BEWARE! Imitations & Impostor of Betsy Toh (Knotty Bicsie) in Market!!!

(This is gonna be a long one. Please bear with me & read on, as it is VERY IMPORTANT!)

It has recently come to my attention that there has been someone going round claiming to be "Betsy Toh from Knotty Bicsie", while selling his/her own hand-crochet baby booties. I have also found out that all the other designs he/she claims to have, are also in fact other overseas crafters' designs! All of us have already wrote in to warn him/her of the violation of copyrights in her act, & we will all be taking legal actions against this impostor if this continues.

To safeguard, YOU, my wonderful knotty fans, from being cheated, hehe.... :P I am now gonna highlight the features of Knotty Bicsie, so you can be an expert in identifying the authentic Knotty Bicsie! ;) (haha... sound as if we are some branded goods like LV, Gucci, Prada... hor? :P) Well, I'm sure many of you are already excellent in doing this la!

1) Knotty Bicsie

The only name we have is "Knotty Bicsie" (pronounced as "Knotty Big-Sea"). & being a very kiasu person, I always make sure ALL my profile/userid/account/etc... on the internet are "knottybicsie" & are all linked back to this blog or our official website www.knottybicsie.com.sg & our 3 recognized email addresses are:

betsy@knottybicsie.com.sg

bicsie@bigfoot.com

bicsie@gmail.com

2) Good Quality Yarns

Since 2008, only tip top quality baby & cotton yarns are used in our baby booties. Our Funky Knitters & Crochet Craze are big fans of these yarns themselves when making wearables for themselves or their love ones. These yarns are also available at our Knotty Bicsie Crafting Studio. 

3) Splendid Workmanship :P

Each pair of Baby Booties are painstakingly & affectionately made to guaranty neat & almost perfect workmanship & finishing. Our Knotty Baby Booties are all uniquely handmade by ME (Betsy Toh) & my Mum (Mdm Quek Ai Choo), who is my inspiring teacher in knitting & crochet. Thank you, Mum! :)

4) Beautiful Range of Matching Buttons

We have a HUGE range of gorgeous buttons. I know MANY of you notice that because many of you have bought some buttons from me already. I hope u are having lotsa fun with the colourful buttons! ;) Most of my buttons are supplied by Sintek-Link, my granduncle's company, which is a local distributor of buttons, zippers, velcro, laces, ribbons, etc.

5) Our Yummy Gift Packaging

Most of you never fails to go "gar-gar" over my gift box, which is also designed by me & my printer friend, Thomas of Pica Digital. Exciting news to all: the boxes are finishing soon, so I'll be meeting up with Thomas again & we'll be revamping our box! Will keep everyone posted once our new box is launched. Look out for my good news in the next few weeks to come... :)

So you see, identifying an authentic Knotty Bicsie isn't difficult at all, right? :) So now, you can brag about being not just a Knotty fan, but also an expert in recognizing the REAL Knotty Bicsie!!! :)

Finally, I'd also like to take this opportunity to introduce to you the official Knotty Family! As our knotty studio gets busier, some of you may find some other faces behind the Knotty Bicsie booth/stall at bazaars & fairs. Here are some faces, which some of you may have come across...

This is cheery Azreen. I'm sure many of you have seen her before, some have even interacted with her more than once, I'm sure. She's so sweet & adorable, isn't she? She's a great help to me. I'm so lucky to have found her :) Thanx, Azreen!

This is sweet Sharis. She interviewed me once for her project, & she's the one who introduced Azreen to me. She's also been a great help at the Fashion Bazzar @Plaza Singapura last X'mas period. Thanx, Sharis!

This is wonderful Del. She's a strong & loving mother, who's very trustworthy too. Thank u, Del, for being such a great help last X'mas too!

This is my sis-in-law, Lina. She's been the BEST sis-in-law to help me with all the webby back-end stuff. Thank u so so so very much, Snoopy Fan! ;)

Here's my dad, Mr Richard Toh, & my hubby, Edward. They've been WORLD CLASS ICHIBAN chauffeurs & cheer leaders of Knotty Bicsie. Thanx, boys! ;D

This is the most important person behind Knotty Bicse - my MUM, Mdm Quek Ai Choo! ;D Not only is she my extra pair of hands, more importantly, she's my inspiring teacher. Without her, there would never have been Knotty Bicsie. I love you, Mum! :)

Last but not least, this is ME!!! I'm Betsy Toh, Founder & Creative Director of Knotty Bicsie! :) Yes, yes, yes, the talkative one who can't live without coffee, mushrooms, elephants & Atro Boy! Seriously. Hahaha.... :D

So you've met the official Knotty Family, all at once!  Well, I'm writing this entry with mixed feelings. On one hand, I feel flattered that Knotty Bicsie is good enough for people to wanna "imitate" & "fake", but on the other hand, it saddens me to know that there are people out there with a skill in handicraft, but choose to do things the easy way out & in such scrupulous manner :( I have always mentally prepared myself to come across "copycats" (in terms of designs) since day 1 of Knotty Bicsie, but never have I ever imagined that someone would actually go to the extend of trying to "steal" my Fans away from me by pretending to me! O my! It upsets me even more to find out that this same person not only "steal" from me, but also from other creative sellers around the world! One of the overseas seller even wrote to me saying, "... I'm FURIOUS! This site originates from Singapore,... & I recently sold 1 pattern to a Singaporean..."!!! Imagine the impact... Now even Singapore's reputation is at stake! :( 

Well, I simply cannot understand the mindset of such people. Copying from artists, designers & crafters may be a fast & easy method to start, but isn't this very short-sighted? The fact that they can find good & sellable designs shows their resourcefulness. Why can't they use the time to work on their own designs & branding? I also research on other creative sellers, but this is to keep myself updated on what's already available in the market so I can keep improving my designs & stay trendy. I also make friends with many of these creative sellers internationally, & I'm really glad that we share the same sentiments in building our friendship upon sharing ideas, exchanging contacts & occasionally whining about our common problems :P This way, we grow together & become better crafters too.

Knotty Bicsie has met many new people along the way. Occasionally I come across nasty people like this time. However, I must say most of the time for the past 2.5years, I've met many fantastic people whom I've learnt a lot from. Fellow crafters made me truly embrace the joy that crafting can bring to anyone. hence Knotty Bicsie's motto "Crafting - a modern way of life for EVERYONE!" :) Knotty Fans who never fails to make my day when they go "O, so cute!", "OMG! So pretty!", "I'd love to be on your mailing list!", or simply the fact that you just can't stop smiling while you look at my creations! :) To all these beautiful friends, THANK YOU! Knotty Bicsie will strive on & we promise to bring you little surprises every now & then! Stay tuned.... :)