Meet the Maker | Rachel Goode (Briar Handmade)

Rachel Goode is the beautiful maker behind our favorite children's accessory brand: Briar Handmade. She has crafted sweet, simple, and elegant baby bonnets (cue the reminiscences of "Little House of the Prairie") that are slowly becoming a baby and toddler essential. Rachel's dedication to her quality of work is transparent and most importantly, she knows how to maintain life as a loving mother to her two children and an incredible leader to her employees. 

Your bonnets have been such a trend-setter since its launch. What were some of your hopes for the brand while it was in pre-production? What did you aim for Briar Handmade to become?

My main hope when Briar launched was for the bonnets to be well-received, since there was nothing like them on the market.  It’s been quite the learn-as-I-go process; I was not prepared for the overwhelmingly positive response and continue to make adjustments along the way to manage and foster the growth. Originally, I wanted Briar to be an avenue where people could get their hands on some great bonnets. As the company progresses,  I’d love for Briar to become, in one customer’s words, “a household name synonymous with the word ‘bonnet.’”

It all began when you started making bonnets for your daughter, but once Briar Handmade expanded, how important was it for you to manufacture in the USA?

It’s never crossed my mind to manufacture anywhere else. Currently, start-to-finish, the manufacturing process happens in-house. Not only do I have greater control of the process and end-product, but I’m able to employ some really wonderful women.  

Each style is so simple, sweet, and certainly versatile. How do you gather inspiration for what colors/patterns to use next?

I look for inspiration everywhere, but nature and specific fabrics tend to inspire me the most. For instance, our latest spring collection was inspired by a beautiful sunset I encountered while biking at the beach. Occasionally, I will come across a piece of fabric and will use it to guide the rest of the collection. I am so excited for our fall collection, as it is once again inspired by nature’s finest.

As your brand expands, you're coming out with more and more styles including a new sun bonnet. Aside from the new sun bonnet, would you ever think about making apparel?

Never say never!  However, there is nothing in the works and it’s not currently on the radar.

You're a mother of two. Like many entrepreneurs, they have to balance both family life and business. Are there ever times where you would get overwhelmed and had to take back a step or two?

Things definitely get hectic from time to time, but my aim is to manage my company in a way that prevents things from spiraling. It is a conscious effort to not ‘take steps back’ in order to maintain momentum of the growing business, but I’m also aware that I need to be well rested and keep family time a priority. That balance doesn’t always happen, but it’s the goal!

What does your daily routine look like?

My husband leaves early for work, so I’m typically greeted with iced-coffee in bed and then the day starts. After a quick check of emails and social media, I’m up with the kids getting breakfast ready and prepping my seamstress for the day. The morning is usually pretty relaxed: playing with kids, taking care of everyday household duties, or running little errands. My dedicated work time is in the afternoon, while my son is at preschool and my daughter naps. Late afternoons and evenings are spent with family and then it’s usually back to work after the kids are in bed.  

If business becomes overwhelming, what is your remedy for a bad day (if you've had any!).

I tell myself a lot, “This too shall pass.” Luckily I don’t have bad days... Sometimes bad moments, or long days, but those are easily remedied with a bath and glass of wine.  

Where do you see Briar Handmade in the next year... or five years?

Over the next year, I see Briar continuing to grow as a company all around. We’re working on fine tuning our operational foundation and production efficiencies to facilitate that growth. And for the next five years... So many possibilities!

Meet the Maker | Marissa Buick

Soor Ploom is a Brooklyn-based children's line that falls in contrast to the bustling colors and noises of its root city. The collections are "classic and simple, basic but not ordinary," which nicely encapsulates each piece while embracing its every sweet detail. We speak to the brand's designer Marissa Buick who shares us her story of hardship, goals, and ultimately her success with such a venture in the children's fashion industry. Marissa is surely a female maker-to-watch. 

Soor Ploom is a rather young company. Could you talk to us about how you got your foot into the children's fashion industry? 

When I was looking for my first job in fashion, I wanted to design womenswear, but it was difficult finding a job in such a competitive field. Instead, I was offered a great job designing children's wear for a very popular brand in kids' fashion. After I had my first child, I knew I would not go back to work and so it seemed natural to start my own company designing the clothes I wanted my baby to have.

Everything is made locally in Brooklyn. Was manufacturing in the United States a priority to you?

I love that our clothes are made locally and I am lucky to live in a place where this is possible. I am a true believer that local is always better, for people, our food, our economy, and our planet. This choice comes with a price tag living in New York City, but for now I think it is worth it and I hope our customers agree. Of course, it is much easier to oversee production being nearby, and to have such a close relationship with my partners makes working together simple and fun.

Could you walk us through how each piece is designed and produced? 

I am constantly gathering inspiration, and always on the look out for something unique. Once I have an idea for a silhouette in mind, I sketch it and then work on the pattern. Once I have the pattern, a sample is made. At this stage, I like to test it out on my girls; they always help me with fit issues and comfort concerns. Creating a color palette for my collections is my favorite aspect of the design process. A loose theme usually takes form as all of these parts come together.

Did your knowledge in fashion ease the construction of Soor Ploom? What were some of the obstacles to getting the brand up and running?

My experience working in fashion gave me lots of knowledge for construction and design of kids' clothing. Before I worked in the industry I had a different kind of small business, and this experience gave me the confidence to do it again on a slightly larger scale. I have always paced myself with Soor Ploom, taking it one season at a time. With a young family I had limited time, and limited resources, so I could have never started big.

Could you describe Soor Ploom's aesthetic?

Our clothes are simple and understated with a touch of nostalgia for the past. They are timeless, but on the same note refreshing and unique. 

The response seems to have been great for Soor Ploom, and a great handful of our favorite shops carry your line. Is this something that motivates you to keep doing what you do? In addition to the positive customer response, what else has been a driving factor for running your brand? 

It is a labor of love, and always so gratifying to see our clothing presented in these gorgeous shops. I am motivated by the need to be creative on my own terms. Working for someone else is not for me; I have too many strong opinions. My children also motivate me. I find so much satisfaction when they wear my pieces and aim to please their finicky nature.

It's only the third month of the year, so we are curious about what your 2015 goals were and if there are things that you've already checked off. 

It is tricky juggling life and work so setting goals is necessary. There are always so many kinks to iron out, and I am constantly focused on doing things more efficiently. With that said, a goal for me this year is to simplify my process, and streamline it in my day-to-day activities, but also in a design sense. I have shipped our spring collection, which will soon be available through our shops. Spring/Summer 2015 is checked off my long list!

Lastly, as small businesses, we understand your hurdles and all that is to come (when is anything a smooth ride?). What are some of the lessons you've learned that you're able to share with our readers, whether that's about business or our lives in general at this point in time? 

Slow and steady… which helps me so much in a stressful moment, as well as in a bigger sense. I live in a city in constant motion and making a conscience effort to slow down is a survival skill. The things we love take time to nurture.

Visit Soor Ploom's website to find a stockist that carries the line! 

Meet the Maker | Emily McMaster

mabo is a Utah-based children's brand designed by Emily McMaster, a wife and devoted mother of two children. She launches her SS15 collection this Friday, and we get the first full glimpse at what beautiful heirloom pieces are to come. Her designs are creatively simple and crafted to be passed down from child to child, which is what makes us so drawn to mabo and everything it represents. 

How did mabo come to fruition? 

After quitting my job when my daughter Ruby was about 1, I started sewing for her. Mostly to keep creatively engaged. I was sort of reeling after leaving a career track that I had wanted to be on since high school, because I was finding it so hard to juggle with a baby. I found myself hiring babysitters just to work on little clothing projects, which suddenly occurred to me might be a sign that it could be something I'd like to dedicate even more time to. We were living in Brooklyn, so really there was no time or money to start anything, but after we had our second daughter, we decided to move back to Utah, which made it so much easier. I knew immediately that I didn't want to make everything myself, as I'm not a great seamstress and got bored after I landed on the final design, so I set to work finding a small manufacturer that could help me. Everything sort of developed from there!

You have mentioned that you come from a crafting background. Did you have any formal education in fashion or is it simply innate? 

No, I've never had any formal training. My mom sewed most of her own clothing when she was young, so she taught me a lot and she really encouraged me to hand-make my holiday presents for family. I took sewing classes when I was a child and always enjoyed making things, but I never had any interest in pursuing it as a career. I grew up in Utah, the crafting capital of the world, so I wasn't by any means the most interested or skilled in it within my social circle! I have a masters in Cinema Studies and had worked in the film industry for years before Ruby was born. That's all I wanted and thought I was trained to do! 

How does the design process work for you? Where do you find inspirations for each piece you create? 

I usually start with one fabric or style that I fall in love with and then try to add things that can fit within a theme I create in my own head, whether it be a color scheme or era. I try to tweak patterns from previous seasons since patternmaking can be so costly and time-intensive (and the limitations of doing that are actually really helpful to me). My kids: in particular, my free-spirit oldest daughter Ruby, are really inspiring. She creates some completely insane outfits from existing clothes or fabrics (headwraps out of sweaters, and she's big into making casts out of fabric). A skirt we have this summer was inspired by Ruby putting a halter sundress around her waist with the straps wrapped around and tied in a bow - turning it into a really cute maxi skirt. It looked so adorable. I also like to draw inspirations from women's clothes!

Who or what have you been your biggest inspirations for mabo? 

When my daughters were born, my mom opened up an old cedar chest where she had saved my childhood clothing, so many of the designs have been inspired by those pieces, which also branched into seeking out other vintage kids' clothes. I also watch old films and look at old photos, and try to mentally have a "theme" for each season, sometimes a decade or geographic area, and whether it actually turns out to reflect that them or not, it helps me organize my thoughts. I have a dress coming for AW that is inspired by a photo of a little girl from the Ken Burns' Dust Bowl documentary - the patternmaker laughed when I sent him the screenshot!

You're both a mother and a business owner. How do you find time to juggle the two? 

It's hard, but I feel really lucky that I've been able to dictate my own schedule. The kids definitely take priority over anything else, and I've tried to arrange my schedule so that I can pick them up from school every day and be there for field trips and special events, even if it means my company has probably grown at a slower pace than it could have if I were working more hours. I try to outsource what I don't enjoy and don't have to do myself, so I have an amazing group of people (patternmaker, shipping coordinator, etc) helping me out. Luckily I also have a self-employed husband whose work schedule is really flexible too, so we very much "co-parent." He loves spending time with the kids, and I couldn't have gotten mabo going if it weren't for him being around as much as he is. Unfortunately what ends up suffering is the housework, laundry, and my exercise! Someday we'll have a clean house...

What has been the biggest learning curve in your mabo journey? 

There have been so many! I literally knew nothing about fashion, even kids fashion, not to mention manufacturing and production, so I can't think of anything I haven't had to learn! Luckily (not at the time!) I worked for years as an unpaid intern and then an assistant in film, and one of the things I learned in those jobs was just that you have to figure things out for yourself. I'm a skilled Googler and I'm personally not afraid to be an idiot and ask about things I know nothing about. I also really enjoy ALMOST every aspect of this, so I've found it all quite fun to learn. It's getting scarier now as the collections get bigger and the bills get higher, so I guess that's the next hurdle in my journey!

What are your 2015 goals for mabo? 

The goals are just to continue to grow at an organic pace. I'm opening a brick and mortar store this year and adding kids' shoes and some knits to the mabo collection. I love collaborations and am hoping to do more of those!

In summary, how would you describe mabo and its aesthetics? 

Hopefully classic and simple, with a conscience. I'm somewhat ambivalent about this crazy consumer world we're in, so I really aspire to create a product that can stand the test of time (quality and style-wise), is made ethically and responsibly, and makes people feel good about the way they dress their children!