Sling Sisters
Even on the surface, Carrie Allard and Vickie Johnsson have quite a lot in common. They're both North Americans--Carrie from Nova Scotia and Vickie from the eastern United States--transplanted to Sweden. Both have Swedish husbands whom they met online, and both are dedicated stay-at-home moms with their feet planted firmly in the "attachment parenting" camp. It should be no surprise, then, to learn that they have forged a strong friendship from these commonalities. What is surprising is that they were business partners almost before they were friends, and, perhaps more surprising still, they have yet to meet in person.
Carrie and Vickie first crossed paths on a internet message board for Americans and other ex-pats in Sweden. Vickie noticed that Carrie had made a number of posts about the rewards of "babywearing," or carrying one's baby or toddler in a sling or wrap, and having just given birth to her son Alexander (now nine months old), she was intrigued by the idea. She did some research on her own, then with a little help from Carrie, a ring sling made a believer out of her.
"From the very beginning Alexander was what is termed 'high needs,'" she says. "He had to be with me and on me every second! So, the idea of having something hold him while my hands could be free sounded ideal. Carrie, the sweetie that she is, sent me her ring sling that she was not using. I used that thing most of the day, every day! I kept Alexander in a tummy-to-tummy carry, as that was the one he was most happy in. He had to be as close to me as possible. It made him happy and it made me happy. I was able to get little things done like making dinner, or even going to the bathroom!"
Carrie had come to the sling world about a year earlier, when she was expecting her daughter, Lauren, who is now 20 months old.
"I first found out about babywearing at the La Leche League (LLL) meetings that I attended both before and after Lauren was born. The LLL sells Canadian-made ring slings, Heart2Heart," she tells us. "I also read the Dr. Sears Baby Book, which has a chapter all about babywearing. It looked easy, convenient, and relatively cheap to try, and if I didn't like it I knew that I would have no problem selling or trading my sling."
Carrie started out using a ring sling (a long, wide piece of fabric secured in place with two metal rings), and while she wasn't unhappy with it, she confesses that it has a bit of a learning curve. "I loved my sling, but the fact that it was a ring sling made me a bit nervous; I was always worried that the tail would slip and she would fall. Also, the ring sling was only usable for Lauren and me until she was eight months old, when it started causing me pain during and after use. Now I wish that I had started out with a pouch sling."
Even with the adjustment period, Carrie was converted to the idea of babywearing immediately. I asked her how long it took her to make the leap from sling-user to advocate, and she replied, "I became an advocate as soon as I started using the sling with Lauren. I mean, I could nurse Lauren in the sling and nobody had any idea I was doing it! She was happy in the sling and it allowed me to get some things done without having to hold her. Here in Stockholm having a sling or a wrap is so much easier than using a stroller. I never have to look for an elevator, worry that there might not be stair rails for strollers, or wait for someone to get out of my way."
After Carrie passed her first sling on to Vickie, the two of them stayed in touch and exchanged emails about babywearing and other aspects of their shared approach to parenting. Vickie says that she had much the same experience as Carrie, becoming an instant advocate for babywearing even with a bit of initial discomfort using the ring sling.
As many sling-users will contest, slings are very addictive, and it's rare to find a user who has only one--or even only one kind--of sling. It was when Vickie was expanding her collection that Fate stepped in and the friends' love of slings took a direction they hadn't anticipated.
"It was when I ordered my first Hotsling that the retail opportunity came about. I had a number of conversations with Kristen, owner and creator of Hotslings, and in the course of our correspondence she mentioned wishing that she had a distributor in Europe." Interested, Vickie gathered more information about distributorships and passed it on to Carrie, sure that she would be interested.
"As soon as I heard about it I wanted to do it," Carrie says. "I love my Hotsling and I know it is a great product. Besides, I was raving about them so much I figured it made sense for me to sell them as well. After Vickie thought about it for a while she decided to join me." And thus, Sling Sisters was born.
I was particularly interested in what might be the pros and cons of starting up a business like Sling Sisters, not only with a partner you've never met face-to-face, but also in a foreign country. Both Carrie and Vickie assured me, however, that the process has been relatively smooth for them.
"I know it must seem so strange to start up a business with what seems to be a complete stranger like this, but then I am also someone who fell in love online," Vickie laughs. "So, I feel that relationships you make via the internet can be just as meaningful and valid as ones you make face-to-face. Carrie and I hit it off right from the start. We understand each other and trust each other."
"There can be some confusion, though," she continues. "We sometimes miss little details, but one of us always catches it eventually. That is something that I think is great between us -- what one of us forgets, the other will remember! Or when we brainstorm, we can come up with some great ideas."
Carrie agrees, adding, "I really can't think of any cons. I mean it would be nice if we could make our orders by sitting together and figuring it out rather than sending emails but that is more distance than anything else. I think that Vickie and I know each other pretty well even though we have never met face-to-face."
Living and working abroad has caused a few small headaches for the Sling Sisters, but they're doing a good job of taking it all in stride. "The worst has to be customs!" Vickie exclaims. "We get hit really hard with this. Like Carrie's husband has said, we now know why the American foods at the supermarket are so expensive! It's amazing how much you can get charged. Luckily, this has not caused us to increase the cost of our slings too much."
Carrie agrees that the customs charges are "staggering," and she adds that the language barrier has also caused a bit of trouble. "We advertise in English and maybe that turns some people off. We just got most of our website translated to Swedish, though, and we did get a great response from the online ad that we listed last month."
Overall, however, their experiences have been overwhelmingly positive so far. Vickie says, "I think the best part is how receptive the Swedes have been to the slings. Even with our limited Swedish, we have still been making a decent amount of sales."
To conclude our interviews, I asked both Carrie and Vickie to give me some last thoughts about slings and babywearing.
Carrie tells me, "I think people have this idea that slings/wraps are harder to use than they actually are. And that they are only good for little babies. I still use my slings and wraps for Lauren and she is now 20 months and 11.5 kg (~25 pounds). Wraps are more work than a pouch sling, but they are great to have. Slings and wraps are better for your baby than a carrier like the Baby Björn and you can use them from birth to about 17 kg (~35 pounds), or when the child doesn't want to be held anymore. Babies who are carried in slings and wraps are happier and cry less. Babywearing also makes things easier if you have a baby and another child."
Vickie wholeheartedly agrees, saying, "Another great thing about the sling was that it helped Alexander to nap for longer periods of time. He had a very hard time transitioning from deep sleep to REM and back. He would always wake up and this would upset him, then he could not fall back asleep! With the sling, he had a nice womb-like environment -- he was close to me and could always smell me and hear me, he was squished, and he had constant movement. So, he went from 20-minute naps to one- to two-hour naps! My favorite thing to do while he slept was to sit and bounce on an exercise ball in front of the computer. That is actually how I got the Sling Sisters website done!"