october 2, 2012

dear friends*

after much consideration, i've decided it's time for speesees to go *bye bye* and i am closing its doors. it has been a marvelous journey & if you might, indulge me while we take a mini trip down the speesees memory lane...

ten years ago, i sat down and drew out my ideas for the organic cotton baby clothing line i was inspired to create: i named it “speesees”, a playful take on how a baby might spell species (if a baby could spell), & my first designs were introduced on a line of oatmeal onesies featuring illustrations and phonetically-spelled animal species (‘chik, ‘kid, je-raf’). organic cotton clothing was an anomaly at the time (organic produce was just getting popular!), & it became my mission to create a fun, fair, & organic baby clothing company that offered high-quality, sustainably-manufactured, organic cotton garments to everyone. starting such an unusual company was a crapshoot, but at the very least, my friends' children would have something wonderful to wear.

flash forward ten years: today, i look around and can happily report that my mission has been fulfilled; *organic* products are now quite ubiquitous, & i have had the joy of being part of speesees’ growth and metamorphosis during an important movement of our decade. meanwhile, back at my home front, i have a new little human speesees of my own! he is my bundle of joy and i have the incredible opportunity to be his mommy.

with that, i’ve decided to close the speesees chapter. it has been an honor getting to know you and your beautiful little ones; thank you for the love, photos, and stories you have shared all these years. we are grateful to all the fabulous staff who breathed life and creativity into the brand. i’ve always said that if we were to have one big party, all of us, it would be pretty fabulous. thanks again for making speesees so much fun.

& while i’m closing this chapter, this isn’t bye- bye forever. i’m cooking up new projects; children’s illustrations & books, vintage pre-loved gear, and new clothing (of course). i am always happy to hear from you, & in the meantime, please stock up on all the speesees you can while you can (it’s the very last super-duper sale and everything is priced to go!) & i'll see you real soon. stay tuned!

xo*
rachel pearson
founder and designer

ps. time to cash in those gift certificates!

now that we've closed up 1415 valencia shop, we'd like to transfer some of the brick & mortar world into making your online speesees experience extra-special.

remember when artist micheline hegi made a gazillion origami cranes & hung them from our shop window? she made them out of the paper fabric of san francisco; chinese newspapers, muni passes, music sheets, recycled paper from scrap. big & small, each crane is totally unique & has a story, just like all of us speesees.

thousand origami cranes (千羽鶴 Senbazuru^?) is a group of one thousand origami paper cranes (鶴 tsuru) held together by strings. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. this makes them popular gifts for special friends and family. the crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy, & is said to live for a thousand years.

so, cranes for everyone! all online speesees orders will receive a crane (until they're gone); we'd like to share a ilttle piece of what was & is part of a larger whole.

xo*

little irma wanted to show us her favorite flock jumper all the way from germany!  we think she is just too cute.*

(& we'd love to visit :)

we recently had the pleasure of meeting with the lovely sabrina helas of milk and cookies photography who does fantastic, modern photoshoots with kids, babies, & families. 

here is a preview of a recent shoot she did right here in san francisco -- with all her frontier kids outfitted + ready to save the world in speeses. so fun!