In the last few years, we have continued to lose best-selling panty styles.  First the cheeky Eat Organic bikini creators moved on to other ventures.  Then the whole line of PantyBoo bamboo underwear was discontinued.  Perfectly Imperfect, with their adorable lace-trimmed organic cotton panties and cross-your-heart thongs, went out of business.  Ecoland got mired in manufacturing issues and has not re-made their very popular hipster 2-pack in over a year.  The Love Nature Alba Bikini gave way to the more expensive ribbed version.  And finally, we’ve just lost our bgreen account.

After we’d been a wholesale client with bgreen for about 4 years, they decided to start selling retail.  Sadly, a few years on and they’ve now decided they can earn more money and better control pricing along with how their brand is portrayed by ONLY selling retail.  And alas, we can no longer restock any of their products including our #1 bestselling item in the entire store for the last 3 years running – the organic cotton Classic Bikini. 

As a quick side note, I have a lot of respect for bgreen.  They’re a vertically-integrated, eco-manufacturer working entirely in the USA and that’s really commendable.  However, one of the reasons they have a solid brand that they are concerned about maintaining a good reputation for, is that small businesses like mine have been selling and promoting their products and brand for many years.  So being cut out as it were, is very disheartening.

Over the course of the last 7 years, we’ve brought in a whopping 105 different styles of women’s panties. 37 are already permanently gone and 27 of the ones we’re still offering cannot be restocked.  And while my Things To Do List is already quite full, I’ve decided to make designing and launching our own organic panty line a priority.  I’m looking into branding it with a different name, (because I don’t think when we get to men’s underwear many of them will want to wear boxers labeled “Faerie’s Dance”… 🙂 and am hoping to launch the first couple of styles before the holidays if everything goes smoothly.

It will likely take more than a little while to bring in all the styles, fabrics and designs I’ve got in mind.  But the patterns and specs for the first two panties are complete and fabric samples are now rolling in. Thank you all for your continued patronage.  I hope you’ll love the new panties and look forward to getting started on this new venture.

We’re thrilled to announce a new line of organic cotton underwear purposely designed to help folks with chemical sensitivities and skin contact allergies.  We have 7 products in this new line (2 for men) and we’re giving away a few items for our customers to try out and review! 

Give-a-way 1 – The Allergen-Free Drawstring Bra

This bra is not only latex-free and spandex-free, but it actually contains no elastic whatsoever, using a drawstring design instead to hold it closed.  Sizes are marked 34B, 36B, 38B, 38C, 40C, 42C and 40DD, though the manufacturer claims they run a little on the small side.  We’ll work with you to pick the right size and then hopefully you can provide some feedback on the fit.

Give-a-way 2: The Allergen-Free Front Close Bra

This bra is does contain a small amount of elastic at the straps and under the bust.  However, the elastic is fully covered in organic cotton and contains no latex or spandex.  Sizes again run from 34B – 40DD.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this blog post including an e-mail address or phone number or some way to get in touch with you. (Note, if we can’t figure out how to tell you that you’ve won, we’ll have to pick someone else.) Contest ends Monday, April 25, 2011. Drawing will be held on Tuesday with the winner announced in the comments section.

There will be 2 winners – 1 for each bra. If you only want to be consider for one of the bras, please let us know. Otherwise, everyone gets in the draw for both picks.

Allergen Free Design Features:

• Latex free and spandex free for sensitive skin
• Bra #1 is also completely elastic free
• Bra #2 has hypo-allergenic plastic front closures for easy wear
• Purified organic cotton process
• Double-layered cotton lining
• Covered Seams prevent rubbing and agitation
• Irritation-Free label for sensitive skin
• Textile Dye-free & Resin-free for sensitive skin

Please, please pass this contest info along to anyone you know who might have skin contact allergies.  We’re excited to get feedback both from women who just want to try them for fit and also from anyone who really needs the extra attention to what goes into their clothing.

We’re pleased to announce our newest vendor, Smart Glass Jewelry.  Smart Glass offers classic and contemporary jewelry pieces made from cut and polished glass rings from drinking bottles.  The artist, Kathleen Plate, individually hand makes each piece right here in the US.  She uses bottles from Champagne, wine, beer, vodka, sake and even Coke©.  The pieces are all unique as there are slight variations from bottle to bottle and cut to cut.

You’ll find 7 distinctive designs in the Jewelry Section at FaeriesDance.com.  Our list prices are between 15% – 20% off MSRP, so you can try these wonderful pieces at a discount.

We’re kicking off this new line by giving away a Recycled Bottle Circle Necklace in Cobalt, which the manufacturer graciously sponsored.  The give-a-way necklace has the same circle design shown in the top photo, but is hanging on their thinner, single-attachment sterling silver chain (like the picture to the right).

TO ENTER: Leave on comment on this blog post by midnight March 31, 2010. You must include an e-mail address or phone number so we can contact you.  Drawing will be held Friday, April 2.

A while back I had heard that there was a new process of making fabric from spent coffee grinds.  The fabric was purportedly mixed with recycled PET to make “coffee polyester”.  I was so excited by this idea (being a coffee addict lover myself), that I’ve been on the lookout for coffee clothing ever since.

At the Go Green Expo, I finally found coffee nirvana.  I saw shirts made from 100% coffee polyester that honestly didn’t feel all that good, but were adorably cute with coffee beans printed on them, and nice fashion pieces that were 60% coffee polyester, 40% tencel that actually looked and felt good.  The prices were reasonable and I was all set to go!

I sat down with the manufacturer to talk process.  Exactly how is coffee polyester created (and why do the t-shirts feel like 1970’s polyester suits)?  It turns out that recycled PET is combined with… here it comes… 2% coffee grinds and then respun into yarn.  So “coffee polyester” is actually 98% polyester with a sprinkle of coffee.  I was looking for a double espresso and instead got a Grande latte with 1/2 shot.  So those nice 60% coffee polyester, 40% tencel shirts actually contained just 1.2% coffee.

The process is fairly clean and dyed with low-impact dyes.  Since all the polyester is recycled it’s not a bad choice environmentally.  But would anyone actually want one?  What’s your opinion?  Is a little coffee better than no coffee?  Please leave a comment or answer our poll on the top right sidebar to share your opinion.