Little Citizens hoodie

We are thrilled to announce our annual online event contributing proceeds from sales made on www.teacollection.com to benefit our partner, The Global Fund for Children (www.globalfundforchildren.org) – an organization that works to advance the dignity of vulnerable children and youth by supporting and strengthening grass root groups and harnessing the power of books, films, and photography.

The three day event with be November 4th, 5th, and 6th.  Tea Collection will donate 15% of all sales of children’s clothing from its website to GFC.

Tea Collection also offers exclusively designed tee’s, bodysuits, and a new shoulder bag in which 50% of the proceeds from these items are donated to the GFC.

We thought it would be fun to share some trends that we have seen in children’s special occasion clothes this holiday season.

Festive outfits that can be worn beyond the holiday season – Parents are seeking special occasion outfits for their children this holiday season; however they are looking for styles that are not the traditional red and green.  Especially in the current economic climate, it is important the pieces could also work for a birthday party, a nice dinner, or any other special occasion that requires a dressier outfit.  Tea’s holiday dresses are perfect – they offer extraordinary elegance and style that can be worn for special occasions any time of the year.

East Meets West

East Meets West – East meets West fusion styling has been essential to this fall’s fashions and is also showing up on runways in Spring/Summer 2010 collections.  Inspired by the ancient Japanese practice, Shinto Traditions are fashions for children up to size 8 that incorporates kimono inspired styling and symbolic prints.  The Shippo Woven Shirt is a modern printed shirt with contrast cuff with a pattern that represents the “seven treasure” in Buddhism.

Relaxed, yet refined holiday fashions - Children love to be comfortable, so it is important to find holiday outfits that are special yet practical for day parties or running around at grandma’s house.  The Meiji Floral printed french terry dress will be well suited until spring with its sporty attitude and floral femininty, perfect for signature Tea

layering with Purity tees and leggings (layering is another trend).  For boys, the Satori Stripe Sweater offer luxe comfort in pimo cotton with sporty styling, paired with the Wabi Cargo pant; he will be ready for any occasion.

First, the itinerary: four days in Kyoto, an overnight in a “wooden” mountain town, then in Tokyo for more exploration at urban-energy pace. Emily describes this trip as almost spiritual, honoring the culture that inspired Tea’s founding aesthetic seven years ago. Enjoy the sights and senses of the Fall Collection and learn how Japanese culture affects Emily—profoundly.

So why Japan for Fall 2009?

The aesthetics of Japan are part of our soul.  Their innate simplicity and the cultural colors of indigo, black, and red move us immensely.  We visited temples and artisan workshops.  We instantly made connections between ancient traditions and the ceaseless innovation in everyday life.  Our pure enthusiasm is what we wanted to share.

Indigo Artisan: Aisenkobo

(more…)

In March we launched our first Little Citizen of the Month Contest asking our Facebook fans to submit pictures of their children wearing Tea.  We had an overwhelming response with more than 650 entries. Now with two months behind us I can say this contest is truly a treat. What a joy!

Aside from picking a winner, which is no easy task, I have the privilege of going through hundreds of pictures of beautiful children, full of energy and enthusiasm. The icing on the cake, they are all wearing Tea!

When I look through the submissions, I am captivated by their irresistible, little faces. Whether playing at the park, with their friends, at home or traveling the world, these children inspire, warm and delight us by just being themselves… Oh a child’s life.

What could be cuter than a darling little one eating ice cream, comfy and casual in stripes.

Or one traveling the world to find that there are doors her same size, cool as can be in Daily Tea.

And what’s not to love about our favorite Liberdade dress from our winner’s picture (at the beginning of this blog post), layered or worn by itself, styled to a T!

It has been such fun seeing vintage Tea, favorites from the past which I absolutely adored then and still love today! As well as our new spring collections modeled so well by our littlest fans, too cute! I love different collections worn together and girls mixing it up with boy’s pieces. The captions are thoroughly enjoyable. They are insightful, true at heart and many make me laugh out loud.

Thank you so much for sharing with us. And please, please keep submitting, you never know your child could be our next Little Citizen of the Month!!!

Salut!

Walking the streets of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is the ultimate stimulation of the senses. At any given moment, one can see soaring landscapes, hear the rhythm of a table samba streaming from a café, take in the fragrant smell of tropical flowers and dense foliage, and covering the walls of buildings are beautiful and colorful street paintings.

For a Designer, the patterns, the colors, the styles and characters are the tastiest candy an eye could see. Of course I instantly imagine a color palette, a pattern for a dress, a graphic for a tee!

shown above the Paulista Dress

Shown above the Rio Dress and the Zaba Halter Dress embroidery

Shown above the Oscar Stripe Polo

We were lucky enough to happen upon a piece done by Sao Paulo Artists Os Gemeos (the twins). Now world reknowned, these twin brother artists have come to signify brazilian graffiti art. Their artistic subject matter ranges from political statements to depicting characters from brazilian folk tales and literature.

Their work has become a huge inspiration for color palette and pattern.

Shown above the Cariocas Shirt

In an interview with Art Crimes, the twins were asked if they would ever do a children’s story book? They replied, “maybe…working with kids is very cool and rewarding.” I couldn’t agree more, I sure hope they make one.

Spring is here, and so is the beautiful Tea Collection – a favorite in our store here in San Francisco… especially because they are local!

Beyond coveting this brand because of their consistent & exceptional quality, as well as the cohesive theme through and through… we wanted to share some of our season’s favorites!

Spring 1 is beautiful with it’s indigo colors. The Kasato Stripe Dress and Shirt, as well as the Heitai Sweater (which has a bit of a hip spin on a classic style) have been so well received by our customers. It’s perfect for a day at the beach…and a definite must for siblings to wear
on those family photo days!

The Santa Teresa dress (in the Spring 2 delivery) is a store favorite because it’s a fantastic “girlie” summer dress and it’s a clever translation to their brazil-samba theme.

And the jeans. The price point is spot on, the quality is present and the fit is slimming. With the increase need for skinny jeans these days.

But of course, we can’t forget Daily Tea. Always a popular grab for both our mothers and those baby shower gift givers! The price point is affordable, the quality always present & the summer styles are sooooooo cute. Especially the wave pattern for boys & ALL the dresses for the girls.

We can’t wait for our summer delivery to arrive, hard to believe it’s that time of year yet again. Hello beach and all those summer getaways….

Hurray to Tea for their consistency, clever designs, & top notch quality!!!!

-Elizabeth Leu, Fiddlesticks

I love the new Spring Break Daily Tea sets for boys and girls. The Kiela Set offers 5 great pieces just in time for warmer weather: a short sleeve dress, a sleeveless dress, a cute tee, sporty shorts, and great layering leggings. These 5 pieces make 7 different outfit combinations- all for only $95. For boys, I recommend the Grady Set. For $129, the set includes 7 pieces that can make 11 different outfit combinations of fun graphic tees, shorts and knit pants. I especially love the short sleeve hoodie that will be a great layering piece for spring and summer.

We’re looking for our first Little Citizen of the Month! Upload a photo of your little one dressed in Tea on our new Facebook Page. Each month we will select a little citizen to win a $200 gift certificate to spend here at Tea!

To win you must be on the Tea Stay in Touch list. Also, please include in your caption what you love about Tea or why your little one is a little citizen of the world.

Good news!  You can now keep up with Tea on Facebook and Twitter.  Become our Facebook fan here and follow us on Twitter here.  We will keep you in the loop about our sales, contests, clothes and news!

Back in the days when there was just my husband and I, we took turns with “cooking” dinner and by “cooking” dinner I mean walking to the kitchen drawer where we keep the take-out menus. “I’m cooking tonight. Do you want Thai food?”

Nothing like a baby to make you behave in oh so many ways. Luckily for baby Olivia, our granola-Berkeley friends sent over an amazing book called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Initially I flipped through it and it looked too complicated and utterly impossible to follow so I put it aside. Somewhere along the line I picked it up again for a quick reference. Our pediatrician told us that she was not getting enough iron so I referenced “the book” and found good food sources. I then found useful information after more useful information. This book is like having an elder at your fingertips. It is chock full of knowledge which ranges from how much should your baby eat, what should a 5 month old eat, a crash course in nutrition, play ideas, homemade silly putty and toddler (and grown-up) recipes…to name a few. Tonight I pulled out “the book” because I couldn’t remember how long to microwave corn on the cob while in the husk. Viola. 3 minutes and turn halfway through. Today, Yaron’s food index is the most valuable part of the book for me at this point in my 5 year olds life.

In the end, I never bought baby food from the store. I followed Yaron’s suggestions to puree, pour into ice cube trays and freeze. It was easy, it felt good and I saved money.