Season's Greetings!

We want to wish you a magical holiday, sprinkled with good fortune and happiness! It has been a wonderful year, we are blessed to have such great friends and retailers.

The Chinese New Year of the cow/ox begins January 26 - if you want to read your 2009 fortune click here: http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/

Cheers! Mary, Justin, Jack (5) and Teddy (1)

Mooncakes founder & support staff :)

Factory visit - the baby garment process!

We had the joy of visiting our factory in early November, it's located 2 hours north of Hong Kong in Shenzhen, China. I want to share the manufacturing process of a baby outfit, so many steps!

1. Make designs here in Florida, send samples back and forth (can take up to 6-12 months to get it right), samples are approved.

2. The patterns are created on a computer, the fabric is ordered - either dyed or screen printed (takes 30-60 days for this part). When fabric arrives it's checked with a flat roll machine, any problem parts are removed.

3. The fabric goes to the cutting room with hand cutting machines (see picture on near right), with patterns the fabric is cut for an outfit: the body, then legs, arms, etc... here the men do the cutting.

4. After the cutting room the fabric pieces get embroidered or appliqued one by one, then move to the sewing room and all the pieces are sewn together by hand. Care labels and woven labels are sewn on last. The women do most of the sewing: ages 25-50.

5. After sewing, garments are inspected by a few women to cut off extra strings, and checked again.

6. Then the garments move to the pressing room (they get wrinkled in the sewing stage), here the men do the pressing with irons.

7. After the garments are pressed they are inspected once again for a final quality control sign off - and folded so neatly, hangtags are attached, and put in clear polybags (see picture on top).

8. The garments are organized by style and size; and packed in cartons.

9. A driver takes the many cartons to the big Hong Kong port, where the cartons go to a freight forwarding warehouse and get placed in a container on a huge ship - and 30 days later arrive in Miami ready for our US customs broker to clear the shipment. It's truly an amazing process (and stressful at times getting all the puzzle pieces to match up).

We have the good fortune of a reliable factory and wonderful people to do business with!

Strings - bibs, sacs, drawstrings, bumbers beware!

As a baby clothing manufacturer I cringe to see bibs and baby gowns/sacs with tie strings in a store, or other items babies wear with STRINGS or TIES! Like drawstring hoods and pants - absolutely not safe for infants to age 12 per CPSC see here: http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/208.pdf. Also, when buying product for your store make sure the cute "embellishments" can't come off and become a choking hazard.

Bumpers for the crib - these are stylish and make the crib look comfy, but your pumpkin can shift position in the night and get too close to these soft hazards! It's just not worth it. The only item that should go in the crib is the baby, until at least 1 years old.

Please visit U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website (http://www.cpsc.gov/) for recalls and safety news, check it often! It's a great resource.

"Made in China" -- why?

Once in awhile we get negative "Made in China" comments, why not support USA? Here is the answer: We love our factory near Hong Kong, the Chinese people are wonderful (no it's not child labor I've been there). I speak Chinese so I get a first hand account. The Chinese labor laws are in place which has salaries and benefits to protect the workers. Many factory workers also get free room/board, and food. Many come from very rural areas where there are no work opportunities other than farming in the fields, so they travel to urban areas to make a better living and send money home (this is the reason the entire country closes for 2-3 weeks at Chinese New Year - vacation!). We looked at some factories in USA and the sewing and quality was not up to our standards. We went with the best factory, and very nice people. We are happy with being "Made in China" - our next trip to the factory is in early November, I can't wait!

Guest Speaker: Snapdragonsbaby.com!

We are excited to announce our new "Guest Speaker Advice Column!" Mooncakes welcomes our first guest speaker Kimberly from http://www.snapdragonsbaby.com/ a successful online boutique. We asked Kimberly:

How long have you been in business? I have been in business for 5 1/2 years now. It will be 6 this October. I can't believe that it has been that long.

Biggest start-up challenge? At first, the world of retail can be overwhelming. I had no idea what I was doing when I went to my first show to buy clothing. Luckily, I meet a few great reps who helped me learn the ropes. Being on-line only was a challenge at first as I had to prove myself to both the manufacturers reps and the clothing lines that I was a "real" store and that I wasn't intending to sell their lines at a discount on an auction site. The other big challenge is that it takes a while for your website to be listed in the search engines, like google and yahoo. It can take several months before you are really getting good traffic. That can be difficult at first.

Biggest challenge now? The biggest challenge for me now is adapting to the ever changing retail climate. Just because something sells well this season doesn't mean customers will like it next season. You have to anticipate what is going to sell months in advance to help guide your buying. Currenlty, I also have to adapt to very real economic changes which affect the way customers buy clothing. These are my biggest challenges right now.

Best marketing tips? I love google ad-words. This is where I spent the bulk of my advertising money.

Favorite part of business? I love so much of it -- I love the buying, opening the boxes when the new shipments come in, getting new things up on my site, sending out the packages. The biggest part of my business is new babies and I love helping new moms, new grandmas, and friends put together layettes for their new babies. I have always enjoyed children's clothing, so I think I am definitely in the right field!

Least favorite part of business? 99% of my customers are wonderful, awesome people to deal with -- but there are always those occasional ones who just seem to drag you down by their rudeness --that is my least favorite part of the business.

Favorite trade show? I tend to be a homebody in this regard. I only attend my nearest show, in Charlotte NC, which is two hours away. I have yet to visit any of the larger ones. I find that I can get most of my "shopping" done at the local show and then I have several lines which I buy via the web.

Tech suggestions for new websites? Put a lot of effort to the decision of who hosts your on-line store. Make sure that their tech support is accessible to you when you need it and also make sure that they have room for your store to grow. We just changed servers earlier this year -- which is not a fun thing to do. I wish I had asked more questions before going with the first company -- then I would have realize their customer service was lacking and would have gone with someone else!

Kimberly with 3 boys, how to do you keep it all together as a successful momprenuer? I think that having an on-line business is perfect for me -- I absolutely love the flexibility I have. It can be hard at times juggling everything, but knowing that I can be wherever I need to be for my kids makes it all worthwhile. And, I couldn't do what I do without the support of my wonderful husband. He has supported me and believed in me every step of the way and that is priceless.

Advice to new e-tailers and new stores? Try to find something that makes your store different and makes your store special so that customers will seek you out. I think on-line stores have a unique opportunity to really let their personality show in their store -- they don't have to cater to everyone who lives in a certain area -- you really have the world as your customer. I find that I am most successful when I go with brands and items that reflect what I like best. Customers who have similar styles are drawn to my store and then keep coming back.

Final Comments? I really feel blessed to live in a time where I can have an on-line store and be an at-home mom to my kids. I love how the internet has opened up so many possibilities for women who want the flexibility to be home with their children and also to have a career they love. - Thank you Kimberly for sharing your experience and tips! Visit http://www.snapdragonsbaby.com/.

Why are there minimums?

We vendors have minimums for 2 reasons: 1) If the store only orders a few styles, the brand loses impact and does not move as well. Mooncakes, as all brands, merchandises best when it "tells a story" in your shop. 2) We have our own factory minimums, Mooncakes offers excellent quality at friendly price points - however - we have to order ALOT in each run to get this. We can't produce Spring & Fall collections without asking you to help with minimums (per style), very reasonable compared to other lines! Mooncakes has a 90% shipping rate we are proud of. Remember, we have to place the factory order several months before we see a dime from orders on Spring/Fall so it's all a little risky. Thanks for understanding :)

Welcome to the industry! Favorite Resources

If you are opening a new shop or buying an existing brick, congratulations and welcome! As a vendor to many shops we at Mooncakes can offer tidbits ... here are some of our favorite industry resources:

Earnshaw's Magazine (for retailers) - free monthly subsription, a good magazine for retailers! http://www.earnshaws.com/

James Girone Online Guide To The Children's Marketplace- the hot place to surf for new lines, see current industry news, find sales reps, see trade show calendars and reports, and much more. http://www.jamesgirone.com/

TRADE SHOWS: Children's Club show in New York City for apparel as they have the biggest line turnout - over 800 children's brand, held 4 times a year. You will need 2 days to walk the show, http://enkshows.com/childrensclub/ . And if you are a gift shop the New York International Gift show held in January and August is a must, http://www.nyigf.com/.

The Market Centers in Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco and Chicago are the next hot spots for buying Children's apparel and gifts... where you visit showrooms with all brands under the sun. It may save you $$ to travel to nearby showrooms compared to the New York shows (and NYC hotels rates). See http://www.jamesgirone.com/ for many nice little local market shows near you.

SALES REPS: There are many wonderful sales reps, you can call for an appoinment and they will often times visit your store which saves you time. But keep in mind sometimes sales reps are great, and sometimes not so great. If you don't get a call back within a few days call the company direct for information.

BUYERS TIPS! Many lines do not deliver on time - make sure to put "Cancel dates" on all your orders so your shipments come when YOU want. As a new retailer you will often have to pay by credit card until credit is established. Please try to follow through with your orders, cancelled orders hurt manufacturers who work very hard to design and produce great products for you. Try to submit your orders in writing (versus phone orders), this way it's in writing if there are discrepancies in your order received. Also, make sure to write "no backorders" on your order, unless of course you want it regardless of when it is shipped.

STORY: The order you are placing needs to "tell a short story" in your shop, too little of a brand (a few pieces) has no impact and has a reverse effect on merchandising and sales. Think creatively of how the brand can tell a story and make sure you order enough units to do this.

That's it for now... please add your insight! Mary @ Mooncakes baby