How it all began

January Baby was started in 2005, but the story really begins in 2000. That was the year my second daughter Robyn turned two and refused to do anything she was asked, especially wear her mittens. I thought, ‘when her hands get cold she will put on her mitts’. Wrong! I had completely underestimated the power of will. The result: her hands would get cold and she would start to cry. That was the end of playing outside. Then, while her hands were warming up they would start to ache and she would cry harder.

I tried everything to convince her that her hands wouldn’t hurt if she would just wear her mitts. My reasoning fell on deaf ears. I needed mittens she couldn’t take off. 
Using my experience in fabric and design, I came up with Smittens: the no-escape mittens. They worked, she couldn’t take them off.

Then I thought ‘Am I the only mom whose child refuses to wear their mittens?’ I started looking around. There were mittenless children everywhere. I knew what I needed to do.

Five years and two kids later, I started January Baby.

Why January Baby?

Guess when Robyn’s birthday is.