About ourselves: History

History Part 1 ... and Part 2)

Very warm welcome,

and I am very pleased to see that you have found us to inform yourself about baby slings. The reason why I have been intensively involved with carrying since 1999, and now even sell baby slings, is because of our son Jan. This is how it all began:

During pregnancy, I began to think about how it would be when my baby arrived at last, and about all things I would need. I got lots of tips and things from friends, parents, parents-in-law etc, etc, etc. A lot of this was extremely useful. A while later I saw a mother carrying her baby in a baby sling while I was shopping, and I knew immediately that I wanted to have a similar sling and carry my baby in it. But none of my friends or acquaintances had a sling. This is where the fiasco really started. Where could I find such a sling? How do you tie the thing right? What does it cost?

After a lot of searching, informing, comparing and being shocked by the price I had had enough. On the one hand I did not want to spend a small fortune for a baby sling because I did not know whether or how intensively I would use it. On the other hand, I didn't really want to do without it. Since I find it very difficult to come to terms with such impasses, something had to happen. I had been working in the textile industry for a long time, which meant of course that I knew good suppliers who could process woven cotton. I spoke to the best of the suppliers. I explained to him that I wanted to have a long cotton cloth which needed to be diagonally stretchable due to a special weaving type, but should not stretch in length, and that should properly support the child that it was carrying. After a few weeks, the first sample arrived, but it was much too stiff and not stretchable enough.

The second sling was considerably better, but nowhere near good enough. I complained about a few of its "characteristics" once again and was rather hoping that the third sling would be okay, and that it would arrive before Jan did. This was unfortunately not the case. Jan was born, and although I had prepared and planned a lot, the ultimate baby sling had not arrived.

Because Jan was a "carrybaby" who only really felt comfortable in my arms and cried at any other time, I spent the first two weeks carrying him around an awful lot - without a baby sling! I had the feeling that my arms were getting longer and longer, and that I was unable to do anything else. Then the longed-for package arrived, and this time I was happy with the cloth. I threw the sling into the washing machine, then into the drier and then the baby into the sling.

But how? Now I had a super sling, but no sensible instructions. At that time, you could only get reasonable instructions by buying an expensive baby sling. Unfortunately, I did not know any other "carrying mothers" who might have been able to explain the tying methods to me. A few days after the sling arrived, I managed to get my hands on an brochure of a family education centre in which a "baby sling course" was offered for the following weekend. I had a huge slice of luck because one place was still free. The course was given by an experienced baby sling mother who had been able to carry her 3 children in slings. After her explanations and a lot of practice with a sling, everything suddenly clicked.

Tying and carrying can be so simple if it has been explained properly!

I have carried Jan an awful lot in the sling since this day. He always felt extremely comfortable in it, my nerves recovered very rapidly and at last I was able to clean up the flat a bit more intensively and lick it into shape, even though I am not exactly a cleaning maniac. Even my husband Ingo began to enjoy carrying and cuddling with Jan in the sling after a few initial difficulties. Sometimes it is better to use the sledgehammer method!

Now I had my sling, I knew how to tie it and I was happy. Since our infant course was held in the loft of the family centre, I was able to use the sling to make the short journey. I was very relieved about this, because Jan had managed to put on a few kilos thanks to breast-feeding in a very short time, looking like a chubby cherub. The mothers whom I befriended in the infant course were able to see how nice and simple it is to carry your child in a sling, and wanted to have one as well. Since the "original sling" was a present from my supplier for Jan's birth, I did not know what it cost and so I had to ask. When I found the price out, I practically fell over because it was so cheap. I then ordered 10 slings for the infant course and a few friends. As the inquiries continued to come in, I registered myself as a business and continued to find out as much as I possibly could about baby slings. I now give baby sling courses myself, and am still learning even more from mothers who carried more than I did. I am quite certain that there are many more carrying methods which I do not yet know, and I would be very pleased if you could hand your ideas and tricks on to me so that I can pass them on to others and so that even more people can find out what fun it can be carrying babies in slings.

With this, I hope you have a lot of fun reading and browsing,

Yours Annette Schröder

History Part 2

My goodness, how time flies. We have now been in the baby sling trade since 1999, and every day has been exciting.

My husband Ingo and I have attended further training on the subject of carrying in the meantime. The best thing we got to know in this time was the Trageschule®-Dresden. Although we have both read, experienced and heard a lot about carrying, the visit to the school in Dresden gave us a real "kick". The training sessions were very informative and practical, and were organised and carried out from the heart. Ingo is now indeed the first trained carrying adviser in Germany!

We have learned a lot more besides at the many midwife congresses, breast-feeding and premature baby congresses which we have attended since 1999, and got to know a lot of nice people and made good contacts.

In the meantime the whole family has become involved, and we have excellent people supporting us in the office and partners who help us with word and deed.

Thanks to positive word-of-mouth recommendation, our fan club is getting bigger every day. The idea of offering a good sling at a good price has developed its own dynamics in the meantime, one which we never really expected.

Since I am the creative disorganised person, I deal with the collection, the sling carrying courses and the telephone (this confirms the prejudice that women are better at communicating than men). Ingo, who is more direct and can work in a more structured manner, deals with trade fairs and events and commercial matters. Jan, whom we took with us to many trade fairs and congresses, looks after the stand if we are away for a while and tries to sell baby slings to anyone who comes near (he is a sling child, after all).

The production has been continuously improved as well. The weavers have managed to adjust to improve quality, weaving types and processing and are continuously inspected by ourselves. The excellent results we received in ÖKO-Test, the German ecological test magazine, in February 2004 mirror this process. Here we were given the overall rating of "GOOD" (material: "VERY GOOD").

At this point I would like to thank absolutely everyone who have helped make HOPPEDIZ® a success.

Annette & Ingo Schröder