RingTai

Name contest: the new Ring Tai!
Vote for the Ring Tai name!Here we introduce to you our newest wrap conversion baby carrier: a Ring Tai! Ring Tai is a combination of a comfortable wrap tai, easy-to-use buckle carrier and the great features of a woven baby wrap. There are no plastic buckles or hard webbings that could feel uncomfortable. The soft wrap-like shoulder straps are fixed to small sling rings and the straps are incredible comfy.
The body panel of the Ring Tai is the same style as we use with our Wompat SSCs and also the cute sleep hood is included. The waist band is a meitai type and slightly padded. The shoulder straps are about 100-120 cm long, 20 cm wide and softly padded on top of the shoulder. The straps are made of double layer baby wrap fabric all the way. You can spread the shoulder strap over your shoulder and back and this makes carrying in front very comfy. When you carry the baby on your back, you can gather the strap on top of your shoulder to make it narrower and use it the rucksack style. The shoulder straps are attached to small aluminium rings on each side of the body panel and you can adjust the straps smoothly.
The Ring Tais are made entirely of baby wrap fabric. Soft layer of fleece is added to the waist band and shoulder straps. The body panel comes with darts so the baby's bom will settle in a deep pouch. There is also soft padding under the baby's legs.
The very first time that I came up with the idea of a Ring Tai was in June 2011. I wanted to make a wrap tai for my self with short wrap like shoulder straps that were adjusted with sling rings. I love the feel of the wide wrap-like straps and wanted something that could be used outdoors without the straps hanging in the ground while putting the carrier on. My original idea was to wear the straps crossed over the chest when back carrying. But unfortunately it was very difficult to get the carrier on like that and I decided to leave the designing work for now.

In September 2011 I received very interesting e-mail from a Finnish active babywearing mama who had been making the ring tais for her self and later on for her friends, too. Laura's Wohveliwraps Ring Tais or "rinksu" had become very popular among the Finnish babywearing community and she had done a great amount of work to make the Wohveliwraps rinksus as good as possible. Her product was something new and inspiring, yet extremely comfortable, ergonomic and distinctive. Laura generously offered her idea for Wearababy because she was about to start in another job soon and she couldn't make enough Ring Tais for everyone in the future. I got exited in the Ring Tais again and started to plan our own new Ring Tai carrier with Laura's help. You can find some more information and pictures of Laura's Wohveliwraps rinksu on her blog (in finnish only):
http://www.wohveliwraps.blogspot.com/
At the moment we have finished our own prototype Ring Tai and it has been tested by our own family and also by Laura and some of her babywearing friends. We still need to make some changes to the model to make it as perfect as possible. We'll try to have the new Ring Tai ready on the market by January 2012.
~Niina