By Martha Perkins
Bei Linda Tang has been asked to put on her MBA hat knowing her, it will be made by workers who are paid liveable wages and feature organic fabrics before she answers the next question.
What would this former investment banker say about owning a business that tries to do it all: provide employment to a dozen or so people, sell products that are ethically sourced and good for the environment, be an outlet for creativity and, to top it all off, generate enough income that allows you to find work/life balance as a wife, mother and individual with her own needs and aspirations?
When Tang was working on Wall Street, it would have seemed an unattainable goal. I felt like I was a small piece in a complex puzzle, she says. But thats why shes not an investment banker any more. Instead, she owns Dream Designs which allows her to check off many of the boxes in what she would now describe (above) as a dream job.
Dream Designs was founded in 1981 by cotton queen Irma McInnis. In 2004, Tang was just finishing up her MBA at UBC when she happened to drop by the store and learned it was for sale. (McInnes died of pancreatic cancer when she was only 49.)
Since then, Tangs learned to be as nimble on her feet as her team of four seamstresses is with a needle. While the bright and colourful retail store sells organic and environmentally friendly products from around the world, it also showcases products that are sewn at her production facility in Burnaby organic cotton or flannel sheets, bathrobes and pajamas, bath towels, a hemp shower curtain, yoga accessories, meditation mats....
Its not enough to just feel good about buying sustainable products; Tang makes sure that everything looks good too, and her product lines are modern and stylish. By having her own seamstresses, she can quickly adapt if one product is more (or less) popular than expected.
But when new sheets are put on the bed, what happens to the old ones? Dream Designs give customers 15 per cent off organic cotton bedding when they bring in their old bedding, which is then distributed to people in need.
Until last year, she also had a store and yoga lounge on the North Shore but after her second child was born Aria is five and Ladon is 18 months Tang found herself being pulled in too many directions. I wanted enough left of me at the end of the day to give to my family, she says of her decision to close the North Shore location.
But she also needs Dream Designs to fulfill her need to have creativity in her life. As her children grow, shes learning to bring all aspects of her life together. For instance, daughter Arias school Montroyal Elementary in North Vancouver will be the first to launch Dream Designs new fundraising project that encourages children to lead a greener lifestyle. A pack of five Dream Design organic cotton napkins sells for $20 and for every pack sold, Dream Designs will donate $5 to the schools environmental program. I want them to change their habits, she says of her contribution to the garbage-less lunch. If we get kids to do that at school, the parents will do it at home.
956 Commercial Drive
