There is something about parenthood that is simply inspiring. Parents recently shared some of their favorite moms and pops that were inspired by their own children.
Melissa Radcliffe, the Peekaru Original
Inspiration: “My daughter was 5 or 6 months old when it started to get bitter cold,” says Radcliffe. “When we took my son to preschool, I’d put her in a baby carrier and I’d wear my husband’s extra-large jacket zipped over both of us. Not ideal.”
Biz 101: “I figured I could make a better-fitting jacket for the two of us, so I pulled out my sewing machine. I ended up with a Frankenstein fleece vest; it didn’t look so great, but it kept Nora and me warm. I got so many compliments walking around town that I contacted a designer to make the vests stylish and manufacturable; then I started selling them by word of mouth.”
Randy Reid, the Mooki
Inspiration: “At around 18 months, my daughter started undressing herself,” says Reid. “She’d unzip her romper and before you knew it, she had that thing half wrapped around her neck. Once she got into her poop-filled diaper, and I realized I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Biz 101: “I hacked off the feet of her sleeper, cut up the collar, and turned it around backwards. She never tried to get out of it after that. I thought, ‘I’ve got to market this.’ I worked with a pattern maker on redesigns until we found The One. But it took me a long time to hire a sewing contractor who would work with such a small start-up.”
Photos from Peekaru and Mooki