Mom Invented

We're hopping across the pond to England for this week's featured mom story to meet Sally Campbell, creator of Chatterpants, an ethical childrenswear company that specializes in brightly colored playclothes for babies and kids that are made from natural fabrics in ethical factories.

When Sally had her daughter, she started making a lot of her own baby clothes because she couldn't find what she wanted -- fun designs, natural fibers and nothing overly girly and pink. Feeling that she had tapped into an unmet niche, the senior consultant at a global marketing research company started researching and setting up a side business. Soon, though, she found that she was enjoying setting up the business more than her full time job and decided to focus on Chatterpants full time.

After a year of development, Chatterpants officially launched in August 2008. It's growing steadily and its products are available in independent UK retailers, at trade shows and environmental fairs, and online -- and they'll ship just about anywhere if you order from their website.

Here's how Sally did it...

Why did you start Chatterpants?

I found I was making many of my baby daughter's clothes because I couldn't find what I wanted for her. In the UK, there aren't many nice clothes for little girls that are made from 100% natural fibers and which aren't pink and frilly. The clothes I was making were in vibrant colors and practical designs and they continued to look good wash after wash. It was nice to get the compliments but I simply didn't have time to make them for friends and relatives, too.

What were your initial goals?

I thought I had found an unmet niche in the market for very practical, rough and tumble clothing and rather naively, I thought I could run a web shop as a side line to my day job as a senior consultant at a global marketing research company. But as the months progressed I found I was enjoying setting up the business more than I was enjoying my day job which seemed to me to be more and more trivial. The daily commute seemed such a waste of 2 hours of my day and I began to wonder whether I could earn a living at it. Although I had no experience in the apparel industry, I had started and successfully built a business before, and I still believe that if you are passionate about what you are doing and you are open to learning the new skills you need, there's no reason why you can't be successful at a major career change in your forties.

What is your background and how does it relate to your company?

I'm 46 and have been living in the UK for 7 years, so I am now a dual citizen of New Zealand and the UK. I have an English husband whom I met at 41 and I was really lucky to have my daughter at 43. I also have a grown up stepson who is now 21. My daughter has been my inspiration, my fitting model and the first test driver of all Chatterpants designs! I started sewing when I was about 5 years old and it's something I have always done, although mainly for myself. I have also been wardrobe mistress for a few theater productions which was a lot of fun and challenged me to make Dracula capes, flamenco dresses and reindeer costumes. But on the business side, I have loads of relevant experience from working as a marketing consultant in my first career, which included starting up a market research company in Australia, building it over 6 years and then selling it to a bigger company. But then I was a minority shareholder with 2 very successful partners, which is different than starting up a company that is completely your own idea.

Ever since I sold my first company at 34, I have been looking for my next business. It took me 10 years to find something that I could love doing enough to become self employed again. The trigger came when my company announced my role was changing to become head of new business while I was on holiday and without actually agreeing to do it. As prestigious as that new role was, deep down I wanted to grow my own business. After many, long chats with my husband to explain that I really really wanted to start my own business, I resigned on my first day back from holiday.

What process did you follow to develop a prototype?

Loads of research to start with to understand whether there really is a gap in the market and find out if there are any similar designs. Then I would normally design something for my daughter first, so that she could wear it and I could see how it fits, moves, washes and wears. I have improved every single design as a result of this experience and the design that goes into production is usually at least version three. For some designs, I have also made extra samples and given them to friends and family so they can test drive them with their kids. The tricky part is getting honest feedback as most people think if they are nice they will get more free clothes! It's not unusual to make further design refinements for bulk production reasons, as it's not always viable to commercially produce a garment in the same way a sample is made. But there are some things we never compromise on -- ethical production, natural fabrics, bright colours and play-friendly designs.

What process did you follow to determine your product’s marketability?

I always start with internet research, and before we placed our first production order, we established that there were companies in other countries that had successful niche businesses marketing a very similar trouser design -- one with knee pads in them for crawling babies. So many houses in the UK have wooden floors, that it seemed likely that UK babies would be just as likely to experience sore knees as babies in these other countries. Then it was matter of speaking to loads of parents to establish how much of an issue the problem was for them and what options they were aware of. We relatively quickly established that trousers with knee pads in them would be a niche opportunity in the UK, but that there was a demand for brightly colored, practical clothes that washed and wore well.

What process did you follow to find a manufacturer for your product?

We initially used Alibaba.com to identify some alternative suppliers. Then we sent them a screening questionnaire to ask them key questions -- again my research experience coming to the fore -- and asked three companies to make a fitting sample. Having worked in Asia for a few years, I felt comfortable working with long distance production to obtain essential cost efficiencies.

Were there any setbacks in product development that had to be overcome?

We did have some challenges in sourcing waterproof fabrics as they tend to be made from non-natural fibers. Our Park Pants have an additional water-resistant layer of fabric over the knees and hems which is ideal in the UK when the ground is damp for at least six months of the year. Ethically we wanted to avoid non-natural fibers, and if the trousers were ironed, the last thing we needed was it melting. We couldn't find a fabric which was perfect, but by using a water-resistant coating on the "middle" side, which would never touch the iron, and using recycled polyester, we felt we achieved the right balance of practicality and caring for our environment.

What was the biggest learning curve in terms of developing your product?

Deciding which sizes to offer and what size they should actually be. Average measurements for babies and kids are published but there isn't a standard sizing across brands. It's an ongoing source of angst for parents with no foreseeable solution. In the end we just needed to decide on something that seemed sensible to us and was similar to big name brands and to provide sizing information on our website.

How have you managed to juggle the roles of business owner and mom?

The first thing to fall by the wayside was my two hours of traveling to my salaried job. I now work from home which means I can start work earlier in the morning and working after dinner is relatively easy. My husband drops our daughter off at nursery in the morning as it's on his way to the train station and I pick her up at 5:30 p.m. which means I need to be very productive during the day to be finished in time. The only thing that's really gone by the wayside has been getting glammed up for work. If I'm going to be at home all day, I don't bother with make up or jewelry or spend much time shopping for my work wardrobe.

What kind of support system do you have in place personally and professionally?

My husband has been great in terms of having confidence in me and that really helps when you are going through a tough period. It also helps that he got a healthy salary increase a couple of months before I resigned from my salaried job to start Chatterpants. Professionally I have a very senior mentor in the apparel industry who has given me some really good tips. An old friend from University in New Zealand set this up for me and as my mentor gives her time freely, it helps that we have found other things in common, which means it's not all a one-way thing.

How did you finance your business ?

Sally Campbell with her daughter

We financed it completely through our own savings. I really think it would have been very difficult to secure the funding we needed through the banks during the credit crunch so we are very grateful that we had the personal financial freedom to do it anyway.

Including stock, we have invested about £70,000 ($114,000) so far and if we decided to wind the company up today, after one year in operation, we would probably get about two-thirds of that back. It's more than we initially planned on but we feel optimistic about the future and our sales continue to grow steadily. Some people say you are crazy to start a business during a recession, but others say millionaires are made during a recession. If you can establish a brand during a recession, imagine how much better you can do when people start to spend money again.

What is your company’s current financial picture and what are your projections?

Our per garment margins are healthy so being confident we have the fundamentals right, we now need to concentrate on increasing sales volumes, which means securing more trade customers. My financial goal is to have reached £1,000,000 sales per annum and be earning more than I was earning at my salaried job by the time I turn 50, which is only 3 and a half years away. Right now this seems like a stretch target and given the economic conditions are unlikely to improve significantly to loosen consumer spending much in the next 18 months, we are realistic that it will be difficult to achieve these goals.

Who has been your biggest source of inspiration? What keeps you going?

I absolutely love seeing kids wearing Chatterpants! It's enormously satisfying. In each season to date I have taken a stall in a local mall for a couple of weeks to build brand awareness, sell some clothes and have the opportunity to speak to lots of parents about what they like and dislike and get their reactions to the current range and our plans for future ranges.

What surprised you about this process?

I expected to be more challenged than I was in my salaried job but almost every day I am learning something new and thoroughly enjoying it. It's enormously satisfying and while part of me would like to fast forward to 3 years from now, these early days are also precious.

What advice would you offer other moms developing their products?

I think you really need to be passionate about what you want to do in order to be successful, especially if you want to be an entrepreneur. Secondly, I would say don't be fazed by people who think you've lost your marbles since becoming a mum. Just because you are working from home and growing your business around your new responsibilities, doesn't mean your business will only ever provide you with just pocket money!

Thank you for sharing you story, Sally -- and for giving us an insight into what it takes to start a business as an international mom (or mum)! If you have a great story to share, we'd love to hear it!

Tagged as: children's products, clothing business, featured mom, international mom, kid-inspired, mom business owner, mom entrepreneur, mom inventor, product business, second career