We were lucky to catch up with Megan Oliver recently and have shared our conversation below.

Megan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.

I envisioned the idea for League of Friends when I was on maternity leave with my oldest daughter (now 6 years old) and I was having a hard time finding quality baby clothing that would stay looking nice even after a few washes but also wasn’t a luxury price point. I felt there had to be a better way to offer high quality clothing that would last wash after wash and still look good to pass on to the next kid without having to sell it at a luxury price. If I could sell directly to the customers then I wouldn’t have to use a traditional wholesale markup pricing system and that would be able to offset some costs, allowing me to give a better price for the highest quality.

I went back to a full time design role for women’s activewear after my maternity leave and through the next few years the idea stayed in my head. As I grew as a designer, it started to become more evident to me just how wasteful & harmful the apparel industry could be for our Mother Earth. I knew that one day if I were to launch my own brand that sustainability had to be at the core of its ethos.

About six months into the Pandemic, my daughter was starting preschool and I decided to leave my full time role in order to be able to be there for her through the crazy school days. I also knew that if I were going to give my idea for this brand a real shot that I would need to be able to give it my full creative focus because I was so burnt out. After a lot of research, testing, development and more development– League of Friends launched about a year later!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I went to school for apparel design and I worked in the women’s apparel industry as a designer for over twelve years before launching League of Friends. The ironic part about me now owning my own kids clothing brand is that in my first ever job as an assistant designer I had exposure to so many different categories at the small NY designer I worked with. We did everything from women’s runway, accessories and ready-to-wear all the way to bandaids, diapers and we even worked on a baby collection for a large retailer under the designer’s name. The styles were very cute and fun to design but there were so many limitations we came across in designing and developing due to minimum issues and regulations around kid’s safety/etc. I told myself than that I would never design kid’s clothing again–but you can obviously see where that got me!

I’ve worked with several brands and have worked on products everywhere from runway collections to big box licensed brand collections- from formalwear to activewear and everything in between. I’m really proud of my range of experience and I think that has made me very flexible as a designer and has taught me to adapt easily to new challenges.

At League of Friends, I strive to design and produce the best quality possible that is still at an accessible price point. Children’s clothing is such a tricky market to be in because kid’s are so rough on their clothing and they grow out of things so quickly. Additionally, many people can’t or don’t feel the need to spend a little more money on their kid’s clothing to know that it is high quality and will last beyond one child wearing it. I work with some amazing, family owned factories in Peru to source the best fabrics and yarns I can that are made from natural fibers and organically farmed. Our sweaters are made from yarns that are all made to order, cutting down on wastage, and they are dyed using natural dyes from various plants, flowers and even food scraps like avocado pits and skins. I love knowing that all of the colors you see in our sweaters come from Mother Nature!

The large majority of what I design is gender neutral, allowing for people to pass it down from one sibling, cousin or friend to the next to matter if it’s a boy or girl. A lot of gender neutral kid’s clothing you see in the market can be in very neutral and bland in color, but not at League of Friends! I love using bright, playful colors in our designs because getting dress should be fun for kids too!

We’ve only been in business for a little over two years but I have met so many new customers in our community along the way. I can’t wait to start seeing new generations of siblings and cousins wearing some of our first launches! Nothing would make me feel more proud or that this brand had made an impact.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

My best source for finding new customers has been participating at in-person markets, pop-ups and events. Sharing my products in real life with people is the best way to show them the beautiful quality of our products and how it translates into our prices. I feel it’s hard sometimes for a person to trust purchasing from a new brand if they can’t feel the fabrics and see the quality construction so being able to bring the collection to the public for people to discover it has been extremely helpful.

It’s also been really great for people to put a face to the brand- to share with them my ‘why’ and include them in my journey!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think my current journey as a small business founder and also a stay at home mom has made me extremely resilient. I don’t have the privilege of typical 9-6 business hours to do the work I need or want to get done for my brand. Most days I get my two daughters up, get them ready for the day, lunch and snacks packed, my oldest off to the bus stop for school and then come back to take care of my youngest for the day. Three days a week I take care of my toddler during the day so I am trying to care for her while also being the brand’s social media manager, designer, production manager and every other hat in the business. Some days I am able to accomplish tasks while she plays but I usually have to squeeze my most important work into her 2 hour naps after I’ve made her lunch (like this interview!). One thing I’ve struggled so much with is learning and adapting to quickly turn off my mom brain and get into business and back again. It’s so hard to be tuned into the brand when I’m also taking care of my kids but sometimes I have a deadline while I’m with them and I have to juggle both.

After my toddler’s nap, she and I have a little time before we have to go get my oldest from school. I then either spend some time with them or squeeze in a little more work if I can before I have to start their dinners, get them ready for their staggered bedtimes and then unfold for the night. If I’m not too mentally exhausted then I may do some more brand work in the evening if needed. I’ll head to bed, get up and do it all over again.

It’s all exhausting, but I feel lucky that I can be there for my daughters through so many small moments in their life and I also get to create and grow this brand that I’m so excited about. Right now to them (especially my oldest), it seems like I’m always working in front of them but I hope that one day they look back and are proud of what I have created.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://leagueoffriends.nyc/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leagueoffriends_nyc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leagueoffriendsnyc
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/megan-o-184bb411
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@leagueoffriends_nyc

Image Credits
Yumi Matuso credited for the first two baby images and the personal headshot.