1. Proudly Made in the USA


    Just something I'd like to mention to all of you if you didn't know already!


    Our products are made in the USA (With the exception of our $5 closeout Abyss Collection of men's swimsuits from 2016). The Abyss Collection was our first and last line of product(s) purchased overseas. I decided that I wanted Mertailor to be "American Made" and support my community.


    Our product lines are made in our studio, right here in Crystal River, FL, not a factory in any other state or country.


    We operate and manufacture in-house.


    Many of our products have a 5-7 day production time as we normally make to order and not trying to "overstock" our product lines like other companies do when they order in quanities over seas. Our motto is QOQ, "Quality Over Quantity".


    Our entire team of talented individuals are creating everything from start to finish. This includes the beginning design of the product lines, pattern making and the graduation of patterns, printing and transferring of all the various fabrics we use including spandex, neoprene, and minky fabrics, cutting and sewing of the garments, quality control, and packaging and fullfillment. However, that's just the half of it! Let's not forget the customer service and management side of things! It takes a TON of energy to make Mertailor operate on the daily basis.


    While this may not mean much to some of you, this takes time, money, and a lot of energy. Not to mention, we truly care about all of our customers and the quality and service we can deliver to them.


    Many of the the raw materials that we purchase to make our products are also manufactured in the United States, which also increases the bottom line of our products. However, there's much more control of quality this way.


    When a company purchases from overseas factories, you can run into "fishy" situations such as improper sizing, coloring, wrong materials, unsafe materials, etc. And guess what the best part is? The company can be OUT THOUSANDS of HUNDREDS of dollars without any recourse to the factory that they purchased from. It's unfortunate that overseas factories have abused their labor forces to make a "quick buck" and spoiled so many individuals all over the world due to cheap labor and cheap "knock-off" products.


    Sure, we could manufacture our products overseas and shutdown our manufacturing facilities to transform them into large stock warehouses, but that is not how we roll.


    In a nutshell, we aren't a factory in China paying $0.50-$1.00 per hour (Average Chinese factory workers make $285 per month) to our employees or making them work in unfair or unrealistic conditions. There's plenty of other companies that you can purchase from who support this clause, if that's what you're looking for. There's a few that come to mind right away.... If you're looking for a cheap product, you might as well look elsewhere, because we aren't serving that.


    While we understand budgets and circumstantial situations, if you truly want something badly enough, you can save up for it. However, we live in a "got-to-have-it-now" world, which we are all guilty of.


    We are thankful that we are able to purchase American made and employ hard-working individuals right here in the Sunshine State. We hope you can appreciate that as well.

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  2. The Truth About Sequin & Plastic Scaled Mermaid Tails


    I’ve gotten several requests and suggestions that Mertailor should produce a sequin tail or a tail with individual sequin type scales. My answer is simply “NO”.


    In my professional opinion, there’s nothing “eco” friendly about sequin or plastic scaled mermaid tails whatsoever.


    While these mermaid tails might look pretty, they aren’t practical for underwater use in natural environments.


    Mermaid tails, tops, and accessories with individual sequins “shed their scales”, will fall straight to the bottom of the ocean, lake, or freshwater spring.


    Regardless, if the sequin or plastic pieces are made from recycled plastics, the “scales” will still fall off, not solving the "eco-friendly" part. Even if you were about to create a biodegradable sequin scale (Let's not even suggest sugar. Goodness knows Florida is having its own politics about sugar), would you want to see them laying around all over the ocean floor for years before it disintegrated?


    Take it from someone who has seen this first hand. My history of working as a costume designer for the Mermaids of Weeki Wachee, had me creating many garments with sequins on them. I can't tell you how many sequins and beads have fallen behind the stage top over the years that just sit there! If you’ve ever dove Weeki Wachee Springs, you know what I’m talking about.


    Years ago I use to train mermaids to swim in aquariums. These venues would not allow sequin mermaid tails, tops, or beaded accessories of any kind. Management and zooologists feared the animals in the aquariums would swallow and choke on the prices.


    Did you know that a airline recently banned mermaid tails from traveling with sequins or individual plastic scales on them?


    If you wanted to have one of these mermaid tails for “dry” performances or on-land photoshoots, that’s a different story, but I personally wouldn’t be swimming in them. Not in the ocean, lake, river, aquarium or freshwater spring.


    I’m sure many individuals will not agree with my point of view, but it’s true and you know it. Please understand I’m not saying not to use these mermaid tails, but to think about where you use them! These mermaid tails should be used in a controlled environment such as a swimming pool or studio photo shoot! Not 30,000 leagues under the sea or your next beach outing!


    I’m not perfect and I’m sure I’ve made a few things in my career that I could have constructed better, but we live and we learn.


    With that said, our mermaid and merman tails are made from silicone rubber, spandex, and neoprene materials. Our scales will not fall off our our tails! No scale shedding to see here.


    Thanks for reading and consider this!


    Eric Ducharme, "The Mertailor"


    PS: I don't care who you are or how you're going looking at this. If you're swimming with a sequin tail or plastic scaled mermaid tail, you're tail is GOING TO shed. You know, I know, everyone knows it. It's not a secret. It's going to happen. We're already having an issue with State Parks and public swimming pools "banning" mermaid tails. The next excuse they have to banning mermaid tails is going to be caused by the breakdown of these types of tails. Just think about it....

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  3. Big Flukes!


    Mermaids = half human, half fish (At least this is what I've been taught in most fairytales and what I personally see these seductive creatures as). This means no "stiff" cardboard like flukes or fins. Instead the flukes of mermaid's tail should be flexible and translucent to an extent. This is why I decided to develop the Fantasea Fin and Spellbound Tail lines.


    You don't see fish with "hard" flukes, do you? The last time you looked at a painting of a mermaid or mermaid related art, the fluke looked flowy, right? I mean, when's the last time you saw a fish swimming around with a piece of cardboard taped to its fluke! The Fantasea Fins and Spellbound Tails have proven themselves as perfectly realistic mermaid tail options for those who are looking for a realistic appearance and movement underwater. Let's not forget about their comfortably.


    99.9% of those who try the Fantasea Fin or Spellbound Tails for the first time fall in love. While some individuals prefer fast speeds underwater, the Fantasea and Spellbound lines provide a beautiful realistic movement and appearance, which has a nice propulsion underwater.


    Let's talk about the whole size queen thing... Yes, I know, many of you like "Big Flukes"! It's not the size that could but how you can make it work, right? Realistically, if you study a fish's anatomy, you will notice that the fins and flukes on a fish are generally smaller in size. Perhaps goldfish, butterfly koi, and beta fish have longer flowing fins, but these fish are generally swimming extremely slow, gliding through the water effortlessly. I for one feel that the Fantasea and Spellbound Tails have the best of both worlds!


    I almost forgot! For those who like their "Big Flukes", these are the individuals who end up complaining about their feet hurting, stressing about having to drag the heavy brick around (Do you know how many tails I've personally had to carry for mermaids because their flukes are too big for them - LOL), and not being able to travel with it because its so BIG! These tails are perfect for your next mermaid adventure!

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