HeadPeace: Fashion Trendy & Fulfilling Lives

By: Lindsay Theken, Owner of HeadPeace

HeadPeace headbands are designed by Lindsay Theken and made by a socially-ethical manufacturer that empowers the most marginalized in society to fresh starts and fulfilled lives.

My name is Lindsay. I am a stay at home mom and entrepreneur. Over the past 3 years, I have developed a headband company called HeadPeace. HeadPeace offers quality headbands for athletes, yogis, hippies and busy people! Why headbands, you ask? I love headbands. I couldn’t find the perfect headband in the marketplace, so I thought I’d create one. And I get to support one of the most amazing manufacturers on the planet. Purnaa’s mission is to empower individuals and communities to become whole and complete, free from the enslaving cycle of poverty. They do this by creating job opportunities for those whose marginalized status in society prevents them from getting work elsewhere. As a social enterprise, they make this mission their top priority, re-investing our profits to further Purnaa’s social impact.  Each day, in everything they do, they work towards their goal of creating ethical, dignified, and meaningful jobs for those in need. I absolutely cannot imagine what these women have been through, and it warms my heart to know places like Purnaa are out there helping them out—and I am very, very honored to be a part of that.

In the beginning, when I came up with the idea of starting a headband business, I really knew next to nothing about starting my own business. I did know my first step was finding someone to make them for me. I immediately began researching manufacturers overseas. I wasn’t too excited about working with the companies I discovered for a couple of reasons: broken English and unknown factory conditions. It simply didn’t sit well with me, not knowing how these factories operated and how they treated their employees. Not to say they weren’t great companies; I just wanted a more personal connection.

I am a firm believer of divine “coincidences.” A few days later, I was at a local gymnastics center, watching my little one in class. I had never seen the lady sitting next to me, so I introduced myself. I asked her if she was new to the area and she proceeded to tell me her family was back in Colorado visiting their family. Corban, Katrina and their kids live in Nepal and own a textile manufacturing company, called Purnaa. It was meant to be. We had them over, sat in our living room, and talked about product design.

The next few months were spent communicating back and forth via email and skype with my new business partners. Soon thereafter, the production process began. The first major hurtle was finding fabric, and it wasn’t an easy one to get over. Creating sound relationships with fabric suppliers outside of Nepal was a challenge. It took time to establish relationships with fabric manufacturers in Asia. After trial and error over many months, we were able to find a reliable and consistent source. Honestly, I wouldn’t say any of the product and business development was easy, for I had never done anything like this in my life. I put myself to work by watching webinars on starting your own business, reading business plan books and designing websites. I’ve learned there is an endless number of free resources out there to help a new entrepreneur like myself. It’s all about taking one step at a time. And that alone kept me going.

Over the course of the next year, we managed to get the headbands dialed in and reached a level of perfection. Since I launched HeadPeace in 2016, around 600 stores across the country have placed wholesale orders–including Natural Grocers, Sierra Trading Post, and CorePower Yoga.

Above Photo: Purnaa employees

HeadPeace has been an absolutely amazing journey thus far, and I am very excited to see what the future brings. It is the most amazing feeling to know I am not only helping support our family’s financial well-being, but I am making a difference in the world, by supporting a wonderful company in Nepal.

More on the Author:

Lindsay Theken, Owner of HeadPeace is an entrepreneur and stay at home mom. Lindsay created HeadPeace because she is a headband person, and she wanted to find a way to continue to stay at home with her kids. She designed HeadPeace headbands by combining a few of her favorite, most comfortable and fashionable headbands and she loves helping out people in need at the same time!

Check out HeadPeace at http://www.headpeaceheadbands.com/ and on Facebook.