It all started with an unfortunate accident.

Sue Burns and her husband Kevin had a busy life in 1993, raising two young girls and figuring out their next steps after several years of running the Riverside Inn in Leland. Without thinking, Kevin threw a load of Sue’s fine wool sweaters in the dryer, with predictable results.

The vastly shrunken garments lay in a hopeless heap. But Sue, with a crafty mind and a background in graphic design, set about turning lemons into lemonade.

“I looked at the pile of carnage and said – that could be something,” Sue says.

That something became a business that’s sold tens of thousands of handcrafted hats, mittens and other accessories around the world and saved dozens of tons of discarded wool from the landfill. Baabaazuzu (the first part a nod to wool, the second an old nickname for Sue) is now celebrating 30 years in business in Leelanau County and shows no signs of slowing down.

“I don’t even know where 30 years went,” Sue says. “Like they say, time flies when you’re having fun.”

After the sweater mishap way back when, Sue cut up the shrunken garments and fashioned little hats and mittens for her young daughters.

“I sent them outside, thinking nothing of it, and pretty soon people were asking me where I got them and where they could get some – that was our lightbulb moment,” Sue says. “We launched a children’s line, and the first year we were out marketing the children’s line, we had so many adults say they’d wear something like that. So we found an audience.”

Sue and Kevin work with salvage companies around the country that purchase items from thrift stores that didn’t sell for whatever reason. Maybe there were excess donations or out-of-season donations, or perhaps they’re damaged. In any case, they buy three or four tons of salvaged wool a year.

“We have a semi roll right up to the door. We just can’t wait, because there’s always new inspiration every time it shows up,” Sue says. “The bundles are very compact, and sometimes it’s even just the way things come out and fall across each other – it’s like ‘Wow, look a that combination right there, it’s awesome.’”

Sue and Kevin take tremendous pride in the recycled nature of their products. It’s one thing to be fashionable, but it’s another to help save the planet while doing do.

“Our little company is literally saving three to four tons per year from the landfill, and we feel pretty good about that,” Sue says.

Interestingly enough, when they first started out, it wasn’t as appealing to use recycled materials for higher-end consumer products, particularly clothing.

“When we first would show up to the wholesale trade show marketplaces, we were so proud of the fact that we were recycled,” Sue says. “But when we were pitching that to a potential customer, they’d be backing out of our booth saying ‘I don't think my customer wants used clothing.’ So it was a hard sell in the beginning, but fast forward like maybe 10 years and those same people were doing cartwheels when they came into our booth…Kevin says we were green before it was cool, and it’s the truth.”

Being in business 30 years comes with its share of changes and challenges.

“When we started, there was no internet. And as much as it’s been a wonder for a lot of businesses, in some ways, it hasn’t been the best thing for us,” Sue says. “We are one-of-a-kind, very much a touch and feel product, and with selling online, we’ve had to educate our customers.”

And then there’s the problem of knockoffs of varying quality, which have cut into the Burns’ business to some extent.

“When it first started to happen, we went down the legal road. And we made a little ground in the beginning, but we quickly found out you can burn a lot of money and still not get what you're looking for. So we just had to stay ahead of it,” Sue says. “Quality is really important to us, and I know that our competitors don't come near our level of quality. We just have to be a leader.”

For now, the Burns will focus on keeping up the strong work at Baabaazuzu while also pouring some love into Capital Dog, their new hot dog joint in Lake Leelanau. They look back at their first 30 years with gratitude for many in Leelanau County and the surrounding region who have helped get the business to where it is today.

“We’re really grateful to the stores that have supported us from the very beginning, and one of our very first stores was The Painted Bird in Suttons Bay. She’s been with us the whole time, and that means a lot,” Sue says. “Golden Shoes in Traverse City, The Secret Garden down in Empire have been with us a long time as well. And we have two employees that have been with us 15 of our 30 years, and that’s a really big plus.”