Laundry disaster leads to successful wool product line

“baabaazuzu: Some kind of warm and wonderful” I first stumbled onto baabaazuzu woolens in Whitefish, Mont. The colorful one-of-a-kind mittens piled in a basket at a downtown shop were hard to ignore. Pieced from strips of recycled wool sweaters stitched together, they were the comfiest looking mittens I’d ever seen. I didn’t buy them that day but later wished I had. On a recent visit to Crystal Mountain Resort, near Traverse City, Mich, I met Sue and Kevin Burns, the owners of baabaazuzu. I was immediately taken by Sue’s energy and obvious dedication to the business. The multi-million dollar company was created from what remained of a laundry disaster. “It was my fault,” Kevin says. “I put Sue’s sweaters in the dryer.” Instead of crying over what remained of her sweaters, Sue, who loved to sew, sat down and cut up the shrunken sweaters and stitched them into hats and jackets for her two young daughters. “That was the start,” she says. “People would ask me where I got them and when I said ‘I made it’ they’d ask me to make something for them.” After teaching her husband to sew, the pair started churning out tiny garments for the newly created baabaazuzu line. The name was a play on the primary component - wool - and Sue’s nickname, “Zuzu.” That was 18 years ago. Soon adults were asking for the same look. Sue created a patchwork wool vest. It wasn’t long before the adult line was outpacing the kidswear so the couple decided to focus on repurposed wool items for women. Today baabaazuz creations are sold across the U.S and in Canada. More than 4,000 pounds of salvaged sweaters and other materials are cleaned,cut and stitched by north Michigan artisans into trendy winter wear. Some are decorated with buttons from the salvaged sweaters or vintage buttons collected from across the country. The original vests were joined by mittens, bags, hats and headbands and scarves and the latest additions are a short capelet, boot liners and fingerless mitts. “Those mitts are big sellers, “ Sue says. “They keep hands warm but leave your fingers free for texting or using your phone or camera.” She’s right. I bought a pair of the mitts the next day and even when I’m outdoors having fun in the snow, I can keep up with messages and take all the photos I want.