The History of Calin Bleu

Calin is the French word for hug. Calin Bleu - Blue Hug – is the result of one woman's search for a comfortable way to carry her baby into toddlerhood whilst keeping her calm and soothed.

Anne Dhir couldn’t find a comfortable sling for her baby daughter, Odaline. Anne says, “I loved carrying her, but my back was always aching, although she was still small.”

Anne researched fabrics and designs, and came up with the perfect combination. Starting small, Anne made baby wraps for friend’s babies. Soon, people were stopping her in the street to ask about the wraps. Anne says, “I was even asked to sell the wrap I was wearing. This made me really confident that my wraps would appeal to parents looking for a safe and comfortable sling to carry their children”. The website was the next step, making Calin Bleu baby carriers available across Europe and then worldwide.

In 2010 Anne sold Calin Bleu to another experienced babywearer, Karen Hunt funded by her brother Scott, who now runs the operational side of the business.

Scott says, “I hope you enjoy choosing your sling from our site. If you have any questions, look at our information pages where you can find out all about babywearing with Calin Bleu”.

The company

Calin Bleu is based in Suffolk, England.

Calin Bleu is very proud to use UK manufacturers and suppliers of all materials we use to produce our wraps.  We are proud to support British industry and proud to deal with our British suppliers.

Ethical and environmental choices

We do our best to minimise our impact on the environment:  

By offering 1st Class Post free to our customers, we hope to encourage a consolidated approach to supply, thereby reducing emissions.

Use all of our fabric. From samples to remnants, nothing goes to waste. We make doll slings, gift bags, sell or donate the fabric to parents or other businesses.

Re-use or recycle all the packaging we receive for despatching orders to our retailers, return our ink cartdriges to the manufacturers for recycling.

Use just enough packaging to protect your order but not more. Polythene is a major source of pollution. Wherever possible, we use recycled polythene or propylene bags instead of polythene which is slightly less polluting.

Wherever possible, we purchase recycled material (paper for the instruction booklet, plastic envelopes)

Wherever possible, we strive to use UK suppliers and manufacturers. We are proud to support the European textile industry.

Calin Bleu complies with The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes adopted by the World Health Organisation in 1981.