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Formula Onesies: Mom launches range of baby clothes

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Clare Panchaud shows off one of her designs, featuring sunglasses (Photo by Akil Simmons)

Babies are cute — their onesies should be too. That’s Clare Panchaud’s business philosophy.

When her son Louis was born two years ago she got frustrated by the selection of clothing here.

She challenged herself to get creative. The result? Baby Love Bermuda — cute, original onesies for the first year of a child’s life.

“These are the days of Pinterest, so I would see these cute little onesies on there and I said, ‘I’m sure that’s easy enough to do’,” the 31-year-old said.

“That sort of sparked my interest and I noticed there wasn’t anything like that here in Bermuda.

“You have places that sell baby clothes, but I saw a little niche for someone selling pieces that were a little more unique.”

It was her first time running her own business. She used to work as a beauty therapist; now she’s an office manager at a technology firm. Working on her line of onesies gave her the space to be creative, she said.

She sometimes tweaks designs she sees online; other times ideas will just pop into her head.

Even songs on the radio can help to get her creative juices flowing. One of her onesies says, “Shine bright like a diamond”, which is a line from a popular Rihanna song.

“For me the creative process is what is really fun,” Mrs Panchaud explained. “I will probably work on a couple of different designs at a time because I get one creative batch in my mind. But it does take a while to get on the computer and find the right designs and play with it a bit.

“I can probably think of 30 or 40 ideas, but will only print ten of the best ones.”

After she is happy with the design, Mrs Panchaud sends it to the printer and then posts the pieces for sale online at www.cahoot.com. Her favourite part is hearing feedback from happy customers.

“It’s a great feeling when people tell me the onesies are different and unique and something they haven’t really seen before,” she said. “I’ve been told that they are really cute gifts for moms-to-be, at a baby shower or once the baby arrives.”

With another baby on the way, finding the time to be creative is proving challenging.

“I work full-time and weekends are for my family, so it’s hard to try and find the time to make and sell them,” she said. “There are times when I will go for a while not really creating any designs or doing much, just because of the lack of time, so then I really have to regather myself and refocus so I can keep the momentum going.

“Usually it’s when I’m doing other things that the creativity will strike. It comes to me throughout the day and the only time I have to work on it and pursue it is when my son has gone to bed.”

Her advice to any new moms is to make time to pursue your personal interests.

“Always find something that allows you to still have an identity outside of just being a mom,” she said. “This was my fun, creative outlet instead of just going to work all day and coming home to do mummy activities or cook and clean.

“Those things are great and wonderful, but you also have to do some things for yourself, too.

“For me the creative side of Baby Love just gets me so excited. It’s just a lot of fun to do. It gives me a little interest and spark when the idea comes and it’s great when you see another baby out wearing something you made.”

Mrs Panchaud eventually plans to make bigger sizes of clothes for toddlers and children.

Visit her Facebook page for more details: Baby Love Bermuda.

Clare Panchaud wanted to make unique onesies after becoming frustrated by the selection available (Photo by Akil Simmons)
Some of Clare Panchaud’s unique onesies (Photo supplied)