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The Tip is 'Ask Before You Buy' I went to a department store for a pair of dress shoes recently. The clerk helped me with three different pairs that I tried on. 'The Big Secret' was on the forefront of my mind so I asked, "Are these shoes imports?" The salesman responded that they were in fact imported. "Do you have any Made In America shoes like these?" I asked. To my surprise he said, "We have a whole line of Made In USA shoes." I was able to purchase the same color and style with the Made In USA label. These Made in America shoes were less expensive, came with a better warranty and were more comfortable. It's amazing how often this simple Made in US question yields unexpected and often times pleasant results. I now ask this question regularly, whereas before I would not have thought to ask for a Made in America alternative. More often than not, I can find a Made in America product of higher quality and at the same, or slightly higher price. Asking the question is so simple and can make a positive impact, in both the short and long term. Try it sometime. If you are like me, you may be surprised with how many Made in US products are out there. You will love it when you realize you are making a difference that benefits many. With your help America will be ours again and that is a good thing. Buying Tip Continued - Read more on Made in America Products by Andreas Beau Andrea has her family to thank for her love of design. Her grandfather (a dress manufacturer), her grandmother (a department store millinery buyer), her father (owner of women's boutiques), and her mother (a former fashion model and noted artist), exposed her to the shoptalk of aesthetics, color and textile trends, fashion houses, and factories. Fairytale princesses in fanciful gossamer gowns, crowns and satin slippers inspired Andrea's first designs. Her mother further encouraged her to appreciate beauty in simple, everyday objects like a vase of daisies, a ballerina's costume, a birthday cake. Later, during her own extensive world travels, she observed marvelous hair decorations on women and girls which, she believes, reflects the universal feminine pleasure in making oneself pretty. Before the brand was conceived, these early influences helped create Andrea's own design aesthetic: adornments, be they garments or hair accessories, should complement but never overshadow one's innate beauty. One day, Andrea walked into a dusty old shop in New York's Garment District. She spotted a rumpled but exquisite roll of French floral ribbon on a shelf. As a new mother to a beautiful, if not virtually bald baby girl, she knew just what to do. She made her first bow out of that ribbon, and as if it were destiny, Andrea's Beau was born. What began as a lark quickly transformed into an all-out hair accessory obsession. Within months, Andrea had designed a girls' collection of handmade casual and special occasion headbands, hair clips, flower girl baskets, ring bearer pillows, dressy gloves, tiaras, and First Communion veils created from refreshingly un-repetitive trims, ribbons and silk flowers unseen in the children's market. Soon after, her women's collection of casual and formal headbands and hairclips materialized as well, which she carted, stored in a hatbox, to buying offices along the east coast. Often without appointments, she learned simply to open the box and let the products sell themselves. Rapidly, they did just that. Over the years, her designs have appeared in Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, and Anthropologie as well as hundreds of small boutiques and online catalogs around the world. Marc-and-Andrea-sitting-in-a-tree.jpg From her Washington, DC studio, with the help of a wonderful staff and inspiration from Marc, Andrea's original beau, she continues to create subtle, elegant and exceptionally well-made hair accessories to delight women and girls, and those who behold them. |
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