Sometimes, when my daughters were babies, I鈥檇 get up for a middle-of-the-night feeding and be struck with what seemed like an absolutely genius idea. Said idea, product, invention, or scheme would liberate us from financial concerns, fill the college funds, and allow us the luxury of working from home and spending more time with our daughters! Why had no one else thought of this? I鈥檇 wonder as I stumbled back to bed, but by morning, the idea had fizzled in a haze of fatigue.
Not everyone succumbs to the brain fog. In 2014, Kevin Peacock and his wife, Giselle Murphy, were mired in the nitty-gritty of raising twin three-year-old daughters, Lela and Quinn, in Montreal, Quebec, when inspiration struck. Their kids were outgrowing the merino wool hand-me-downs their cousins had sent from Norway, and they couldn鈥檛 find a good source in North America. Why not make their own? Peacock left his job as an ad exec to launch , with $150,000 in funding from friends and family. Three years later, the company has seen annual sales grow by more than 50 percent each year and has become an enterprise with three employees and a network of savvy contractors. This year, Luvmother is making its first retail inroads in the United States, selling T-shirts, hoodies, pants, and more on . But it hasn鈥檛 all been smooth sailing. 鈥淭his is the telling year,鈥 says Peacock. 鈥淚f we figure out our systems and things go well, next year I hope we鈥檒l turn a profit.鈥
What does it take to leverage the ingenuity of parenthood into a successful startup? Patience, stamina, ingenuity, and a little bit of insanity鈥攑retty much the same traits you need to survive parenthood.
OUTSIDE: What was the impetus for starting an outdoor brand?
KEVIN: I grew up in Montreal in a ski and biking family. I was a ski bum in Whistler for a couple seasons. After grad school, I got lucky and landed a job at a creative agency in Jackson, Wyoming. Now our family spends a lot of time stomping around the woods, skiing, and bike riding. Montreal has a beautiful mountain in the middle of it. You can trail run out the back door.
Why wool?
We have eight months of pure freezing nonsense up here in Montreal. When we had our kids, seven years ago, my sister-in-law sent hand-me-downs from Norway. The majority were merino wool. It鈥檚 standard issue there鈥攃omfortable, cozy, with no irritation. It does what it鈥檚 supposed to do: keep you cool when it鈥檚 hot and warm when it鈥檚 cold. When we needed to replace them, the offerings were super limited in North America and too expensive to import from Europe. None of the brands we鈥檙e fans of had any interesting offers for kids, and if they did, it was navy blue long johns, or it was just adult silhouettes and extra fabric that they shrunk down to kid size. Kids have different needs when it comes to gear.
Like what?
Some of it鈥檚 very simple. They grow much faster, so extra-long cuffs for shirts. Also, drop-down hems in the back, because kids are always bending over to play with things. More pockets for collecting stuff. Flatlock stitching and raglan sleeves that don鈥檛 chafe. You know how parents superimpose their own neuroses on their kids all the time鈥
No, I know nothing about that!
Well, parents say, 鈥淥h, my kids would never wear wool. It鈥檚 too itchy.鈥 But we source superfine merino, small gauge, that鈥檚 extra soft.
It seems like lots of startups are trying their hand at kids鈥 wool clothing. How is Luvmother different?
Other companies are locked into sleepwear and long johns. We鈥檙e doing crossover pieces: leggings that can work as ski long underwear, wool sweaters. We鈥檙e trying to answer the perennial question: How do I bring least amount of gear that will cover me in all situations? We want to encourage people to get out there and have fun, get dirty, and not think about their clothes.
What鈥檚 the secret to successful branding?
You need to have the root of a story, the genesis, for sure. Our company is very much a reflection of our lives. The story doesn鈥檛 have to be fantastical. It just has to be sincere and honest. It鈥檚 what we say about Luvmother: no muss, no fuss, and very matter of fact. We also try to take all of the good we see out there and put it into our business values: We鈥檝e been offsetting our carbon footprints from shipments [from the factory in Portugal]. We use forest-certified paper as much as we can. We give our material scraps to a rug weaver in New York City as part of our Zero Waste Project. Eventually we hope to invite other companies to take part. Our new collection will be delivered in biodegradable bags. It costs a little bit more, but we think it鈥檚 worth it. There鈥檚 a strength to coming to it with some na茂vet茅: What if we take 5 percent off our margins and apply that to buying better bags? We鈥檝e taken a risk.
What are the downsides of running your own business?
We try to balance the work as much as possible. It comes in waves. We live walking distance from our daughters鈥 school, so often I can walk to school and then roll into the office with the dog at 9:30. But then I鈥檓 on my laptop half the night.
Yeah, that鈥檚 the little-known perk of parenthood: It forces you to become craftier with your time, to learn how to work in the cracks.
Yes, I鈥檓 totally working in the cracks. It helps that my girls are the best damn product testers I鈥檝e ever met. They home in all the things I wouldn鈥檛 think of, like picking the length of the skirt or the size of a pocket or the way a seam is finished. They say, 鈥淲hen I was on the monkey bars, I felt that seam rubbing.鈥
What traits have served you well as a parentrepreneur?
You have to listen and learn, but at the same time keep hold of your vision, because that鈥檚 what makes your business unique from the get-go. I鈥檝e been amazed by how generous people are with advice, sometimes people I hardly know. Do not being afraid to ask questions. Give yourself manageable expectations. I鈥檓 loving what we鈥檙e doing right now. I feel encouraged by repeat customers, but it has to work. I also have an end date鈥攚e have goals we have to reach.
What鈥檚 your long-term plan for Luvmother?
We currently make 15 to 20 pieces. My dream would never go too far out of that range, but to get to point where we have enough exposure that we have the volume to support that. It鈥檚 not chasing trends or selling out, but making something that is genuinely very good and having enough people know about it to support it.
What have been your biggest challenge as a mom-and-pop startup?
We鈥檙e always the small fish when we approach suppliers and factories, so we can have these great ideas but realize that we can鈥檛 fulfill the minimums. We鈥檝e had to train our minds, know our strengths, and have realistic limits. When you work as part of established team, there鈥檚 always someone as backup if you get sick. But if we don鈥檛 show up, nobody shows up.
That鈥檚 a lot of pressure.
Yeah, but it鈥檚 incredibly rewarding too. You develop so many new skills. Now I鈥檓 a master of shipping grids, which is never something I aspired to. If we do fulfill our aspirations of growing the business and building a bigger team, I want to be able to understand what everyone has to do. Working this way forces you into a holistic understanding of a job.
Would you have started a kids鈥 clothing company if you weren鈥檛 a parent?
Me, personally, no. Having kids definitely flipped a different switch. Being a parent informs so much of what we do at the oddest hours of the day.