May 12, 2004

Moms’ Magic Touch Takes Taggies to the Top

Elmira Native Julie Dix to Give Keynote Speech at YWCA Fundraiser

Here’s the fairy tale many a mom dreams of: Quit the job, invent a kid-friendly product that sells like mad, and enjoy the children while reaping astonishing material and psychological success.

Every now and then, the fairy tale comes true. Just ask Julie Dix andDanielle Ayotte, the young moms behind Taggies® – colorful fleece blankets edged all around with the small, satiny tags that little ones love to rub – and winners of.iParenting Media’s “Hottest Products of 2004” Award.

Elmira native Julie Dix returns to her hometown on June 9 as keynote speaker for the YWCA of Elmira and the Twin Tiers’ tenth annual “A Tribute to Women” fundraising luncheon. Starting time for the luncheon is 12:00 noon. In keeping with the YWCA’s mission of empowering women and eliminating racism, the contributions of outstanding women are recognized at these events. Nominees are submitted by Elmira area businesses and are chosen through a competitive, written application process. This year’s honoree is Rabbi Rachel Smookler of Congregation Shomray Hadath.

Judith Clovsky, CEO of the YWCA of Elmira and the Twin Tiers, explains why Dix was invited to be this year’s keynote speaker. “We are constantly surprised by the qualities of the people who are products of this community, and we have made an effort to ask them to return to speak to us. This year we have decided to also recognize a high school girl for her leadership qualities and, as a result, thought it would be very appropriate to invite a young entrepreneur from Elmira to return to her hometown as the speaker.”

Less than five years after their creation, Taggies have topped 2 million in annual sales while providing countless hours of comfort for children. The Taggies product line has expanded to include plush toys, travel toys, pillows, and several sizes of blankets. And the runaway success of Scholastic Publications’ soft-cover "My First Taggies® Book: Sweet Dreams" led Scholastic to follow up with a new soft-cover sensation, “My First Taggies® Book: I Love You,” to be released in September 2004.

Julie Dix, an early-childhood educator by training, noticed after the birth of one of her children that the smooth tags or labels attached to baby blankets often held more tactile fascination than the blankets themselves. A deft seamstress, Dix improved on a soft baby-size blanket by sewing brightly colored loops of ribbon all around its edges. Her toddler loved her blanket’s new "Taggies" – and when the mothers in her playgroup saw her creation, they loved it, too."

I was making Taggies late into the night when Danielle joined the playgroup – thank heaven!" Dix recalls, laughing. Ayotte, who before motherhood had worked in banking and healthcare administration, brought an entrepreneurial bent to Dix’s concept. She immediately saw the potential in Taggies – and thus was born the Taggies partnership.

In classic entrepreneurial fashion, the pair worked from their homes, stacking boxes of product in their garages and praying the babies wouldn't cry during an important conference call. Today, with six children between them and a Taggies staff of 23 working from a real office, Ayotte and Dix still stagger their work hours to make sure they're available when the children need their moms.

Their children were still in arms when the manufacturing demands of the Taggies enterprise outgrew Dix’s sewing machine. Keeping operations close to home, the partners contracted with Massachusetts factories that continue to produce much of the product line. Today, even after some expansion to overseas plants, Dix says firmly, "we’re absolutely fanatical about quality control, especially anything that affects safety. You’ve never seen such well-sewn fabric products. Increasing sales and growing our product line are nowhere near as important to us as keeping standards high."

Like all small-business owners, the Taggies partners have encountered their share of bumps. There was their first big order of ribbons, which arrived COD. "We had no idea how much we’d ordered," Dix confesses, "and we had to call our husbands at work and ask them to pull together $500 right away to pay the UPS guy. They hadn’t really realized what we were getting into – well, neither did we! But they were incredibly supportive, then and now, and they came up with the cash without a moment’s hesitation."

Then there was the night of Dix’s hospital epiphany. "Julie took her son to the emergency room, and there were so many sick, crying children,"Ayotte recalls. "Her little boy was OK, but she felt so bad for all those other children that she went out to her car, brought inall the Taggies she had, and gave them out to the kids. It was so touching – but it was also our entire stock of Taggies!

The inventory recovered, and the incident led to the company’s Random Acts of Kindness program, which invites customers to contribute to a fund designated for donating Taggies to ill or impoverished children. Taggies matches every donation, and in the past two years the program has reached out to needy children through 18 different hospitals, charitable organizations, and philanthropic foundations.

Today, as the Taggies partners oversee expansion into the European market, the fairy-tale feeling abides. "To tell the truth, we’re still pinching ourselves over all this," Dix says. "We call it 'tag-mania' because there's something magical about the simplicity and lovability of Taggies. Kids can't resist them, and parents appreciate their comforting, sleep-inducing qualities."

All Taggies products meet or exceed all voluntary standards and mandatory regulations set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and American Society for Testing and Materials for children's blankets and toys, in addition to meeting Canadian and European standards.

The Taggies product line includes small and large fleece blankets, plush toys, pillows, crib sets and the soft-cover Scholastic book "My First Taggies Book: Sweet Dreams." Taggies products are sold at more than 4,000 independent specialty shops nationwide and in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Taggies are also available through a dozen catalogs, including Red Envelope and Lillian Vernon. “My First Taggies® Book: Sweet Dreams” is sold at Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, Borders, Barnes & Noble and other mass marketers. Taggies products may be ordered online at www.taggies.com and by phone at 1-877-4-TAGGIE.

For more information about TAGGIES, please contact:
Elizabeth Waldman Frazier
WALDMANIA! Public Relations
Telephone: (415) 334-2787
waldmania@comcast.net

Back to Media page