We’re often approached by parents asking for recommendations of where to go shopping for eco-friendly and ethical baby clothing and kids toys, so it’s with great excitement that we announce our affiliate brand partnership with Wild Dill. This online boutique features a curated selection of organic, fair trade, natural and made in the USA products for babies and toddlers made from sustainable materials such as organic cotton, bamboo fabric, sustainably harvested wood, and soy fibre.
Now we couldn’t just announce the partnership and leave it at that. We wanted to interview Tina Bar to learn what makes her tick and how she came to be the owner of this delightful business.
EWP: Wild Dill launched in 2008 and you took over ownership in 2014. Why did you decide to acquire this business?
Tina Bar: The story of how I came to be the new owner of Wild Dill is an interesting one but first I have to back a bit to my first foray into online business. After I had my first child I got really into researching organic products for babies and came across a beautiful brand of organic baby blankets and accessories in my husband’s home country of Israel. I arranged to meet the owners and offered to become a distributor for the US. They loved the idea since breaking into the US market was a goal of theirs.
Wild Dill owner Tina Bar with her sons.
Wild Dill organic rainbow gauze lovey with teething ring made of natural beech wood and 100% organic beeswax and coconut oil blend $22
Once I had a bunch of samples I started reaching out to boutiques and stores in the US to see if they would be interested in carrying the line. One of the those stores was Wild Dill, the owner wrote back and said she loved the line but was unfortunately planning to close the store for personal reasons. I just had a crazy idea to ask her if she would be willing to sell it to me and luckily for me she agreed. It was an easy transaction since she lived a few towns away from me so we met in person and arranged the sale and handoff.
After taking over I kept all the same principles of only selling products that are ethically made and meet at least one requirement of being organic, fair trade, natural or made in the USA. I had a lot of work to do modernizing the shopping cart and bringing in new products and customers, but I found that I really loved e-commerce and it was a better business direction for me than the distributor business.
Now I have the fun job of discovering and supporting eco-brands and making them accessible to moms worldwide through an easy-to-shop online boutique.
Natural wood shape stacking tree made from locally, sustainably harvested, solid hardwood maple handmade in Vermont, USA $34.
Banana natural rubber toy from Wild Dill, made from 100% natural latex taken hand painted with safe, natural food graded dyes $17.50
EWP: Highlights of running your business? What are you most proud of?
TB: I love sourcing new products and learning about the makers behind each brand. I am very proud of having added a big focus on Made In USA products to the store. We have a large problem here in the US with the influx of cheap goods from abroad and being able to support amazing businesses that are made here is very important to me.
EWP: There are other organic baby retail platforms, what makes your brand different?
TB: I don’t just follow the trends, I make sure every product in the shop has been researched and shown to be ethically made from quality materials and is something I would give to my own children.
[Note: Tina is mom to two little boys].
EWP: Switching the focus from your business to your personal sustainable lifestyle. What are your favourite green lifestyle brands and how you personally apply sustainability into your day-to-day routine?
TB: Brands I love for clothing are Eileen Fisher, Fair Indigo and Mata Traders. I like Seventh Generation for natural cleaning products. I am also vegetarian, recycle and try to shop responsibly with a focus on minimal packaging for food and household products.
EWP: You’re an entrepreneur and a mom, how do you unwind after a big work day?
TB: I love to relax with a cup of tea and watch Netflix with my husband after the kids go to bed. I also love to read a good book, British mysteries are my favorite!
Loved Organic Cotton Kids Tee $28
Pink Seal Organic Cotton Baby One-piece l $24
EWP: Best business compliment you’ve ever received?
TB:I love it when I meet customers in person at pop-up events and they can’t believe I run the business solo and also designed the website (all thanks to the amazing Shopify platform).
EWP: Influencers, books and films that you recommend for people who are just starting to live more consciously?
TB: My two favorites right now are zero waste advocate Lauren Singer of @trashisfortossers and ethical fashion advocate and Business With Purpose podcaster Molly Stallman of @stilllbeingmolly.
EWP: What are some things that you’d like customers to know that you rarely communicate or promote on social media?
TB: That I really love my customers and my little business!
EWP: Quotes you live by?
TB: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
– Maya Angelou
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” – Fred Roger
To learn more about Tina or browse the Wild Dill website, click here.
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Disclosure: As you will have guessed from reading the first paragraph, this post contains affiliate links haha! For more information about our policies, click here.
