We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kate Stewart. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kate below.

Hi Kate, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so one thing we think people don’t talk about nearly enough is investments – either time or money. What’s one of the best or worst investments you’ve made and what did you learned from the experience?

Starting a business, the best investment I made from the very beginning was great photography and branding. As the founder of Bauble Stockings, which are ornament-sized stockings with a BIG tradition, I knew education would be key to making sure customers understood these were not ordinary tiny stockings, but instead a way to make your Christmas merrier and more memorable. I had to make sure my brand could tell the story through pictures, and to this day, I still invest heavily in telling our story through images.

Kate, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Kate Stewart, and I live in Sandy Springs, Georgia, with my husband and two children. I started Bauble Stockings, a company based on a family tradition I grew up with, in 2018. Since then, we have sold over 40,000 Bauble Stockings and are carried in over 300 stores worldwide.

A Bauble Stocking contains, or has a clue to, the final present of Christmas, a grand finale to the holiday. They are each hand-stitched needlepoint, made for fair trade in Haiti.

The impact of the Bauble Stockings tradition is two-fold:

First, the recipient’s final gift being the most thoughtful, chosen gift for them, gives them a sense of belonging and feeling understood and seen by the gift givers. This is so important for our mental health and as a family, we always want our family members to feel and know how much we care for them.

Secondly, it brings together the gift givers- for my family, my children shopping with my husband for something special just for me, to let me know how special I am to them, is huge for them. My husband talks with them about all the special things I do for the family and what makes me special and what I would like as a person, not just a mom, or a cook, or a chauffeur, or a “worker” as my kids call my job. It makes my kids think about who I am and this brings so much more appreciation in our home.

As for the history of the tradition, growing up, my mom always received the last gift of Christmas as a thank you for all she’d done that year, and it, or a clue to it, was found in her needlepoint stocking that hung on our tree.

My dad called it her “Bauble Stocking” because on a good year it was a bauble, a piece of jewelry. The tradition of brainstorming for this gift with my dad and older brothers was always my favorite part of Christmas- seeing mom’s face was an added bonus!

This tradition was very important to all the memories I made around Christmas, and learning that not all families had Bauble Stockings made me realize it was a tradition that needed to be shared.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Each stocking is 100% hand-stitched and finished. In 2018, we moved our production to a community of single moms in Haiti. This organization, Good Threads Needlepoint, which is a certified BCorp. I found them after over 2 years of searching for a fair trade partner and 1000s of Google searches. NEVER GIVE UP! I flew to meet my team, which I think is so important, and interviewed them. Phrases like “I am respected here” and “I am paid fairly here” were common in our interviews. This was so important to me.

The women are paid the equivalent of school teachers and nurses. They originally began stitching needlepoint belts to provide stability in their homes so their children could attend school. Since most jobs available were manual labor, these women were unable to find work so their children kept having to drop out to make money for the family.

Since beginning in 2013, the community has grown to over 1000 stitchers. The community has built a school for over 120 children, many of whom will be the first person in their family to be able to complete high school.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I think showing your face on social media is critical to growing and creating brand loyalty. You have to get over any embarrassment factor- just do it. Share your story, and not just the good stuff! Your most loyal customers will become dear friends and supporters who you may or may not meet in real life!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.baublestockings.com
• Instagram: baublestockings
• Facebook: BaubleStockings
• Linkedin: BaubleStockings

Image Credits
Kathryn McCrary