How nice that you come shopping!
I am Marit, mother of 3 children, and the face behind Hugs & Things.
And that for almost 12 years!
In 2013 I started a small company together with a bearing consultant.
We wanted to sell all kinds of baby items, but we started making and selling items of crocheted beads, which were intended for use on wrapping bags and wraps.
From this period the name Hugs & Things: the "hugs" because of the wearing/the proximity of your child, and the "things" because the range would become increasingly wider.
Because making so many crocheted beads in the event of a lot of time, and the number of orders via-Via soon started to increase, we started looking for a nice addition, and we came in contact with silicone beads for the first time. What turned out to be a top material!
Silicone beads were hardly known in that first period.
We therefore bought our beads through a Canadian web store, and we made it ourselves, among other things.
Unfortunately my girlfriend had to stop Hugs & Things, and then I soon left the crocheted beads all the way behind me to continue with only silicone beads. It was now at the beginning of 2015.
When I was increasingly asked where I got those beautiful beads, I decided to change course at some point:
I started the first web store with silicone beads in the Benelux (and I think even throughout Europe), and went shopping directly at the factories. That soon became a great success, and now it is 11 years ago that I bought silicone for the first time, and Hugs & Things has experienced enormous growth!
What has not changed since I started selling loose beads for the first time is that I still do it all myself.
When creating this website, I had some help in terms of layout and transferring data, but all the photos and all texts are made of my hand, I am responsible for all purchasing, I maintain the social media, I am responsible for packing and sending and of course I do the customer contact with 2 morning a week.
Many customers indicate that they find that a big advantage of ordering at Hugs & Things: you always know who you have contact with, and I am available for you almost 24/7. (And yes, I sometimes have to learn that you don't have to go on vacation ...)
I think safety and service are very important. You can read much more about safety elsewhere on this website, but I want to say something about the service here:
I started this company out of love, and now, almost 12 years later, I still work from love. That means that I want to go very far in providing service, and in the first place not work to get rich, but because I love my work. I would like to think along with you, try to find out as much as possible for you so that you don't have to do it yourself (for example around safety), you can come shopping and then get plenty of time, and I prefer to get out problems before they arise. That means, for example, that I sometimes contact you when I think that the size of the beads in your order does not fit well with what I think you are going to make, or that I will soon send packages that have a few days of delay again, so that you don't have to wait too long.
Since my divorce I have to make ends meet from the income from the company, but that has not changed anything about my way of working.
So I often first buy a lot of new things to make you happy, and only then do I realize that I have to make sure that something remains for myself. Oops!
Are you missing something in the range (or a certain shape/print in a certain form)? Let us know!
I always want to see if I can arrange it for you!
