Ali Magazine is a new bi-monthly publication that speaks to the female entrepreneur and actually remembers that she is a woman. It’s business, beauty, life, and style for women in business, and is an intelligent, fun, perceptive and riveting read. Each edition boasts a rich and eclectic mix of innovative ideas, essential tips, and successful strategies to help their readers’ businesses grow and flourish.

We’re honored that Ali included the Bucklette in their second issue. Thanks Ali!

Ali Magazine features the Bucklette in their February 2009 issue

Have you ever read a book that made you want to sell everything to trot around the globe? Or move to a foreign country so you could spend your days reading, painting and immersing yourself in the culture of a worldly neighbor?

Right now I’m reading Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, a set of memoirs about his early years as a writer and part of the American expatriate circle of creatives living in Paris in the 1920s. It’s an intimate account of what seemed to be a magical time, and a rare glimpse into the lives of some incredibly talented people: Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Throughout the book are specific addresses of the cafes, bars and hotels that Hemingway frequented, and can still be found today. Perhaps a trip back to Paris is in order?

Summer’s not over and I have a few additional inspiring books on my list to tackle:

Worldchanging: A Users Guide for the 21st Century by Alex Steffen. “A groundbreaking compendium of the most innovative solutions, ideas and inventions emerging today for building a sustainable, livable, prosperous future.” (from Amazon.com)

The Living City by Frank Lloyd Wright. America’s greatest architect illustrates his vision of an idea social order.

A Venetian Affair by Andrea di Robilant. The long, forbidden love affair of a Venetian nobleman and an English beauty. Drawn in part from letters discovered by the author’s father in his ancestral palazzo on the Grand Canal.

What have you read this summer? Email us at info@bucklette.com or post on the Bucklette Blog. We’d love to hear from you.

The girls here at Bucklette headquarters wear a lot of dresses in the summer. And we recently found this new line called Leifsdottir brought to you from the folks at Anthropologie. With layered ruffles, a soft silhouette and “inky orbs bouncing amid cherry-red roses and chinaberry vines”, the Fey Grove Dress ($348) is equal parts fun and feminine. Shown with the Bucklette Buckle and Belt.

Stay tuned for more of our Lookbook Series where we’ll suggest ways to wear both the Bucklette Buckle and the Bucklette Clip-On. And if you’re rocking a Bucklette and would like to share, email a photo to info@bucklette.com. We may include it in our Lookbook on the Bucklette Blog.

As a small company that creates its own products, we can tell you from experience that it can be quite challenging to manufacture in the United States. Consumers have come to enjoy and ultimately expect lower and lower prices for goods, forcing businesses to continually look for cheaper alternatives. Most often, those alternatives are in developing nations where wages are far below American standards.

That’s not entirely a bad thing. The global economy has enabled countless people to earn an honest living, build homes and send their children to school. But to say American industry has been deeply affected is an understatement.

Currently, the Bucklette is made in the U.S.A. and we’re very proud of that. We work with an American company for the belts, the packaging and the two new product lines we’re working on will be produced within 200 miles of our offices in Philadelphia. But it was extremely difficult finding those manufacturers, and ultimately a personal choice.

It’s not hard to find great American-made products. They may cost a little more, but if demand for these products increases, production costs will come down and a chance for manufacturing to return to the States in a very promising way. That would mean work for a lot of people.

2009 is indeed time for change… It may take serious effort, but the possibilities are exciting. We would love to hear about your favorite American-made products. Email us your comments and questions at info@bucklette.com. Or post your opinion, feedback and contacts on the Bucklette Blog.