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Our Threads

What T-shirts are Telling Tweens

These are the words that come to mind when I think of a young girl:Image - What T-shirts are Telling Tweens

These days, I step into a mall and wonder where all the young girls have gone. A tween should not be a rude, sassy, sexualized t-shirt paired with a mini skirt, and hot pink lipstick; and I don’t think this is a case of being old fashioned. It seems like this shouldn’t even be up for debate, whether tarting up a child with negativity is right or wrong. Kids are starting to look like little Bratz dolls, and it’s weirding me out. But, that’s just me. I was born in 1984. Growing up, all of my favorite outfits were the playful ones: princess-like night gowns, skirt-pants, black mary janes, bibs, tie-dye, and let’s not forget, anything that sparkled. I wore makeup when I played dress-up. As a tween I was wearing baggy Disney t-shirts, and I concerned myself with trying to hide the fact that I still liked to play with Barbie dolls; I had no anxieties whatsoever about my level of sex appeal. No tween girl should.

Take for example Urban Outfitters “Eat Less” T-shirt. Thankfully, due to blogger outrage, this shirt was pulled, but the fact that it was being marketed and sold to anyone is troubling. What kind of educational message is a shirt like this giving a young girl; a girl just beginning to acknowledge her reflection in the mirror?  Sadly, there are many shirts out there with messages similar to this that aren’t being pulled; there are more trendy, mean t-shirts out there than I’d care to count.

So, when did we start forgetting how to let kids be kids? Innocent, playful, goofy, optimistic, kids…

What we wear says so much to others. On a no shower and sweats day I would prefer not to believe this, 😉 but it’s true. Our clothes are like a public letter, so we might as well invest our time (and money) in some positivity.

That being said, kids have such worthwhile, colorful, cheery messages to send! Why on earth would we want to sabotage that? One thing that makes me super proud to work for Soul Flower is that our clothes have such upbeat, encouraging messages. The Soul Flower Originals teach us to embrace ourselves, the Earth, confidence and happiness. There’s no negativity here! Just simple messages of “Be Yourself,” “Take it Easy,” and “Love your Momma.”

Kids absorb things like sponges, so why feed them such rude unhealthiness? It’s completely unnecessary! I think it’s time to take back innocence and playfulness, and encourage little girls to be just that – little girls. No padded bras. No provocative clothes. No more mean messages! It’s time for the good vibe. After all, these little girls will grow to be women someday; let’s teach them to be strong; let’s teach them to be happy. Just please, for the love of playgrounds, don’t rush them! What positive message/quote would you put on a t-shirt for all to see?

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Our Threads

Wander Trucker Hat Out…Wandering

 

My husband and I are a good pair, even though truthfully we’re very different. We don’t agree about politics, religion, food, or music. But we both have a deep bite from that old travel bug. We wander the world together debating the merits of social policy and eggplant and kombucha and never really come to an agreement. But that’s because we both realize and savor the journey, literally and figuratively. So when I saw this hat, I knew he had to have it.
 
 
“All who wander are not lost,” is a phrase that gets tossed around in many contexts. But J.R.R. Tolkien fans will know it’s from the The Fellowship Of The Ring. My husband is a big fan of these books so I knew that would hook him in. He’s usually not a fan of hats or t-shirts with messages, so I was a little tentative that this hat would get nowhere with him. But he went for it – Score!
 
 
Of course he wears it on all kinds of wandering journeys from kayaking to sailing to geo-caching with our 7 year old son. Here he is in the cockpit of our boat checking the GPS. Are we wandering honey or are we really lost?
 
 
It’s made from organic cotton and recycled poly mesh which is all good earth loving stuff to me. He loves that it keeps his eyes shaded and his hair hidden on those big hair, roll out of bed days. And we both love the sentiment. If there is one thing we can agree on it’s that wandering it good. And if you can find good threads like these to wander in, well who can argue with that?

Cheers,
Cindy

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About

From Old School to Soul Cool

…Or so we like to tell ourselves 😉

After starting up our Kind Heads Photo Donations and focusing our energies on back to school, we found ourselves in a nostalgic state of mind. With thoughts of our old school days, and the funky, cute, and sometimes geekishly independent fashions we used to wear as kids, we began to realize that the funky sense of style we had as children definitely carried over to the cool Soul Flower style we have today. So, since you’re all sharing so many great photos with us, we figured we outta share some with you, too. Check it!

 

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Chad – Director of Social Optimization
Crazy cool sense of style no matter the time period!
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Peggy –  Karma Captain
 Rockin’ some super sweet gladiator sandals!

Brianna – Selling Scientist
Teddy bears to kittens – she’s kept things cute!

 

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Jacqueline – Daydreamer
Hopelessly drawn to color, forever & always!
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Jennifer – Sculpter of Light & Shadow
Creativity has given her some funky-fun fashion!

 

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Leiah: Pixologist
Never lost that spunky, comfy style!

 

What we’ve come to realize is that we’ve always been pretty freakin’ cool!
….or so we like to tell ourselves! 
😉

If you’d like to learn more about what each of us does here everyday at Soul Flower click here!

 

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About

Soul Flower’s Kind Heads Donations



Since we’re busy shooting photos for Soul Flower’s Fall 2011 catalog, we figured it would be the perfect time to tell you how much it means to us when you share your Soul Flower moments with us. In fact, we love the pictures of you in your Soul Flower threads so much, we’ve decided to donate $1 for every picture that we publish in our photo album. Sending us your photo could help a good cause, and if we choose to publish it, we will donate that dollar. So what cause is this, you say?

Every few months, we will choose a charity close to our (and your) hearts to donate the dollars to. To help kick it all off & since it’s back to school, our first round of Kind Heads dollars will go to Vega Productions. Vega Productions mission is:

“to rebuild and revitalize music and art education in Minnesota. We [Vega Productions] strive to provide resources and programming for schools that have been forced to eliminate or reduce music and art education from their curriculum because of budget cuts.”

But that is just our first cause! In order to truly spread good karma the charity we donate to will change every three months. So, from here on out the charities will be selected through a Facebook Poll by you, our fans! 🙂 Once the poll is posted on facebook there will be a few charities to choose from; simply vote for the charity you’d like to see our proceeds go to, and that is that. The charity with the most votes will receive our Kind Heads donations.

This first poll will determine the next charity we donate to – so watch facebook for our next poll in a few months. And in the meantime…..

Get smiley and get clickin’!

Submit your smiley photos on our Facebook wall or by emailing them to [email protected].

Hey Buds! Just adding an updated note today (May 2,2012) to keep you posted on our Past Charities:

  • Vega Productions to help bring music into schools
  • St. Luke’s Hospital to help children fighting childhood cancer

Peacefully,
Your buds at Soul Flower

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Style Influencers

Showing Off Soul Flower’s Peacock Pride

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With their stunning, bright coloration, and love for the limelight, peacocks have earned themselves a fame they’ve worked hard for. Different cultures view the peacock differently, but overall the regal bird is a symbol for soul mates, beauty, and mysticism. In Buddhism, the peacock’s fan of “eyes” symbolize wisdom, and openness because of their widespread tail. While in Christianity, the peacock goes hand-in-hand with immortality, since they’re believed to ingest poisonous plants with no ill effects. And, to top it all off, peacocks are India’s sacred National Bird.

On the negative side, peacocks have their pride and vanity, but, hey, we all need to strut our stuff sometimes!

So perhaps it’s not too curious that we’ve filled Soul Flower with an insane amount of them! However, since peacocks aren’t one for being hidden away in a warehouse, we figured we ought to give them a chance to do what they do best:

SHOW OFF !

This long sleeve, swoop-neck tee comes in charcoal, ocean or electric, and each color knows how to grab a compliment. The design isn’t limited to only the front, which means this peacock is strutting its feathers no matter which way you turn! And if you prefer short sleeves, we have just the thing for you, too! Our Birds of a Feather Tee definitely shows off the regal, spiritual side of our feathered friend.

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Sanganeer Circle Tapestry 

But when a girl really, really, wants to show off, there’s nothing quite like a cute peacock dress! Fortunately, we have more than one to choose from, and for representing the same symbol; these two dresses are very different from each other. What they do have in common is a flirtatious charm that’s hard to ignore.

Our most popular peacock picks here at Soul Flower would have to be our accessories. The regal peacock earrings and hairclip both know how to wow a crowd; they’re definite show stoppers! Their skill for inspiring adoration is probably due to the fact that they truly are peacock feathers!

We here at Soul Flower figure we mind as well take a blatant hint from our friend, the peacock, and start adding some extra flirty color and pizzazz to our summer – at least it wouldn’t hurt their peacock pride if we did. 😉

peacok - Showing Off Soul Flower's Peacock Pride
Our Latest Birds of a Feather Messenger Bag

 

In fact, Soul Flower has another pretty peacock coming SOON!! So be on the lookout! Little hint: It wraps around your neck. Oh, the mystery! 😉

Have you donned any of these feathery fashions, or are you hoping to? Feel free to tell us about it, we love hearing from you!

Love & Happiness,
Jacqueline Lee

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Inspiration, Our Threads

Hometown Tourist – Hippie Dress

Hey Buds! Making the best of this wonderful sunshine?

So I got a little piece of the islands with me for the past couple weeks. My friend from school decided to fly out all the way from Dallas, Texas to hang out with me in Southern California.

I have to admit, it’s a little exciting to be a tourist in your hometown. If you haven’t tried it, you really should! We tried heading out to the beach but it was so cold and the clouds were so thick we ended up turning around and heading straight for the pool. Not before getting an acai bowl, though! ;]

We went to Disneyland for a few days and normally I’ll go a little later, hop on a few rides, catch a bite to eat, and head out.

Not this time.

We woke up early and were one of the first people in the park! We spent all day there, only taking a small break for lunch and a quick nap at the hotel room then back to the Disney magic ‘til well after midnight. Needless to say I brought all my Soul-flower goodies with me so I was comfy and cool but still looking like the artist I like to call myself.

Those of you in California know all about our beautiful missions. Most have somewhat dark histories and as a Native American I pride myself on learning the stories of my tribes as well as those around them. Any trip to Southern California is just not complete without a trip to the San Juan Capistrano Mission. All you flower and garden enthusiasts out there will have a ball!

To match this dazzling backdrop I decided to wear something captivating as well, my new Cutting Floor Hippie Dress. Just added a cute little sun hat and I was ready.

I think it goes without saying that I love airy and flow-y clothes because they’re lightweight and easy to move around in. I always want to be comfy! (I’ve been putting my pj’s on at three in the afternoon since I was in second grade.)

As you know from my last posts, my legs are short. So when I put on the dress I was surprised to see that it hit about two inches above my ankle. Normally, I like when the length of my clothes are longer than the length of my legs but after I started moving around in the dress I realized it was a lot easier to move at this length. The colors are very bold and they don’t fade a bit in the wash (trust me I wear this dress once a week!). There are two loops at the back of the dress so you can tie it like a tank top, zig-zag, or even a halter. I suggest tying the straps in a bow before it goes in the wash, they’re a bit thin and very delicate. Each one is unique and I love that mine has a red and yellow border at the top even though the dress is very blue. The versatility is awesome; I can tie my hair back and wear it on a casual and laid back day or wear my hair down throw on some dressy shoes and go somewhere fancy!

Well, buds, have fun wherever the universe is taking you! Next time I post I’ll be back in Hawaii!
‘Til then,
Lauren ☮

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Our Threads

Carry Your Own Sunshine Tank Review

When I was about 5, I made these little books about the sun.  I colored a sun on each page and wrote down a benefit that the sun provides.  I then walked around my neighborhood door to door and sold them for 10 cents each (and today I am a publisher!)  I am sure that some of my neighbors were going through life drama, and when they opened that door, and I was standing there so innocent and confident with those books, that their troubles momentarily melted away.

Since then my own life has had its dramas, and I have to continually learn the lesson that I so naively taught then—that no matter what, be sure and carry your own sunshine.  Yoga has been my main tool as an adult to help me learn to be a happier person.  Now, whenever I find myself becoming tense across my face and getting upset about a situation, I go inside and find that ray of light.  I have finally learned that the world will never be exactly as I would will it to be, so I may as well carry my own sunshine.

Wearing this tank is a good reminder to me to send out the warmth of the sun to the world around me, but it does so while keeping me cool as a cucumber.  This tank is super soft cotton and it feels cool and refreshing on the skin making it a perfect tank for a hot summertime yoga practice.  I love how it is not tight too.  Being a yoga instructor, I have a lot of tight Lycra tanks, which can be hot in the summer.  This tank is loose enough to not be constricting or hot and tight enough to not flop around during a yoga practice.  As a matter of fact, the material of this tank and the Soulflower lounge pants are so nice against the skin, I feel as if I am wearing nothing at all!  I visualize this tank to be a great tank for a mid-day yoga practice during a summer music festival.  You can put it on and lounge around camp to rest up between bands.  Also, I have included a Festival Yoga sequence for you to try at your next festival!  Here ya go buds:

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Our Threads

Soul Flower’s Fancy Side

Last weekend I left Minneapolis and traveled home for a wedding in Wisconsin; the whole ride there, all I could think about was how I couldn’t wait to wear my new dress from Soul Flower! I picked out the Mudmee Tie-Dye Tube dress with the wedding’s rehearsal dinner in mind; although, honestly, I’ll use any fun event as an excuse to buy Soul Flower! But, the major deciding factor for picking this specific dress was that I can easily dress it up or down, with minimal effort, for numerous future occasions. The other cool thing about the Mudmee Tie-Dye dress is that each one is uniquely hand tie-dyed, so every one is a different blend of colors with a mostly black bodice – no other girl in the world has a dress quite like mine!

So take this dress, a pair of heels, Soul Flower’s elegant Teal Swirl Earrings, my favorite Auric Blends Oil in Egyptian Goddess and POOF! Without a fairy godmother, I was feeling fancy. Even a no effort look still appears stunning, but in a carefree, casual kind of way that allows me to wear this dress whenever I want. Wedding, grocery shopping, going to the park – this dress works!  And I just love that!

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When I was a little girl, I always chose my party dresses with a twirl test. If it didn’t twirl, I didn’t want it. Even though I’m not quite so strict with my dresses today, I did get all excited over wearing the Mudmee Tie-Dye Tube Dress when I realized how much spin it has. The bottom of this dress is super flowy, and looks lovely in the wind or on the dance floor. Luckily, my weekend home was super windy, and out of all the dresses featured here; this one definitely has the most spin!  Important to know if you’re a twirl tester, too!

 

So, not all Soul Flower dresses are festival bound. Fancy is totally in their repertoire!

It’s always the versatility of these dresses that absolutely amazes me. These aren’t the kind of dresses you buy, wear once, and keep in the darkness of your closet for years! They are from work to play, day to night kind of dresses 🙂 Some other Soul Flower dresses I wouldn’t hesitate to wear to a wedding are:

All of these Soul Flower dresses are sweet, romantic, and just right for weddings, or whatever! Our bud, Bri, looks cute as candy in her new Milkshake Maxi, and we’re not employing the adorable kitten hoax to make you agree. Bri wore this dress all weekend, and she would have done so with or without a kitten, at least, we’re pretty positive she would have…

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Have a rockin’ time at all your summer celebrations! Don’t forget, we have a Dress Sale going on right now!

Will you be showing off Soul Flower’s fancy side at any special occasions?

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Style Influencers

Meet Lisa, Karma Krewe 2011

We’ve known Lisa for awhile now… as an enthusiastic Soul-Flower lover who was spreading the vibes far & wide with her blog and twitter. We realized that Lisa was a natural and would make a great addition to the Karma Krewe, so here she is! Welcome, Lisa 🙂

Hi I’m Lisa and I’m a goofy chick from Texas living in Alabama with my hubby, three teenagers and giant dog, Puppy. Living in Alabama is an interesting experience for my liberal, eccentric self. The geography is just exquisite and I drink it up every day! My three monstery, darling teenagers are fabulous musicians and have taught me a lot about music. And I fully enjoy being an active band mom – and hubby’s the uber band dad. He built that ship for the last fall show! Everyone loved it!
My Favorite Soul-Flower find: My tie dye blue men’s Grateful Dead shirt – wear it ALL the time. Have it on now, in fact! 😉

My Favorite piece of jewelry: My Peace Angel necklace my son bought me at the Cathedral in D.C.

My Favorite Friend: Loretta, from StitchingTheNightAway.com

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Our Threads

Plus Size Hippie Chic

“Plus Size”. What does that mean? Well, by definition, “Plus Size” is an adjective used to describe women over size 12. As a society, we have become accustomed to this phrase; however, accepting the implications of this adjective has proven to be more difficult. As a size 16, I am proud of my body. (more…)

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Behind-the-Scenes

Meet Our Soul Mates: Soul Flower Wholesale

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How do we put the SOUL in Soul Flower? When we first created Soul Flower, our name seemed the perfect combination of spirit and beauty. But did you know Soul Flower has a deeper meaning? Sure, the flower is easily defined – you can see it in the beautiful & lovely items we choose. But we want to spend some time telling you also about the Soul.

The soul of our goods is really important to us – we work hard to make sure that our products are being made in a fair way. We seek quality, raw materials that are in tune with mother earth. We ask hard questions of our partners & strive to find not just the most beautiful things but also the most thoughtful & ethically made items we can. We find small, local manufacturers to work with. Then we develop strong relationships with the people making our products – striving to not only make sure they are treated fairly but also to improve their livelihood and communities.

But to make this happen, we have awesome folks we work with – other artisans and designers who have followed a similar path in manufacturing their creations – and so for that reason, we want you to MEET OUR SOUL MATES. For each of these posts, we will introduce you to an artist, manufacturer or designer from Soul Flower & learn about their soulful practices. You will love their inspiring stories. Plus, we will feature a week-long sale on a few of their select creations on our site. So, meet…

Our First Soul Mate: Soul Flower (yeah, that’s us…)

These are our own exclusive and unique creations. Most of these designs are t-shirts from our CircleTees line, which are designed right here, in (ware)house at Soul Flower by your buds Peggy & Leiah. We combine unique artwork with purposeful messages. Who wouldn’t want to encourage others to let their soul shine? Or fly an eco-freako flag? Or to come on get happy?

Save 30% on any of these four shirts with coupon code SOULMATE1
(good until 9/9)


By spreading a message of peace & positivity in our daily lives we hope to keep kindness always at the center of our thoughts and actions. And to really complete this message we choose organic cotton and other natural fibers whenever we can. Plus we print our tees in small batches right here in the USA.

Probably one of our most soulful choices in our creations is our use of organic cotton… a simple choice that can make a world of difference. Why?

Conventional cotton farming is one of the most damaging types of farming towards the environment. Producing cotton uses 25% of all insecticides in the world and 10% of all pesticides. It is second (corn is first) in the amount of chemicals used to produce it. It you buy just one t-shirt made from organic cotton, you are saving 1/3 a pound of synthetic fertilizers & pesticides from entering the environment. These chemicals damage soil so badly it can’t produce, harm animals in the vicinity, and ultimately contribute to global warming.

Natural and organic fiber clothing are processed with as few chemicals and harmful impact on the environment as possible. By purchasing natural and organic fiber clothing you support environmental causes & help to nourishes the earth and the lives of all people involved in the process of growing, manufacturing and distributing the clothing. Growing cotton organically takes skill. It takes time & patience. And, yes, it is more expensive. But worth it!

Soul Flower works hard to keep positive vibes going – and our tees are just one way we do that. We hope you enjoy wearing them. Peace.

Additional information about organic cotton:
– Detoxify: tips to become more organic in your life
– Compare It: Differences between conventional & organic cotton
– Just the Facts, Jack: what is organic cotton

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About, Behind-the-Scenes

Part 3 of 4: Meet the Dew Krewe!

In our previous post, you got to meet the True Krewe: the founders of Soul Flower! In this post and the next 1, you’ll get to meet everyone else involved with the Soul Flower company.

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9am – 10am
9:00 a.m. is when the morning crew (Dew Krewe!) arrives at the Soul Flower warehouse. The members of the Dew Krewe rotate between our 3 buds Chad, Jenn, and Joe. These three have been with Soul Flower the longest, and know all the ropes around the warehouse. In the mornings, they open up the customer services phone lines to your calls, take a look at all the orders that were placed on the website that night, print invoices, organize the books, and get everything ready so that the packing can begin!

Introducing…

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I’m Chad and I’ve spent the last 5 years running Soul-Flower’s operations, and doing my best to make Soul-Flower the best possible place to shop and to work. I live and play in Minneapolis with my wife Liz. Outside work, my favorite hobbies are building things from wood, puttering in the garage, and home improvement, plus listening music, and watching sports. I very rarely
miss a Badger or Viking game, and I love to catch a favorite band on a Saturday night.
Your Favorite Band: Phish
Your Favorite Soul Flower find: PLA002 Recycled Stripes Hoody
Your Favorite website (besides Soul-Flower.com of course): espn.com
Your Favorite tree: family
Your Favorite take-out food: pizza
Your Favorite person: wife Liz of course! You think she doesn’t look at this about us page?
Your Favorite bird: Scarlet Macaw
Your Favorite flower: white whole wheat
Your Favorite color: forest green
Your Favorite shoes: 1996 Doc Martens
Your Favorite hat: bad ass fedora from NYC
Your Favorite team: Vikings. Shut up.
Your Favorite piece of jewelry: wedding ring, otherwise not a jewelry fan
Your Favorite Snack: emergency beef jerky from my glove compartment (when eaten in a non emergency situation)
Your Favorite Blog: http://elliotgraven.blogspot.com
Your Favorite Facebook Friend: anyone I’d never hear from otherwise
Your Favorite Tweet you have ever seen: what the hell is a tweet? Sounds lame
Your Favorite fruit: cherries
Your Favorite Vegetable: do I have dip? If so then broccoli, if not then yellow pear tomatoes
Your Favorite Vacation EVER: Europe 1972, wait that’s a Dead album, Europe 2000
Your Favorite live show EVER: Phish 12/31/99 midnight to 7 a.m. never sat down, only went to the bathroom once.

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My name is Jennifer and I have been happily working at Soulflower for about 8 years now! Im sure I have talked to many of you on the phone and via email. I also take a lot of the photos you will see online and in the catalog and help to find cool new threads for you! I live and work in St Paul, MN with a couple of my best friends and my dog Kodiak. I love playing outdoors, hiking the woods with my dog, biking, kayaking. traveling, and exploring new things. I also spend a lot of time with my family and friends, camping, going to see live music, collecting vinyl records, and getting comfy with a good book.
My Favorite Soulflower find: My Revolutions Eco Yoga Pants and my Make Music Not War Eco Hoody. My two wardrobe staples.
My Favorite Vacation EVER: Backpacking Thailand/Cambodia
My Favorite Tree: Banyan (Ficus Benghalensis) ; )

joe - Part 3 of 4: Meet the Dew Krewe!Joe
Hi!
My name is Joe. I am a Minnesota boy born and raised. I spend my work days swimming in the ever changing pools of customer satisfaction. Between picking, packing, shipping, doing returns, quality and stock control I get to be a Soul-Flower elf! When not working, I enjoy being at home fixing up the duplex I lord over. With that my roomies and I enjoy gaming on multiple different systems but fun most certainly ensues. You can also find me out biking the lakes (weather permitting, I’m not that hardcore), kicking a soccer ball around, trying new cooking ideas/foods, going to see live music
and whenever possible having bare feet. Environment is everything so I certainly try and follow the respect, reduce, reuse, recycle mantra whenever possible.
My Favorite Soul Flower find: Has been the SOL072 pants. I have had all three colors since we introduced them and will wear them until they fall off and then get some more! Followed closely by our hoody selection.
My Favorite Color(s): Is the entire spectrum that runs from green to blue.
My Favorite Band: Right now – The Wailin’ Jenny’s
My Favorite Band(s): I could never choose just one but UM, SCI, Phish, Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Keller and Guster are ones that dominate my CD player time and time again.
Special thanks to our customers for their positive vibes, stories and love and to my co-workers for making/sharing in a place where a job doesn’t have to be all work and no fun. THANK YOU! 🙂

Coming up: Meet the Glue Krewe!

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Behind-the-Scenes

Giving Back

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Here are Soul Flower we do our best to keep the vibe going. We support environmental organizations who are working hard to reverse the harsh effects man has had on the world. We also believe in supporting local community – as an internet shop, it is hard to focus on what is local, as our customers are all over the world. But our day to day lives, at least those of Mike & Peggy, the founders of Soul Flower, find us in Des Moines IA, a great city with many great organizations that help to make our community & world a better place.

In 2009, we continued our efforts with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant two trees for every one that we use in our catalog production. This is an effort we proudly began in 2008 and continued this year. We helped with an amazing project to plant 125,000 total longleaf pine trees in the Manchester State Forest in South Carolina.

Also in 2009, Soul Flower supported the the Des Moines Music Coalition (DMMC) in producing the 8035 Festival in Des Moines, IA. We continue to support Camp Courageous (also located in Iowa) by donating enuf to send 8 kids to the camp in 2009. (Camp Courageous works with disabled children and adults to build self-esteem through an awesome camp experience – please check them out if you get a chance.) We continue our support of the Iowa Food Bank. We began working with a new organization this year as well called After School Arts Program (ASAP). We realize there are many great organizations out there, so please let us know if you have a favorite you would like to see us support.

In addition, we support Carbonfund.org in helping to offset Soul Flower’s carbon footprint; and we continue to expand our green practices as a company.

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Behind-the-Scenes

Soul-Flower Mike!

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Meet Mike, one of the founders of Soul-Flower.com:

Hi folks – I must admit that writing about yourself is kind of a strange exercise – but here I go…

My role with Soul-flower is more specialized than it was when we first started. In the beginning I wore every hat since we didn’t have employee’s, but today we have a most excellent team of folks (many of which you may have met online or via phone calls) who handle the day to day operations and I can focus on where we’re going as a company – in terms of the catalog, website, and product selection. My life today is very busy, but also laid back.

Peggy and I both live in Des Moines now, which is where we’re both from originally. We both work from home (but in different parts of the house) and our children (Siera -age 6, and Cody- age 4) have a great time playing outside, going to their schools, and getting to visit their grandparents on a regular basis. However, as much as I love Des Moines, I still love the Twin Citie’s too and you can find me at the warehouse once or twice a month.

I miss answering the phones and having “live” contact with our customers – so I have to go up to get my fix 🙂 I also enjoy being where the action is and we have lots of fun at the warehouse while your orders are being picked, packed, and shipped. Through all these years we’ve always had fun, and hopefully you feel a little of that happiness and love when you open your packages. The rest of my lifestyle is pretty easy to figure out – all you have to do is visit our website, catalog, or this blog. Soul-flower is a reflection of our lifestyle, and nothing makes us happier than seeing others who have had a Soul-flower experience and subscribe to many of the same ideals. I like to think that we created a “General Store” that you can visit via online or thru the catalog – maybe you’re just wanting to see what we’re up to or you want to make a purchase – it doesn’t matter as long as when you leave you have a smile on your face, a bounce in your step, and know that you’re part of a larger tribe 🙂
Peace and Respect –
Mike S.

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Our Threads

Hippie Onesies

treehugger - Hippie OnesiesSome of my favorite creations are t-shirts. I am pretty much a t-shirt addict – I love tees that allow me to express myself. I advertise that I am a treehugging, earth-loving, green mama. And that is getting easier & easier now. Even large department stores are selling tees expressing eco-friendly virtues and ideas in so many fun ways. But I always take my purchases one step further – I ask myself “where was this tee made?” and “what is this tee made of?” If I can feel good about the answers to those questions, I pretty much always buy it.

Sometime I see crazy $50 and up tees out there – I am not going to pay extra for some designer name or manufactured “green” statement. But there is one thing I will pay extra for – organic cotton. I love the feel of organic cotton, first of all, but I also love the feeling of knowing I am wearing something that was created free of toxins & chemicals. Something completely natural.

think - Hippie OnesiesMy addiction to tees spreads right into my buying and designing for Soul-Flower. Many of our Soul-Flower tees are designed in house, others are from small, independent artists. And as we continue to bring in more and more tees, our focus is now on organic cotton, bamboo, hemp and other natural fibers. Most of our t-shirts at Soul-Flower are now organic cotton. And I know a lot of you out there wonder, is organic cotton really that different than conventional cotton? I am here to say yes, it is different and BETTER. I did a little research and wanted to pass along what I learned –

Conventional cotton farming is one of the most damaging types of farming towards the environment. Producing cotton uses 25% of all insecticides in the world and 10% of all pesticides. It is second (corn is first) in the amount of chemicals used to produce it. To put it simply, a 100% cotton shirt made from conventional cotton is actually about 75% cotton and 25% yicky chemicals and residues used to produce the cotton. Nobody wants that touching their skin.

music - Hippie OnesiesWhen you choose to buy just one t-shirt made from organic cotton (versus conventional cotton), you are saving 1/3 a pound of synthetic fertilizers & pesticides from entering the environment. (These are the same chemicals that 1- damage soil so badly it can’t be farmed 2-harm animals in the vicinity, and 3-ultimately contribute to global warming ). So, that one organic cotton tee you buy supports environmental causes & helps to nourish the earth and the lives of all people involved in the process of growing, manufacturing and distributing the organic cotton. It feels good to wear that!

It might be more expensive, but that is because growing cotton organically takes skill. It takes time & patience. To me, buying organic cotton is worth it, especially for my young children, who are already exposed to so many chemicals & toxins in the environment.

Peace,
Peggy

 

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About

Welcome to Soul Flower Blog!

booth - Welcome to Soul Flower Blog!Hello to all of our buds in blog-land. Better late than never, we are finally starting an official Soul-Flower Blog. So much of our day-to-day work involves talking with customers and hearing your stories, we thought we should take a little time to share some of our stories with you. Our blog will create another way to connect to you (our customers and friends), as well as a place to share more about Soul-Flower and the things we care about and take an interest in.

So, to start it all off, here is Soul-Flower’s birth story:

Mike & I both were working in the corporate world when we made a decision to start our own company. We liked our jobs, but were far from getting the most out of life when most of our waking hours were spent in front of our computer screens, coding in my case, selling in mike’s case. We thought, hey, let’s figure out a way to make a living out of what we love most. And what we loved most always came back to the music. We have been festival goers for years, starting with the Grateful Dead (various shows/tours from ’85-’93), then NO Jazz Festival, Horde Fest, and many regional gatherings. We had a couple of friends with a classic hippie shop in Iowa City, The Peaceful Fool, and they were kind enuf to give us tips and ideas on opening a store. Owning our own business was nothing we had done before, but we had the love and commitment to create what became Soul-Flower. With positive attitudes, a little capital, and alot of sweat equity we started off on our own ‘long, strange trip’…

We opened the doors (in october 1999) to our 1000 square foot shop on Grand Avenue in St Paul, MN. It was a little boutique full of Hippie duds, Jam Band T-Shirts, Posters, Stickers, Patches, and lots of other cool threads. We relied on the many college students in the area, and of course there were good days and bad days, but looking back it was a blast – especially getting to know the students and locals in the community. Folks like Mike M-our local Grateful Dead statistician who could name a dead show in just a few notes of Jerry’s storefront - Welcome to Soul Flower Blog!guitar; Carl-the guitar playing, bike-riding minimalist who would stop by daily to just say hello; Katelyn – the baby and now young girl whose mama owned the Thai restaurant next door (Pad Thai Cafe – one of the best Thai restaurants in St.Paul); all the SPA students who would visit after school each day; the list goes on…we had just a few employees – most of whom we are still in touch with, and some that are still working with us 🙂 We were also getting our name out in the midwest scene by vending various festivals and events – something that we finally have given up as our own Soul-flower family (Siera and Cody) grows.

Now fast forward 9 years and we’ve transformed from a brick and mortar boutique into an online boutique. Soul-flower
still resides in St.Paul, but now we work from the second floor of an old warehouse that has been funked up to suit the laid back and fun attitude of the team. Oh, and somewhere along this trip we decided to start printing a mail order catalog, which has been an absolute blast. So 9 catalogs later here we are, in front of our computers again…only now it is all good. I think that Soul-Flower, much like a child, has grown into it’s own entity – we created her but she has become her own, independent, growing experiment.

spring08catalog - Welcome to Soul Flower Blog!So now, Soul-Flower is a catalog and online store, a bit different from the original boutique – but we are more passionate and committed than ever to continue creating the same friendly, community-related atmosphere online that we had at our shop. It can be a tough act – i.e., personalizing the internet – but we believe the littlest things make a big difference. A thoughtful product (from concept to existence), a pleasant phone call, an extra note (and occasional random gift) in your package, a thank you to our customers. Our company has always been defined by the Golden Rule – treat others as you would like to be treated and everything else will be fine. When you’re happy, we’re happy.

So here’s to learning, loving and growing.
Enjoy the blog.
Your Buds (Peggy, Mike, Chad, Jenn & Joe)

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