Flowing in 2012

I caught up with our Chief Designer and Founder of Pretty Pushers, Mary Apple, to get all the news on Pretty Pushers in this new year.  What I got was a great mix of updates on new ideas and some great videos and links to some of the issues flowing in our favorite Mompreneur’s life. We hope you enjoy and thanks to YOU for making our little company grow!

Sustainable + Business = Can we do this?

After introducing our first wave of screen printed gowns we introduced a lot of new options to our 2011 line of designs. One company we look to for inspiration is Patagonia, who has a great philosophy and story about their move to using organic cotton. If great leadership includes great study first, then we suggest a little time learning with Patagonia’s Yves Chouinard. Here’s an interview on how and why he started using organic cotton in his products.

DIY and Upcycling Trends Flow

We realized that a lot of moms were in the same boat of wanting to make the world a special and beautiful place for their children and their children’s children. Lately we can’t get enough of Upcycling blogs and the great crafts and useful items that we can create together. Getting into this flow is easy, fun and creative and it makes the future seem limitless again.

Small and Incremental Changes Last

For every sweeping change we make there is usually a backlash. Remember that week you were vegan and the next week how you couldn’t stop eating meat? In holistic care and in pregnancy management we all go through lessons of acceptance. Taking those lessons with us into our daily lives changes our focus from results to process and that makes changes more likely to stick. Here are four great tips for making change in your life last.

We All Need a Doula

If doctors serve the emergency, the acute moment of need then doulas signify the preparation, the ushering in of something that isn’t sickness, but a life of its very own. Doulas are specialized, holistic practitioners whose own lives and schedules make ours seem simple Tip: When you start a project think of ways to birth a new stage, a new vision and a new way of living. Whether its finding a way to make family dinners a reality or establishing a new business take your time and believe that your new project is going to be loved and received. Look at all that you’ve accomplished in giving birth! It’s like that. As for the flexibility it takes to make it through life, read this inspiring doula profile.

~PP Blogger

Thankful Pushers


Pretty Pushers has great friends in its employees. Anything that needs to happen in a jiffy in our Tribeca studio usually happens with Rob helping out. As a small business focused on making innovative products we believe in inspiration. As you take to the road this Thanksgiving, maybe alone or with kids and partners together, we hope you give yourself some time to look around at all the beauty we’ve been given on this blue marble and within the borders of this great country. Being thankful we get more out of the real life moments: sunrise with the baby, sunset with mom and dad, the times in between filled with appointments, obligations and ultimately, opportunity. It’s not always easy to feel the gratitude we know we should, but usually it starts with being thankful for all our talents and how they help us face all of our daily challenges.

So, thanks Rob for all your contributions and for sharing some of your recent road trip photos.

Happy Thanksgiving. You’re doing a great job. Thank yourself and keep on going…Take a little time during these busy days to let your spirit wander on the open roads of your heart and allow for inspiration to find you.

Modernizing Our Labor Pains

Labor is as old as time and when we say “Modernize” maybe we mean going so far forward that we could go back, too. Modern means not looking like a sick person in the maternity ward. Modern means allowing mothers to be individuals and to bring as much of their home and personality with them to the sometimes sterile and intimidating hospital setting.

Modern motherhood changes daily: Pick up the baby, don’t pick up the baby. Swaddle, don’t Swaddle. Breastfeed, don’t breastfeed…Breastfeed. Cycles in medicine and in health care change up the way we view these key parts of parenting and when we come to work in the morning we focus on choice, the choices of a mother. We all like choices and all mothers like to be practical, too, so maybe modern is less about finding the perfect solution for each situation but maybe it’s more about giving birthing moms just one more tool to feel empowered, feminine and smart. We can’t answer doula/no doula or C-section/no C-section, but we can answer, will this gown function when I need it to? That’s modern. What do you think?

Green + USA Made

orig label

 

Our mantra has been to do the least harm. Mothers know how important that is. We’re really excited that 2011 saw the expansion of organic cotton gowns and postpartum panties; with spots for ice packs. Be kind to yourself, be kind to your mama. As we follow the demand the costs and the expansion of our going greener we’ll talk a little about what it’s like making it in the USA. There’s a lot to share already! Thanks for joining in.

Going Glamazon

Chloé Jo Davis is one of those mothers who doesn’t lose her sass or her sense when promoting green and vegan lifestyle choices. She opens her review,  ” Tons of products flood GirlieGirl Army headquarters on the daily. Rarely do we say, damn we wish we had thought of that! Pretty Pushers takes hospital gowns and turns them on their scratchy asses with their organic, specially formulated delivery gowns. ” We love the discussion going on in the comments section. What’s the best thing to do with cotton exposed to delivery fluids?  Join Mary Apple and others at GirlieGirl Army. Use the promo code for discounts at babymacgifts. When you buy anything from Pretty Pushers on babymacgifts.com – get 10% off with the code PUSH12.

Mom Made

Story Part 1:

When Pretty Pushers started no on knew it was a mother named Mary Apple, behind the helm of our small business ship. Mary moved from successful bathing suit fashions and into motherhood, creating  Pretty Pushers cotton delivery gowns as a result of new needs in her own life. American made  from the heart of New York City, all of our original gowns and our newest products are made from our love of the  sassy and the practical.

 

We’re really proud of the industry accolades and the approval we get from moms of every age and stage of life. Some use the gowns again, some scrap book a piece to remember the day they wore it and the joy it ultimately ushered into the world. We figure they’re good washed up and cut into strips to tie back the tomatoes.

It’s your labor, own it.

2/10/11

Please send us your photos!  That’s right…we want you in action…whether that means at home, in the hospital between contractions, or even that first photo with your gorgeous new baby, we want you…our customers… to show the world how Pretty Pushers added to your unique birth experience.  It will be posted on our Testimonials page!  Please email photos and your story to

customerservice@prettypushers.com.