Radiant colors, textured textiles, and energetic designs – what exactly goes into the process of creating a woven wrap, though?
Through customer feedback and suggestions and an active social media community, we select designs and prints that appeal to a wide variety of people. We observe and learn about those that are in vogue in the fashion industry, and select fun, fashionable designs that are popular for the customer base. We are looking at what is fun, fresh, and current in clothing and accessories. From the runway and the covers of fashion magazines to the pattern on Grandma’s vintage table setting, we are working to bring prints and patterns that are loved by many into the babywearing world.
Once an idea has been selected, we collaborate with designers and artists to bring each concept together carefully in graphic form. These designers work primarily with our mills and most are not involved with the babywearing industry at all, but instead design textiles for many different fabric products! Once their designs are completed and approved, they submit them to the mill as a graphics file. We work with two mills – one in Poland, and the second in the United States – that are not under the “Tula Umbrella,” but with whom we are thrilled to have wonderful ongoing relationships.
The mill takes the image provided and creates a small sample of the weave in the fabric, which is sent for us to approve. When this sample arrives, we evaluate the design itself, and work on the color selection process. We look through Pantone color books and sample color blankets to select colors, and send them to be dyed at a third party facility. The queue to be dyed generally ranges from about 3 weeks to 3 months long.
Once our thread has been colored at the dyeing facility, it is shipped to the mill that we work with. There, the mill creates a sample for us using our requested colors, ships the sample to us in San Diego, and awaits approval on these colors and design. We evaluate the sample when it arrives, sometimes making changes at this time, and then finally give the approval to put the woven fabric into production.
The weaving process is the most exciting step of the process! Here at our office, we wait in anticipation as these fun fabrics become a reality! Many people do not know that the fabric comes off the loom in a different size than the final product, and once it is woven, it must be sent out for finishing, which is designed to soften the fabric and prepare it for use.
Once the fabric is prepared, it is split into two sections – one will be sent to our production facility in Poland, where we will order a coordinating thread color and convert them into Baby Tula Wrap Conversion Carriers.
The second batch is cut, hemmed, labeled, and tested, and then packaged on pallets to begin its long journey to San Diego, where it will be unpacked, repackaged, photographed, and named prior to being posted on social media, listed, and sold. Depending upon quantity of fabric and the mill we are working with, this entire process can take from 6 months up to a year… but it is incredibly rewarding!
There are a lot of hands involved in Baby Tula Woven Wraps – from concept to completion – and we are deeply appreciative of all of the hard work that goes into bringing many trendy, fun ideas to life in a manner that you can use to hold your baby close.