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Petit Ami & Zubels

Franklin Park, ILBrand · Retailer · Kids and baby

25 years ago, my brother (Jeff Stone) and I (Robert Stone), stepped in to take over the family business. Our father, Alan Stone, had been creating and manufacturing traditional children’s clothing for over 20 years here at Renzo Company. He sold Italian knit garments and blankets but found a niche in the market which led him to create a traditional brand called Petit Ami. Petit Ami’s heirloom quality garments use old sewing techniques like hand smocking and hand embroidery. My father not only filled this niche of traditional children’s clothing, but he created a company with a very loyal customer base selling to over 3000 specialty stores and small department stores. Now our Petit Ami brand has been bringing special heirloom quality children’s clothing to its customers for over 50 years. Zubels? Well, I started my career in the toy industry so when I decided to join my brother in taking over the family business it only seemed natural to try our luck at designing toys. Having made numerous trips to many different countries looking for factories that could carry on our smocking tradition, we found that our own factories in the Philippines had a special talent that went undiscovered for years. At the time they were knitting sweaters for us, but we stumbled upon something unique. They could knit on personal sized knitting machines and hand craft dolls. These amazing artisans (whose story I will tell below) work together to hand-craft our Zubels as well as sew each little detail on by hand. In addition to that, they impress us every time we design a new one. Born in the Midwest and hand made in the Philippines and beyond, these Zubels dolls are our babies. We love them all!