Meet Heidi Ledger | Human Being, Store Owner & Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Heidi Ledger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heidi, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind our success at Thread Spun is our commitment to our ethics and our mission. It is our firm belief that paying fair wages to people, whether they are creating the goods we sell in the shop or working front or back of store, creates real socioeconomic change on a micro-level that then radiates outward. We love supporting small, independent makers, especially women – who are proven to invest heavily in their families and communities when they are compensated fairly. The natural consequence of this is that we sell these amazingly unique, well-made items that our customer base really connects with. Handmade things are things made with care, and we firmly believe that the future of consumerism is conscious. We advocate for knowing where your goods are made, who made them, and how they were made. Sustainably-produced apparel, jewelry made from upcycled metals, unique art printed on recycled paper – these are things to be appreciated and things whose value will last over time.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started my career working in social services, specifically with immigrants and refugees arriving to our border town of San Diego from all around the world. My job was to help people find their first jobs, and then later to return to the careers that they held before fleeing their homes. I knew nothing about retail when I started this business, but I did understand the beauty of people, their resiliency and their creations. I wanted to share what I had learned about the beauty of diversity through my time in Toronto and my time working with these amazing people with my community in North County San Diego. I also wanted to be an advocate for paying people fairly and respecting peoples lives and work, which I didn’t always see happening in my previous career. Now I get to do this every day, and I’m honored. I’ve built this business over the past six years while being the primary caregiver for my three kids, and it hasn’t always been easy to prioritize. I’ve leaned heavily on my family and my friends for love and support, and definitely recommend tapping into this amazing resource if you’re attempting to build something from the ground up.

What I want people to know about our brand and our story is that we are nothing without the people involved. This is very much a team effort, and I have endless respect for the creatives and small business owners we get to work with, and for the staff here. Our brand is built on the efforts of artisans around the world, and we will always do our absolute best by them. I hope that if you follow along with our story, you will see us getting to work more closely with these amazing creatives with the coming years.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best friend lives in Toronto, and I haven’t been able to see her for almost two years due to COVID, so this is actually an itinerary I’ve planned out over and over in my head for when we finally get to see each other again. For a weeklong trip, I would pick her up at the airport and immediately head south, into Mexico and past Rosarito to the coast. We would grab some tacos and continue on our way to the Valle de Guadalupe for a few days of wine tasting and enjoying the amazing cuisine at places like Fauna and Animalón. I would make sure we made an appointment for wine tasting at Lechuza, my favorite winery in the Valle. Since we haven’t been together in so long, I would splurge for a fancy room at Bruma. Upon our return, we would stop in Little Italy to visit my favorite shop, Home Ec, grab a coffee at James Coffee, and stroll along India Street sampling beers at Ballast Point and wines at Vino Carta. On our way back north, we would grab a cocktail at Aero Club. During her trip, I would definitely want to spend a day in Balboa Park, stopping at the Japanese Friendship Garden, the most peaceful spot in all of San Diego in my opinion. Also on the agenda would be hanging out in the sculpture garden with a beer from Panama 66. If we had time, we would wander through North Park and South Park, as there is always some new cool shop or restaurant popping up. We would hang around Leucadia with my kids, probably stopping by Modern Times, Birdseye for Thai Food or Buona Forchetta for Italian. A coffee at Ironsmith would be the icing on the cake. We would take the kids to the San Diego Botanic Garden, just up the road in Encinitas, which always delights adults and children alike. On the last day, we would drive up the coast to Oceanside, stopping at various beaches and ending up at Dija Mara for some amazing Southeast Asian food.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout goes to the city of Toronto, Canada, which is the most diverse city in the world. I moved there when I was 19, and my experiences there completely shaped my worldview. My time there taught me about true solidarity, which exists not as an act of charity, but an act of humanity. We are all human, and we all deserve respect. When we have too much, we share. When we see differences, we should celebrate those differences, and be curious – and we should try as hard as we can to learn about them and respect them. I also want to shoutout to my friends, mothers and lawyers and artists and advocates of all kinds, who have held my hand and helped me up when I wanted to quit, who have been my most true muses, and to my kids, whose place on this earth motivates me every day to fight to keep it beautiful and just.

Website: threadspun.co

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threadspun/?hl=en

Image Credits
Jessica Ballerstein (By Darius Photography)