If I could turn back time (sorry if that landed you a Cher earworm) I would write my PhD thesis about the online communities and brands that are the wrapping world as I find the whole thing fascinating. Instead I’m doing something much more work applicable and making a few media shorts about it instead. But that is the subject for another post.
I think of myself as a bit of a social misfit. At school I was never part of the cool girls groups. Slightly podgy, a bit intelligent and probably seeming a little aloof (read awkward) I was also briefly bullied. So I learned pretty quickly to tread my own path. Sure enough I found my tribe and they were similarly misfit-like. Perhaps to others we seemed slightly cool as we drove out of school at lunchtime to hang out and skip classes. Maybe not, I didn’t care and I don’t particularly now. If I can summarise it, for those born in the eighties, I will never, ever be a Heather.
In many ways I have found the wrapping world to work similarly and, drawing on Heather (all of them), it is made up of the Heathery cliques who strive for popularity, those that tootle along doing their own thing, those that use wrapping to replace something lost or forgotten inside (identity) and eccentrics like me who like to perv over the fabrics and tart about the brands feeling a bit passionate about it all. I know this is all a gross simplification of actual community members but it serves my purpose for a shorthanded explanation.
I finally found my tribe I suppose (in as much as I ever will) and indeed it contains a smaller group of similar misfits. The tribe has driven a lot of my thoughts and writing about market value and my passion for brands and wraps. It contains a group of women who I have laughed with, mucked about with and met in real life so I can give them a big kiss and say “I’m SO PLEASED to meet you”. In essence it perhaps contains a sense of longevity beyond just the world of babywearing and in the world of immediate social interaction I think that is something to treasure.
Today I felt more than ever at odds with the wider babywearing world and the Heathery dominance of the dead-eyed approach to market value. I don’t really have the words to express how I feel except that it is a kind of grief. I don’t love drama so I channelled my llama to create a new wrap design instead. It’s called ‘A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”. I reckon it’ll fly off the shelves.
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