For a lot of small companies, promoting a product isn’t merely about making a revenue, however reasonably fulfilling a larger mission. For Pipermoon, a Pacific Northwest-based blanket firm, that mission is to “reward hugs one blanket at a time.” 

And since launching its ecommerce retailer on BigCommerce three years in the past, Pipermoon is just getting began.

Impressed by the nostalgia of child blankets, Pipermoon presents teen- and adult-size blankets made out of a stretchy, weighted cloth. Whether or not a buyer goes by means of a tough season, staying within the hospital or combating insomnia, Pipermoon Blankets provide a supply of security and luxury for anybody who wants it. 

A Blanket #LikeaHug

In keeping with Kimberly Cannon, Founding father of Pipermoon Blankets, the enterprise obtained its begin for a special cause. 

Residing in a rural city, Cannon’s youngsters typically had lengthy, late-night bus rides getting back from highschool basketball video games on college nights. When she found that her daughter and her teammates had been sleeping on the ground of the bus, Cannon instantly noticed a necessity. 

She got here up with the concept of an adult-sized, simply washable blanket that would simply match within the youngsters’ duffle baggage whereas touring — and so grew to become Pipermoon Blankets.

However when the pandemic hit, the imaginative and prescient for Pipermoon took a special course. Amid the uncertainty and concern of the pandemic, a lot of Pipermoon’s prospects turned to their blankets as a supply of consolation, so Cannon and her crew took the concept and ran with it.

“Particularly when COVID-19 hit and everybody was social distancing, prospects would ship our blankets to their family members saying, ‘I can’t hug you in individual, so I’m gifting you my favourite blanket that’s identical to a hug,’” Cannon stated. “That truly grew to become our hashtag — #LikeaHug — as a result of our prospects directed us that manner.”

However this mission of consolation doesn’t cease with Pipermoon’s prospects. Cannon herself aspires to dwell out Pipermoon’s mission within the little moments of her day-to-day life. 

“I’m all the time go go go,” Cannon stated. “So I’ve lately been attempting to create rituals in my life like placing a blanket round me sitting on the porch, watching the sundown or with a cup of tea — simply attempting to be current and observe somewhat bit extra self care.”

Giving Again — One Blanket at a Time

From the day Pipermoon was born, Cannon knew she needed to make use of her enterprise as a technique to give again. 

“After I was in faculty on the College of Utah, I used to be volunteering on the Main Kids’s Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis,” Cannon stated, “and I observed day by day that there are such a lot of actions, items and packages for the kids which can be in long-term stays, however not fairly as many for youngsters.” 

For greater than 20 years, this situation caught in Cannon’s thoughts, and was later rekindled when an in depth household pal underwent remedy for mind most cancers. As a 14-year-old, he was capable of affirm precisely what Cannon had noticed in faculty — that whereas there have been actions and items accessible for the youngsters, they had been primarily designed for youthful youngsters.  

Realizing how a lot consolation their blankets had introduced different prospects, Cannon knew that Pipermoon was the right alternative to unravel the issue she had contemplated on for thus a few years. Right now, Pipermoon Blankets donates a proportion of its blankets to Main Kids’s Medical Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles and St. Jude Kids’s Analysis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

A Large Neighborhood of Small Companies

Wanting again on the final three years of Pipermoon, Cannon acknowledges that being a small enterprise proprietor is not any small feat — however you’re by no means alone.

When requested what recommendation she would give herself three years in the past, Cannon emphasised the significance of neighborhood. Connecting with different feminine small enterprise house owners by means of The Product Boss podcast, Cannon defined that the neighborhood of ladies is ready to discuss to one another by means of points that come up and stroll with each other by means of their very own enterprise journies.

“It’s actually vital to seek out folks which can be in the identical sort of business, who’re keen to speak to you and information you thru the entire challenges of proudly owning a small enterprise,” Cannon stated.

A Mission Fulfilled

Regardless of the challenges that include being a small enterprise, for Pipermoon, the one factor that makes all of it price it’s seeing their mission come to life.

“We’ve some mother and father which have autistic youngsters who’ve reached out to me to inform me that their little one slept for the primary time in 4 years,” Cannon stated. “That was an e mail I simply obtained final week and it simply made me cry. These are one of the best issues.”

Whether or not it’s listening to {that a} buyer used their blanket as a consolation throughout a tough time, or {that a} buyer’s little one or husband stole their blanket as a result of they cherished it a lot — Pipermoon desires its blankets to really feel #LikeaHug irrespective of the explanation.

“The most effective factor is while you see a repeat buyer order,” Cannon stated, “as a result of that your mission and what you’re attempting to perform is touching different folks’s lives, too.”

The Closing Phrase

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