In 2017, Sarah Polite started selling used books on Amazon, where she learned about selling online and harnessed her entrepreneurial skills. This hobby became the foundation of The Polite House, a sustainability-focused, Milwaukee-based home goods online store. Sarah’s eventual transition from selling used books to selling Turkish towels led to her interest in the supply chain, and her desire to source local materials grew.
Stepping away from Amazon selling, Sarah managed to source USA-grown cotton, and began sewing and selling her own napkins and hand towels. “I’ve always loved sewing,” she tells me, explaining that she learned from her mother and even made her own wedding dress, so the shift felt natural for her. To this day, Sarah still sews all of The Polite House’s cotton goods – napkins, hand towels, and ‘un-paper’ towels – by herself. In fact, the hand towels remain Sarah’s favorite items in the shop, due in large part to the rich colors they come in: cream, golden yellow, and steel blue. Staying flexible to meet demand, she sources cotton from both the US and Lithuania, as well as repurposed cotton from various sources to give the material a second life. In addition to sewing all of the cotton goods, Sarah also hand-makes the beeswax wraps that The Polite House is known for, using local beeswax from Milwaukee beekeeper, MJD Apiaries.
A recent addition to the shop that Sarah has quickly incorporated into her personal routine is 20-minute mindfulness candles. Using them for anything from yoga to reading, Sarah loves the candles for the serene reminder they offer to be present. Sarah will be at our Mini Workshop Market on February 11, leading a mini-workshop on making these candles using the same local beeswax that she uses for her beeswax wraps! The candles embody what Sarah wants to achieve with her sustainable home goods – a chance to slow down, be mindful, and care for oneself.
During our conversation, Sarah mused that “caring for quality items in the home is… a practice that flows into caring for other people, caring for yourself.” It’s why after all this time, the hand towels remain her favorite product that The Polite House offers: reusing and taking care of the same towels over and over instead of mindlessly using and disposing of endless paper towels helps her to be present in her day-to-day life, and it doesn’t hurt that the towels are easy to care for as well.
Originally hailing from Delaware, Sarah lived in a number of places before calling the Milwaukee area home. Smiling, she reveals that she and her family love it here, and were able to settle in relatively easily, despite moving in just a few months before the start of the pandemic, because of how close-knit and welcoming their new community was. As for Milwaukee’s perspective on the environment, Sarah predicts our proximity to the lake might have something to do with our conscientiousness. “People are always outside,” she goes on, adding that even in the winter, Milwaukeeans can frequently be seen running outside in short sleeves as soon as the temperature rises above freezing. With such a culture of appreciating the outdoors, it’s no wonder many Milwaukeeans seem to want to preserve it for future generations.
In addition to hosting a mini-workshop in February at the Mini-Workshop Market, products from The Polite House are available online, and in over 100 small shops throughout the country! Sarah also plans to attend more markets around Milwaukee this summer, making it easier than ever to get your hands on any hand-made reusable goods you might need.
The Mini Workshop Market
