To celebrate our 8 year birthday we are giving away 8 – $100 Tea gift certificates on Facebook from May 17th – 24th.  Celebrate with us and help us reach 8000 “likes” by Saturday May 22nd and we will give 20% off on our site!

Daily Tea has always been a favorite for boys with its cool, stylish graphic tees and comfy, 100% cotton knit pants.  To ensure that little boys could continue wearing our easy, fashionable styles, we now offer Daily Tea up to size 8. Our first spring Daily Tea collection, Seoul Play offers a plethora of great designs inspired by the lifestyles and traditions in Korea – such as the fire blazing dragon that adorns a double-decker tee and the scooter that travels from front to back of a short sleeved tee. A multi-color stripe hoodie and polo, with matching knit pants and shorts complete this stylish collection.

Girls will love the amazing selection of modern styled dresses, tops, and leggings in an array of colors. Raspberry and lily pad green prints accented with indigo and blues warm up the wardrobe as we transition from winter to spring.

In long‐lasting, extra soft knits, Daily Tea offers great value through outfit versatility. Separates are priced under $30 and multiple‐piece sets for girls range between $55 and $129 and between $59 and $95 for boys. Learn for yourself how to take a six‐piece Daily Tea set and create nine different outfits.

The Daily Tea line now starts at THREE MONTHS and goes up to SIZE EIGHT for both girls and boys.

Tea Collection has re-introduced their original Eternal Layette, well-known styles and prints from Tea’s first collection in 2002.

The entire Eternal Layette collection of baby clothes is now made with exceptionally soft Pima Cotton.  The Chinese sweater jacket features a distinctive piqué stitch and mother of pearl buttons. The Lotus print in pearl pink and dove gray is inspired by vintage Japanese textiles.  The Lotus collection includes a footed one-piece, a wrap jacket and pant, a baby onesie, and a swaddling baby blanket.  Prices range from $29 for the footed one piece to $145 for a six piece set, making the perfect gift for new babies.

For our Spring Collection, our design team set off to explore South Korea to gather our inspiration for the season. This was very exciting, as I really knew very little about this country…and South Korea didn’t disappoint. In Korea, Isabelle, Tami and I found a uniquely vibrant, energetic culture and a land of exuberant color, ornate architecture and beautiful artisanal crafts. Enjoy!

Laura Boes

VP of Design

It’s hard to imagine a place that bustles more than Seoul, home to the 1988 Summer Olympics, and the fifth largest city in the world. Everyone contributes to the energy and excitement… we heard so many parents urging their little ones along with a hearty “Gaja Gaja!” (“Hurry up Hurry up!”), rushing from one place to the next. This playful saying inspired our Gaja Gaja! t-shirt.

In Seoul, we did a lot of exploring with the Kims, Tami’s extended family. They introduced us to Kimchee, the quintessentially Korean side dish of pickled vegetables that’s eaten every day at breakfast, lunch and dinner. We love spicy food, so we fell in love with this dish and decided to honor this staple in the national cuisine with our kimchee boy’s tee.

We wandered in and out of Seoul’s distinct, charming neighborhoods with the Kims, and discovered Insadong, a traditional arts and crafts street. We found shop after shop selling traditional crafts like Hanji, handmade Korean paper, used for everything from masks to clothing to furniture. Here, Isabelle and I found the inspiration for our Hanji floral dress.

Through our wanderings, we also noticed wonderfully ornate doorknockers at the entrance of homes as well as temples. The knockers were shaped like dragons’ heads to protect against evil spirits, and we incorporated them into our Heem Dragon polo.

At Dongdaemun Market, the largest shopping center in South Korea, we found many examples of Hanbok, traditional curved, high-waisted dresses worn at festivals and celebrations. This iconic, elegant design inspired the proportions of many of our Spring dresses.

We were also charmed by the resourcefulness of the traditional craft of Jogakbo, the art of patching together leftover scraps of colorful fabric for everything from blankets and clothing to wedding gift wrap. Two of our favorite dresses in this Collection are inspired by this patchwork tradition.

As we traveled throughout Korea, we climbed steep stairways to find intricate detail and beautiful colors in ornate ancient temples. In Gyeong Ju, Korea’s historical and cultural center, we were awed by Bulguksa Temple– particularly the geometry of gridded doors and the beautifully painted floral patterns, which inspired us to create textured plaids and colorful prints.

We are so pleased to share our new collection, inspired by our journey to Korea. Enjoy!

Tea Collection and Due Maternity have teamed up this holiday season to offer moms a $1000 Baby and Me Giveaway. The lucky winner will be drawn on December 1st to win $1000 gift certificates to each www.DueMaternity.com and www.TeaCollection.com.

This amazing grand prize not only expands a mom’s maternity clothing wardrobe, it also allows baby to say “Hello, World” in luxe baby clothing - from super soft onesies, jacket & pant sets, swaddling blankets, and sweaters.

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.