Moms see instant success after creating business to make baby carriers more inclusive
Many colorful creations deck the shelves of Hope & Plum. The two moms and entrepreneurs behind it are busting out of their current warehouse. It's a situation they never could have foreseen when they first crossed paths in 2014.
Skye Amundsen and Mallory Mascoli first connected on a fertility tracking site, both hoping to become moms.
"We kind of noticed we liked each other, so we leveled up to the next step, Facebook messaging," Amundsen said.
Amundsen lives in Washington, D.C., and Mascoli in Minneapolis. From the start, the friendship clicked and grew as their families did, too.
Amundsen says Mascoli inspired her.
"She did cloth diapering, she did baby wearing, so she kind of inspired me, like I loved the way she was parenting. So, then I was like, 'I wanna do that.' She kind of inspired my parenting," Amundsen said.
They both committed to keeping their babies close with cloth wraps.
"It also helped us to feel, at least for me, helped me to feel like I wasn't just a parent, like I could still go out and do things. I could carry my kid around with me in a nice way that felt comfortable for us both," Mascoli said.
"I went through a very traumatic birth, no golden hour, like baby born, she rushed to NICU and I went in to surgery for hours. So I met my baby like at least a day later," Amundsen said. "For me, losing that time was really hard. And then in the NICU, I couldn't touch her for three days. It felt like I was reclaiming something. I was reclaiming holding her, getting that golden hour. It was a lot. It was definitely like getting something back."
She says that's when it clicked.
"And then baby wearing from that, it was like a spark. It was like I just wore her all the time. I was like, 'This is what I want to do, I am obsessed with it.' And that's what I really think sparked. I was like, 'I love this, and I want other people to love it, so how can we make a company that make everybody love this?'" Amundsen said.
Amundsen was a corporate lawyer, so she started the paperwork. Mascoli started marketing to moms via Instagram and Facebook, and they came up with their first product.
"Mallory is plus-sized and it was a big conversation constantly about how she couldn't find carriers that fit her. At the time, some brands would offer only certain patterns and longer lengths of ring slings. It was just starting to feel, it was like, 'Why?'" Amundsen said. "We came in and we were like, 'We're going to change this space.' And I think it was like, 'We are going to sew in the United States, and we're going to have really high quality fabric, we are going to be size inclusive.'"
They also committed to softer, brighter fabrics, with patterns designed by local artists. Their first drop sold out and a carrier, called the Lark, took them to the next level.
"We are about 20 times bigger or more than when we launched. We launched this and we grew 20 times in two something years," Amundsen said.
They now have dozens of employees and dozens of products, all made by Hope & Plum, named for their two oldest children.
Hope & Plum is moving into a 20,000 square foot warehouse in St. Paul because demand keeps growing.
"I think it's really special to be a part of someone's parenthood journey, to be a bright spot, And sometimes it can be a hard time, especially for first-time parents, getting used to all the changes, so to be that bright spot to give them that joy, I love it, it's great," Mascoli said.
Hope & Plum grew 2,200% in the last three years and hit 7 million in sales.