Memoir
Date Published: November 4th 2021
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Clipped is a quirky memoir about a new mother whose desperation to get her baby to sleep catapulted her into becoming an inventor and a small business owner—just before the world fell apart in 2008.
As a full-time mother and entrepreneur, Adrienne Alitowski rolled out her invention, blankyclip®, to retailers across the country, including over thirty stores in the Buy Buy Baby national chain. LA Parent Expecting and Kids Today both made blankyclip a “Top Pick.” The United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded her three utility patents and a trademark. All that fabulous glory aside, Adrienne also learned what it’s like to fly halfway around the world to a Chinese factory and to be pregnant, throwing up on the street just before an investor meeting. These experiences led her down a path to write this memoir about sticking to your vision and being open to finding gold in the muck.
The train is
packed, so I have to stand. In my sensible heels, but heels, nonetheless. With
my briefcase and luggage. I stick out like a sore American thumb. My feet hurt.
I’m starving. I’m dehydrated. I’m having cramps. I stand like this for about two
hours before a seat opens up just minutes before we arrive in Hong Kong.
I
get off the train. Gary has explained that the underground tunnel I’m in has an
exit that will lead me close to my hotel. I’m relieved to see signs in both English
and Cantonese. I’ve been in this subway station before, when I splurged on some
earrings, but I didn’t really take it in. There are expensive shops everywhere,
although they’re all closed. Clinique makeup. Benetton. Designer everything. All
so brightly lit and clean. Who knew there could be such fancy shopping in a
subway station?
I’m
overjoyed to find the entrance to the Renaissance Hotel. After I check in, I
immediately order room service. Something recognizable. Pasta. I take a shower.
Dinner arrives. I take one bite and pass out, my face inches from my plate.
The
next morning, I have a meeting with Vincent and Nicole at Li & Fung. My
blanket order is already underway, but it’s nice to meet them and establish
more of a relationship.
Vincent says, “We
can get anything you want made.”
Nicole chimes in.
“Just let us know what you want, and we’ll find a factory that can do it.”
Their English is
perfect, and the Li & Fung offices are super snazzy. They’ve got displays
of many of the products they manufacture or source, and there are a lot of them.
The lighting is white-blue cool, and the floors are polished, slick and
gorgeous. I’m in another world here in Hong Kong from the one in Shenzhen—just an unbearable train ride away.
I arrive and learn
that the factory owner’s wife stayed and worked on the prototypes until late in
the night, and three new designs are finished. The bear’s face now looks like a
bear’s face, the duck’s hands now go in the right direction, and the sheep
looks cuter than ever. We can’t speak a word to each other, but she can see how
pleased I am. I had to come to China to do this. Hard to believe what got
accomplished in twenty-four hours. I visited the factory that’s going to make
my blankyclips. I helped design and create the product I’m now going to sell. I
peed in a hole in the floor. Mind-blowing.
I’m
delighted to be back on the long train ride to Hong Kong, my work in Shenzhen
done. There was so much discomfort dealing with the smoky office area, the incredible
thirst, the language barrier, and the overall uneasiness of being in a factory
where the workers are hunched over sewing machines and I’m the demanding
American businesswoman. I decide to celebrate my victorious journey by treating
myself to dinner at Nobu in the InterContinental Hotel. Oh, the shame of it, but
seeing the Hong Kong harbor lights and the ferries going by while I’m reading a
book and dining on the most amazing sushi ever really does not suck.
In
the morning, I meet with Intertek to discuss the safety testing my product
needs before it can be sold in the U.S. They are the experts of safety testing,
and I find out what the tests are and how much they cost. Intertek will take my
product and bang it around and do God knows what to it to see if it holds up.
My main concern is that I pass the ASTM F963 test “for birth and up.” I’ll need
to put a tag on the blankyclips, and that tag has to say that they’ve passed
this test, which means they are safe for babies in the U.S., which in turn
means I can sell them in the States. The Orthodox guys haven’t told me I need
this test. They haven’t really been organizing much for me, and I wonder what
would happen with my product if I didn’t take it upon myself to find these
things out.
My
time in China is almost over. I can’t wait to get back to my family. Peter has
decided to meet me at the airport before my flight for a wrap-up. He feels good
about the progress we made at the factory. “It’s very hard to understand the
kind of design changes you wanted by talking about it on the phone,” he says. “The
factory is happy to have this job, but mainly because they are looking forward
to the giant order you will place when you begin selling in Walmart. At this
point they are losing money on such a small ten-thousand-piece order.” He laughs a little to lighten
his bummer message.
“Oh, yes,” I tell him. “I’m
looking forward to selling blankyclips at Walmart too!” I let out a little
chuckle.
“We want an
order for millions of blankyclips!” he says. And now his laugh is even more committed.
We are both laughing, but the
two of us have no idea how funny this conversation truly is.
About the Author
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