Oliver + S Named Best New Ecommerce Website

Oliver + S has been named the winner of the 2013 Blades Ecommerce Award for Best New Website Feature.

Oliverands.com received this recognition at the Blades Ecommerce Awards, on March 7, 2013. Oliver + S was honored for the sleek, innovative responsive design framework powering its website. The framework allows for a seamless shopping experience across a variety of devices (computers, tablets, and smartphones) , as well as providing a streamlined and more economical way for the company to maintain its website while staying current and accessible with the ever-expanding array of consumer-driven technology.  

“Content is produced and updated only once, and then it’s available instantaneously on all devices and platforms that our customers choose to use,” said Todd Gibson, managing partner of Liesl + Co., parent of the Oliver + S brand. “This has resulted in significantly lower development and maintenance costs for us than if we had developed a separate mobile-only version of the site, and it allows our customers to interact with us equally well on whatever device they choose to use.”

The website also boasts another clever feature, “dress the paper dolls,” an interactive application that allows shoppers to dress paper doll images in a variety of Oliver + S outfits, the sewing patterns for which are for sale on the site. “Our branding and packaging is heavily reliant on our paper doll illustrations,” said Gibson, “and we wanted to convey this imagery and the fun of playing with the paper dolls on the website.”

The inaugural Blades Ecommerce Awards, sponsored by PayPal and Miva Merchant, was held in conjunction with MivaCon 2013, Miva Merchant’s 13^th annual user conference, at The Hyatt Regency in La Jolla, California.

About Oliver + S:

Oliver + S is a line of quality sewing patterns and fabrics for children’s clothing, designed and developed by the company’s founder, fashion designer Liesl Gibson. The company’s parent corporation, Liesl + Co., also produces Lisette, a line of sewing patterns and fabrics for women’s clothing, as well as Straight Stitch Society, a collection of patterns for gifts and accessories. For more information about Oliver + S, please visit http://oliverands.com/.

Facebook + Instagram = Facebook Camera App

Late last week, Facebook announced their new baby, Facebook Camera. Similar to Instagram (which Facebook recently purchased), the app lets you take quick photos, alter them (or not) with a dozen-plus filters, and share them with those you are connected to on Facebook.

You can easily save images to your phone and use pictures from your phone’s camera library. Batch uploads for a new album, or add them one at a time, if that’s better for you. Either way, it will post to your Facebook Wall.

Downloaded it and still don’t quite get it? The Verge crafted this video how-to for the app. You can read more about their take on the app on their site.

Facebook Camera is available for iPhones, iPads, and iPods only at this time with no word on an Android app.

Changing Terms with Pinterest

As Pinterest has exploded over the past six months, more and more people have questioned their all-encompassing Terms of Service. A close read left artists, designers, and photographers feeling a bit exploited and pinners wary of potential copyright infringement lawsuits. Despite what seems like a lengthy reaction time, Pinterest has finally made some changes.

On Friday, Marc 23, they announced on the blog and via email that they’ve made some changes that will go into effect on April 6, 2012. The Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy each underwent changes. The current terms state that by using Pinterest you grant them:

a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sub-license, to use, copy , adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view and otherwise exploit such Member content…

These terms caused more than a few folks to jump ship, but thankfully, Pinterest took these concerns and made some changes, including removing the perpetual right to sell. Starting April 6, the terms will state that by using Pinterest you grant them:

a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use, display, reproduce, re-pin, modify (e.g., re-format), re-arrange, and distribute your User Content on Pinterest.

Whether or not you choose to use Pinterest, I encourage you to read their new Terms of Service. It’s been re-written to be accessible and understandable to all of us non-lawyers.

Check it out and tell us, will it make a difference to you?

Five I Can’t Live Without with Kristin Link

When I interviewed Kristin Link of Sew,Mama,Sew! for her profile in the March issue of WebCents, I asked her:

What are the five Internet “tools” you can’t live without?

1. WordPress, which is the blog platform we use.

2. Facebook, because we’ve found it really great for communicating small bits of information. I also use it to follow some sewing blogs, and many other industry businesses. For example, I follow fabric manufacturers, sewing machine manufacturers, and lots of other fabric stores. It helps me keep a pulse on things pretty easily.

3. Pinterest is becoming more important to us every day. A big portion of our traffic is now coming from Pinterest and we also use it to bookmark ideas, follow trends, and find new contributors.

4. Google Analytics is important for us to track site stats.

5. Flickr, Twitter, and Google Reader are the three other tools we use, although not heavily. Still, we like to have them in our toolbox and turn to them fairly regularly.

Women: Celebrate You Today!

Every year, the world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8.

Here in the U.S., it has only recently begun to gain traction, but for many it’s an important date to mark women’s contribution. The Washington Post suggests 10 ways to celebrate:

1.Take the Day Off
2.Give Flowers to Women
3. Donate money to Women’s Causes
Read more…

And over at Forbes, Jennifer Winter shares her take on who you should really celebrate on this holiday.

As is tradition in many countries, for International Women’s Day, Google is sharing flowers. Ah, thanks.

“Women are leaders everywhere you look — from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.” -Nancy Pelosi