We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Judith Carr. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Judith below.

Judith, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Bumbershoots by Nana is a story of family, creativity and reinvention. The birth of my grandson, John, provided the inspiration for what was to become my professional second act. It started with my quest to find the perfect sleep sack for John. My requirements were simple. The sack obviously needed to be practical and safe, but I also wanted it to be exceptionally well made, artistic, beautiful – even fun and whimsical. My search in upscale Seattle boutiques ended in disappointment. The sacks were very expensive but had no personality and all were made in factories overseas.

My daughter, the real force behind Bumbershoots, suggested that I design and craft John’s sacks. Little did I know that those early artistic sleep sacks would jump start a family venture that grew into Bumbershoots by Nana. Our promise to other Nanas and family members became our mission — to provide a safe, luxurious, comfortable sleep experience for babies and toddlers. Our commitment – to exceed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Academy of Pediatrics requirements for best practices in child safety, cognitive and physical development and comfort.

Bumbershoots by Nana hand-crafts wearable art for infants & toddlers. Our designs use textiles – mixing textures & colors to create a visually stimulating experience. Our sleep sacks add joy & whimsy to sleep time, turning a practical sleeper into a work of art! Our research-based designs focus on child development & safety – baby products of impeccable luxury & heirloom-quality construction.

Bumbershoots spans four generations – my mother, myself, my daughter and our model-in-chief, John. My mom, a costume designer for a ballet company, designed and crafted hundreds of amazing costumes. In between school and ballet classes, I became her apprentice, learning the fine art of design & construction. We found immense joy in creating beautiful costumes – our special together time. Bumbershoots by Nana is immensely personal to me. It has brought me full circle from my roots in costume design through a successful career as a corporate executive and back to artistic design.

Sheer joy – returning to my artistic roots! Bumbershoots by Nana provides the perfect platform – the perfect convergence of business and art to give me a wonderful second act. Bumbershoots has given me the opportunity to give back – to share in the celebration of the birth of a new life. Bumbershoots by Nana is dedicated to sweet dreams for all the little ones we love.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Bumbershoots by Nana is a family business inspired by the birth of my grandson, John, and our quest for the perfect sleep sack. What started as an act of love for my special grandson grew into a commercial boutique venture, hand-crafting baby sleepwear that shows at high-end art shows under the category of wearable art. The essence of this endeavor is family – the joy of a new birth and the commitment of love we give to the special little ones in our lives. Our promise and mission is “to provide a safe, luxurious, comfortable sleep experience for babies and toddlers.’ You will find the Bumbershoots story of family, creativity and reinvention in the section entitled My Story.

Bumbershoots is premised on a unique concept — we didn’t set out to create a business, we aspired to create a community of extended family. Our customers or clients become our extended family and an essential component of the Bumbershoots brand. A pivotal question in our early discussions — who did we want to invite into our extended family?

My daughter and I did a lot of market research to define our perfect client. It was important to have a clear understanding of the demographic who would join our community. A new business cannot be all things to all people – it will dilute efforts and the business will fail.

Our products are hand-crafted and labor-intensive, using only the best quality fabrics and notions. They are expensive to make and expensive to buy. There is no way we could compete with the $20 sleep sacks made overseas and mass marketed in less expensive outlets. It was obvious that our demographic would consist of clients with greater disposable income. Once we narrowed our demographic, we looked at the characteristics of buyers who would be drawn to our products. Three characteristics stand out: love and dedication to family, a bent for art and a unique product and commitment to quality.

Commitment to family is a universal emotion. Our products scream family and most people are drawn to beautiful products for their precious little ones. Grandparents are among our best customers – they have a deep love of family and they have greater disposable income. Grandparents are drawn to our booth – what an opportunity to buy unique and beautiful gifts. Shopping becomes an adventure where they share family stories and often talk as if they are the only grandparents in the world!! We love that they share their joy with us!! It is not unusual for a mom or dad to select the perfect sleep sack and bring grandma or grandpa in to provide the credit card. Everyone goes home with a brochure – knowing they have access to all my products on-line.

Our clients tend to be drawn to unique and artful products. They love buying wearable art for babies and toddlers. They love that each sleep sack, blanket or buddy has a theme and tells a story. They love buying a Bumbershoot sleep sack knowing it is so unique that it will be the favorite baby gift. Our clients love picking the perfect nursery set to match baby’s nursery theme. You would be amazed at the crazy themes – We even designed a “Grateful Dead” baby sleep sack. It was adorable!

Lastly, our clients are drawn to quality. Our research-based designs focus on child development & safety – baby products of impeccable luxury & heirloom-quality construction. Our designs have a beautiful, artistic outer shell and are reversed lined with fabrics that are soft to baby’s touch. Once we determine the theme, we source the highest quality fabrics, taking care to mix colors & textures to stimulate baby’s cognitive development. Our clients are willing to invest in quality knowing that my sleep sacks stay beautiful over time. One client was excited to tell us that the sack we gifted to him was with the third baby.

Our advice to those starting on this journey – research, research, research!! Define your demographic and the characteristics of your potential clients. If you do this, every decision you make will drive you to the outcome you desire!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Success is the culmination of many experiences, hard work and yes, a smattering of luck. Success doesn’t just happen, you have to “get your ducks in a row” first. You have to prepare for the magical window of opportunity you need to make your dreams come true. For us, passion, commitment to service and hard work were the “ducks” we leveraged to enable the creation and success of Bumbershoots by Nana.

For us, every idea, every project started with passion. Bumbershoots started with an idea – my daughter loved the sleep sacks I made for John, my grandson. Soon I was making sleep sacks for my family and friends. It became obvious to all of us that Bumbershoots could have legs, could actually grow into a commercial venture. Would we have the passion and drive to stay the course – to get through all the challenges and obstacles that come with growing an idea into a viable business? Our answer was yes. We are deeply dedicated to family – the birth of a child is a mountain top experience. And, our crazy idea, turning practical sleep wear into works of art, evoked strong emotion for me. Yes, we had the passion to take on the challenges and financial risk to commit to a start-up business.

Our greatest lesson learned was that regardless of commitment, hard work and making the best decisions possible, factors totally beyond your control can test your resilience and drive the outcome of your endeavor. Bumbershoots had reached the point where we were about to commit the resources to take it to the next level. AND COVID HAPPENED. At that time, most of our sales revenue came from high-end art shows, supported in part by on-line sales. Events also provided our key marketing strategy.

Bumbershoots came to a standstill. It couldn’t be sustained through on-line sales alone. We decided to reinvent Bumbershoots to keep our products relevant. We turned our commercial project into a vehicle for philanthropy. We had sleep sacks and hospitals had premies and low-income families who could use our products. We partnered with Johns Hopkins and Mercy Hospitals to make our products available to this new market. Bumbershoots created gift sacks of tiny sleep sacks and delivered them to the NIQU at Mercy and we donated almost 300 sacks to Johns Hopkins to sell in hospital stores supporting key projects and to give to families in need.

There is always an unexpected gift in giving. Johns Hopkins wrote an amazing article about Bumbershoots, complete with pictures. Their popular magazine provided free marketing far more powerful than our meager budget could afford.
We used the COVID downtime to redesign our products and build our inventory. We persevered and after COVID resumed participating in high-end art shows. We weathered the storm. AND THEN CAME TARIFFS. As a small business, our challenges are not over. Fabric prices have risen twice in the last few months and the cost of doing an art show has more than doubled over the last few years. It raises the question of resilience and reinvention yet again. What is the next iteration for Bumbershoots by Nana? The story remains to be written.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

See the write-ups for the previous questions. At this point, many of the questions basically have the same answers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bumbershootsbynana.com
• Instagram: @bumbershootsbynana.com
• Facebook: @bumbershootsbynana.com
• Linkedin: @bumbershootsbynana.com
• Twitter: @bumbershootsbynana.com

Image Credits

Lauren Daue Photography