When Christine DeHaven’s son was only 2 months old, she decided to make a list of baby must-haves, reports the LA Times.
On that list Christine put down the names of products that she felt were essential, including the blankets from aden + anais. She then passed that list on to her friends.
“As a new mom, there is so much out there, and they make you feel like you need all these things,” she wrote in her note. “I wanted to tell people what I really used.”
There are 36 items on the list, which she has since e-mailed to half a dozen expecting moms. It includes burp cloths (“I go through so many a day it is crazy,” she wrote), lanolin (“for ouchie nipples”) and a white noise machine (“helps drown out dogs”). But her greatest praise was heaped on a set of gauzy swaddling blankets from Aden & Anais with fashion-forward but baby-friendly patterns.
“By far my favorite blankets,” DeHaven wrote. “I have two packs. I LOVE THESE. They are big, light, wash well and don’t overheat him. A staple.”
DeHaven’s enthusiasm for a four-pack of baby blankets might seem a little overblown, but the devotion is shared. Aden & Anais said it has spent zero on advertising, yet sales of the Brooklyn company’s products, which also include muslin washcloths, burp cloths, sleep sacks and winter-weight blankets, grew 170% last year. It helps that the items have been embraced by celebrities who occasionally use the blankets to shield their offspring from the paparazzi, but ultimately the 3-year-old company’s success rests on the power of word of mouth, a new-mom network that includes product review blogs, mommy-and-me groups and e-mailed registry recommendations such as DeHaven’s.
“I gave a lot of blankets away for free to friends and friends of friends,” Aden & Anais founder Raegan Moya-Jones said. “Because one person tells 10 other people who tell 10 other people. That’s how we’ve grown.”
Screenshot from aden + anais