Hair Clips That Saved a Small Business

Jennie Lennick is a 39-year-old artist in San Francisco. She runs a small brandbrand: A type of product made by a particular company, identified by a name or symbol. — 品牌；牌子 called Jenny Lemons. The brand sells colourfulcolourful: Having many bright colours; lively and interesting. — 色彩丰富的；多姿多彩的 hair clawclaw: A mechanical device resembling a claw, used for gripping or lifting — 爪夹 clipsclip: A short section of a film, broadcast, or video; a small device for holding things together. — 片段；夹子hair claw clip: a large hair clip with two parts that grip a section of hair — 鲨鱼夹（爪形发夹） shaped likelike: [Electricity and Magnetism] Of the same kind — 同类的 food. Her shop has clips that look like a strawberrystrawberry: The sweet, usually red, edible fruit of certain plants of the genus Fragaria — 草莓（果实）, a sardinesardine: Any one of several species of small herring which are commonly preserved in olive oil or in tins for food, especially the pilchard, or European sardine Sardina pilchardus (syn. Clupea pilchardus). The California sardine Sardinops sagax (syn. Clupea sagax) is similar. The American sardines of the Atlantic coast are mostly the young of the Atlantic herring and of the menhaden — 沙丁鱼 tintin: a metal container for storing food; a soft silvery-white metal — 罐头；锡, a TV dinner, and eveneven: Exactly, just, fully — 正好 a bowl of rainbow chard. The strawberry is the bestsellerbestseller: A book or other product that has sold in large numbers — 畅销书. Lennick says her clips are small, cheap treatstreat: An entertainment, outing, food, drink, or other indulgence provided by someone for the enjoyment of others — 小确幸；犒赏 that make people smile.

Lennick did not start out making hair clips. She grew up in Minnesota and studied art for more than six years. In 2015, she launchedlaunch: To start or set in motion something new; to send a spacecraft into the air. — 发起；推出；发射 a food-themed clothing lineclothing line: a set of clothes designed and sold under one brand — 服装系列 in San Francisco. In 2018, she opened a small shop in the same neighbourhoodneighbourhood: the area around your home or a particular part of a town — 街区；社区；邻里. The shop sold her clothes and work by other artists. For a while, it felt like a dream come true.

But the shop became hard to keep open. Staffstaff: the group of people who work for an organisation — 员工；全体职员 costs were high, the rentrent: An amount of money that you pay regularly to use a room, house, etc. that belongs to someone else. — 租金；房租 kept rising, and foot trafficfoot traffic: the number of people who walk past or into a shop — 客流量 never returned to normal after the pandemicpandemic: A pandemic disease; a disease that affects a wide geographical area and a large proportion of the population — 大流行病；（疾病的）大范围流行. At the end of 2023, Lennick closed the shop with $90,000 of debtdebt: A sum of money that is owed to someone. — 债务；欠款. The change had actually started a year earlier. At a craft faircraft fair: a market where people sell things they have made by hand — 手工艺集市, she met a seller of hair clips who shared a contactcontact: Communication with someone, or a person you know who may be able to help you — 联系；联络；联系人 for a factory in China. Lennick made her own food-shaped clips, and online sales grew quickly. The clips, she says, were keeping the shop alive.

Today, Lennick designs the clips on a tablet at home. She picks the colours, then sends the designs to her factory in China, which makes a samplesample: A small amount of something that shows what the rest is like. — 样品；样本. A recent shipmentshipment: A load of goods that is transported by any method (not just by ship) — (一批)货物 of 31,000 clips crossed the Pacific to a fulfilmentfulfilment: The activities performed once an order is received to fulfill the order; packaging, distributing and shipping goods — 订单履约 centrefulfilment centre: a large warehouse that packs and ships online orders — 订单履行中心 in Missouri, which packs and posts the orders. Lastlast: Most recent — 最近的 year, the company earned about $2 million, up from $1.7 million the year before, and it is now profitableprofitable: yielding financial gain or useful results — 有利可图的；盈利的. Around 60% of sales go to about 1,500 small shops; the rest are sold online. Most customers are aged 25 to 45. Some work in hospitals or schools and wear the clips to brightenbrighten: To make more cheerful and pleasant; to enliven — 使更明亮；使更有活力 up their uniforms.

The clips are made from cellulosecellulose: [Organisms and Life Processes] A complex carbohydrate that forms the main constituent of the cell wall in most plants and is important in the manufacture of numerous products, such as paper, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and explosives — 纤维素 acetateacetate: Cellulose acetate — 醋酸纤维素cellulose acetate: a plastic-like material made from plant fibres — 醋酸纤维素, a plastic-like material that comes from wood pulppulp: A soft, moist, shapeless mass or matter — 纸浆；浆状物wood pulp: soft material made from wood, used to make paper and other things — 木浆 or cottoncotton: A soft white material that grows around the seeds of a plant and is used to make cloth. — 棉；棉花. It is partlypartly: To some extent; not completely. — 部分地；在一定程度上 natural and can break down more easily than normal plastic. The businessbusiness: A specific commercial enterprise or establishment — 企业;商号 also has problems. New US taxes on Chinese goodsgoods: Things that are produced to be sold; products. — 商品；货物 make every shipment more expensive, but Lennick is trying not to raise her prices. As she puts it, running the business is a numbers gamenumbers game: a situation where success depends on balancing prices and how much you sell — 数字游戏: higher prices mean fewer sales, which can hurt profitsprofit: Money that you gain by selling something for more than it cost you. — 利润；收益 too. Some Chinese factories also copy her designs, which are protected by patentpatent: an official right granted to an inventor to exclusively make, use, or sell an invention for a set period — 专利；专利权. Lennick has already taken one big shop to courtcourt: A place where legal cases are judged, or an area for playing certain sports. — 法院；球场 and won $45,000. She also pays someone to find fakefake: Not genuine; made to look real in order to deceive. — 假的；伪造的 clips online and send cease-and-desistdesist: To cease to proceed or act; to stop (often with from) — 停止；终止 letterscease-and-desist letter: a legal letter that orders someone to stop doing something or face a court case — 停止侵权函.

Lennick wants to grow the business by 30% this year. She has added hats, socks, and earringsearring: A piece of jewelry worn on the ear — 耳环, all with food designs. Brand collaborationscollaboration: The action of working with someone to produce or create something; a joint intellectual or creative effort. — 合作；协作；合作成果brand collaborations: joint projects between two brands, often a special product they design together — 品牌联名, where Jenny Lemons makes a special clip for another company, are also growing. A big home-goods chainchain: A series of connected metal rings, or a group of shops owned by the same company. — 链条；锁链；连锁店 is in talks to stock her clips. Reopeningreopen: To open again — 重启 a physical shop, however, is not on the cardson the cards: likely to happen — 在计划中. The only money she has ever borrowed is from the bank. She admitsadmit: To agree that something is true, especially something that you are not happy about. — 承认；准许进入 that turningturning: to (heading) To change condition or attitude — 转变 her art into products has changed how she thinks of herself as an artist. But she supports her family and still gets to be creative, and she says that is enough.