4 Local Makers to Check Out for Sustainable Kids’ Gifts
From the artist to the fashionista, shop these Philly-area makers for eco-friendly goodies.
Shop for sustainable kids’ styles and playthings from these four local makers. / Photograph by Nell Hoving Dixon
Level-up your little one’s toy box and closet with sustainable, eco-friendly — and timelessly cool — goods by these four local makers.
For the Budding Clotheshorse
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Though the namesake owner started out designing adult pieces from the old-school textiles that inspire her, Nicole Rae Styer Boutique now holds a capsule collection of re-dyed and embellished baby and kids’ clothing. Check out Styer’s Passyunk storefront for an array of repurposed vintage apparel and sweet sports tees.
Nicole Rae Styer Boutique, 1822 East Passyunk Avenue.
For Kids Who Appreciate the Classics
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Get back to basics at Lapp’s Toys, a family-owned Lancaster toy shop dating back to the ’70s. Its vast collection of sustainable Baltic birchwood pieces includes creative learning games for toddlers and pre-school children as well as furniture and toys for early-elementary-age kids (oh, and that adorable white rocking horse, too).
Lapp’s Toys, 2220 Horseshoe Road, Lancaster.
For the Style-Setter
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Gone are the tattered tulle tutus of your childhood closet. Namita Reddy’s Wynnewood-based clothing brand, Samsara Sari (named for the Sanskrit term meaning “cycle of rebirth”), upcycles vintage saris sourced directly from their previous owners into one-of-a-kind skirts so pretty, you’ll wish they came in adult sizes.
$76 each at samsarasari.com.
For the Future Muralist
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Out of a huge new studio in the Italian Market, Margaux DelCollo and the team at Twee turn out eco-friendly reinventions of childhood classics. Their handmade sidewalk chalks—which use natural minerals like gypsum and contain mica in place of microplastic glitter—come in shapes like sushi, succulents and doughnuts.
From $12 at tweemade.com.
Published as “Forever Young” in the May 2022 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
