How Novel

I was recently in contact with a store we used to do business with. Just catching up...seeing if they had, indeed, received the catalogs and e-mails I'd been sending their way. I hadn't heard from them in a while.
It's a puzzler to me because they seemed like a perfect fit for us. A really cool store run by two incredible moms that care about their community, building a network of other mothers and carrying unique small label products. A store that is also a meeting hub for mamas that are into natural parenting, celebrating creative WAHMs and with some sort of an environmental consciousness.
Hey! I'm a WAHM....we are a sweatshop-free company...artist run...offering organic cottons...
So what went wrong? I have no idea.
They said they would keep us in mind for the future and offered this cryptic tidbit:

"At this time, we don't have a lot of demand for novelty t's."

Was this an insult or a compliment?

nov·el·ty (nŏv'əl-tē) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. nov·el·ties

1. The quality of being novel; newness.
2. Something new and unusual; an innovation.
3. A small mass-produced article, such as a toy or trinket.

cite: American Heritage Dictionary

Mostly, I wonder what it is that would define my products as being "novel" in comparison to any other shirt you'd buy at a kids' boutique?