Our beloved Gold Vermeil jewelry is made with solid sterling silver (.925) coated with a thick layer of 24k gold. We have created this option for you as a skin friendly alternative to (very expensive) solid gold. The trade-off is that these pieces do eventually have a natural fade from gold to silver.

Gold is a soft metal, so anything abrasive or chemically harsh will scratch or compromise the gold surface, leaving the silver base to show through over time. The coating’s lifespan will vary depending on how hard you wear it, but we find that most customers get about a year or two before the silver starts to show through.

Take off your Betty Rings for :

• Hand-heavy activities like weights, gardening, beachcombing, etc.
• Exposure to  chlorinated water, as it can be incredibly damaging to the jewelry.
• Refrain from immersing any sea glass jewelry that is closed in the back (behind the glass), as water can get trapped inside and cause discoloration. Hand washing and showering is fine, just avoid immersion.

To keep your betty’s gleaming gold longer we’ve got options for you!

1. Redip it –  We can re-coat it in gold for half the original price..
2. Recycle it – Send it back to us and get a small credit.
3. Keep wearing it and let the silver show through over time, and enjoy it as a solid sterling piece.
4. Tarnishing? – Rare, but if it happens, a quick wipe with a soft or well-worn polishing cloth usually does the trick.

We’ve been making our gold vermeil Jewelry since 2020, and have seen the durability of it, but we know that some of you may be ready for a re-dip or recycle by now!

We have a few more tricks to help you take care of your gold Betty’s!

Still have questions? Get in touch & we’ll be happy to help.

Preserving, protecting, and restoring our waters are tasks for many lifetimes, and sometimes the effort can seem overwhelming. But as long as we stay connected with all of the many, many blessings that water provides, and continue to keep that love in the forefront of our minds and hearts, as long as we remind ourselves to hope, then our stories will help connect others to water and encourage them to do what they can to help care for this beautiful Blue Marble world.” – Wallce J. Nichols

For the Betty Family, celebrating Earth Month in April, doesn’t mean “Going Green”, it means always “Beginning (and staying) Blue”…well, cool– but what does that mean?  Let’s dive deeper…

What we all know by now, is that the health of our  precious Ocean, and all wild water on our planet– is severely threatened. To truly honor our whole Earth, we must not only make wholehearted efforts to restore the degrading & polluted lands we live upon, but truly revalue & cherish the sole element that allows the Earth (and us) to exist as we know it; Water.

In an ongoing, dedicated effort to support this mission, we at Betty Belts humbly contribute proceeds both annually & seasonally to a cause organization doing critically important (and very hard) work for community of true Ocean Lovers.

This Spring season we will donate 10% of sales made in April, through the Betty biz (both in-store & online), to the Blue Mind Patreon, organized by blue movement-maker Dr. Wallace “J.” Nichols— both a dear brother in the Betty Tribe & highly respected scientist & wild water advocate for the preservation & reverence for our Blue Planet.

He is the author of Blue Mind; a ground-breaking book which “connects the dots: neuroscience and psychology, nature and conservation, art and science, poetry and practice in profoundly important new ways. The result is an emerging, exciting, fast-growing new field we call Neuroconservation.”

Join us to support the work of this pioneering mentor & researcher– dedicating his life to share & teach the world that when we connect deeply with the healing power of Water & intentionally integrate it into our everyday lives, we benefit greatly in mind, body & soul– & so we become better stewards of the Ocean & all the wild Water systems that need our love & respect in return, to bring nature back into a healthier more sustainable balance for all Water, humanity & all Earth’s creations.⁠

With our whole hearts are we ever grateful for the contributions you’ll make through your Betty buys in-shop & at bettybelts.com, but also please consider donating directly. Every cent we can offer over time counts tremendously towards this much needed cause that will support the health & well-being for generations to come.

So thank you. Thank you so very, very much for your continued support and participation in giving the Ocean, and all of her miraculous gifts, the imperative care & true respect it deserves.

With deep blue gratitude,

Donna & Team Betty

One of the Betty Shop Babes hand-picked out the prettiest piece they could find for you, packed it up with care, a personal thank you note & of course– that sweet flower sticker freebie that may end up on your water bottle, phone, car window,  surf or skate board.

It traveled to your door from Ventura Beach, California. Home to Betty HQ, kicked back locals, an epic point break & a few solid spots for fish tacos, micro brew, a legendary slice of pizza by the beach, and a mai tai that instantly gets you on “island time”.

Our hope is that when you open the Betty goods, you not only get that fun, new, shiny you’ve been waiting for– but feel the love from our sweet lil’ beach town, because we packed that too!

Always sending smiles & stoke from our home to yours,

Donna & the Betty Fam

We’re super stoked to get a feature in this year’s May/June 2019 issue with a spotlight on our Signature Betty Surfite Jewelry. Check it out & thanks for reading!

Shop Betty Surfite Classics

Betty Surfite Classic Ring

Betty Surfite Friendship Bracelet

Betty Surfite Amanda Earrings

But have you ever wondered how these colorful beach gems came to be?

This short film, produced and documented by David gives you a deeper insight into the journey of how the Betty B. Family–and Donna’s life –began revolving around sea glass, connecting to those who collect it, and bringing her and David to shores around the world on a sparkling hunt. Enjoy!

Today is a very special day in the life of Betty. 15 years ago today, Betty Belts was launched as an ocean and beach lifestyle brand. Inspired by her love of surfing, founder Donna von Hoesslin was passionate about creating something people could wear to feel more connected with the ocean. Many of you know our Ventura shop, but did you know that Betty Belts had 5 entire years of existence before that? We weren’t open to the public, but did make appearances at events with the cherry red “Betty Bus” and focused the business on wholesale and online sales . Some of you will remember your first Betty Belt, maybe you got it in a surf shop along the California coast or picked it up at one of the many surf contests we’ve sponsored over the years.We definitely wouldn’t have made it this far without you, our loyal Betty Tribe, so for all of that, we are truly grateful. Celebrate with us with 15% off storewide on the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th (online too! Use code: 15ON15TH ) Plus we have a birthday gift to share with YOU! Our sweet and super cute enamel collector pin will be gifted to the first 100 people who come into our Ventura shop or order online.

Journey with us back in time with some images over the past 15 years from the Betty Archives, featuring just of few of the many remarkable women of Team Betty who have been a part of our story along the way, helping build the brand into what it is today.

The very first Betty Belts photo shoot was with Mary Osborne, our first Team Rider, shot by David Pu’u. David was a good friend of founder Donna for many years before the two fell in love and started their creative life together.

Left: An ad for Surf Life for Women from 2003. Right: Donna rocking the Betty Belts in Big Sur, 2004

Family Friend Kia modeled for a Betty Promo postcard with the Betty Bus, circa 2005

A pretty ad from 2005 for Surf Life for Women magazine featuring Mary Osborne and Sierra Partridge.

Surfing Twins Sierra and Hailey Partridge joined Team Betty in 2004. We’ve done a lot of beautiful work with these two over the years.

A full page ad for Wet magazine, 2006, featuring David’s images of Team Betty surfers.

Donna at the Action Girl Sports trade show in Newport Beach, 2004. She drove the Betty Bus down there for the event. Scope those crochet halter tops we made back then!

Mary Osborne doing a little modeling for us. Solimar, 2005

That time Team Rider Tiare Thomas came over from Hawai’i and did some beautiful work with us, circa 2006.

The surf shot of Donna (by David, of course) that made a full page spread in Wall Street Journal magazine in an article about surfing executives, ca. 2006

Who remembers when the shop looked like this? We opened in 2007, and celebrated the shop’s 10th birthday last August.

We started making sea glass jewelry in late 2007 shortly after opening the shop. It started as a very small collection made from a sizeable collection our friend Tracy Lehr had collected locally and gifted to us.

A full page ad we did back in 2009 featuring some of our surf team.

We started making the upcycled surfboard resin collection in 2008. Team Rider Jeanette Ortiz joined us in 2006 at the age of 14. She’s a winemaker now and travels to exotic places to surf. We kinda envy her for it.

An Ad from 2009 with Hailey and Sierra for a 7sky Magazine in Europe

That time Donna modeled her Mermaid Sea Glass Red Carpet necklace design in 52 degree water.

A few years after we opened the shop, in February 2010, the VC Reporter did a great story on us and even made Donna the cover girl!

The recent Thomas fire to flood disaster that has landed where we live with the grace and destruction of an asteroid strike, has caused us to look at who and what we are, and why we do the things that we do in our daily lives, and more to the point for me, what my Company stands for, and does about that.

Previously many of you helped out and spread the word, donated, and/or otherwise encouraged our Saving Ventura: Rebuilding the Glassman project. And it worked! It helped Dan to get his company back up and running, as well as to grow, in order to meet an increased demand for his services.

You all really came through, in a show of compassion and action, which quite honestly is really what made this project work. The entire community did this. You acted.

Direct relief works! It is immediate when time counts so very much. And we are not done yet!

Though we do not have a history of disclosing the number of direct relief projects which this company engages in (and always has) the disaster has caused us to re think this “quiet service” policy of ours. So we are going to begin to share what we (all of us, as a company and with our tribe of Bettys) do.

I founded Betty Belts after moving back to California, where I was born and grew up. The divorce and a love of the ocean took me from my life and home in Berlin of almost 17 years, and dropped me back into California and a new life that was to be lived attached to the Sea.

Here is a little video about that called “Passages”, which we built for a business Grant competition from Intuit (We got the grant!)

As I built Betty Belts, what I focused on was empowering myself. Becoming stronger. Better. As we grew, I began supporting other women whose goals were ocean minded and that were all dynamic strong women. We created a network on Bali to supply work and training to village women and began to pay it all back to those who became our family and partners as fine artisans in Indonesia.

We have always been about that: female empowerment. Today I call it being “Betty Strong”. My mission as founder of this company is to make things better for the world, and to do so through the foil of the Ocean and all of us, (mostly female) who are part of this wonderful collective.

Much gratitude goes to all of the Bettys. It is impossible to list them all, there are simply too many who have built this. But together we are “Betty Strong”

This recent round of California centric localized disasters has underscored that we need to talk about what that is, why we do it, and who leads the movement.

Michelle Wolfe is Betty Strong. Her story will be next up here on the Betty Blog. It is both wonderful, then heartbreaking as the fire destroyed her worldly possessions, and now heads back to beautiful. Like Dan Glassman, we were amazed by her heart and strength.

Our first act was creating a simple tee shirt. The Betty Strong tee. All proceeds from it will go towards getting Michelle back on her feet and in business after the fire.

Our second action was to donate a sum in advance of the Betty Strong tee sales to help Michelle get rolling. What was the point of making her wait until we sell some?

Other ways to help Michelle: we have set up a tip jar on the counter at the shop for cash, gift cards, checks, letters of encouragement, etc. everything in it goes straight to her.

Don’t want to get a tee? Can’t come in? Donate directly via this  link which is a gofundme campaign that a family friend set up for her. At only $2717 raised so far today, more than a month after it was originally set up, it could really use some of your love.

Betty Strong Benefit Tee for Michelle Wolfe

Michelle’s apartment up in flames of the Thomas Fire

What remains of Michelle’s home of 12 years: nothing

Michelle Watkins Wolfe: Betty Strong

Me playing mermaid with the  Mermaid Red Carpet Necklace

The community of sea-inspired jewelry lovers is vast, tightly knit, and passionate. Being a part of it through creating Betty designs has brought delight and immeasurable value to my life, my team, town, countless customers, and many more than I ever imagined we could impact.

The spread of our deep values through creativity, craftsmanship, and love for the water is of course, not solely my own doing.

From the outset, Betty Belts has been a female-based international business, which focused on creation of ocean-centric products, made with skill and care by our team of artisans in Bali. This architecture is what enables us to  demonstrate the company goals of female empowerment, social, and environmental sustainability.

We are not only proud of the people and work being done in our Bali studio, they are part of our family.  I take job stability very seriously, and all of us work together to ensure our people are well taken care of in every way possible. 

Part of our Bali family of Artisans in ceremony dress.

Over the years (for well over a decade now)our people have grown together as a family of Bettys.  I as the founder and designer am personally at the head of our small company. However, we do not fall within the classification of being a Cottage Industry entity, which term, generally speaking, describes  handicraft goods or products created by a sole artisan in their home or home based workshop.

Betty Belts was designed and created  to be a catalyst for change, with an express goal of  the alleviation of poverty and promotion of environmentally sound practices in the communities we are invested in. This complex and challenging task (changing lives and our world for the better), would be impossible were I to spend my time personally fabricating each piece, much as I would enjoy doing that.

Here is a little video about one aspect of our greater and oft unspoken purpose.

Intentionally, me being a solo Artisan company is not what Betty Belts was ever about.  However, the respect and appreciation which I have for hard working talented artisans is why we also collaborate and support those, by selling their products in our Ventura retail store. I see craftsmanship and artistry as being integral to our identity as a socially and environmentally sustainable themed company.

We’re grateful for the opportunity to continue growing and creating for a community which participates, understands and appreciates that which fosters joy, and love for the ocean, people, and planet.

Mahalo,

Donna Pu’u

Olivia on a warm beach day at home

This is the devastating reality for those who’ve suffered and survived Hurricane Harvey that hit Texas this past week.

The powerful storm swept away the lives of thousands of people who now are in dire need of support. In the wake of such a destructive event, we’re called to help immediately. So, another Cause Day is in effect, Betty Family… (four of them, to be exact!)

Our hearts are aching for the communities now in ruin from this catastrophic event, and together we can help.

Labor Day weekend is upon us, and if you already planned on celebrating with a Betty Belts shopping spree, a solid portion of those sales will mean sooo much more than just a holiday treat.

Today through Monday we are donating 20% of all sales, in-store and online, to K38 Rescue’s Harvey Disaster Relief Mission.

Shawn Alladio, founder of K38 Rescue and member of Team Betty has convoyed to Beaumont Texas with a highly skilled water rescue team composed of volunteers who work within her organization. They are enduring harsh conditions and extremely long hours in an effort to bring professional help to people and animals under threat.

We want to help meet the financial needs of this Mission. This small organization which does so much, is independent and therefore self-funded, and needs help. This is a way for our customers to get involved, which ensures that every dollar goes directly to saving lives and lessening suffering in the stricken area. Thank you for being a part of this effort and helping make a difference. Here is a link to their gofundme page for those who want to donate directly.

CAUSE DAY UPDATE!!!

Note from Donna:

LOVE is what I’m feeling for everyone who was a part of our fundraiser for the @k38rescue Harvey Relief Mission ?? We raised $1940 these past 5 days by donating 20% of all your purchases in this series of Betty Belts Cause Days.
Thank you! ?

With Gratitude,

Donna & The Betty Belts Team

It’s been 10 beautiful years here in the Betty shop… but there’s more– a bit more history you might not know about.

Since the beginning, we’ve been an open book for our Ocean Ohana to understand our purpose— to create beautiful beach treasures Made with Dignity. You may even know the many stories of how we’ve helped impact a positive change on our precious planet and people around the globe through our little brand.

What you might not know are just a few  key milestones we’ve hit along the way helping us to get to where we are today…

We’re so fortunate David has documented our journey, enjoy meeting the many faces of Betty in his awesome short film.

We’re eternally grateful to have arrived at this incredible moment. We can look back over a decade and see how many special connections are made in our space, what our designs mean in people’s lives, and how we all continue to grow together.

Without you– our beloved community– all this wondrous magic could not occur, and the miraculous growth of Betty Belts wouldn’t be possible.

Thank you endlessly from the depths of our hearts for embracing what we do, and making us a part of your world. Cheers to a decade of stoke, and to many more adventures to come!

With so much love and gratitude,

Donna, David & Team Betty Belts