Why Set Up Style My Kid?
Style My Kid was born in the months after my first born son, Henry. I have always been one to keep busy, working, playing sport, meeting friends, and therefore being on maternity leave was a lonely time, like I’m sure it is for many new mums. There’s only so many baby classes I could face in one week!
On the days I managed to get out the house, pack the endless baby bag, fold the Pram into the car, load the baby in, drive into town, fight to park, to finally wander around the shops worried about the next feed, where I could change him and what to do it he had a meltdown in public, all to find very little I wanted to actually buy for my new little arrival! Overall, shopping with a baby was not a pleasant experience!
On a mission…..
There were countless days where I quickly needed a few more sleep suits or a new pack of vests (5 Poonamis in one day was the record!), some new muslins (I released I could never have too many!) or an outfit for an event we were supposed to be going to that I had forgotten about(!), when I realised there was a huge gap in the market for durable, cute, affordable baby clothes, especially for boys, that was all accessible on a single reliable, trustworthy U.K. based marketplace.
That was it, I was on a mission. During my many night feeding sessions, and during his day time naps I researched and researched and started collecting ideas on the range of clothes I would buy my son. I teamed up with a friend who had a little girl the same age, she provided input from that perspective. I wanted to create a marketplace that would one day be your go to for anything and everything baby and toddler related, from a plain vest, to a lovely occasion dress, an everyday sleep suit to the perfect gift! A place where you knew I had taken care in selecting products I would happily use on my own child, buy as gifts for my friends’ babies, and be proud of the products and prices I was able to offer.
I spent many a night building the website myself, sourced samples far and wide, dragged my mum around trade shows with me, and finally, 6 months after my son was born, the website launched. The stock was stored at my house, every parcel was hand labelled, wrapped and posted out by myself, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
I was doing pop up shops at local fairs, gyms, Christmas markets, the feedback was wonderful! I enjoyed sourcing the new seasons stock and watching our following grow... but during all of this I was now back at work full time and with Henry growing up so fast I was struggling to find the time the business really needed to thrive in the way I knew it could.
Building the SMK team
I was lucky enough to meet Dan, Julie and Anne. We worked as a dynamic team for the first couple of years, attending shows together, meeting regularly to discuss strategy, ranges, ideas and more; we each brought something different and unique to the table.
From there we have worked closely, building on the framework behind the scenes to allow the website to expand to what we know we can achieve. We’ve spent several hours drilling into the business from every angle, set up great relationships with some fantastic brands, moved our stock and grown significantly already, and we look forward to growing it together further.
We haven’t done this without our challenges and sacrifices, with the hardest being losing Anne earlier this year which has been a huge loss to us. We will continue to do everything we can to build this brand up, to make her proud; she was a huge part of our team, and I know we all miss her dearly.
So I will leave my intro there but look out for my shorter blogs, where you can read about my challenges, my daily battles, some joyful and some not, with my now two boys!
Plus we aim to bring you guest blogs from FWK (friends with kids), Child care experts and others that we think can offer sound advice and/or make you laugh.
Coming soon – Guest Blog
We are excited to bring you wise words from sleep consultant Emily Kelly of Snoozy Sleep who offers fantastic advice for helping your little mites get their much needed shut eye time!
With love from Amy
