FAQ

Which payment options do I have?

At the checkout, you have the option to pay via advance payment (bank transfer), Paypal, credit card, and debit entry. Debit entry and credit card are PayPal plus services, for which no PayPal account is necessary.
Also, you can pay in our Berlin shop when you pick up your order there. Payment options are cash payment, EC-card, credit card.

How fast can my order be delivered?

Generally, we dispatch orders of available items that are paid till 12:00 the same day.

Within the European Union, we ship with DHL. DHL states a door-to-door delivery time of 1-2 working days for national delivery, Monday to Saturday, excluding public holidays.

Outside the European Union, we ship with FedEx. FedEx offers priority delivery for an extra fee. You can check for prices and delivery time here

How much is shipping?

Within Germany, we ship free of charge when the subtotal of your purchase exceeds 70 €.

Up to 69,99 €, we charge a flat-rate for shipping of 4,50 €. We send items fitting into an envelope, e.g. shoulder pads or a doll carrier, like a letter. The charge is 1,55 Euro.

Within the EU, shipping charge is 4,99 Euro flat.

To Switzerland, the shipping charge is 20 Euro (net) flat.

For countries outside of the EU, we charge 25 Euro (net) flat.

We ship worldwide, but for financial reasons we are unable to ship to all countries outside the EU for a fee of 25 Euro (net).
In case you cannot find your country in the drop-down menu, please contact us and we calculate the shipping costs for your order. Reach out to info@girasol.de

Are there discounts for twins or multiple?

For parents of twins or triplets we offer a discount of 10% on the purchase of two baby carriers or wraps. The discount is valid for GIRASOL products only. Please send us a copy/picture of the children’s birth certificates. If interested, please send a short mail to info@girasol.de.

Do you grant discounts for healthcare professionals?

Healthcare professionals like babywearing consultants or midwives may order Girasol products with a special discount. On the first order we grant a 20% discount, on all further orders 10%. The discount does not apply to articles on sale or products from other manufacturers, e.g. hammocks. If you are interested, please e-mail your certificate: info@girasol.de in order to receive discount vouchers.

Do you ship to countries outside the EU?

Yes, we do dispatch worldwide. In this case, we automatically deduct VAT at the end of the ordering process. However, local custom charges, duties or sales taxes may be applied upon import for which the buyer is responsible. In order to comply with trading laws, we will always indicate the correct value of your order on official paperwork.

Can I track my order?

Yes, sure. We will send you an email with your tracking number after we have shipped your order.

How do I return an item?

For all our customers with an EU delivery address in the EU: You may return your order without giving any reason within 14 days upon receipt.

Products purchased at Girasol can be refunded or exchanged within 14 days of receipt of your order without giving any reason. There is one condition: The product is returned in an “as new” condition - with all original equipment, packaging and instructions.

Please enclose the return form, completely filled in. We refund your item value within five working days after receipt of the return according to your chosen method of payment. The cost of return postage to Girasol is initially incurred by the customer.

Exception: If an item is faulty or you received a wrong article we incur the costs for returning the item.

Please ensure that you do not return items without notifying us in advance, so that we can send you a return label for shipping.

To facilitate the process please indicate in your e-mail your order or invoice number, the product that has the fault, and a description of the fault, including a photograph if possible.
We will respond as soon as possible to resolve the issue.

I'd like to order a wrap, but I am not sure which size is right for me. Any recommendations?

Generally speaking, the best way to find out is to try, for example in shop, with a friend, during a sling meet or with a babywearing consultant.

However, there are some rules of thumb worth to bear in mind.
- If more than one person is meant to use the wrap, the size depends on the tallest or biggest person.
- The longer is not necessarily the better with regard to wraps. The more length you have to handle, the harder it is to keep it nice and tight.
- Most of our customers with a newborn baby achieve quickly a nice result with the Front Wrap Cross Carry (FWCC) without practicing too much. Most babywearers need a size 6 wrap (4,60 m) for the FWCC. More petite wrappers get by with a size 5 (4,20 m), taller and bigger people (sizes 44 +, in the UK: 16 +) might need a size 7 (5,20 m).

If you still are not certain, just reach out to us: info@girasol.de We are happy to help!

My wrap or my ring sling does not have the exact length I ordered. Why is that so?

As a rule, all our wraps are app. 20 – 30 cm longer than indicated. This excess is meant to allow for shrinkage through washing and the setting of the fabric – its density will be a little higher after washing. Thus, we can guarantee, that even after extensive use your wrap still has the length you need.

Our ring slings are app. 20 cm longer than indicated – for the same reason.

In what way are GIRASOL products different from other brands?

In contrast to most other brands selling baby wraps, all GIRASOL products are 100% hand made under fair trade conditions.

That starts right with the yarn, which is dyed by hand, proceeds with the weaving and the sewing of our MySol baby carrier and its accessories.

Thus, each product is a unique piece of handicraft. Handwoven enthusiasts are even able to see our weavers different weaving rhythms when they have a look at a GIRASOL wrap!

Over the years close relations have been established to our co-workers in Guatemala. The heads of Girasol are still in contact with each co-worker there.

We have more than 30 years of experience and are proud to offer high-quality wraps in stunning colours and designs thus helping to secure the continuation of craftsmanship and traditional designs.

Can I have my very own wrap design woven by GIRASOL?

Yes, by all means it is possible to have a so-called Girasol Exclusive woven!

If you like to devise your individual design for your shop, your online-shop, babywearing group, Facebook group, online-forum etc., we are the right partner for you – competent and experienced.

Please reach out to us – we are happy to provide more information. Gerhard Engelmann is your contact person: gerhard@girasol.de or by phone: 0049 (0)30 55223042

Here you find a collection of Girasol Exclusive designs.

What about the different weaves?

(Cross) Twill

Twill or cross twill wraps have a surface weight of app. 215,84 g/m². You can use a Girasol twill wrap for a newborn as well as for a toddler (with more than one layer, perhaps).
These wraps are especially suited for beginners, they are easy to wrap and easy to care for.

See below for an example of cross twill:

Diamond

The diamond weave is considerably more intricate to weave, therefore diamond wraps are generally a little more expensive than twill wraps. The surface weight is app. 228,26 g/m². Diamond wraps are particularly soft, so you do not really need to break them in. Diamond weave is suited wonderfully for newborn babies. For carrying heavy babies with one-layered carries (e.g. Kangaroo carry, Rucksack) it is not our first choice, though. With the exception of double weft diamond wraps (sometimes also called „thicker woven“), of course!

See below for an example of diamond weave:

Herringbone

The herringbone weft is also a little more intricate to weave. That is why herringbone wraps are a little more expensive compared to twill wraps. Right from the start, herringbone wraps are soft and blankety which makes them perfect wraps for newborn babies – except for double weft wraps. The great thing about herringbone is, that even heavier babies (9 kg +) don't feel heavy at all. Even more so when using a carry with more than one layer (e.g. Double Hammock). The surface weight is app. 210,49 g/m².

See below for an example of herringbone weave:

Honeycomb

Our honeycomb weave, again, is more intricate to weave. Therefore, honeycomb wraps are generally more exensive compared to twill wraps. The surface weight is app. 228,26 g/m². You can use a honeycomb wrap for a newborn. They are quite similar to our diamond wraps.

See below for an example of honeycomb weave:

Double Weft

The special thing about double weft is that – as the name suggests – we use the double amount of weft threads. Thus, we create wraps with a considerably higher surface weight. That makes double weft wraps particularly suited for heavier babies and toddlers. In fact, we see growing popularity, due to the increased comfort for the wrapper.
We recommend double weft wraps for babies over 8 kg. Before that we feel that double weft is too thick and too heavy for the little ones. Also, especially at the beginning, double weft wraps lack that blankety feel – they need some breaking in, but change their grip and feel much softer as soon as they have had some loving care.

Double weft wraps can come in all our weaves: twill, diamond, herringbone and honeycomb. The surface weight of a double weft twill wrap is app. 294,54 g/m², of a double weft herringbone wrap app. 277 g/m².

See below for an example of a double weft wrap:

My wrap has a loose thread! Is it still safe to use?

No need to worry at all! Since our wraps are woven and not knitted, there is no danger of the fabric unraveling. You can simply cut off the protruding thread.

Since the yarn we use is dyed by hand, we do not use „never-ending“ yarn for weaving. So if a thread comes to its end, a new piece of yarn has to be fixed to the end of the old. That is why you can find small weaver's knots and sometimes the end of a thread coming through. Both – knots and ends of threads – are thus a sign, that your wrap is truly a handwoven and are not to be rated as faults.

Each wrap, ring sling and MySol passes through a final quality check in Berlin. Here, each square centimeter is checked for flaws. Only after that check, when we rate the item „first choice“, we dispatch it.

Nevertheless – it might happen in rare cases that a missed thread or a loop or another kind of flaw is overlooked. If in doubt, please reach out to us: info@girasol.de. Send us a picture, so that we can determine whether the flaw is a sign of the process of handweaving, or the article is indeed faulty.

However: Generally speaking, flaws do not affect the safety of your wrap at all but are merely optical!

Environment and Sustainability

For GIRASOL, the protection of the environment and sustainability in production as well as in sale are paramount. With regard to production of our waps and carriers we try to avoid clippings or use them for pillowcases, bags, or shoulder pads. We do not use outer packaging for our products in order to minimize waste.
Also our recommendation as to how to care for your wrap or carrier follows this principle: wash at a low temperature (30°) with a liquid bio-detergent without optical brighteners, petrochemical tensides, synthetical fragrances, colours or preserving agents to protect the wrap or carrier as well as the environment. For the same reason, please do not use fabric softener.

When it comes to package and dispatch, we use adhesive tape made from paper, fully recyclable cardboard boxes (whenever possible we re-use boxes) and we avoid plastic (except for oversea shipping).

Since advertising material only too often goes straight into the wastepaper basket, we decided to do without and bank on recommendations of our resellers, babywearing consultants, and healthcare experts, especially midwives.

A focus on sustainability is also present in our store, office and warehouse where we use green electricity. Our internet provider uses green electricity from hydropower in its data processing centres.

Fairtrade

GIRASOL stands for more than 30 years of experience in fair trade with partners in Guatemala and Mexico. This means that our relations are based on dependable terms of business. The most important part is that we pay our partners always in advance and that they can count on an assured income – also in difficult times.

Furthermore, it is important to us that above all our partners in Guatemala - where an intricate net of people is involved in the production of our wraps and carriers - are able to work as independently as possible and are included in all questions regarding the production. Hence we try, for example, to do without plastic parts for the MySol as far as possible, since these cannot be procured in Guatemala.