Tag: label love

Seasonal Traditions & Apple Picking in Mini Mioche

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I love capturing our seasonal traditions though photography. Last weekend we went apple picking for the first time this year. It was lots of fun and hard work, which for a child are usually the same thing. Sen’s favourite part was using the ladder, which he moved and readjusted about a hundred times for pure enjoyment, meanwhile, Ro kept moving from tree to tree searching for the perfect apple with the perfect leaf. We completed our visit to the farm with some good old fashioned hay jumping and a game of tetherball. Sen figured he was pretty much a Junior Farmer by the end of the day.

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise

Apple orchard picking hippie in disguise

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

I decided to outfit Ro and Sen in their mini mioche basics, so that I could capture their hard work in the closest thing I had to farmer’s attire: overalls and a shirt (the overalls sadly are getting small…so if you are wondering about sizing they are each wearing overalls two sizes too small). I don’t remember how I came across mini mioche, but it has been a few years now that Ro and Sen have been wearing their lovely line of organic basics, designed and made every step of the way here in Canada.

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canadaThere can be a temptation, when budgets are tight, to spend our dollars on stand out pieces in our wardrobes, a special dress or a unique item, something that has impact. Basics typically don’t stand out in a wardrobe, and so it may be the place where we are tempted to cut costs and buy from discount stores, like Old Navy or Joe Fresh. And yet, basics are the backbone of any wardrobe, they are the ‘go tos’ to complete a look, they typically get the most wear, and are the heart of a reliable capsule wardrobe.

We love special pieces of clothing, but know that investing in quality basics is important. Supporting local shops and local production, and buying organic is important no matter whether the item stands out or not.

As many of you know, I love to learn from mothers who are also entrepreneurs and artists, hear about how they balance life and how they started their business. I think you’ll enjoy hearing from Alyssa, the woman behind mini mioche.

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada tribal dreaming

How would you describe Mini Mioche in 5 words?

Simple, cool, comfortable, sustainable and practical.

Tell me a little bit about yourself, the person behind Mini Mioche. What is your background?

I previously worked in wholesale fashion and owned a fashion sales agency in Toronto selling adult clothing brands to retailers for about 12 years (I sold it in December 2014). After I had my daughter 7 years ago, I took a little bit of time off (like a month or so) and during that time I came to the conclusion that as much as I loved fashion and my wholesale business, I wanted to do something that was a little more creative and that I could have more control over and so drawing upon my experience and contacts in the fashion industry, I set about designing and launching the first mini mioche infant basics collection.

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

You call yourself a serial entrepreneur, what do you think draws you to start something new?

I have always said that I have an addiction to newness.  Part of it is that I definitely get bored easily and love to be challenged constantly. I have a lot of ideas and also have ‘focus issues’, that combined with the fact that I am really not risk-averse, means that I like to embark on new ideas and projects often. Part of the reason I sold my other business is that I recognized how important focus is when it comes to anything really – but especially growing a business.  So that is my new goal – to try not to get distracted by other ideas and to just focus solely on growing this business and making it really amazing.

Why did you decide to get into designing children’s clothing?  

I’ve always loved baby and kids clothing – even before I had children of my own.  There is something about mini versions of adult clothing that just kills me. I am a total jeans and tees kind of girl and I wanted to dress my daughter in a similar aesthetic. After she was born, I was surprised at how hard it was to find nice, well-made, decently priced, soft infant and kids basics – especially in neutral colours like grey, white, black etc. I couldn’t stand all the stuff on the market at that time with cheesy sayings or graphic prints. As I mentioned before, I was also looking for something new and more creative to do at that time and so mini mioche was born.

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

What did you want to be when you were a child?

I always wanted to do something involving fashion – I think I wanted to be a personal shopper, although I’m not sure that even existed back when I was a kid.

What does Mini Mioche mean? Why did you choose this name for your brand?

When I was pregnant with my daughter, my husband and I referred to her as ‘mini’ the entire time she was in utero.  She was born full term and healthy but she was mini – weighing only 5 lbs 4 oz so the name stuck for a little while. She is 7 years old now and so not mini!  My mom always shared my love of beautiful, well-made children’s clothing and when I was little she used to shop for me once in a while at a store in the Yorkville area of Toronto called Les Mioches. I really wanted to include the word ‘mini’ in the brand name since it was meaningful to me and I just liked how it sounded with the word ‘mioche’, which is sort of a slang word meaning tot or brat in Parisian french.

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Organics, sustainability and local production are important to you. How do you translate these into your designs and your business model?

These things are all intrinsic to the mini mioche brand. From the beginning I wanted all of our clothing to be made locally and ethically by people who are paid a fair living wage and are treated well.  We still do basically everything here in Toronto from knitting the fabric to dying it, to the cutting and sewing.  We design our own graphics and have them printed locally. We partner with other local designers and companies on various collaborations and capsule collections (such as bookhou and Heart & Habit).  All of our fabrics are knit from organic cotton yarns and we try not to use any plastic at all – we don’t receive product in plastic bags and we don’t ship it in plastic.  We try to be as sustainable and environmentally conscious in every part of our process and we also believe strongly in supporting local business, including local manufacturing.

I have loved your collaborations with Toronto design-duo bookhou and blogger Brandy Mercredi. How did those collaborations come about?

Brandy, who is the blogger and designer behind Heart & Habit, and I met a while back now – to be honest I can’t remember exactly how – I think she wrote about mini mioche on her blog and we just started chatting from there.  A little while ago she reached out to me because she had some ideas for a line of graphic tees that she thought would be right up our alley and as it turns out, it was!  Our first collaboration launched in spring 2014 and we just launched our third collection together. For fall 2015 we have something really amazing lined up.

I have always loved and admired bookhou’s beautiful products and prints and one day a thought just popped into my head: ‘How amazing would those prints look on our clothes’?  So I sent the owner, Arounna an email and the rest is history – we just launched our third bookhou for mini mioche collection for fall 2015.

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Everywhere I go with my kids when they are wearing your clothing, I hear adults tell me they want them in their size. Do you plan to expand the line? What about Mama Mioche? 

So this goes back to your second question – the one about being a serial entrepreneur.  I do hear requests for adult versions of our clothing often and I never say never, but for now I am all about ‘focus’ and that means just sticking to baby and kids apparel – at least for now.

Do you have any new projects in the works?

We always have new projects in the works but our primary focus right now is on our online business and growing that, so most of what we are doing is geared towards making that a more functional aspect of our business and an amazing experience for our online customer.

What has made you the most proud of what you’re doing?

The reality is that starting a business and growing a business is really, really hard.  I don’t have anyone telling me what to do or how to do it. I have had to figure it out on my own for the most part and along the way I have made some (very big) mistakes.  There were many days where I questioned what I was doing and why I was doing it and if it was worth it.  So I guess I would have to say the thing I am most proud of is just that I am still here, doing it and that it is growing and actually working pretty well.

When you are all caught up on work, what do you love to do?

I love to hang out with my hubs and two kids.  I love to spend weekends skiing up north or relaxing at the cottage with good family and friends.  I love to shop. I love binge watching really good tv.  I also never turn down a good glass of wine.

Apple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

You can find mini mioche online at www.minimioche.com, where they sell their in-house line of organic basics, but also all sorts of premium brands, shoes, and accessories. Think Herschel, Salt Water Sandals and Hunter Boots. You can also find them on Instagram @minimioche.

**With the Canadian dollar weak these days, it is a great time for American and international shoppers to take advantage of Canadian prices.Tetherball mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canadaApple orchard picking mini mioche hippie in disguise ottawa canada

Love Your Mother in Luv Mother

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“We wanted a name to represent more than just the collections we put out, something that truly defined the spirit, integrity and intention behind the brand. The two words ‘love’ and ‘mother’ are packed with positive meaning and we tip our hats to all moms, mother earth, the mother of invention and the idea that with a little luv anything you put your mind to is possible.”

Kevin, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Luv Mother

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We were fortunate to receive samples from a new Canadian brand, Luv Mother, just before our trip to the United States, where we travelled to big cities, small towns, a peninsula, an island and beaches. I know, from my husband’s experience that merino wool is a very versatile and a durable material for clothing, and that it also transitions well from cold to warm weather. So I was excited to test it out with the kids, especially for our beach days when the warm sun would give way to cool windy evenings on the beach, best enjoyed with a bonfire, s’mores and good friends.

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Luv Mother makes merino clothing for children. My husband, Matt, has worn merino almost exclusively for his tops for the last decade. Having read about the durability of merino wool, and some of the amazing stories of people wearing a single piece for 40 or more days straight without washing (or 100 days in a wool dress shirt), he was sold on their light environmental touch (imagine how much water and energy are saved when you can wear something 10, 20, 100 times before washing it!), which was only made better by the durability of wool. Add to all this, that being a natural fiber, wool is biodegradable once there is no life left in clothing, it gives new life by nourishing the soil.

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Luv Mother’s clothing is designed and sewn in Canada, and the merino is sourced from Australia and New Zealand. As many of you know, I am very particular about bringing animal products into our home. But I also consider the durability and environmental impacts of my purchases. This is why we opt to buy durable leather shoes over plastic or foam ones that may be kinder to some animals, but breakdown more quickly from use and yet ironically live on in landfill forever (plastics will eventually breakdown into plastic ‘dust’ but they don’t actually biodegrade), thereby harming many animals in the long run. Wool is another animal by-product that we include in our home, on occasion, when we can be assured that it is from an ethical source, where the sheep are free roaming, are treated well, are not mulesed, and are from farms that are monitored and certified to treat their animals according to animal welfare principles (RSPCA and the New Zealand Animal Welfare Act). Fortunately Luv Mother is a company that sources exclusively from ethical producers.

It makes sense, then, that Luv Mother’s tag line is “sourced in earnest.” For them this phrase is all about being conscious about every decision they make. And they really do follow through on this, every aspect of sourcing and producing their clothing is done sustainably and ethically. For example, Luv Mother: has carbon neutral shipping (they purchase carbon offsets/credits for the emissions resulting from shipping their clothing); all paper products and hangtags are printed on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper; working with their clothing factory to reuse and upcycle fabric scraps through creative partnerships.

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In addition to the sustainability and great usability of the clothing, I love how “packable” their merino clothing is. The clothing is  very lightweight and easily packed into my minimalist travel bag (an oversized purse from Nena & Co). What little wrinkling occurred while the clothing was in the bag fell out quickly as the children wore it. Great, because fussy clothing is banned while on travel! (Merino is machine washable and can tumble dry on low, but really it dries so fast it’s easy to air dry it and save some carbon emissions). Oh and did I mention the merino is soft? The kids didn’t complain of itching at all. Win-win-win-win.

The merino proved itself to be an exceptional fibre. But, then again, nature doesn’t often get this stuff wrong. Thousands of years of evolution has led to smart hairs growing on sheep. They are able to keep you warm when you need it, but keep you cool when the sun is out. We used the tops to transition from afternoon to evenings at the beaches, on windy ferry rides, and even an impromptu dip in the ocean — I forgot Sen’s swim suit on one occasion, so he went in with his merino top on. I would have let him swim naked, but he was too quick to run into the waves. I was delighted to find that his top had completely air dried within about 30 minutes, his cotton pants, on the other hand, were still soaked hours later. It was a good lesson for me: on those occasions when the kids might get sweaty or wet, dress them in wool!  While I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve since learned that wool is also considered a firesafe fabric and is self-extinguishing, it won’t melt or stick to your skin. Winning!

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All in all, we loved the clothing and found the brand name quite apt. The children played in  the sand and sea, climbed rocks and dunes, enjoyed the wind on a blustery ferry ride, enjoying the elements mother earth offered them in this part of the world. While their spirited childhood hearts would have fueled the fun and enjoyment no matter what, I’m pretty sure comfortable clothing helped them extend their fun a little longer.

Clothing details: Ro wears top and skirt from Luv Mother; Sen wears top from Luv Mother and organic cotton leggings from Mabo; best, most durable and stylish sandals around Salt Waters from Mini Mioche.

Find Luv Mother on Instagram @luvmthr

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Have you subscribed to the Global Guardian Project yet? These are monthly learning capsules for children and their families to learn about global stewardship. Each month features a different country’s wild life, landscape and challenges, and includes art projects, activites, meditation, recipes and more! Use my discount code:HIPPIEINDISGUISE for 10% off and read more about it here.

Nena & Co Reincarnating Traditional Fabrics into Modern Bags

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Growing up, there was an eclectic, beautiful, and growing collection of textiles in our home. My mother had gone to school for fashion design and loved fabrics of all kinds. ‘Treasure’ to my mother was finding a high end textile in the remnant bin that she could sew into the most fancy romper or dress for one of her girls. There’s no doubt in my mind that I formed an appreciation for colour, pattern and texture through my many visits to the fabric store with my mother. I loved seeing my mom’s eyes light up at a discounted piece of upholstery fabric, that less than 24 hours later she would have transformed into the most gorgeous fall coat for my baby brother. As with most creative types, my mother was always collecting things, mostly fabric and buttons, for future projects, waiting for inspiration to strike.

My father also contributed to the household collection. He appreciated my mother’s fondness for textiles, so when he travelled for work (which was often, far and wide) he would bring her back fabric, table cloths, batiks and other local fabric arts souvenirs. My favourites were always the South American textiles and specifically the Guatemalan ones. I loved the bold colours and embroidery, the geometric patterns, and the animal and floral motifs.

Nena & CO sustainable hand bags hippie in disguise

Needless to say, growing up in that environment, Guatemalan textiles and handmade clothing and accessories have become nostalgic for me. So when I came across Nena & Co bags I was immediately smitten. Not only are the bags beautiful, they are handmade (including hand woven fabrics), many from repurposed huipils (hand woven traditional garments), and each bag is one of a kind. The bags seemed to meet my litmus test. Beautiful: check. But more importantly: handmade, sustainable, fair labour, and socially responsible. Check marks all around.

What’s more Nena & Co makes giving back to the community that produces their bags a normal practice. Through a variety of projects, Nena & Co helps the communities they work with by providing purified water, or, more recently, supporting outreach programs that teach women how to deliver babies and provides them with birthing kits.

It is undeniable that I love beautiful things, but more important to me is always the story behind the thing, the creative inspirations, and the production ethics. I was really happy when Ali, the owner and designer of Nena & Co agreed to do an interview with me. I can gush to you about the outstanding quality of my Nena bag and how much I love using it, but I expect you will be more compelled to love the bags when you hear straight from Ali about why these bags are so important to her and to the people who sew them.

Tell me a little about yourself. How did Nena & Co get started?

I started Nena & Co because my family is from Guatemala; I ended up lucky enough to be first generation American (on my mom’s side of the family). This could be one of the reasons I believe in social responsibility. When visiting a third world country you have to ask yourself: “why am I one of the lucky ones to have so many opportunities and these people don’t?” Because of that, my love for design, and my heritage, I decided I wanted to create opportunities for people that want to work and do it in a dignified way, which is important to all of us. The people I work with in Guatemala are amazing talented artists. They have learned complex specialized trades from the time they were children. When these craftsmen have to leave home to work in factories to do jobs unrelated to their skills, they often end up performing jobs that are not equal to their talents, interests or artistic nature.

We are a new business that has only been around since May of 2013! Oddly enough my Dad had been encouraging me to do this for 10 years, but it wasn’t until I met my husband three years ago that I felt I had the vision to move forward with it. And once I did, it all came so naturally!

Where do you find your creative inspiration?

I find creative inspiration all around me but there are two specific things that dominate my creative process: 1) What I perceive as a daily need in a product. 2) I invest a lot of time and money in understanding the various textiles made in Guatemala. By doing this I don’t just learn things like how cotton is grown, dyed and loomed. I always learn the story of the artisan. This might be my greatest motivation as I try and design products that truly flatter the hand made fabrics that come from such inspiring people.

What is your favourite part of what you do?

Getting to know the people that work for Nena & Co. in Guatemala is by far the most rewarding part of what I do. Of course I love designing and seeing a finished product that people love. But the most rewarding part of my job is becoming friends with the artisans that work for Nena & Co. and learning their story. Guatemala is a country whose people have suffered from recent civil war, corruption in their government, and great poverty. Even with all of the negative influences they have pulling on them, they greet you with warmth and will share whatever they have. When we meet with our craftsmen we like to teach them business principles on how to place a value on their product based on materials, technique, quality, and time since most of them do not know how to do this and are used to foreigners “haggling” down their prices. We honor their work and we do not underpay our employees or craftsmen.

We value what we make but also want to be fair to our customers and set our prices accordingly. I think we should all ask ourselves “what is my social responsibility,” and although we can’t all start a business, I’d like to think I’ve created a way for people to give back with meaningful purchases or “shopping with a cause” through Nena & Co. and other brands that follow the same business model. I love what we do, the people I work with love what they do, and I hope you can see the beauty in Nena & Co. products.

The motivation and reason I started Nena & Co was because I am half Guatemalan and it was my dream to one day give back to families from there. It’s been a learning curve but we’ve come to a point where we don’t just manufacture in Guatemala but we’ve created sustainable work for Mayan women and men who are able to earn above just “fair wages” and in a dignified way with our company. It is rigorous work that we don’t take for granted. We are so grateful to be able to share our heritage and their beautiful talents with our customers.

Whenever I get home from a long trip to Guatemala all I usually think is I can’t wait to come home and take a warm shower, eat a hot meal and snuggle my husband and watch a movie. Then I started thinking of all the women we work with and the homes we visited and I know they never get to do what I just described. If they have water, it’s definitely not hot, there is no heater to warm the house or a cozy bed to snuggle in. They work from when they wake, doing household chores, tending to children and livestock and then making time to weave to earn money. Don’t get me wrong, I really like nice things and I don’t feel guilty; rather, I feel responsible. I feel a great responsibility to continue to design, collaborate and build a business to give these women and men an opportunity to create a better future for themselves.

What’s next for Nena & Co? Do you have any exciting new products or projects in the works?

I’m striving to create more and more products where we can integrate newly woven textiles into the products so we can continue to give the Mayan men and women sustainable work. We have created three new collections to do just that: the Resort Collection, the Sustainable Line (we just launched the newest addition to that line the Sustainable Mini Carryall), and the Kids & Baby Collection. All these projects are near and dear to my heart and have created so many more jobs than we could’ve imagined when we first started out.

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A few photos from our Sunday stroll last weekend to showcase my bag — make sure to scroll all the way to the end for details on the Nena & Co Giveaway that I am hosting.

You have a chance to win your own reincarnation of a traditional garment into a modern, stylish and responsible bag by participating in the giveaway that I am hosting on my Instagram account here. The giveaway closes Sunday April 26th, 2015 at midnight in New York City. Good luck to everyone!