We recently connected with Naomi Kraut and have shared our conversation below.

Naomi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Fun Mom Band was born out of pandemic parenting struggles, when I lost my mind Zoom-schooling my young daughters. As a survival strategy, I channeled my Zoom school mom rage into a puppet musical — in solidarity with moms and the extra heavy mother load made visible by the pandemic. After launching this puppet musical, I realized that I wanted to keep creating for the moms — to make them feel seen and to lighten the load. Having always been a fanny pack aficionado and having always dreamt of a fanny pack toolbelt for moms, I decided it was time to create a fanny pack for the moms, one built as tough as motherhood. While a diaper would fit in this pack, I wanted the pack to be about mom’s needs and mom’s stuff; therefore, Mom’s Fanny comes stocked with a fanny flask and pill box for whatever relief mom needs to rock (or get through) the day.

Naomi, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Mom’s Fanny is the flagship product of Fun Mom Band, a stylish and versatile denim fanny pack that fits everything and looks good on everyone. It is proudly manufactured in the mountains of North Carolina, honoring the time and resources it takes for people to make an exceptional product. While there are lots of fanny packs on the marketplace, Mom’s Fanny is a pack above the rest: it is the purveyor of convenience, with its structured shape that holds a ton, pockets galore that support organization, and accompanying fanny flask and pill box that signal that this pack is for MOM’S stuff. It is also the purveyor of cool, with its classic denim style that goes with everything and elevates an everyday outfit. Most importantly, Mom’s Fanny is on a mission to lighten the mother load and to make moms feel seen. In the words of our customers: “It makes me feel not just like a regular mom, but a cool mom!”

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I was very fortunate to receive an NC IDEA MICRO grant, which was a game changer in terms of the support needed to launch Mom’s Fanny. In addition to the financial grant, NC IDEA’s programming support and expansive network taught me a ton about the world of startups and entrepreneurship in North Carolina, a world I was new to when I started Fun Mom Band. Having pivoted from the world of education to the world of small business, I am grateful for and motivated by all of the people I’ve met along the way, particularly the badass female founders who are some of the smartest and most inspiring people I’ve ever met.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I knew nothing about manufacturing or making a sewn good product when I decided to pursue Mom’s Fanny. I googled a whole bunch of local people, and thanks to a few kind folks sharing their time and ideas, I got connected to the Carolina Textile District, a wonderful organization in Western North Carolina  that is supporting and reinvigorating the world of manufacturing in the Carolinas. After I completed their sewn goods course, I was lucky to connect to with an amazing manufacture in Boone, NC: Tsuga. I knew what I wanted with the pack to look like and to be, and they helped me design it. They also became the manufacturer of Mom’s Fanny, and the care and quality they put into sewing each pack really shows. Customers frequently comment on how well made the pack is, and how superior in quality it is from other fanny packs. While the profit margins would be larger if I manufactured overseas, for me it was important to make the product in a way that I wish more things could be made. We like cheap goods, and while I’m no exception, I wish we placed more value on where and how a product is made.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.funmomband.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/funmomband/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funmomband
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/funmomband/
• Youtube: Channel: @funmomband

Image Credits
Photos by Alex Maness, Will Okun, and Ida Okun