The story of the DIDYMOS – baby sling started in 1971 with our twins Lisa and Tina (twin = ancient Greek didymos):
Once, when crying from the nursery was an unmistakable signal for: “Mummy, I have woken up!”, but a mountain of unfinished housework could not be put off any longer, I finally decided to tie the little crybaby around myself just as women in other parts of our planet had done for centuries. Before then I had been fascinated by reports from distant countries where women pursued their daily work in a most uncomplicated way while intimately attached to their children. I owned a carrying cloth from Central America; but it seemed too exotic at first and that is why I had hidden it in the chest of drawers.
But now the time had come: I tried for a while until I found the right method and walked through our village where we had moved a few weeks before the birth of our twins. Very soon we were the talk of the village and not all the comments were positive. But the twins convinced me. They started smiling as soon as they saw the cloth, and I also enjoyed the physical contact, once with Lisa, then with Tina, just like a prolonged pregnancy. It also had other advantages: My work did not have to be squeezed into the short moments when they were asleep, I could manage the household again and became more relaxed, knowing that the two little ones received as much warmth and physical contact as their brother and sister had when they were babies and I carried them around on my arm.
The carrying cloth would probably have become a nice memento of the our twins’ early years, but when the “Heilbronner Stimme” and “Stern” magazine published articles about us, parents all over Germany wanted carrying cloths from me, and I only had one myself…
How I founded the baby-sling company in a small village, with four children and living in a half-finished house is another story. However this much is true, I could not have done it without the baby sling.
Best wishes for you and your family,Erika Hoffmann
Brief history
Didymos was founded in 1972 by Erika Hoffman, a mother of four, who started using a sling when she found she had her hands full with twin daughters. The word ‘didymos’ means ‘twins’ in Ancient Greek. In Germany, at that time was a real novelty, and after being featured in a couple of German magazines, The mothers everywhere were asking about her sling, Erika decided to start her own business at this time. She chose to weave in Germany, rather than import her slings, as she wanted fabric that would provide the right level of elasticity and support and that would retain these qualities even with frequent washing.
Didymos baby carriers have always been free of chemicals and safe enough for a baby to chew on. In order to maintain a rigorous and continuous quality control, no part of the production is outsourced to low-wage countries.
Fibers used are: Cotton, linen, hemp, silk, tussah silk, wool, alpaca, cashmere, ramie and kapok.
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