anyone. She poured her heart and soul into Little Hat Company to help it get off the ground and we will forever be thankful for her time and energy. I had to laugh when she facebooked me and asked if we had any beachcomber's hanging around...she wanted to promoted The Little Hat Company on Nantucket from the beach and once she and Bill got settled in with the kids.

We miss her already. Most of all it is Amy's courage to face adversity and any obstacle in life with vigor and determination to get through it. Last year when training for the Pumpkinman Triathlon in South Berwick she had a horrible spill on her bike - broken bones - the works. Amy perservered with three young boys to not let it get the best of her. She is my idol and inspiration. I will think about Amy daily and since she happens to be moving to my favorite spot on this planet I will be stopping by now and then to stay in touch with her.

I'm so excited for the Manchester family and know that there life will be filled with happiness, love, and excitement. The Little Hat Company knew Amy for her sewing, sewing, sewing and will be sad that her and her machine are gone. I will miss Amy for her relentless energy and gumption to tackle everything in life head on.

Ode to Debbie Knowlton - Seamstress/Designer Extraordinaire

There is one chapter of The Little Hat Company story that has yet to be hit upon in our original "storylog", it is the story of Debbie Knowlton and how she came to be a little hatter as Cathie McCoomb affectionately has named us all. Apparently when Sue and I had first opened the store on Lower Main street in South Berwick, Deb had her eyes on us. Little did we know.

I remember Allison coming into the store and introducing herself and showing me her beautiful key rings - which I loved and we sold out of, had to take orders....Allison also made me write down a name of someone local who loved to sew and I should meet. At that time I pretty much dismissed it because I couldn't even think of how I would make payroll to bring someone in from the outside to make hats for us. Well as Deb tells the story she stalked us with phone calls for about six months - I must have been in a zombie state of mind because I have no memory of the phone calls or the stalking as Deb refers to it.

Deb came on board under another local stitcher and the rest is history. Since then she has designed countless hats for all ages and is still sewing for us and now part owner while we rebuild and restrategize the direction of the company. We were hit pretty hard by the economy and almost lost the ship but the group of us remaining standing have refused to give up and even without pay are making it all happen again - this time on the Internet as being our main focus. We have also begun doing juried craft shows to pay down the debt and who would have thought that it would be working? NEVER give up when what you do makes you laugh, you don't get nauseau thinking about doing it, you working with people you care about, and most importantly you have a product that people are have sought out - making that extra effort to find what you produce.

Deb Knowlton is an amazing asset to the company and another piece that makes us complete. She knows what she is doing and has such a high level of respect for her craft that it makes our hats all the better. She is known for answering her door in her fuzzy pants (if she's sewing) aren't we all?

I have never had so much fun and felt as proud about what I am doing as I do now with The Little Hat Company and the amazing team working together to build an empire...an empire of hats. How ridiculous does that sound until you stop and think that LL Bean did it with a boot, Ben & Jerry's did it with a dish of ice cream, Breathe Right did it with a nasal strip (band aid for the outside of your nose, and Stonewall did it with a jar of jam. The Little Hat Company is doing it with a hat...say that three times fast and please forgive the late night blogging dialects.

Here's who we are in a nutshell - The Little Hat Company determined to build a National Brand

Little Hat...Big World Blog follows the growth of a cottage industry business run by stay at home Moms who are determined to build a national brand while creating a micro economy in their hometown. They have shipped to five continents, North Pole Alaska, met folks of the Today Show, appeared in the print version of Yankee Magazine, won awards for their website on Volusion but yet to receive onslaught of traffic...it's almost comical. Everything is in place - the people that come to the site buy hats but there are under ten visitors a day. Go Figure - they are the underdogs who refuse to give up and are determined to build a National Brand before their last children reach college. It's a hoot! Also check out their original storylog.

Good Girl Graphics and Melange Design Studio - Pepperlands in South Berwick, Maine

We had a fabulous wrap up, celebration, now let's keep moving forward meeting at our favorite place to do business in South Berwick, Maine - Pepperlands. I would say it is the town's best watering hole except that would be not doing it justice. Pepperlands has local flavor, supreme food preparation, and with a hint from Kendra amazing and unexpected food combinations.

Hanna, Megan, Sue, and I met there once again tonight to keep the web and business moving in the right direction. One of our comments or thoughts we had thinking back over the last three years was Libby's positions during the photo shoots for the company of which she is the logo. In the first group photo on Ogunquit Beach done by Donnie Kelley, Libby is the only one not cooperating. All of the kids are smiling, happy, looking into the camera lens and Libby is crawling away exiting stage right trying to get away from the photo. We all started giggling when we realized that in this years shoot with Jill Brady at New Castle Commons - three years later, Libby is the only one not looking at the camera and of course not wearing one of our popular children's sun hats. How funny! or maybe not so...

It reminds me of the Beatle Album where (weird analogy I know) the Beatles are walking across the road in different costumes some not wearing shoes and acting like its perfectly normal. Lib has almost made up her mind that she is going to act perfectly normal at all photo shoots and give you a glimpse of her inner strength to not always go with the flow and do what the group is doing. Let's hope she puts a hat on though for the next shoot.

Sue and I feel so fortunate to be working with Hanna and Megan and we have to do a huge shout out to Abby of Abby Chic florist. It was her insistance that we work with Hanna in the first place even though I was hesitant. It was one of the best things we did! Wait till you see what she is doing for our tradeshow booth. The woman is amazing!! and knows her graphics. She is also realistic in working with clients on their true life limitations but never believes you shouldn't look or act big, even if you are a "little" company. We know that we have created some of the very best baby, children, and adult sun hats and Hanna of Good Girl Graphics is going to help us every step of the way in building our national brand. EXCITING!! more exciting that it is happening in our hometown of South Berwick, Maine.

From Children's Sun Hats to now including Adult Sun Hats - The Little Hat Company was featured in Hat Life

THE LITTLE HAT COMPANY GETS THEIR HATS IN THE DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS GIFT BAG
The Little Hat Company owner Jen Houghton
The Cog Hat (above) was featured on NBC’s Today Show. It was in gift bags given to Daytime Emmy Awards nominees in NYC.
We want to honor a small hat company for their tenacity and drive to stay in the forefront of fashion. South Berwick, Maine hatter Jen Houghton, whose company is called The Little Hat Company, has been making news for getting her Cog Hat in the Daytime Emmy Awards gift bag (and on the Today Show).
The reason this was so bittersweet is that Houghton’s store was nearly forced out of business earlier this year because of a federal lead testing law for children’s hats.
The Little Hat Company made 160 "Cog" hats (short for incognito). The reason the hats were called “cog” is because their purpose is to allow celebrities to hide under their hat.
The gift bags were featured on Thursday's "Today" show on NBC, and one of the items hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb picked out was the Cog hat.
”The Little Hat Company’s dream is to become a national hat brand for children and adults. There's no better way to achieve that than by having celebrities use her product. We produce every hat in South Berwick, Maine and are proud to offer our hats at a price that everyone can afford,” said Houghton.
Houghton was going to make children's hats for the gift bags, but made adult hats instead because of a federal law requiring lead testing of all children's products. After an outcry from small business owners like Houghton, who said they couldn't afford the expensive testing costs, the Consumer Product Safety Commission delayed enforcing the law by a year.
The company’s original saying was “Put A Lid on Your Kid” because they only made hats for babies up to age three. Demand grew quickly for older sizes and adults started wearing their big kid sizes, said Houghton.
They also made fleece hats for the commissioning of The USSNH submarine in Portsmouth NH. “The commander saw the lids for kids and asked us to make adult ones for his grown children.”
Then they were hit with the CPSIA. “We were unable to afford the third party lead -phthalate testing for our children’s hats. It would cost $2000 to $3000 for each batch of hats – no economy of scale for a small start up. I am going to Capitol Hill June 2nd and 3rd to speak on behalf of small retailers and manufacturers.”
To contact The Little Hat Company:Email: friendlyperson@thelittlehatcompany.com 10 Portland Street South Berwick, Maine 03908Phone: (207) 384 - 0080

Pumpkins sprout up early at The Wells Craft Show in Wells Maine

Libby and Anna came to Wells, Maine to check out The Wells Craft Show this past Sunday.

Wells Craft Show, Wells Maine - Adult Beach Hats fly out the tent

The Little Hat Company started with the need for a beach hat for my little one and now during the past three years its been with the thought that if kids are outside for any length of time "Put a Lid on Your Kid". Then our next summer lid for kids was a bucket lid for older kids who were trying to squeeze on a hat made for a three year old. Deb created our most recent summer lid last summer, the beachcomber lid. Then the strangest thing happened. Adults were screaming for us to make them some in the same vibrant fabrics we use for the kids. Who would have thunk it? Don't know but we are running with it. Apparently not fast enough. Within the first two hours of the Wells Craft Show, our adult beachcombers sold out! Deb who is our top sticher/designer is having a HUGE and I repeat HUGE Knowlton family reunion at her house this weekend so we will go back with the promise that our Adult Beachcombers are available online - The Best Adult Beach Hat made in South Berwick, Maine We are biased and as far as I know right now we have the market cornered in South Berwick on baby, toddler, tots, little kids, big kids, and adult winter and summer hats. Did I tell you that in less than a month we have shipped to six states alone. It is all very exciting watching this little company, powered by moms and very cool women start to build up momentum. THANK YOU for all of your continued support and thank you for buying your hats online.

Our Little Logo Learns to use potty and ride a pony in the same month!

So Libby, our original logo and the reason for the season of The Little Hat Company has a way of doing things on her schedule. She walked at 18 months, she said her first sentence very late, and at 3 1/2 years she is finally using her little potty (often not always). At first I thought she might be a late developer but then my doctor said,"Jen, look at her, the light is on." She is very smart, aware, and has a will power equal to mine at age 30.

This is our week of potty training in a nutshell - undies, then loads of accidents. Undies - then Libs runs upstairs and puts her own pull up on. Undies - then Libs changes again into pullups, Undies - she pees on the potty then on the couch. Can I tell you the shape of my couch cushings after so many washings in one week?

Our moment of brilliance is inventing yet another fairy -The Pullup Fairy, who will visit this evening with a pullup for night time and a small treat if Libs used the potty chair during the day. I know what you are thinking and believe me I'm right there with you. My first two children Aaron and Anna were quick and eager to reach milestones. Libs ignores that they exists and suddenly one day on her time she instantly embraces them like a Master.

Did I tell you that at just about three years old she decided that she wasn't going to wear summer hats anymore? That is why she is so blonde. Please don't share that tidbit, but know that she still loves our kozy kaps and loope lids when it starts to get chilly out.

"We are the little hatters"

Remember when you were little and when you colored you always went in for the same crayon - if you couldn't find it at first you would search your box or tin feverishly until you cam up with it? Mine would often become a little nub very quickly and I still always wanted that crayon. I think that in this crazy, chaotic, scheme we call life there is comfort in having things and people that just seem to fit surround us.

The Little Hatters of The Little Hat Company have become my favorite crayon. Oh I'm sure some might say I need therapy but what is wrong with surrounding yourself with the perfect colors to color your life? I have never laughed so hard in my life or cried in the company of people as much as I do now. Living is messy and living is simple.

The greatest gift is that these new lessons of friendship and trust are spilling over into my family life and teaching me the importance of balance and trust.