How nice that you came shopping!
I am Marit, mother of 3 children, and the face behind Hugs & Things.
And that for over 10 years!
In 2013, I started a small business together with a babywearing consultant friend.
We wanted to sell all kinds of baby items, but we started making and selling items made of crocheted beads, which were intended for use on baby carriers and slings.
The name Hugs & Things dates from this period: The 'cuddly toys' because of the carrying/closeness of your child, and the 'things' because the range would continue to expand.
Because making so many crocheted beads takes an awful lot of time, and the number of orders quickly started to increase, we went looking for a nice addition, and for the first time we came into contact with silicone beads. What a top material that turned out to be!
In that first period, silicone beads were hardly known.
We therefore bought our beads through a Canadian web shop and made teething rings and pacifier cords from them ourselves.
My girlfriend unfortunately had to stop Hugs & Things, and I soon left crochet beads behind to continue with only silicone beads. It was now early 2015.
When I was increasingly asked where I got those beautiful beads from, I decided at some point to change course:
I started the first webshop with silicone beads in the Benelux (and I think even in the whole of Europe), and started buying directly from the factories. That quickly became a big success, and now it's been 9 years since I first bought silicone, and Hugs & Things has grown enormously!
What hasn't changed since I first started selling individual beads is that I still do it all myself.
When creating this website I had some help with the layout and transferring data, but all photos and texts are my own, I am responsible for all purchasing, I maintain the social media, I am solely responsible for packing and shipping and of course I do customer contact.
Many customers indicate that they find this a great advantage of ordering from Hugs & Things: you always know who you are dealing with, and I am available for you almost 24/7. (And yes, I still have to learn sometimes that this is not necessary on holiday…)
I find safety and service very important. You can read much more about safety elsewhere on this website, but I would like to say something about the service here:
I started this company out of love, and more than 10 years later I still work out of love. That means that I want to go very far in providing service, and in the first place I don't work to get rich, but because I love my work. I 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 you will have plenty of time to do so, and I prefer to solve problems before they arise. That means, for example, that I sometimes contact you if I think that the size of the beads in your order does not match what I think you are going to make, or that I quickly resend packages that are a few days late, so that you don't have to wait too long.
Since my divorce, I have to survive on the income from the company, but that has not changed the way I work.
So often I buy a lot of new things to make you happy, and only then do I realize that I have to make sure that there is something left for myself. Oops!
Are you missing something in the assortment (or a certain shape/print in a certain shape)? Please let us know!
I always want to see if I can arrange it for you!