The social impact and customer loyalty inspired by yarn

Creative Retail Talks with Clint O'Rear

A comment on the Tonight Show leads to a 30-year partnership with Vanna White. The mindset of giving back and making a difference has led to #HATNOTHATE, donations to charities like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a wider spectrum of skin tones (Skein Tones), and sustainability.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Lion Brand has stayed in the family because family members like Adam have wanted to come back and work for the family business
• Lion Brand Yarn was selected as the outstanding family business in New Jersey
• Vanna White was a customer of Lion Brand’s and talked about knitting on Johnny Carson. Lion Brand then partnered with her, as she was very passionate about knitting and yarn
• The Lion Brand Yarn & Vanna White partnership has lasted 30 years and is still going, which has led to over $2 million being donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital
• The Hat Not Hate program has distributed over 92,000 hats to help fight against bullying - www.hatnothate.org
• Lion Brand has started a program called Skein Tones, where more colors of yarn are created to better represent the skin tones of people of color
• Lion Brand is working to make the manufacturing and disposable process of yarn as sustainable as possible

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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (stjude.org), leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

HatNotHate.org, #HATNOTHATE was launched in 2018 as an anti-bullying campaign founded by Shira Blumenthal. We encourage people to make, wear, and post handmade blue hats, adding #HATNOTHATE when sharing on social platforms. Hats are distributed to schools nationwide, educating students about the message of kindness. Check out the Blue Lemonade podcast.

Skein Tones (lionbrand.com), a modern neutral palette aiming to complement a wide spectrum of skin tones.

Sustainable Stitching Yarns (lionbrand.com), includes renewable and recycled fibers

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𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗟, Chairman of the Board of Lion Brand Yarns.

Read the Inc article How I Did It: David Blumenthal

Earliest yarn memory?

Going to the office at 54 Canal Street, at the corner of Canal and Orchard Streets, where we had offices and a warehouse. It was the tallest building on the Lower East Side of New York. I was about 7 or 8 years old and I would sweep the floors and empty the wastebaskets. Going into the office with my father was a really big deal for me.

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𝗔𝗗𝗔𝗠 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗟, VP Brand/Product Development and Digital at the Lion Brand Yarn Company.

You can reach Adam on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adblumenthal.

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𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢’𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting, has worked in the Retail industry since 2000. Clint and his team connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries for stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

For more insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry visit CreativeRetailTalks.com.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O’Rear at [e-mail].

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Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/