I grew up in a rural area of Upstate New York and moved to Philadelphia in my early twenties. I’m a graduate of Temple University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education. I taught for 7 years and after becoming a mom, sought a change of pace that would allow me to spend more time with my children while investing in my community and advocating for a more earth-friendly, baby-friendly parenting style for urban families with little ones.
I started daydreaming about CLOTH while on maternity leave with my son (now 5 and 1/2) and by the time he was 2, I was completely obsessed with the idea of starting our little natural parenting store. We had our grand opening 8 days after he turned 3 years old! Nearly 3 years later, we carry almost twice as many products as when we first opened and employ 4 part-time helpers.
One of my favorite parts of owning CLOTH is that I still get to be a teacher. I teach a free Cloth Diapers 101 workshop monthly and enjoy passing on my cloth diapering and babywearing knowledge daily in the store. I also recently completed the Center for Babywearing Studies Foundations course as a first step to becoming a Certified Babywearing Consultant and look forward to using this knowledge to further help my customers.
This loan is special because:
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Business Description
CLOTH is the first natural parenting store in the Center City Philadelphia area, offering products and services to eco and health-conscious parents.
Owners Angela & Shai Halperin first envisioned CLOTH in 2010 with the birth of their son.
As a cloth-diapering family, we found it difficult to find needed products close to home. With the discovery that our son was not the only cloth-diapered baby at the playground came the realization that our community needed CLOTH and we opened our doors in the spring of 2013. In 2014, our daughter was born and we have had so much fun testing the many new products that come through the store!
We offer a wide collection of cloth diapers, baby carriers, breastfeeding items, responsibly made toys and gifts, and organic skincare. CLOTH is also a gathering place and resource for the thoughtful parent, offering several workshops including childbirth classes, free cloth diaper workshops, free babywearing education and weekly toddler yoga by donation only! We also host 2 advocacy events annually: The Big Latch On (public breastfeeding awareness) and The Great Cloth Diaper Change (to raise awareness of the benefits of using cloth diapers). In these ways, CLOTH truly strives to be a community resource.
Customers can stop in 7 days a week to explore cloth diapers, try on a baby carrier with the guidance of experienced babywearing educators, and browse our selection of natural parenting products.
We’re thrilled to also offer CLOTH online where customers can shop, create or browse a gift registry, learn about cloth diapering, or check our calendar of events.
We plan to use our Kiva Zip loan to fund the start-up of our own line of handmade baby essentials, help us keep popular products in-stock, and purchase new area rugs for our workshop & play space!
What is the purpose of this loan?
Approximately $3000 will help us to purchase needed materials for the start-up of our own line of handmade baby goods. $500 will help us spruce up our workshop and play space with new area rugs and $6500 will be allocated for the purchase of popular items we sometimes have a hard time keeping in-stock due to quick sell-through and increased demand as our customer base grows.