Check out this interview with a Sweet Dreams Coop member on the Bazaar Bizaare website! Click here

Sweet Dreams Sewing Coop is working on a lot of products to sell at the Maker Fair, which is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. We will be there for the two days, May 22 & 23, 2010 at San Mateo, Bay Area CA (Event Center). Bazaar Bizarre is letting us sell with them at this Maker Faire. Below is the link where you can get more information,  hope to see you there!

http://makerfaire.com/bayarea/2010/

Today is a on and off rainy day, resulting in a semi rainy day. Walking in the studio and getting settled to start work,  our mentors stopped us in our tracks and we had a group meeting. We talked about how now we were going to start having group meeting at the beginning of work  to discuss our agenda for the day such as: checking in with every one’s day so far, our production schedule, reports- (sales, special events, online work) and lastly discussing field trips to stores that sell our products.  Leaving us on that note, our director of sweet dreams needed to take a group picture of the hard working females that make the successful production possible.  It was actually really funny because personally i had some bad hat hair (it does that on days like these) and one of the members gave me a hair makeover which looked exactly like hers and everyone (including myself started) laughing. I decided to wear my cashmere scarf as a turban so i ended up looking like a Russian  biejita.- We had lots of fun! Our orders are shorter than usual so, today we will finish early.

So today Verenice and i went on an adventure to interview Global Exchange’s Assistant manager, Ariel . As soon as i entered the store I felt like i entered some sort of different world where traditional clashed harmoniously with modern art. There were so many artifacts that brought back the old days in el mercado.

Q: What is global exchange as a business about? What does fair trade mean? Why is fair trade important to you?
A: Global exchange is a non profit business that aims for economic & social justice. We aim for social equity, we try to make things for equal for other workers. Fair trade is doing commerce that is more equitable by purchasing their products to help them with their economical status. We also create a long lasting relationship so that they see that the work is improving the economic situation. We also make sure that they have safe work conditions, no child labor, they are able to have breaks and eat their snacks and lunches. Women can also work from their homes by taking the materials that they need and making them in the comfort of their homes and then selling it. This makes things much more flexible for the workers as opposed to the to mega stores which have their workers work all day with hardly any breaks.
Fair trade is important to me because it is fighting poverty, and helping them improve their economical situation. I also like that we keep things traditional and fair trade encourages traditional art. Like block printing, even though you can get mass amounts of that done by machine it doesn’t have that beauty that some with it if someone made it by hand. I also like that traditional art clashes harmoniously with modern art.

Q: What do you do here at the store? Have you worked in retail before? How long have you worked here? Do you like it?Why?
A: I am the assistant manager of global exchange and i check prices, check merchandise, and the boss decides what we sell. I have been working at global exchange for two years. I started wotking in retail since my freshmen year in college. Which means I’ve worked in retail for 7-10 yrs. I love working here because this isn’t a job where I have to sit in front a computer and work for hours. I get to interact with the costumers a lot.

Q: How do you decide what products to carry?
A: We decide which products by the things that we know are going to sell. Also by how, who (story), made it. What will sit next to like something that will match the vibe.

Q: How long have sweet dreams lavender eye pillows been at global exchange?
A: About two years.

Q: Why did you to choose to carry our products?
A: We’ve always been carrying eye pillows but we liked the story behind you products so that is why we chose your products.

Q: Do the pillows sell well? Who are the people (in general) who buy our eye pillows? What do you think the people like about the eye pilows? Is there a time of year that the pillows sell better?
A: Of course they sell well. We sell more during christmas for gifts. The people like how it relaxes them, they also tend to buy things such as incence and oils when they buy the eye pillow.

Q: If you were to buy and use a pillow how would you use the pillow? For what activity? And what fabric would you choose?
A: Well I already have one and I use it to relax. I have a black one. I also like purple and greens.

Q: We hand craft and sell other products-Dream pillows, zip cases, yoga mat bags,. Please look at these-are you interested in any of these? So why or why not?
A: The zip pouches are cute and modern, and the yoga mat bags add variety to the ones that we’re already selling.

Thanks so much! Sweet Dreams!

Today as my peers and I walked into the studio, we went straight to work on the computer. Blogging  just about anything we could think of including  the new products we have just launched online a.k.a the special products that are limited edition. We posted them on our Etsy page for sale.  Now, if a loved one wants a dream pillow or yoga mat bag for their birthday you’d better not wait because they are selling out extremely fast. If you want one, the early bird catches the worm so order, order, order!!!! Thank you.

To order online, click here!

Today was a very busy day in the studio. We had to fill an order of 22  eye pillows, and currently our number of orders is growing immensely. The co-op members are working hard sewing and filling the eye pillows. Though I’m hard at work, I’m still having fun working with all my co-workers. Its been awhile since I have been in the co-op, since I had to leave to work elsewhere. Before I had to leave I  worked with Sweet Dreams  for two years. I started as a participant with Turning Heads in the Intro sewing class, and throughout the years I’ve made friends in the co-op. I recently came back because  I really enjoyed being here with my working buddies. One thing I have learned is that everyone gets to have new experiences. On that note, have a wonderful day and learn plenty of new things! -Maria

We had a guest speaker last week named Melissa.  She is a training facilitator and works with the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.  She spoke to us about how other and bigger cooperatives work and the ins and outs of expanding our business.  She explained how some bigger cooperatives finance themselves and decide how things work.

She asked us questions such as, ” How much does Sweet Dreams produce?”, and ”How is your business advertised?”.  Melissa also gave us feedback on organization, goals, principles, fundraisers and market research.

She also told us about a youth run cooperative who is doing environmental work in their community. Overall, this was a very exciting exchange of information, and we hope to see her in the near future!

So who said that photo shoots are only for models? Well Orisa and I are certainly not models. The photo shoot took us from our studio to the streets. I guess my picture taking skills came in handy. Though unlike my camera, I couldn’t find the setting that makes the background all blurry and it makes the main object pop out. Orisa was my model for the yoga mat bags and as all you know they are quite sexy.

Orisa was also in charge of setting the scene for the sweet dreams  products. They almost looked professional and I mean, pro is like beyond an eight month experience. When Orisa was posing outside the temperature felt like it dropped 3 degrees. So poor Orisa was freezing with only her tank top and sweats on.

Cameras and lighting, not the best thing for the unexperienced.

Lately its been pouring cats and dogs. winds speeds have been speeding off the charts and the other day my small umbrella had flipped over upward. Talk about a bad day!Luckily i was only drenched from head to toe. But do you think that would stop any of the Sweet Dreams co-op team members to come in and work? Well! if you guessed that we girls wouldn’t, you are absolutely… wrong! Of course we would come into the studio! Its our civil duty as members of the Sweet Dreams co-op to come in and give the customers what they order. We don’t take breaks, we don’t eat, we are up all day,we are up all night finishing the orders  (okay maybe i was exaggerating a little… okay i was exaggerating a bit on the big side=). So far we have been  filling several orders and one was even from New York, imagine that all the way from the other side of the continent!(Well country) Currently we are filling up orders from Etsy, Global Exchange, Scarlet sage and from an online order. Yes, we are hard at work in the studio, rain or shine.

Aside from the fact that it was cold, rainy, gloomy, and windy; Bazaar Bizarre was stupendous! We met some really cool people at the event; from other sellers to some really cool buyers. Yes even though it was super bad weather we had a great time at the event, the people (well most) were really interested in our products. I guess people want to relax a lot, you know the city stress.

From singing to ourselves to encouraging people to buy our products to selling our products it was all a real blast. As young adults we love to feel super independent and that is how we felt at Bazaar Bizarre. The other sellers were really friendly too, the y had really cool items for sale; like the one across from where we were, were selling toys and among those toys was a really cool octopus. (I decided to call him Mr. Octopus) There was also a stand where they were selling some really cool hats and necklaces. Oh yeah really cool hats indeed.

People also said, “I heard you guys on the radio.” Which was really really nice to hear!

At the end of the day we ended up selling $ 600 worth of merchandise! Now that is a lot of moola if you know what I mean!