Cover story

Building brands for kids Charmaine Ng meets the creative minds behind Hong Kong’s leading children’s brands. Photography by Graham Uden

Bonne Mere is a boutique children interiors brand that cultivates the values of a ‘good mother’. It focuses on offering heirloom products to be handed down and appreciated for generations to come including classic, timeless bedding, nursery accessories and clothing.

The brand was founded by Nicole Mair, an Australian fashion designer and product development manager who has worked on iconic sci-fi film The Matrix, creating the costumes for Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss, and presented collections at Paris Fashion Week. “After many years of travelling abroad for weeks at a time and endless weekends working to meet deadlines for fashion shows, it was time to try something new,” Nicole says, of starting Bonne Mere. “The brand has enabled me to continue my passion to create and given me the opportunity to spend more time with my daughter and watch her grow.”

Devoted to helping new parents decorate and create beautiful and cosy environments, Bonne Mere combines classic European tradition with contemporary design, embracing subtle and soft colour tones to help support peaceful and harmonious moments for children. The brand works hand in hand with a small family-run factory and happy community of mothers and grandmothers who are passionate about their handcrafted products. “We are very proud to create economic opportunities for people, especially women, to provide for themselves,” says Nicole.

When asked about the future of Bonne Mere, sustainability and longevity lie at the core of the brand is doing. “Our overall design and production focus is sustainability. This means using eco-friendly practices, sustainable materials and ethical production processes,” Nicole also mentions continuing to produce timeless designs and expanding to become a global children and nursery brand. “We believe there is a need for products that withstand the test of time and still be stylish long after the season is over,” she says.

Started two years ago by mum-of-two Conny Wong, Pepper & Mint is a brand that seeks to create lasting memories for parents and their loved ones through handmade gifts. Its speciality lies in baby shoes and snuggle blankets with playful and young-at-heart designs, each meticulously handcrafted by upskilled mothers and fathers in Indonesia.

This year, Pepper & Mint’s shoes were notably part of the 2020 Academy Awards swag bags that were received by some of this year’s Oscars winners and nominees. The brand has also been featured in British Vogue as well as a finalist at the 2018 Hong Kong Smart Designs Award.

As a small brand, Pepper & Mint tries to have a positive impact in both community and the world. As well as empowering stay-at-home artisans in Indonesia, its handmade products are made in small batches, meaning that there is less production waste and less product wasted. The brand has even started an initiative whereby the fabric offcuts from the production process are repurposed and given a second life.They are sewn into baby bibs, and more recently, made into reusable face masks which were then donated to nursing homes in Indonesia where there is a severe shortage of masks during the pandemic. To top things off, a percentage of all sale proceeds goes to a children’s charity in Tacloban, Philippines, where Conny personally volunteered in 2015.

“The development of the brand has been natural and instinctive and I hope it will continue that way,” she says. “Our handmade products are produced in small batches with love, intention and care. As my kids grow up, it’s natural that I am looking for different items and product lines that will cater to their needs, so we have some exciting projects in the pipeline to add to the brand soon.”

Founded in 2016, Swoon Soirées has established itself as the city’s go-to destination for unique partyware. Its website features over 100 party themes to choose from, offering everything that is needed to plan a pictureperfect party for children and adults alike.

Founder and owner Brenda Wilson started Swoon Soirées when there was little in the way of party supplies available in the local market. “I could often be found with suitcases full of party and baking supplies on trips back from the United States,” she says. “After being ‘randomly’ stopped a hundred percent of the time by TSA for additional screening, I thought perhaps it was time to start importing my favourite goodies in bulk.” She decided that an online party supplies platform would give her maximum flexibility to focus on raising her daughter while still building a business from the ground up.

Today, Swoon Soirées prides itself on sourcing the finest quality items from around the globe, such as gourmet sprinkles from Canada, giant balloon kits from Australia, colourfully themed lollipops from the United States and sophisticated ceramic cake stands from Denmark.

Hong Kong-based online retailer Gift Something is a one-stop-shop for all gifting and celebratory occasions – from children’s birthdays to baby showers and more. Its platform offers a vast collection of gifts and hampers, including luxury baby and toddler products.

Founder and owner Justin Chung, who describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, started the company in 2011 when online shopping was new to Hong Kong. Having previously run a multi-brand fashion agency and baby brand in Australia, he knew that baby gifts were one category that he had to include in his e-commerce store. “Having experienced the financial ups and downs as a business owner, I learnt that when the economy is bad, people would continue to buy gifts, especially baby gifts,” he explained.

With Gift Something, Justin hopes to continue offering customer-focused service. “When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I couldn’t believe how big successful companies can operate with such terrible customer service,” he says. “I wanted to change that and make sure that our focus is always on the customer.”

With a mission to make a positive impact on the environment by reducing waste in the fashion industry and supporting unprivileged children in Hong Kong, KidsDressSmart (KiDS) is a consignment store with a strong charitable slant. It transforms unwanted clothes into a force for good while offering parents a novel and cost-effective way to shop for kids’ designer clothes. To date, KiDS has helped to raise almost $200,000 for worthy causes through various pop-ups and its online store.

KiDS is the brainchild of Aira Sasso, who realised that people in Hong Kong were looking for an outlet for their children’s clothes. “I noticed a lot of my friends had wardrobes full of kids’ clothes – some used only for a few months, others never worn. ‘What should I do with them?’ was often the question that came up. So I set up KiDS in 2014 to offer parents a solution,” says Aira.

Through KiDS, Aira encourages parents to extend the life of the clothes their children no longer need, by selling them (and receiving 50% of the sale proceeds) or choosing to donate the proceeds to charity. For Aira, creating awareness about environmental issues while giving back to the community is of utmost importance. “With KiDS, we hope to play our part in reducing clothing waste and inspiring parents to shop for high quality, second-hand clothes instead of fast fashion. I have been touched by how many people have chosen to donate their children’s clothes to support charitable causes and I hope this community of caring parents will continue to grow,” she says.

With over 50 years of history, Rent-A-Mum is a professional childcare agency offering nannies, maternity nurses, childminders and babysitters to its largely expatriate clientele. All its caregivers speak English as a first language and have culturally western philosophies regarding the care of children.

Founded by Shirley Robinson, Rent-A-Mum works to ensure that every child placed under its care has a positive experience from the caregiver. “I have never underestimated the responsibility that I have running this business,” says Shirley. “It’s a huge responsibility to look after other people’s children. Although I don’t have children myself, I am absolutely passionate about how we as a society raise them.”

Indeed, one of the reasons why Rent-AMum has the great reputation it has in Hong Kong is because Shirley handpicks both the business’ personnel as well as its clients. She appreciates that she cannot help every family for both cultural as well as financial reasons, choosing to focus on quality instead. “As Hong Kong remains a cosmopolitan city, there will always be room for Rent-A-Mum,” she says.

Baker & Bloom is a K-12 education centre that cultivates creative literacy and entrepreneurial mindsets in kids. Unlike other tutorial centres that focus on standardised tests, its mission and curriculum hone in on a child’s long-term success.

Teachers at Baker & Bloom come from all walks of life, from a former NASA engineer to an award-winning writer and journalist and reading specialists to makerspace educators – all keen to support each child’s growth.

Founder and educational director Renée Boey started the organisation to help Hong Kong students unleash their creativity despite the stress and stifling burden of exams. “I feel society often pressures kids to aim to be ‘the best’ or to compete for ‘a bigger share of the pie’ in life,” she says. “But I want to encourage children to ‘bake their own pies’ which is just a way of capturing a mentality of abundance.”

Renée hopes Baker & Bloom will pioneer ways to prepare kids to be compassionate creators and innovators. She is currently working with a team of educators to build a new bilingual school in Hong Kong that promotes project-based learning, focuses on real-world issues and cultivates entrepreneurial mindsets. “It may be the first of its kind in our city, but I believe lots of people here are ready for new ways to prepare their children for the future,” she says.

Naomi Wear curates simple and playful kidswear for newborns to children aged eight years old. Established in 2016, founder and owner May Liu wanted to create a platform for mothers who were tired of mass-produced brands and who appreciated the beauty of simplicity.

At first, Naomi Wear sourced its products from indie brands made in Japan and Korea. Now, however, many of its collections are designed in house, taking inspiration from Japanese kimonos.

“I’ve always believed that excessive designs only overshadow a child’s characteristics,” says May, who was juggling full-time work in the hospitality industry when she started Naomi Wear. “For me, simple cuts and patterns with some playful details help shift the focus back to the child. That’s why I draw inspiration from Japanese culture and aesthetics, which give the utmost importance to attention to detail.”

Four years along, the brand has grown from a website to two retail stores in Hong Kong catering to both local and international customers. You can find Naomi Wear at Windsor House in Causeway Bay and K11 MUSEA in Tsim Sha Tsui. It also offers global shipping on its website.

Learn more about the brands: Baker & Bloom: bakerandbloom.com Bonne Mere: bonnemere.com Gift Something: giftsomething.com KidsDressSmart: kidsdresssmart.com Naomi Wear: naomiwear.com Pepper & Mint: pepperandmintboutique.com Rent-A-Mum: rent-a-mum.com Swoon Soirées: swoonxoxo.com